Tag Archives: plants

mannequins…

16 Tuesday Jan 2024

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what a delightful time I had on Friday for my first visit to Voyage by Fleurs de Villes at The Leaf…

went with a friend who hadn’t made it to The Leaf before and it was such a treat to show her this gem…

we went around 2 pm and the parking lots were all full… we found a spot when someone left, at the very end of the gravel lot… even though there were many people, there were a good number of hangers to make leaving coats outside the biomes easy…

there was a lineup to get into the biomes, but it moved quickly and most people went directly into the Mediterranean Biome for the display, but we went through the Tropical Biome and admired the lush growth… my friend said she thought it was like the old Conservatory, but on steroids, lol… the plants are getting enormous and we were dripped on a few times, maybe from the humidity…

from there we moved into the Mediterranean Biome to see all the beautiful mannequins…

there were many people when we started our tour, but by the end it had thinned out nicely… I took photos of all the descriptions as it was so crowded around each one, lol…

after we sat and reviewed all the pictures we took, we decided on our favourites and filled out our ballots before heading home;-)…

fun way to spend a cold and snowy afternoon…

rosemary…

24 Sunday Dec 2023

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the Mediterranean biome smelled of rosemary and there were many of the plants growing all over the area… the Celebration installation was bright and shiny, with tons of lights on the trees and I was struck by some of the snowflake and icicle ornaments, so cute…

the many holiday trees, poinsettias, and amaryllis were beautiful;-)… the succulent tree is eye catching and I took quite a few photos of it…

I always like to visit the wollemi pine, a very rare tree known as the dinosaur tree…

sadly, we didn’t spot any butterflies in the Shirley Richardson biome…

a lovely visit…

what a treat to have this amazing place here in the city… a great replacement for the old Conservatory;-)…

walkways…

23 Saturday Dec 2023

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nearly a year to the day, we went back to The Leaf in the evening…

we ate dinner at Gather Craft Kitchen and Bar and then wandered through the biomes…

the restaurant was very busy, but we were seated by the window at a two-person table, so were quite a distance from the other diners…

we shared chorizo spiced seitan tacos, I had pork and veal meatballs, and my grandson had a fancy hamburger and everything was tasty… we decided to skip dessert and go for blizzards after our visit to the biomes…

as we wandered through the Tropical biome it was quite amazing to see how the plants have grown… the place is absolutely lush;-)… leaves fell over the walkways in a number of spots, lol…

looking down from the bridge on the third floor it was striking to see how much everything has grown…

it was the first time since that inaugural visit that I’ve been at night… unfortunately it was too dark for my Nikon so all my photos were with my iPhone… got to see some bananas, a pineapple, coffee beans and cacao pods…

it looks like the inside of the biomes have been wrapped with plastic, and the fans in the Tropical biome were blowing rather vigorously…

it was exciting to see that there were a great number of various-sized smaller koi in the pond… babies, maybe;-)…

the next post will be about the Mediterranean biome;-)…

cheery…

09 Thursday Nov 2023

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the plants in the basement were not doing well, so they were moved upstairs…

they, along with some others that had been on the dining room table, moved into the den…

it looks like a garden in there now;-)… a lovely cheery location to start the day…

breaking…

30 Monday Oct 2023

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Saturday, late in the afternoon, after breaking the ice on the pond, we caught twenty-one of the goldfish…

the pond water was filled with leaves and was rather brown and murky…

it was quite the job as, at one point, my grandson went into it barefoot with his pants rolled up to cut down the water lilies and grasses (I think it was about -12°C in the air)…

but that really helped catch a bunch of them that had been hiding under the lily leaves… they were moving slower in the cold, but still snuck out of the net… also, some of the catching was in the dark, lol…

then they sat in pails in the house for hours before getting moved into the three tanks…

we were careful to be sure to keep size and numbers similar in the tanks so that there is sufficient space for all of them…

we thought we had them all, but on Sunday we discovered five more, woohoo…

now, the pumps have been removed from the pond, and it is apparently going into the winter with water in it, lol…

ledges…

24 Tuesday Oct 2023

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popped over to a friend’s place to pick some seed pods from her pale blue morning glories before they were pulled up for winter…

she hadn’t been able to see any pods, so I said I would come and pick them and show them to her…

we had a laugh when I got there because they are very late growing and haven’t even started any pods yet…

so, we picked a few pieces of the vine and I brought those home to see if I can get the plants started in the house…

I even brought one of the all-white ones…

we shall see what happens, lol… those west facing window ledges do come in handy…

disconnected…

16 Monday Oct 2023

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Sunday was a beautiful fall day…

we disconnected the hose at the tap, undid the three connections to the pond, irrigation system, and hose (which was then hooked up in the laundry room for the winter)… still have to blow out the irrigation lines…

then I spent quite awhile digging out the three dahlias and repotting the begonia… will see if it will act like a houseplant over the winter…

put the dahlias in an empty pot and will leave them in the garage for a few more days to dry out before relocating them into the basement…

moved pots off the steps and deck… that big pot was interesting to move, but I got it done… once the garage has been tidied up the obelisk will move there…

then I spent a few hours reading in the afternoon sunshine;-)…

happy to have accomplished more of the “w” prep, lol…

ledge…

13 Friday Oct 2023

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going to see if these datura seeds will dry on the window ledge as it is getting too cold outside…

these are from the white ones, which amazingly, are my favourite, lol…

hard to tell, but the purple (mauve really) ones are much smaller, but the plants grow like crazy…

so I am hoping they will dry and give me a good number of seeds for next year;-)…

fingers crossed…

weighted…

06 Friday Oct 2023

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Monday I walked over to the Park Cafe wearing my new weighted gloves…

they are purple and kind of cute, lol…

I popped them into my vest while we were there and couldn’t believe how heavy it was when I lifted it to put it back on before heading out…

after a quick tour of the English and Leo Mol Gardens, which have a beautiful autumn vibe, with orange, yellow, purple, and brown colouring, I walked home with them on…

I am getting used to them…