26 Tuesday Oct 2021
Posted in life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
25 Monday Oct 2021
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, dahlias, digging, Eveline, flowers, garden, moments, nature, plants, purple, tubers, weather, widow
spent time outside in the garden digging up some of the dahlia tubers…
although it was sunny, it was cool and it got windier as I worked… my fingers were cold inside my work gloves and I had a cup of tea to warm them up when I got in, lol…
I only ended up bringing in the tubers from two of them… one is still out there but I will finish digging it out in a few days…
these are the tubers from my favourite Eveline… there are quite a few pieces and it took a lot of work to get them out of the planter…
once they dry out I will take off the rest of the soil around them… then I will put them into paper bags in a dark and cool part of the basement…
there were two of these in one pot and they bloomed a lot and made me very happy… I hope that there will be more next summer…
and this clump came out in one piece… it is the Robann Regal and also had multiple blooms… I am hopeful that they will be viable in the spring…
the flowers were a bit smaller than I expected but the plant produced many blooms…
looking forward to bringing in the Mick’s Peppermint, which also bloomed beautifully…
21 Thursday Oct 2021
Posted in garden, life, nature, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, coleus, friends, garden, house, nature, plants, propagate, Spring, weather, widow
a few weeks ago I read that you could propagate coleus using their leaves, and have them as houseplants which could then go into the garden in the spring…
I didn’t have any in the garden but a friend did and I asked if they would give me a few clippings…
a week ago they dropped off a few types and I popped them into a glass and set it on the dining room table…
I did a bit more research and discovered that they needed to be much smaller than I thought…
so, I trimmed them up and put them back into the glass and set it on the table in the living room…
once they have roots I will transplant them into pots and enjoy them over the winter… eventually they will make a great addition to the side garden…
I also cut pieces from two of my indoor vines and set them in water as well… I have found a couple of tiny pots and plan to put them into the bathroom window;-)…
15 Friday Oct 2021
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
acclimatized, big girl pants, blessed, bugs, deck, garden, moments, moving, nature, plants, widow
recently brought in two of my plants which had been on the deck for the last while…
the hibiscus spent the entire summer on the deck and when it came in it sat just inside the door as it acclimatized to the temperature and hopefully dropped any bugs… it took up a fair bit of room, lol… it was moved yesterday to the corner of the dining room and today has a bloom;-)…
the mandevilla had lived right in the garden and only recently started blooming… it was covered with a plastic bag and sat in the bathtub to suffocate any non-invited guests before moving into the dining room this morning…
it will stay there for a little while, but this may not be its final resting place…
we will see…
11 Monday Oct 2021
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, garden, happy, hibiscus, mandevilla, naked, nature, plants, transplanted, widow
Hilda the Gardener came by this afternoon and cleaned up the garden… there were still flowers blooming, so I was happy that she was dumping them and I didn’t have to, lol…
she emptied all of the planters and transplanted the two butterfly bushes… the plan is to try and overwinter them in the basement… we will see if they make it…
the only plants left are the dahlias which I will remove when they die back…
it looks rather naked in the garden… and the pots in the front yard are empty now… will have to decide what to put in the one on the steps for the winter…
the mandevilla and hibiscus are still on the deck but they will likely come in tomorrow…
I’m going to cover each of them with a garbage bag and leave them for a few days… hope that deals with any bugs, lol…
07 Thursday Oct 2021
Posted in business, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
allée, big girl pants, blessed, Diversity, flowers, friends, garden, happy, indigenous, moments, nature, photos, plants, The Leaf - Diversity Gardens, walk, widow
finally made it to The Leaf – Diversity Gardens…
what a special place… it is already stunning and I can’t imagine how great it will be as everything grows into the space…
I was so happy to see that a portion of the allée is still there… for years I would walk around it to get my steps in and I thought it had been removed… the trees are just beautiful…
after we crossed it, we moved into the various gardens… they were all distinctly different…
the Indigenous People’s Garden is an enclosed circle of amazing artwork depicting spring to winter, with a fire pit in the centre and seating for numbers of people… I could envision sitting in this quiet space and meditating…
the Kitchen Garden was filled with fruit trees and the most amazing sunflower plants, as well as herbs, flowers and vegetables…
again, nice benches with morning glories growing behind them for sitting…
the Performance Garden is set up as an amphitheatre and reminded me of wonderful times when we camped and attended numerous events at such locations…
part of the Sensory Garden were these great steps up and down some hills… great fun, although going up was better than coming down, lol…
enjoyed all of the critters in the Gardens… I think the butterflies were my favourite…
it was windy and all the grasses were rippling… lovely…
although there are a few ways to enter the gardens, I was very enamoured with this one…
the Water section had the coolest spheres…
all in all, a great place for a contemplative walk or a walking tour with a friend…
looking forward to my next visit…
26 Sunday Sep 2021
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, datura, flowers, garden, moments, morning glories, nature, plants, purple, squish, widow, winnow
been collecting seeds for the last week or so…
the morning glories are very simple… I just put one hand under the little pod and squish it with the other… then I winnow the part holding it together by blowing over my hand… the excess blows away and the seeds remain and can be popped into a container…
the datura are a bit more complicated… the seed pods are covered in very sharp spikes which try to hurt me, lol…
I now have a container for each of the two types I have grown this year… the lovely white ones and the smaller, but cute, purple ones…
it is best to wait for the pods to start cracking as they dry, which makes removing them slightly easier… the dryer they are, the easier to remove…
I have quite a collection…
25 Saturday Sep 2021
Posted in business, garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, flowers, garden, mandevilla, moments, mound, nature, photos, plants, widow
had a great time with Hilda the Gardener this afternoon…
we discussed plans for the next month or so, and for the spring…
she moved some soil for me and I finished filling up the new raised bed…
she also brought the mandevilla up onto the deck… it will be coming into the house before too long..
she moved baby’s breath, silver mound and milkweed to what I hope will be better spots…
and removed some of the weeds in the side garden…
it always makes me happy to see the difference once she’s been here…
08 Wednesday Sep 2021
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, garden, growing, careful, moments, plants, secateurs, trim, virginia creeper, widow
decided the Virginia creeper over the hot tub was starting to creep too much towards the water…
grabbed my secateurs and a pail… moved the steps to the other side of the hot tub and climbed up…
was careful not to fall as I climbed onto the cover and along the edge to get to the window…
happy to get back on the ground when it was done…
looks much tidier now…
and I am still in one piece;-)…
07 Tuesday Sep 2021
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
berries, big girl pants, blessed, garden, lily of the valley, moments, nature, plants, purple, widow
the other day I took a photo of some beautiful Virginia creeper berries… they were climbing on the cedars on the back lane side of the garden and were a bright purple…
today I spotted these red berries in amongst the lily of the valley…
I’ve never seen berries on lily of the valley before…
herbiggirlpants 