Gallery
Tulips!!!!
I never used to be one to get excited about bulbs. At some point that changed for me. When my bulbs come up in the spring it feels like a gift to myself from the previous fall - like I cared about myself enough to invest in my future joy... if that makes sense. Here are some particularly striking ones that I planted last year. What a sweet surprise!
#springbulbs #springbulbs🌷 #tulips #tulips🌷 #gardeningforjoy #investinyourhappiness #selfcare
Pretty sure I heard angels singing in this glorious back-lit moment. #pasqueflower #nativeplantsofontario
The status of my moonscape (new septic) which destroyed my 6 years of permaculture development: has finally been dressed with topsoil and is now a blank pallet awaiting my magic. Omg I cannot wait to get my hands on this! But first, everyone else's garden. Ha!
Splashes of joy in my garden
Native plants of May: PASQUE FLOWER
#pasqueflower #pulsatillavulgaris
Full sun, foliage stays lovely, full and green throughout growing season (unlike many of our spring flowers which are ephemeral and senesce by the heat of summer). Pairs beautifully with service berry.
Native plants of May: SEEVICEBEERY
#serviceberry #amelanchierspp #amelanchier
Comes in shrub or small-med. size tree form. Full sun. Edible berries. Bird and pollinator magnet. If you don't have one, you are missing out!
Lovely native plants of May: VIRGINIA BLUEBELLS
#virginiabluebells #mertensiavirginica
Shade/part-shade
Another space claimed by beauty.
#hepaticaacutilobia #barrenstrawberry #springephemerals #nativefloraofontario #oneoflifesgreatestjoys
The unfurling, my favorite time. #fiddleheads
Today a great majority of my day was spent fixing this unsightly scene. #badpruning #collarcutsplease #whenyouneedaprofessional
#troutlilies a beautiful (and tasty) spring ephemeral native to Ontario.
#plantainleavedsedge and #bloodroot - early bloomers, and thriving beneath the challenging environment of the Norway maple
Today I head out to begin the gardening season! Tools cleaned and sharpened, tool bag and new car loaded, teaching clothes hung, garden clothes adorn me. Let's go!
While I too would normally be revelling in my veggie starts and garden plans, my yard still looks like a bomb went off (post septic build), and I'm not sure how far this landscape will evolve this year. The fellow still needs to come finish the job and said I need to be patient and give him another week or two so his topsoil dries out. By then I'll be in full swing with client gardens... so not sure how I'll find time to fix this space. In the mean time, I dream while helplessly wandering the yard with my morning tea.
...this Gardener is going to be busy this year!! Good thing I love gardening so much!!! Can't wait to see see how this yard of mine eventually shapes up.
Technicolour is back!!
#springarrivesinontario
#crocuses
#happybryophytes
#marshmarigold
#evenafiddlehead!
As some of our first pollinators awake, they might find nourishment with one of our earlier bloomers, the Beaked Hazel. Teeny teeny tiny but stunningly vibrant colour!
Consider adding this shrub to your yard for an early source of nectar.
#aprilflowers #nativefloraofontario #ontarionativeplants #ontarionativeflowers
Eco-friendly gardening tip!
Many organisms over-winter in leaves and organic matter in your yard. These organisms emerge at very different times throughout the spring and summer, each in-sync with various flora bloom times of plants that their life cycle is tied to. So when you clear leaves and debris away, you're sending them off to the dump removing them from the food web (think baby bird food). Leave the "mess". It does a lot of work for you, including:
- slowing water flow to increase water infiltration into soil
- protects soil from moisture loss to wind and sun (free mulch!)
- breaks down to return nutrients to your soil (free fertilizer!)
Once enough people do this, the appearance will be normalized and more widely accepted. Try seeing the destructive side of shipping every leaf to the curb, and soon the sterile look will become very unattractive.
"But Deanna, I like the 'clean' look". So what can you do instead?
I suggest edging your garden beds. It gives a nice fresh pop and satisfies the urge to get in there first thing in the spring. It also gives the image of intention and tidyness, but without sacrificing the very ecosystem services we depend on.
Happy spring Equinox, dear followers. I am coming out of hibernation as the sap begins to flow again, the birdsong returns to my morning window, the bulbs and buds vibrate out of their icey slumber. I look forward to another wonderful season in the enchanting gardens I am so lucky to tend, and to create many new places for our pollinators to call home.
This winter read has me captivated. Soooooo good!! Another fascinating book by #dougtallamy, such an incredible author and scientist.
Can't sleep for the next vision of my backyard landscape is dancing in my head. It will never be the veggie garden it was before, but this space will be for the birds, pollinators and other wildlife. I am okay to step down from growing so much food for a while, and will support local farmers quite happily instead. (My garlic growing happens on other land now anyway). For Nature Gardening has become so busy that I have little time left for my own garden anyway.
I am starting to really look forward to things to come! Now come winter, let's get this over with.
(Those eccentric pieces are the only birdhouse Clipart available in the 3D paint library haha!)
#theartoflettinggo #naturalizedyard #landscapesfornature
😳 before (above), during (below)
6 years of permaculture about to be destroyed for a new septic. The sweat, the love, the joy it has brought. This is really heart breaking and hard. I know I will redesign it, I know it will be okay later, but right now...oof . Big breath. So many tears.