Weeding Weather

I was lucky enough today to have a few hours to spend in the garden for some weeding and clean up. The weather was fantastic for it... nice to see things budding out and getting ready for true spring. I snapped a few shots and had to include that harbinger of spring - Galanthus nivalis or snowdrop. There are quite a few clumps of them around because we divided them up in the fall - a wonderful payoff! They are just budding right now...

Galanthus - detail bud (scale = 3 cm)

They are one of my favourites... and I love that they have so many different names. The common name 'snow drop' first appeared in the 1633 edition of John Gerard's Great Herbal (first edition 1597) and he described it as "Timely flowering Bulbus violet"! It may have also come form the Gerrman word Schneetropfen which was a type of earring popular at that time. Other common names include 'February fairmaids', 'dingle-dangle', 'Candlemas bells', 'Mary's tapers' and 'snow piercers'.

I had some lovely company in the garden - a sweet young cat who was having fun chasing my cuttings.

2013 - A New Year Begins in the Garden

I forget what this is? Type of Viburnum? Do tell

Spring is on the way... and the garden had it's Annual General Meeting to look back on the year and make plans for the new year! So many great initiatives were accomplished in 2012 and it's great pondering the new season in these last cold days of winter. I don't know about you but I already have quite a few packets of new seeds to plant and if it stays relatively 'warmish' this weekend I'm planning on doing some weeding! 

We are so lucky to live in Kits as even in the colder months there is a variety of plants to see and smell! The shot above was taken on a late afternoon neighbourhood walk... the white buds look like exquisite jewels floating in the air.

Speaking of local plants, today, I was made aware of this great resource about pacific northwest plant knowledge "GPP" (out of Seattle) Check it out: .http://www.greatplantpicks.org/about/

See you at the kick off spring work party - Saturday, March 9th! (if not sooner)

Here is another opportunity to refer to the 2013 work party dates... enter these dates into your diaries, smartphones, post-it notes on your fridge, etc:

Saturday, March 9
Sunday, April 14
Saturday, May 18
Wednesday, June 19 (evening)
Sunday, July 21 (potluck)
Wednesday, August 21 (evening)
Saturday, September 21
Sunday, October 20