Crocuses

Just a couple of Crocus pictures from to-day

The Pond Clean-up

The dreaded day arrived yesterday. It was clean the pond day. Never a nice experience. Lets just say the smell is unpleasant at best!!!! Still must be done. The water was in there since October last and lots of decaying leaves. Still a good time to check the liner, break up the potted water plants and have a good look at the fish. Everything turned out to be just fine this year.

My Shih-Tzu "Asia", was very interested in the going on's with the ponds. She was the perfect supervisor. She just had her spring hair cut last week. She is over the shock of that one now!!!!

The Last picture is my Fish Family. Only one missing in the picture. These are a mix of gold fish types and Koi.

A quote from Christ March 29th 2010

 

"Because I live, ye shall live also"
"Because I live, ye shall live also"

This is Holy Week, This is what Christianity is built on through Christ. As we celebrate the victory of Jesus entering Jerusalem, the trial that followed, his pain, and then death. Then next week, with Easter, it becomes his resurrection we celebrate as well we should. With out that there would be no Christianity. Christ himself would have been just another Man if he had not risen. 

I put up a squirrel's nest here. It comes to mind the quote of Christ where he states that "On this rock I build my Church", Well in this case a tree !!!  still the point is the family has to start somewhere. Sadly this is the tree that was cut down a couple of weeks ago. The squirrels are doing fine however, There was nobody home that day.

An Awaking of an Imperial

Fritillaria imperial (Crown Imperial)

These are a great plant in the spring and is probably the largest in most spring gardens. This pic is of a bud coming out of the ground. It is about 8 cm high already. This one is the orange variety. It will bloom in a few weeks and I will post those pics then. It is claimed that they will keep squirrels and other rodents away. My experience on this is it might, but not with much success. This plant always grows incredibly well, however it does not bloom every year. At least from my experience.

These plants come from the same area as tulips and other common spring plants. That being Northern Iran, Iraq, and Turkey.

The First Flowers of the Year

Crocus vernus, (Crocus Hybrid),  Hemerocallis fluva, (Ditch Lily), and Tulipa ( Tulip Emperor Red)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocus

Here it is, it happened to-day. My first flower blooms in the garden. These are (Crocus vernus)  hybrid Crocuses. I am surprised that they even tried to bloom as it is so cold right now for this time of the year. I suspect that they will be fully open to-marrow. I will take this as being open.
By the way the Cultivated Crocuses come from Northern Iran and Turkey, as do Tulips. They were both introduced to Europe during the Crusades. 

The lower picture is a grouping of Tulips. These are the Emperor Red, and, (Hemerocallis fluva) or Common Ditch Lilies. Everything here is about 3 cm high so a long way to go. This looks really nice when the tulips bloom as the day lilies will have fantastic leaves by then and the red blooms of the Tulips will make it very impressive

Signs of Life

Everything is about to happen again for this year of 2010. The days seem to drag as I wait for the explosion of life about to happen. I am sure we all are, here in Canada.

The top picture is that of the Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple). It just started blooming out yesterday. Wonderful to see the tiny red flowers.

The second is of  the (Ilex Blue Princess) Holly Blue Princess. It looks rather beat up right now and the berries are about to drop off. Still everything for this year is ready to go. Buds are about to spring to life.

The third is a miniature daffodil, It is referred to as a Tete a Tete,  it will bloom any day now. These have the same look as regular daffodils but much smaller, max height about 15 cms.

The bottom picture is of the Rhododendron Black Spot. This guy also looks rather rough as well. However shown here is a flower head, so all is good again this year for a great  floral show.

Last night was a really cold one,-7 o C. The tulips have this look of just coming out of the freezer. They do not seem to mind it though. When the sun hits them and they thaw out, they look like nothing ever happened.

Garden Stuff

Here are just a few of my Garden Knick Knack stuff as it were. Kind of neat to see it all out and getting ready for this years show. The last two weeks was all about pond care and leaf removal.  The pond is fun to work at, but I have yet to change the water. I will wait till April to do that. I try to do most of the year's organizing during the Easter Week. Then it is pretty much set for the year to come. So the next two weeks when I have free time will be deciding what goes where. I truly try not to have the garden look the same each year. This year I am going to do something different and plant Marigolds. As many varieties as are available. Kind of a signature for the year

A Quote from Christ,, March 10 2010

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

 I often wonder how far this can be taken. Example, does it mean if you ask Jesus for a Million Dollars enough times, do you get a Million Dollars. I think not, however if you are not careful, there are those who would say that is what this means. Guess what, they are asking for your money and they get the Million and it is all false.

I find that this is a very important quote for so many reasons, and also one of the most abused by false preachers.

The Big Maple

Acer saccharum/, Sugar Maple

The Great-tailed Grackle /,  Quiscalus mexicanus,  and the House Sparrow /, Passer domesticus make this there home threw out the 3 snow free seasons. What a noise that comes from this tree every morning as this tree is used as a sanctuary by both species during the nights. However neither nest in this tree. It all sounds wonderful till you have to get up at 5:30 in the morning because you just forget about trying to sleep. That said I would not change a thing. This tree is over 30 meters high, and in perfect condition. I had it checked out a couple of years ago when a huge branch feel out of it and nearly killed my sister and I. It had old damage that was not taken care of 20 years before. All fixed up now.

the pond coming back to life

It is finally happening. Spring is coming about and the pond is a good indicator. Ice is disappearing. and I can see the fish for the first time since before Christmas. They always seem longer at this point. I guess it is the loss of some fat over the winter that gives them a longer look. Soon they will be well on their way to growth and weight gain. The best part is I lost none over wintering, I usually have a couple die each year.
Now for me to take care of some of my weight gain !!!!!

a Tree that needed removal

Acer saccharum, Sugar Maple
To-day was a bit of a sad day for me. I had to have a Sugar Maple cut down. It was a 100 year old specimen. Unfortunately it was suffering from rot in the main trunk and had become dangerous. It was 25 meters tall and provided much shade and a wonderful home for many creatures year round. At any rate I decided to do it at this time before wild life created nesting homes within a few weeks. This was my second tallest tree, my biggest is doing just fine. That one is also a Sugar Maple and is over 30 meters in height. It is said to be the 3rd tallest tree in our town.


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Canadian Hockey Draped in Olympic Gold

 

Here is a Canada Moment. This was taken on Feb 28th at my home in Dunnville, Ontario. It was to show the colours for the Olympic Hockey Gold Medal Final. As we Canadians expected, we won that Gold Medal in overtime 3 to 2 against the United States. The party was on after that.
O yes, that snow. It is almost gone :)

The Grand River in March

The first picture is the mighty Grand River above the Dam. This river is the longest river in Southern Ontario. It starts near Georgian Bay and ends at Lake Erie. The largest City that is built on it is Kitchener, Ontario

The second picture is of a few Greater Canada Geese. These birds were so over hunted that by the 1920's they were almost extinct. They became protected and was to become the first successful project to protect a species in the Americas. There are so many to-day it is hard to believe that by 1930 there was less than 100 mating pair left in the world.

The third picture is of  Long Bridge, in Dunnville. The first bridge was built in the 1820's and made of wood. It was the longest Bridge in Canada at that time. This bridge was constructed in the 1950's..

The Dam at Dunnville was also constructed in the 1820's and that was to help with the water flow for the original Welland Canal. The canals that were constructed above the dam were called the feeders. They are still here but no longer used.

Lastly, Long Bridge and the Dam. What you see here is all relatively new. The Bridge being constructed in the early 1950's and the Dam was reconstructed in the mid 1990's

First Pictures of Spring in my Garden

These are the first pictures of spring in my Garden. The first is of a small turtle ornament, that was buried till this morning, next to the fish pond. The second are the first Tulips to be seen by me this year in the garden. I am sure there are more but they are still buried under about 8 cm's of snow. So Terry if you are tired of winter it is almost done.
These pictures where taken to-day March 5th 2010

The Falls with Ice

Well it is about time I restart the Blog for the year so here are some pics from my neck of the woods. Of course this is Niagara Falls. These pictures where taken on the 3 of  March 2010. It was a great day warm and with little wind. Still here in the Niagara Region we have snow but it is going away very fast now. Spring is just around the corner :)

I was wondering how to start the new year worth of pictures, It has been two months since I lasted posted. There really was not much to take pictures of. Better I want to start this year with all fresh photo's. So there will not be many for now but soon it will expand quickly enough.
I hope you all enjoy, and please send comments, they make my day a lot brighter.