Still all of March to get through before the gardening season can even be contemplated - other, that is, apart from sowing some seeds in a couple of weeks. Lots of snow on the ground. But there are things for the gardener to appreciate for all that, amongst which are buds with [...]
Yesterday there was a lot of freezing rain falling and coating the world in sparkly ice. Being sensible people we stayed indoors, exercised in the basement, and ventured forth this morning to see the world glittering. Freezing rain is a pain, and potentially dangerous, for anyone who has no options but to go [...]
A couple of weeks ago a knowledgeable friend (thanks Ron) drew my attention to a tall and mature Cottonwood tree growing beside the local cemetery. Way, way up high he said “it looks like there is a birch tree growing out of a crack or fork in the main trunk”. Finally we got [...]
The clacks went back this weekend ... darker afternoons for all.
Quite a glorious day - this afternoon was a pleasant 14C temperature and warm sunlight to take the edge off. J was on duty at the library so I wandered down with her and then enjoyed the riverside which simply looks at its best in October. There are worse places for a chap [...]
Strolling in Winter near Montreal We were out a few days ago counting winter birds and thought a couple of minutes strolling through the snowy forest with us might be calming for your soul. Immediately by the start off this short walk there were four different species of Woodpecker in the trees [...]
In Baie-D'Urfé, and in other similar towns blessed with lots of trees, we often speak of the importance of our trees. This extract from an excellent book about urban nature, speaks to that understanding and explains why providing small, replacement trees ("oh, they will get big in a few years") are not [...]
Around the edge of the garden is a quite dense thicket of bushes and trees where the outdoor staff, the "Wild Things". do whatever it is they do. Just every now and again I venture in there to see what's happening and to collect the rent. [...]
Elder I am currently preparing a daily sequence of elder tree leaf buds opening ... this is a sample; day 6 of the series
Sambucus canadensis Canadian Elder ... or whatever common name happens to be used in the area you happen to be ** For anyone interested in photography, this image was composed from seven separate photographs at different stacked focus planes to achieve without any out of focus features. Some of the [...]