O Reluctant Spring!

O reluctant spring - when will you ever show your warm spirit and bright days.

Can you believe it - these are my little crocus, frozen in the snow that fell yesterday and through the night. A few weeks ago we were lulled into the prospect that spring was just around the corner. Warm breezes brushed our faces, we scampered to put our laundry on the line revelling in the smell of clean, fresh linens. And then wham. The warm breezes were repaced with blasts of bitter Arctic air and along with those strong winds came blinding snow - yet again. Can anyone believe that it is now April 18th. Spring when will you grace us? These tiny purple petals frozen in time and space. And as Easter approaches this weekend, we can look forward not to donning a new Easter outfit as I did when I was a child but instead to get my winter coat out again.

But the signs of spring are here - these frozen crocus, my rhubarb budding up through the ground (topped by a hood of snow) and daffodils just waiting to burst. And I must remember that we gardener's are a patient lot, so patient I must be and I know that I will be rewarded when my anticipation is finally quenched with spring's warm weather and colourful blooms.

The Seed Catalogues Are Here!

" Snowy winter, a plentiful harvest."

As you can see from my last post it has been a very snowy winter in our part of the country. So if the proverb above is correct, I'll be looking forward to a plentiful harvest both in the blooms like this bounty of roses as well as in the veggie garden.

Each day it seems there is another seed catalogue bursting forth from my mailbox. And I can't wait to peruse the offerings looking for something new to try, easpecially in the veg department. I've been reading the book "Growing Chinese Vegetables in Your Own Backyard." I love cooking and one of my favourite cuisines is Chinese. I once worked with a Chinese girl who took me under her wing, introducing me to all sorts of Chinese food products not available in your local supermarkets and then showed me how to prepare them. Several times a year I make a pilgrimage to Toronto to Chinatown and load up on sauces, unusual vegetables and other culinary treats that are staples in Chinese cooking, so this book has been very interesting in learning the more unique veggies I can add to my backyard garden.

Since Asian foods have become more mainstream in recent years, more seed purveyors are offering these "new to us" varieties. So I look forward in the next couple of days to taking time out with a cup of steaming green tea and the new seed catalogues, making my list and garden plan for the upcoming season (that is if our snow ever melts). And then as the proverb says, with a little tender loving care, I'll be looking forward to a plentiful harvest. This is the perfect time to be making your seed selections, before you know it spring will be here.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!!!

" Oh, the weather outside is frightful

But the fire is so delightful,

And since we've no place to go,

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"

Wow, how appropriate those words are today. For the past three days it has been snowing non-stop here in Bracebridge as you can see from the pictures. The kids have had three days of "school snow days" as the buses haven't been on the road (and I'll tell you they are going stir crazy being holed up here in the house). As I write this looking out the window onto my garden, the snow is now waist high, the bird houses look cute with these high top hats on. It is simply incredible - the snow just doesn't stop and now they have declared Bracebridge as a snow emergency area. Even the snowplows are nowhere to be seen. Everyone is hunkering down in their homes, just as the song says - we have no place to go!

So much for the three lilacs we got last week at the Royal Botanic Garden. We didn't get them in the ground before the snow started, so now they sit inside the doorway and as you can see from the photos, there is no way they are going in the ground now. Winter is definitely here, as garden work has ceased and it is time to sit beside the glowing fire and get caught up on reading all the great garden books I received over the year but just didn't get around to really reading. We might as well enjoy it while we can for as soon as it does stop snowing, we'll all be busy shovelling out and cleaning off roofs. And for those of you outside the snowbelt, if you are looking for a white Christmas - come on up to Bracebridge, you won't be disappointed.

Well, no worries about it not being a white Christmas this year!