a new view

You may have noticed my new header. Well, I'm hoping to do some more sprucing up around here, but it will likely happen in bits and pieces as I find the time to figure things out; little improvements here and there - nothing drastic. Hopefully I won't mess it all up in the process;)

backyard cat season begins

I have a new friend. This big beautiful guy was hanging out with me all afternoon while I worked in the garden. He would lounge in the shade for a bit, then come over to visit me every once in a while, check out what I was up to, get a little attention, then lumber back to the shade. What a sweetheart. I hope he keeps coming around!

roses

(top two images from David Austin Roses, bottom two images ??)

This is my new plant obsession that I alluded to in a previous post: roses. I have long been dreaming of having climbing roses in my garden. It seemed like a small step towards achieving more of a Secret Garden vibe, rather than the junky-backyard look I'm rocking now. Once I started looking into rose options seriously this spring for the first time, I got totally sucked in. There are just so many amazing varieties. I chose 4 bare root roses from Pickering Nurseries. They are (clockwise from top left) Sombreuil, Comte de Champagne, Louisa Stone, and Leverkusen. The Sombreuil and Leverkusen are climbers. The other two are bushes. I love these big pouffy old fashioned types, and round cupped petals. Basically, I like roses that look like peonies. But unlike peonies, these roses should keep blooming throughout the summer! I have always thought of roses as tricky, labour intensive plants, but as I have been learning more about them, this really doesn't seem to be the case. All the research I have done lately has also taught me how to care for the couple of climbing roses that were already in the garden, so I've finally pruned and trellised them properly for the first time. Here is a photo my mom took of me when I was planting my new babies. I'll keep you posted on their progress!

Do any of you have experience growing roses? Any tips? Favourite varieties?

spring at last

It is finally spring for real in the garden. While the leaves on the trees are still barely more than buds, there is plenty of green (and pink and white and yellow...) happening at ground level. I spent a couple of beautiful, sunny afternoons working out back this weekend and it was heavenly. I also had my mom and brother here for our annual Mother's Day weekend visit. It was so nice! Of course, I didn't manage to take any photos, but I'm waiting for my mom to send some that she took. I think she got at least one shot of me posing in the garden with a shovel like a dork that I may decide to post if I don't look too ridiculous. We'll see...

mountain formation, 1874

from here

little cardigan

I finally finished it up and sewed on the wooden buttons. Now to wrap it up and mail it off to my cousin who will be a mom very soon! It was a very simple pattern, which I found for free here (through Ravelry).

more hellebores

I have had a hardcore gardening weekend. The weather was great, and it felt wonderful to get so much done - planting seeds, moving perennials, adding manure to the beds, building trellises... I also made a trip to Plant World, to get some supplies, where I happened upon several gorgeous Hellebore varieties. I wasn't planning to get more of these until maybe next year, but they seduced me. Plus, they were on sale, so how could I resist them? There are three: The top two are different colours of the same double petalled variety; a greenish yellow and a dusty greenish pink (2 pics of the pink one), both with subtle little speckling; and the last one is a different variety with spiky edged leaves whose nodding flowers will appear more white as they open. 

This year I was supposed to take it easy with the garden, since I should really be spending most of my time painting, but I haven't been able to stick to my aim of keeping things low-maintenance. I just enjoy it so much that I can't keep myself from following whims and trying new things. In the Spring, especially, I feel a passion and excitement for gardening that I haven't felt about much else all winter. I just have to find a way to be more efficient with my time. Maybe I can add a few extra hours to the day or days to the week? ha ha. Wouldn't that be nice. 

I have managed to develop yet another new plant obsession (in addition to this Hellebore infatuation), which will definitely make more work for myself, but I just couldn't put off indulging it until next year. So... more about that soon. 

more from yesterday

The best thing about yesterday was seeing my friend Stephen Appleby-Barr's exhibition at Nicholas Metivier Gallery. It was the last day for the show and I'm so glad I made it. It was amazing! I even bumped in to Stephen on the street after, and he gave me these exhibition cards from his secret stash.

I also bought some buttons for my baby sweater (which is aaaalmost finished). I had trouble choosing, so I got a few options. Hopefully in the next couple of days I will finish it up and post some photos here. I have to finish soon, because the baby is nearly due! The other thing I bought that I planned to photograph to show you was a pair of pink jeans. I've been dreaming about pink jeans for a long time now, and found a great dusty rose pair at Urban Outfitters. However, I chickened out of modeling them for you all. Maybe another day...

busy day

Today was a beautiful day, and full of activity. We took advantage of the weather (sunny and mild) to do a LOT of pruning in the backyard. I also ventured out on my bike to do a bunch of things (more about that when the sun rises so I can take some decent photos in the house). I brought home the best roti in the world for dinner, and now I'm editing some new mineral photos that I took last night. I plan to start a new painting of one of these tomorrow. It feels good to be productive. Maybe I can manage to pry myself out of bed before 10 in the morning (yeah, right) so I can get even MORE done tomorrow.

hellebore

I went to the Canada Blooms garden show last weekend (thanks to my fantastic neighbour and gardening buddy Sandy, who volunteers every year and gets me a free ticket!) and bought myself a Hellebore plant(aka Lenten Rose or Christmas Rose). I have been in love with these plants for years and am so happy to finally have one. I was going to plant it outside right away, but we just had a big dump of snow (booo), so it will have to wait. Until the show melts, my new Hellebore will live in a pot by the kitchen window. Anyways, it's kind of a shame to stick such a beautiful plant in the back of the yard, when it will only be blooming when it is too cold to spend much time out there. I'm happy to have an excuse to keep it inside for a while where I can really enjoy it. I can see myself getting completely obsessed with Hellebores. There are many incredible variations.

signs of life

I did some cleaning up in the garden today. 

Things are starting to sprout up through the detritus, even impaling whole leaves. 

This makes me feel hopeful.

Marcasite

A new work in progress.