Easter 2011 in the County

I was able to start the spring clean-up this Easter weekend - April 23 - 25. Lots of rain though and much of the land is still flooded - I forgot to bring my wellies and could only get to part of the garden. Not much winter damage at all - my lovely new Viburnum was eaten away - there's only a half dozen new shoots, including just two flowers buds. Deer, I assume; maybe rabbits. About three quarters of one of the new Bridalwreath Spirea is also eaten away but that appears to be it.
Here's the Viburnum:












My main project this weekend was to continue to clear away buckthorn - this time from near the front of the driveway. Managed a lot, and by doing so was able to create space for two Pagoda Dogwoods (two footers that self seeded in my Toronto garden) and a tiny Blue Spruce - a gift from a friend. Here's the after shots - the trees with the plastic trunk protectors are two Lilacs, an Umbrella Magnolia and a Cucumber Magnolia - both started from seed four years ago, transplanted last spring to the County - looks like they survived their first rural winter!





















Here are a few flower shots - the early dwarf daffs, early tulip - didn't get a shot of the bloodroot but it's there too!

March 31, 2011 - the start of forever after...

First spring trip to the County yesterday - beautiful and sunny, around 6 degrees centigrade. Discovered my new Snowdrops were blooming, as were a few of the crocus that were planted in more protected spots. Deer damage was pretty minimal - about half pf one of the new Bridal wreath Spireas, and much of the new Viburnum. Everything else looked great - buds fattening up to bloom, new grass coming up, loads of daffodill and tulips coming up. It's going to be a spectacular month!






Down the road at my friend Mags and Terry's home the heavy snowfall this morning was quite pretty in their field... until I came across this old Adirondack chair -- in its likely final resting place before it is recycled into kindling...

Back to the Blog

It's like you go to bed and decide to sleep in the next morning but suddenly whoosh! A whole year has gone by!


Everything's snow covered in the County right now, but there hasn't been a deep freeze - yet! The creek that drains the Marsh is still bubbling away under the ice and the water is still falling over the Consecon mill dam.




I must say that the fence line looks particularly attractive this year since the buckthorn has been cut back.




I have a ton of pictures from various projects this past year and I'll get them loaded anon.

The sun, it was shining!

Wow what a beautiful day yesterday! It's Maple in the County Festival and toured a couple sugar bushes and had some pretty delicious maple syrup and pancakes! Here's someone special anticipating the feast!


On the gardening front things are finally starting to get going! My first crocus are blooming - species Crocus, can't remember the variety. The smaller daffs will be blooming within 10 days, I predict - next week I have to start a clean-up, cutting back the Siberian Iris so that the large Narcissus can poke up. Spring fever has definitely set in!

March 22, 2009

It looks like my little experiment tying buckthorn branches around the corkscrew Hazel has worked - knock on wood! As of this afternoon there's no sign of critters nibbling away at the tender buds. Take a look:










There's no lakes of standing water this spring either, unlike last year (or the three years before that) - I'm not too sure if that's an indication of a low snowfall this year or better drainage/evaporation this year? On the other hand, the wild temperature swings has lead to some extreme freeze-thaw upheavals. Take a look at these normally upright obelisk-ish stones in the pea stone patio:














And just to prove it is, indeed spring, here the first snowdrops of the year in my Toronto garden, photo taken last Saturday: