Trying to be optimistic here, as we have had two outbursts of really bad weather in the past 5 days. This has resulted in more snow, but also bouts of rain and freezing rain, resulting in a glacier in most of the yard. The good news is, the snow isn't blowing around. The bad news is...the horse and donkey would need ice skates crossed with snowshoes to be able to cope with being outdoors. So they are barn-grumpy.
Still, there is plenty of beauty to behold, like these seedheads of inula against a wintery sky...
And because we continue to feed the birds and provide water for them, there is plenty of bird life to be enjoyed from the windows, or outside when the weather is less cranky...it's important to have a source of fresh water for birds in winter, so we're really enjoying the heated birdbath we bought from
For the Birds Nature Shop in Mahone Bay.
This little spruce, clinging to life on the rocks down by the wharf, says a great deal about the determination of plants. I do wonder what is going on under the snow in my garden...probably moles, mice, voles are chewing roots and bark of plants. But we'll worry about that when the snow finally relinquishes its grip...
And since we don't expect to see real daffodils until about May, with all this snow, I'll try to relieve a little of our Farch madness with dreams of daffodils from other seasons. We will make it through til spring, won't we?
I know many of you are starting to enjoy the awakening gardening, but what about the rest of my winter-weary friends? How are you coping with this long cold winter?
Great photos.. I don't have a bloom yet, but my daffodils are sprouting up everywhere! I'm SO ready for spring :)
ReplyDeleteThe photo of my garden on my desktop keeps me sane until I can get outside.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm busy planning my garden projects for this year. I just bought your book yesterday and I have lots of sticky notes marking plants I want to find. Now I just have to find space for them....or, maybe, I'll just enlarge the garden again. LOL
Oh that last collage just brightened my day! Truly luminous.
ReplyDeletePleased to read you are a fan of For the Birds Nature Shop in Mahone Bay...an excellent young couple running a great business. Our heated bird bath(also from them)is visited continually, not to bath this time of year, but for a drink of warm water. On occasion it will dry out and the mourning doves love to sit in it....guess it keeps their bottoms warm))
Coping with the long winter by ordering seeds, deciding on new shrubs and other plants that do better in our quick draining soil and trying to figure out a planting scheme for the veg garden to make the season longer. But...the snow is making me weary. Thanks for asking))))
May !!!!!! oh Jodi what a winter and having to wait that length of time. I was sure you would have some by the middle of April normally as that's when my relatives travel back to Nova Scotia after their winter escape.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any daffy's out yet either and it was lovely to see your colourful collage with all those different types. I planted lots of pheasant eyes this year and Thalia and ones with pinkish trumpets like what are in your picture.
Jodi would you mind checking out my latest post - I was told about a blog that was scrapping and I recognise so many bloggers blogs on there but didn't get time to check many of the archive posts so not sure if anything of yours is amongst them..... I hope not.
Dear Jodi, I love this post and I thought you would like to know I linked to it on my latest posting. P x
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I've not envied you for your snow. The version of winter you describe in this post does not sound pleasant. The top picture is very attractive though.
ReplyDeleteLucy
Dear Jodi, I certainly think that it takes an indomitable spirit to cope with the seemingly endless winters which you experience in the frozen North!Although not as long and certainly not as frozen, I do think that the dreary, drizzly, grey British winters take their toll. This is a time when I escape more than usual to my books.....and when the sun shines [as today] I really do feel my heart skip a beat. Dear Jodi...the thaw must be on its way!!
ReplyDeleteLike you, Jodi, I'm digging out the photo files from last spring to keep me going. But I think we're a little better off than you--all the snow has melted here, and although the ground is covered with frost every morning, I think I see a little green grass trying to burst through. No sign of spring bulbs, though.
ReplyDeleteJodi, I know it probably sounds like sheer lunacy considering the wind chill was -30 today but I swear I could feel spring in the air this evening. There's something about the way the light has shifted and a whiff in the air. Or perhaps I'm just suffering some snow related illness that causes hallucinations......
ReplyDeleteJodi,
ReplyDeletethank you for stopping by and leaving a comment.
Going to any tropical island, I enjoy the sun and the ocean.
But most importantly I take pictures of plants, trees and later identify them at home.
During my last vacation in the Dominican Republic I had the fortune to meet a local guide who was able to show me areas tourists normally don't visit.
Can't wait to meet him again to hiking and another picture safari.
********
By the way I am attending Canada Blooms preview & cocktail party on March 15th.
http://www.canadablooms.com/
Pls. come back for my pictures and report.
- Cheers Gisela.
It is raining but later we will get some snow again.
Winter must seem interminably long for you Jodi ~ I think that you deserve a gigantic medal. Here we have not had any snow since December but lots of depressing grey and bleak days. There are some signs of spring and it can't come quick enough for me now.
ReplyDeleteOH my stars! May? There are going to be so many long awaited surprises under your snow. Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteI just returned to sub tropic Australia from 2 weeks in the UK with minus 4 celsius temperatures -quite a contrast. You look even colder. I don't know what is worse....having it that cold that nothing grows; or that hot and humid that the disease and pests grow faster than the vegetables....We all have our own trials in the garden....but the challenge is half the fun.
ReplyDelete