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.

Tag Archives: Victoria British Columbia


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The beauty of nature and the magic of the garden …

One of the zillion positive items from Cannor Nursery!   Does your mind boggle at the thought of all the happy activities that can constitute a day?  And with joy and abandon?  🙂

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Jane E Kat knows!  She’s perched on her little bench, awaiting yet more treats and .. at the same time .. being, oh, so cool!  She does that very well.

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Last Saturday we went to the Beachhouse (a most wonderful, fantastic and amazing restaurant that you will ever find! )   The food is divine.  Service is sublime.  And the view .. well .. breathtaking.  Here is the website:  web site

We were so very lucky to get a window seat!  A great storm was predicted and we were looking forward to seeing the waves!  We weren’t disappointed.  The trees on the beach were waving wildly  …

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And the waves were steadily getting wilder!   Note .. this isn’t a shark fin .. it’s a branch or something.   🙂   🙂  🙂

mon-16The waves were a constant .. and slowly building to a crescendo … (what is a crescendo, anyway, 🙂   )  sounds veddy dramatic, dahling …

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So ..  back home .. today (Monday) was rainy, rainy, rainy.  And that was so fine with me .. finally .. a day where I can focus on indoor stuff.   But, again, the sun came out .. so JaneE Kat and myself went outside.  I added more food to the bird feeders, gave JaneE some treats and then ventured around the yard to see how things were going.  The leaves of a blueberry plant caught my eye.  They looked to be so strong, so textured, so beautiful.mon-20

And this hot pink geranium flower bore the droplets of the recent rain and they were just so pretty …mon-10

The skies overhead were so joyous and free .. mon-13

It was a joy to see these clouds after the grayness of the day …

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I looked around at my potted plants and saw this self seeded Tomatillo …I grew them a few years ago and the seeds are in the compost, scattered about the yard.  They started rather late this year and I didn’t expect to see any fruits.  The flowers are dainty and good for the bees.  And the pods are just so pretty and graceful.

So I was quite surprised to find this tomatillo fruit on the ground .. positivity .. I will dry the seeds and plant them early next late spring/early summer!

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Perfect place to put my mug of Yorkshire Tea whilst I am looking for pretty things in the garden .. right???  🙂mon-15

Ah .. love in the garden .. these two Kentucky Wonder beans are intertwined and look so happy .. such is the wonder of the magic of the garden!mon-14-2

Most darling Bewick Wren in the wild and crazy (Pear stock) tree!  I think this is the baby!!  So happy to see this one!mon-06

The male Downy Woodpecker .. I ran out of suet, so sorry!  But he still likes the sunflower seeds!  (and thank goodness, these are still non gmo!!!)

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One more sunflower for the road!  I have noticed that the birds prefer the unshelled sunflower seeds and avoid the more expensive shelled sunflower seeds!  So I won’t be buying any more of the more expensive shelled types!

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And the lovely Gold Crowned Sparrow .. I love their songs and welcome them to the yard for the winter!!!

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And yet more beans from the bean forest!  I’ve been dehydrating them for winter soups and stews .. what fun!!!

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The weather here in Victoria has been a delicious mix of sun and rain.  I love both so either one gives my joy.

With the rainy weather, my choices of activity are diminished  .. from “playing outside” to “playing inside” my options are clear and easy.  ( for a Libra this is great)

So, seeing the rainy exterior, I had settled in for a lazy interior day.  Then the sun came out and I would have been a crazy fool not to have gone outside.   So that is where I went.

And filled up the bird feeders.     Picked beans from the bean forest.  Gazed at the birds.  Watched Jane E.   Looked up high at the overhead sky.

Soaked up the beauty from the skies ( oh, my) and just enjoyed the heck out of being outside.

🙂

 


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Thursday, December 5, 2013

Well so much for my getting over procrastinating about blogging!  It’s been awhile .. and so I am making a huge effort to get back.

What reasons can I use for not blogging for over 2 months?   I’ve spent so much time in the garden … and have joined the most amazing bootcamp and dog sitting and you name it.   So this sign that I saw in a local park was totally appropriate, I think, for my first photo on my return!

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I’ve enjoyed the most amazing skies …

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These sky pictures are from a week or so ago .. very dreamy overhead ..in the heavens .. when I was out for a walk with darling little Coco dog.
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We were pet sitting her for over a month and now she has gone back to her doggy parents.   She is a sweet little dog.

