My Garden – Mon Jardin – Mi Jardin – Mein Garten – Daily Adventures & Thoughts

No matter the language, my garden is my paradise. To watch the lovely birds that nest in the trees and bushes. The bees, butterflies are such a joy to see.


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Cheerful photos from those hot summer days.. to enjoy on this rainy day!

Sometimes .. there is a period when time seems to stand still .. and then it speeds up and before you know it .. a season is over and another one has begun!

Spring and Summer are like that for me.  One moment I’m all excited, planting flower & veggie seeds.  Watching them all sprout and grow.  Enjoying the enchantment of each living thing becoming what is what meant to be.  This is magic.  The long hot sunny days blur into each other, becoming an endless series of wonder.

Then the seeds, having grown into their potential, give us a plentiful supply of food, nutritious and delicious.   I’m still excited but becoming more grateful and appreciative.

Here is a spring photo of a Swallowtail Butterflying sipping at the nectar of the Budleia.  This plant I hadn’t pruned for years so it was massive.  After the flowers had finished, I cut it back thoroughly.  I know that it will again grow tall with many flowers for the butterflies next Spring.  These plants are amazingly resilient!

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Darling little JaneE Kat .. enjoying a peaceful siesta in the sun ..thurs01

A very hardy Clematis flowers over a little arbour in the garden .. the butterfly is enjoying taking a little rest on a flower .. how  beautiful and delicate this all is.   This Nature.  thurs-20

The first batch of peas ready to pick .. they were delicious!thurs-07

Dainty pea flower growing away … I hadn’t noticed before the graceful designs in the flower and now I see how gentle and magnificent this is.thurs-06

About 4 or 5 years ago, I’d planted some bamboo .. and had encircled the root system with heavy grade garden plastic.  Happy to see that this barrier worked to keep the bamboo well within this wrap and didn’t spread along the fenceline.  It was very easy to just lift the plant from where it was and then I divided it into sections and replanted them in large pots – to be replanted another day.  And I believe that this is the “clumping” type of bamboo, not the runner type.thurs-03

During the summer I participated in a few craft markets and here are some wine charms that I made for a customer.   I have many interests, thus many types of crafts, too many, perhaps.   I need a store!!thurs-05

A Spotted Towhee perches atop the wild and crazy tree.  Later he sang a lovely song ….here is a link where you can find all details of this sweet  Towhee  thurs-11-2

Hot pink geraniums in the yard …thurs-11

Hey .. more treats for me??? (of course, sweetie, all you want!)  My darling Garden Kat.thurs-08

The robust  bees love the Budleia too!  thurs-12

Wildflowers in a field … thurs-13

Translucent rainbow spheres of mystical delicacy waft towards the mountains .. are these tiny transportation orbs for the fae that dwell nearby?

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Majestic mountains .. I look forward to flying up there next spring!  My DH will be at the controls of the PW-6U and I’ll be all comfy, settled in .. happy to be soaring skywards!!thurs-14

The B-17 Bomber that visited the Victoria Flying Club in June of this year!thurs-09

During the lovely warm days of spring and the hot times in the summer, I love taking the photos of things that I love and never have enough time to stop and enjoy thoroughly.

Now is the time when I can relax, spend some time going through the photos, rediscovering all the beauty that flourishes everywhere.

And planning for next year.

Enjoying today.

Feeling a tremendous sense of satisfaction in my life and surroundings.

A great deal of appreciation, gratitude and joy.

Now .. time to go and check out my latest supply of apples, carefully prepared early this morning and distributed in the 6 trays of the dehydrator!    Treats for snacking and for sharing!

I feel like the little ant who worked so hard preparing for the winter and enjoying the process!

🙂


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Organic straw for the garden and a few more bird feeders for my friends in the yard…

So yesterday was one of those days .. one where all I really wanted to do was go outside and tackle some outdoor chores.  I have a long list of these things to do outside and somehow quite enjoy ignoring them while I wander around the yard … soaking in the beauty of vines, plants, flowers .. all growing vigorously … watching the darling birds.

But .. yesterday I had a few places to visit throughout the city and I am really glad that I did.   One of the reasons that made me happy was a chance visit to a garden centre by Sears!  There was a sale!  And my lovely DH had given me a gift card for this shop (Cannor’s!!) which I happened to have with me.  He gives me a card for my birthday (recent) and one for Christmas.  I always try to get the maximum use out of these great gifts, so a sale just beckons me!

I bought a few (8 of them!!) items that were actually for air ferns.  Well when I looked at them .. I saw “bird feeder” instead.  So I now have a good supplies of these feeders for my little winged friends.  Here is one which I filled with sunflower seeds and am now waiting to see little birdies happily munching away.  These are shaped just nicely for the little guys to settle in, and feast away.  I can hardly wait to see them using it!

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Here is a second type, sort of bowl-shaped, with cutouts!  I have 2 of these .. and as of today I am still waiting for the little birds to discover them.  They will, it’s just a matter of time.  However, seeing that I’m impatient I would love to see them “Now”!  🙂  Nature is patience so I must wait.  sigh.02Here is another lovely item that I bought at the garden shop yesterday … right now I put a little bit of water in it to see if the birds would like to bathe in it … no takers so far.  And I might be tempted to put birdseed in it sometime, who knows!  Not sure if it is meant to be outdoors in the winter .. time will tell.  It is made of metal with a type of clear coating over the metal.  Should it happen to weather during the winter, well .. that will add more of a personality to the patina!

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And I travelled to the heart of Central Saanich to buy 2 bales of Certified Organic Straw .. a treat for my garden .. no chemicals or pesticides.  Lovely.  I’ll be spreading this over my garlic once it is planted and then will add some as a winter mulching around my perennials.  It isn’t easy to find Certified Organic Hay or Straw and so I was quite happy to find Ryan Vantreight’s organic farm!   He is passionate about organic gardening .. we need more people like him!!   🙂

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Sweet little squash flowers .. growing on.  I can see tiny squash here and there in the yard .. there is still a month of growing let so I think I will be able to harvest a handful of tiny squash.  How fun that will be.

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This is the little bird-cage that I bought last summer in Port Alberni .. the top of the cage is hinged and hangs at the back.  I’d placed a cheerful geranium inside and look at the tiny little sunflower that is growing alongside of it!

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Some afternoon skies from yesterday.

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My running around yesterday also included a trip to the Casino, for my yearly $5 Happy Birthday gift.   I had troubles with my card at first, it kept showing up as “invalid” and then after 2 trips to the Customer Service desk I finally had everything right.  I chose to play the 1 cent machine.  And I could do no wrong!  Kept winning 8 free draws and line wins and then my $5 gift had blossomed to $10.62.  I went wild and bet the 62 cents and then decided to cash in my winnings and walked out, $10 richer than when I went in.  There is a slippery slide to gambling and I choose to not do the slide.  Tempting, though .. and they know it!  All those bells & whistles and free spins with lots of credits piling up.  As I walked away, I thought .. should I just play a few more games?   No …………. and off to Lee Valley Tools I went!

Wise choice and I spent a few happy minutes in there .. love that place.

So yesterday was a fun day, caught some sales, won some money and finally .. oh joy .. was able to spend a little time in my garden … my favourite place to be!

🙂