the buzz

Last Saturday was a perfect sunny spring day, and the bees thought so too.  They were creating quite a buzz in my flower bed.

Bees in the Pasque flowers are dizzy with excitement.

check out the bundles of pollen this guy is carrying.

bee on a hyacinth

at the Lieutenant Governor's shindig

The instructors of the PEI Seniors College courses, including me (I teach gardening, natch) were invited for a lovely afternoon of drinking tea and nibbling sweets, a tour of the beautiful mansion, and conversation with Lieutenant Governor Frank Lewis and his wife Dorothy.  It was a truly enjoyable experience, and I was able to check out the gardens as well, which are just starting to come out of winter hibernation.  It's lucky we chose a nice day, because today, just a day later, it's snowing again!

The view from the house towards the garden.

The tulips are starting to push through.

the view from the garden towards the house.

the back of the garden has tear-shaped beds framing a large trellis with a seat to watch the world go by.

one of the few flowers in bloom:  Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa) has bright blue flowers that appear before the snow disappears.  The tiny bulbs should be planted in the fall

perfectly clipped boxwood hedges frame the garden

The boxwood hedges frame an extensive rose garden.

The roses are protected with an extra mound of soil for the winter.
This will be pulled back when summer finally arrives.

thump on the window

Baby it's cold outside.  And we are having one storm after another.  But the birds, like this Northern Flicker and the bluejay, with their skinny bare feet, seem to thrive, as long as the food keeps coming.

What I didn't realize, that by putting all that suet, sunflower seeds and peanuts on the deck so I can see the birds from my window, I'm making them vulnerable to something else that can see them too.

The other day, I was peeling apples in the kitchen, when there was a thump, followed by a bigger thump against the glass door leading to the deck.  I looked up in time to see a sharp-shinned hawk bounce off the glass, in hot pursuit of a chickadee.  The hawk flew over to the oak tree, its feathers ruffled.  And the chickadee got away!

Having a confab.

The bluejays just love peanuts.

Can't resist a few more of my lovely flicker.  These guys have it all - stripes, spots, red crest, moustache, yellow under the wings.  Pretty fancy!

coming and going

Before Christmas, I purchased two Amaryllis bulbs at different times.  I planted the one on the left two weeks before the one on the right.  The second one began to grow very quickly, and rewarded us with spectacular blooms the second week in January.  Now it's on its way out.

The second one, although planted earlier, sat and sulked on the windowsill.  I thought it might have been because the soil was too wet, or it was too cold.  But now I'm seeing something I have never seen before.

Two flower stalks are coming up at once!  Maybe the energy needed to produce two stalks slowed it down.
Stay tuned for more pictures as this takes off!

leaves theory

Every fall, many roadside curbs have 30 or more bags of leaves in front of every house.  That adds up to thousands and thousands of bags going to landfills.

We homeowners rake up piles and piles and piles of leaves, and stuff them into bags, which are eventually trucked away to who knows where.  That is actually quite a waste.  The trees need to constantly find new sources of nutrients to thrive well.  When leaves are left to decompose, their nutrients go back into the soil, to be reused by the trees that shed them.


Of course, the problem is that too many leaves will smother and kill the grass underneath.  So what is the solution?

Some of the leaves can be bagged and saved to add to the compost bin. They provide the brown carbon that needs to be layered with the green nitrogen of kitchen waste to create good compost.  But that only gets rid of a few bags.  What about the rest?

Leaves don't decompose very quickly.  But shredded leaves have much more surface area susceptible to decomposition.  This year, I plan to chop my leaves with the lawn mower, and leave them where they fall.  I'm hoping this will result in tiny pieces that earthworms will be able to pull into the ground and turn into new soil.

And the rest of the leaf shreds will blow into someone else's yard!

a walk at Devil's Punchbowl

This is the most challenging walk so far.
To get there, drive west from Charlottetown on #2 past Hunter River and Fredericton.  Before Kensington at Rattenbury Road, turn right.  When you see the Princeton Road on the left and a herd of pintos on the right, stop at the side of the road.  The trail starts on the right.

Seems a bit contrary, but we didn't follow the directions on the sign.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but this is actually a very deep ravine which slopes down from the walking path.  The story behind the name of this trail:  This used to be a road which connected Malpeque Bay to Charlottetown.  Contraband alcohol was brought along this route by horse and wagon.  One night, the wagon overturned at this spot, and the barrels of rum went tumbling to the bottom.  

The devil was blamed for the accident!

a huge mushroom bigger than my glove

bracket fungus growing on a tree.

this fallen log completely covered with fungus.

this log is a nursery for three different organisms:  grey bracket fungus, yellow witch's butter,
and green lichen.

a pretty bridge over a stream

The clay road goes by the tiny South Granville Prespbyterian Cemetary

A headstone for a child who died in 1826 at 8 months, 8 days old.  What a story it could tell of hardships and struggles during a time when many children died young.

To check out info about the headstones, visit http://southgranvillecemetery.webs.com/mackayheadstones.htm

A mysterious house deep in the woods

I think this may be damage from a sapsucker - a bird that pecks holes in tree trunks in spring and then laps up the sap that flows out.

A trail made muddy by off-road vehicles.

Those riders don't get a whole lot of exercise!

a tree nursery protects the seedlings until they are ready to plant out.

A single yellow flower from a tiny witchhazel tree.

a walk in Dromore

A crossroads in the middle of no where - no houses around, but lots of scenery

This week the walking group drove to Dromore in Eastern PEI.  Take the Trans Canada east across the Hillsboro bridge, turn left at Mt. Albion on route #5.  At #216 turn left.  The road will turn into clay.  Just after #214 is the trail head on the left.

The trail system on PEI is well marked and maintained by Island Trails.

         This sign signifies that this trail is part of the International Appalachian Trail.

This was all over the trees in certain areas of the trail.  It looks like leaves attached to the tree.
It was identified for me by Gary Schneider, from MacPhail's Woods:

"It is a lung lichen, pretty common on red maples, especially.  It is supposedly shaped like a lung, hence the name.  I think it was the Greeks who were naming things as to what part of the body they resembled (thinking that was what they could be used to treat, medically)."  

Ferns are still green and lush.

walk the plank

the last of the bunchberries

the contrast of purple leaves against the green

 Canada Yew growing in the shade of taller trees

blinding white fungus growing from a log

Lots of knarly roots across the path covered by dropped needles means you need to watch your step!

A thumb of moss rises from a log

a stream meanders through the woods

witch's broom is a disease affecting trees.  It's an overgrowth of branches coming from one spot.