It's Really Spring!
For now, in any event. And for the near foreseeable future. Before we're plunged back into more likely temperature mode for this time of early spring in Ottawa. We've been enjoying 20 to 25 degree temperatures for well over a week, with full sun.
Which has been most welcome, to banish the mountains of snow that winter left us with, a whopping 440+ centimetres this winter season, an almost-record-breaker. The snow deep enough and heavy enough to destroy the winter rose cones, and to flatten our globe cedars.
Both the roses, however, and the cedars, will recover. And the snow is almost gone, hard to believe though that is. Not in the ravine, by any means, but in our gardens, front and back. We've got scilla, miniature irises and anemones in miniature bloom, along with crocuses.
And the tulips, some with heads already evident, the lilies, and the irises and hyachinths shoving up, greening the atmosphere with promise of brilliant colour. Some of the grape hyacinths are already blooming.
I can see wee wisps of fresh green on roses, clematis, honeysuckle. They're clamouring to greet the new season. The flower buds on the magnolia are maturing, as are the rhododendrons, the tree peonies.
Yesterday my housemate and fellow gardener set out all of our garden pots and urns, preparatory to filling them with fresh new soil. Today he did the same with those for the backyard. He washed and scrubbed the deck floorboards, and put together the swinging seat I love to spend hazy summer hours on.
In the ravine, we've seen Mourning Cloaks and small orange commas, nuthatches, goldfinches, a pair of nesting Mallard ducks resting from their long voyage; and downy woodpeckers. At the base of a large pine I saw a broad fat-cheeked little face peering at me from the ground, some 20 yards from where I stood, open-mouthed at his bravery.
We see raccoons occasionally high up on particular pines, but not too often on the ground. I sprinkled a handful of peanuts around the tree after he scrambled up the trunk. He'll find them when he descends again, unless the squirrels get to them first.
The trails are about 30% free of their snow and ice-pack, and there's surprisingly little spongy dirt and muck. In those areas which are mostly shaded, there's still a snowpack of about several feet in depth, but at these temperatures, should they persist, it'll be relatively quick work for the rest to melt; the warming atmosphere is irresistible.
Which has been most welcome, to banish the mountains of snow that winter left us with, a whopping 440+ centimetres this winter season, an almost-record-breaker. The snow deep enough and heavy enough to destroy the winter rose cones, and to flatten our globe cedars.
Both the roses, however, and the cedars, will recover. And the snow is almost gone, hard to believe though that is. Not in the ravine, by any means, but in our gardens, front and back. We've got scilla, miniature irises and anemones in miniature bloom, along with crocuses.
And the tulips, some with heads already evident, the lilies, and the irises and hyachinths shoving up, greening the atmosphere with promise of brilliant colour. Some of the grape hyacinths are already blooming.
I can see wee wisps of fresh green on roses, clematis, honeysuckle. They're clamouring to greet the new season. The flower buds on the magnolia are maturing, as are the rhododendrons, the tree peonies.
Yesterday my housemate and fellow gardener set out all of our garden pots and urns, preparatory to filling them with fresh new soil. Today he did the same with those for the backyard. He washed and scrubbed the deck floorboards, and put together the swinging seat I love to spend hazy summer hours on.
In the ravine, we've seen Mourning Cloaks and small orange commas, nuthatches, goldfinches, a pair of nesting Mallard ducks resting from their long voyage; and downy woodpeckers. At the base of a large pine I saw a broad fat-cheeked little face peering at me from the ground, some 20 yards from where I stood, open-mouthed at his bravery.
We see raccoons occasionally high up on particular pines, but not too often on the ground. I sprinkled a handful of peanuts around the tree after he scrambled up the trunk. He'll find them when he descends again, unless the squirrels get to them first.
The trails are about 30% free of their snow and ice-pack, and there's surprisingly little spongy dirt and muck. In those areas which are mostly shaded, there's still a snowpack of about several feet in depth, but at these temperatures, should they persist, it'll be relatively quick work for the rest to melt; the warming atmosphere is irresistible.
Labels: Gardening, Perambulations
posted by Pieface @ 6:00 PM
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