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This is one of the sights along the path way of the Gorge park … our boot camp goes to the most amazing places.  Victoria, BC is one of the absolutely amazing places to be.   I have gone to places hitherto unknown to me and I’ve lived here for many many years.   There are incredible forested areas deep within the heart of this city and without this group I would have had no idea that these pockets of paradise exist.

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Just had to stop and admire this carved birdhouse ..15

Such a tranquil setting and the pathway is very lengthy and totally beautiful

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This is from another outing.    If I don’t take signage photos, then I really have no idea where I am.  Let me tell you, this group is just a fantastic gathering of interesting ladies!  My life has changed so much since I’ve joined them.   I have way more energy and my interests have broadened as I listen to conversations on art and life.  And my chattering on gardening and the magic of EM!! (effective microorganisms … see:  http://www.gardenerspantry.ca/).

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And on another day, I met with a friend for lunch at the Stonehouse Pub, just the other side of Sidney, B.C.  This is a little sunken garden and I just felt like being silly.  Actually, I would love to have a little sunken garden like this one .. so I was dreaming a little bit about that and M took this photo.  I have a little lunch takeout box with some beautiful lichen that I found on the ground… silly me.

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Today it snowed .. brrrrrrr .. here’s a little apple left out for the birds to nibble on…

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One of those cute garden decorations that are enhanced with the snow.  Perhaps there are tiny inhabitants of this little building .. I wonder …

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The birds had been doing their “shuffle shuffle” dancing on this circle of ice ..

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Guess I’ll have to empty this container as I don’t think the carrots will be growing anymore.  I planted the seeds at the very end of the summer, just couldn’t resist trying to grow them.  Organic, non GMO … the only kind to grow, don’t you think.

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And yesterday, while the sun was out shining .. I moved my garlic containers around.   I’d been devastated this summer as I realized that my garlic had grown in the same area for 2 years and I needed to plant them elsewhere.  This was the sunniest part of the yard so I hadn’t many options.  The option I chose was to use containers!  I guess I kind of got carried away, because I now have: 8 blue styrofoam containers, one large half oak barrel, 31 very large plant containers, 2 raised beds, and a number of rectangular containers.   Plus garlic from Ireland and some from Christine!

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Seen from farther back, you get a better picture .. but .. there are other containers planted withgarlic at the side .. sigh.

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Some Rosemary cuttings ( I have 2 flats of these) taken in the summer .. fingers crossed that some of them will root for springtime.

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Sweet little Anna sitting in the sun . .there are quite a few in our yard ..

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I took this photo of a Spotted Towee, sitting outside our kitchen window .. beautiful winged creature.

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Can you see the squirrel?  I took this photo from the kitchen window also … felt bad for him, I’d moved the sunflower feeder to another area so he was confused and hungry.   I sprinkled a generous amount of sunflowers seeds on this bale of hay and soon he was happily munching away.
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Sweet little gold crowned sparrow .. choosing sunflowers that have fallen from the window feeder.  The tones of their songs touch my heart deeply and I was so very happy when I heard them calling from the trees in our yard a few months ago.

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And now I’ll sign off … with a good-bye to our little Duncan .. a once feral cat, well loved .. he was called to the Rainbow Bridge 2 weeks ago.  He was lord of the yard and after years of trying to get along with JaneE .. he’d finally accepted that she was the boss in their cat relationship.  We will miss him forever and he’s always in our hearts.

Dunky


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I proudly marched in the anti-monsanto march in Victoria, B.C.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

A lovely rainy day here in Victoria, B.C.  Good for the gardens and wow my garden is growing great!  I’ve been harvesting the scapes even before they are curling around .. so impatient, I know, but the scape keeps on growing, doing its thing .. so I have more to harvest.

My pal D and I went to the big anti-Monsanto march last Saturday .. it was quite important for us to join in this event.  As you can see .. the skies were beautiful ..

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Many interesting signs ..

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Ok .. this was me .. I was working at our rental and these are my gardening clothes and didn’t have time to change . .although I don’t normally wear a sign!  It was a tiny sign as I drew it up in my car with materials at hand.  It reads:  Grief and More to come, with little drawings of a sunflower, crying and a little bumblee … saying “help me”

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Of course .. lots of darling little dogs attended the event.

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Shades of Avatar …

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We marched along … all together .. a peaceable group …

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.. along the Inner Harbour, past the Empress ..
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Interesting that it was a “no news” event .. yet see here .. lots of people

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True .. it’s not nice …

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And back at the Parliament Buildings

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02There were many people there .. hopefully many more people will learn about the evil of genetically modified seeds.. the harm that is done to the environment, the crops, the people …..