Posts filed under ‘Perennial flowers’
Magnolias
Spring’s delicious smell is wafting through Vancouver right now and magnolias like the ones pictured here deserve a great deal of the credit. When their large, leaf-like petals fold open they fill the streets with fragrance and beauty – I especially love seeing them against a blue sky or littered on the ground beneath a towering tree.
When we first moved to Vancouver just over two years ago I remember being enchanted by the smell of it every time I stepped outside. I still am.
We have a star magnolia planted in a large container on one corner of our patio. It came into our lives via the sale section at the garden shop. A clearance section pot became its keeper and it is blooming beautifully in its second season in our little garden.
Like this:
Flowers from the garden
All winter long I’ve been buying cut flowers from the store. No longer. Now I just need scissors. My container garden is full of spring blooms: tulips are opening up, pale daffodils that came up late are just starting to fade away alongside the long, variegated leaves of the crocuses, which are quite beautiful all on their own even though the flowers are long gone. My hanging baskets are filled with a mix of primulas and the pink and orange ranunculus and purple periwinkles you see here. All are plentiful enough that I’ve filled a little vase with them.
For those of you who are counting, there are 25 flowers and leaves in this little vase, picked in honour of a sad but special day. Life is a strange place, and hard to deal with at times. Somehow everything feels a bit lighter with flowers brightening a space, especially when you’ve been outside carefully plucking them from your own garden. It’s easier to find a sense of meaning and calm when you’re surrounded by beauty. It’s a simple thing, maybe silly, but there’s a little voice in things like flowers from the garden that calls at you and pushes you to try to make the rest of your world just as right – whether it’s indoors, outdoors, or like these flowers on a windowsill, somewhere in between.
Like this:
First day of spring
Today is the first day of spring, the equinox. The sun crosses over the equator and, according to the smart folks at National Geographic, the day is slightly longer than the night everywhere on earth. What a hopeful thought. It snowed in Vancouver yesterday and I am still wearing my gloves and winter coat most days, but at least it is starting to look like spring.
I hope the temperature takes a cue from the flowers soon.
Like this:
Here comes spring
Rain and February. It is hard to separate the two. Today was one of those rare days where they took a break from each other. It was such a treat to be outside in the sun, especially with these crocuses showing off on our patio. It’s still cold, only 6 or 7 degrees celsius, but warm enough for gardening. I spent a couple of hours puttering around outside cleaning up, planting primulas and sowing basil, tomato and lettuce seeds that I’ll grow inside for the next month or two. (more…)
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Flowers + snow
Winter on the west coast is at its best when flowers and snow collide. Take these two scenes: above is a picture of a cherry tree in bloom just off Davie Street and Burrard in Vancouver’s west end. I took this picture today when I was wandering around on my lunch break. This seems shockingly early for cherry blossoms, but the photographic evidence speaks for itself.
And below, in the same neighbourhood on the same day, just a few hours earlier, is the view from my office window of the 20-minute snowstorm we experienced this morning in Vancouver. It was a great start to my week to be able to gaze out into the swirl over emails and Monday morning coffee. (more…)
