Last spring and early summer were cold and miserable. This spring has felt similar, until last week, when someone suddenly turned up the thermostat, for a few days anyway, and now we are back down in the “teens” territory. There just doesn’t seem to be a “normal” anymore.
Two years ago we were nailed with the heat dome and 40+C temperatures that hammered everything in the garden.
Last year I planted the vegetable garden in late May/early June and then January hit with a vengeance and it was a cold and miserable late spring/early summer. Nothing did well.
I don’t know what to expect this year.
One of our big rhododendrons fell in a heavy snowfall a few years ago. We tried to right it, but in doing so, the base broke. We cut all the branches off that winter and then left the trunks in the garden. Eventually, in the following spring, we decided to create a water feature and ended up retaining the trunks as interest. Later that summer, buds emerged from one of the trunks and so we left it, after covering the base with a fresh layer of soil. It has survived, though I don’t want much growth from it given its placement in the garden, so I prune it back hard every year and am amazed that it throws out a flower every now and then.
We gave this poor lilac a tough go. I originally brought it home as a scrawny little bush grafted onto a standard. It thrived where I plunked it, a little too well, and it had to be moved because it was growing too large for where it was located.
I moved it a few years ago, in the cool spring, so that it would have a good chance to take root and do well. But then the heat dome arrived and we were subjected to 40+C weather two years ago and it took a beating. I was watering it almost daily just to keep it alive.
Last spring was cold and wet, and cold, and cold….even early summer was cold…and cold….
But that colder start to last year may have been what the thing needed.
It hasn’t really grown much at all since I moved it; I used to have to shape it and trim the bejeezus out of it when it was in the back. I haven’t pruned it in three years.
This spring it is putting on a good flower show, and the fragrance is unmistakable. The blooms are smaller than normal, but it’s still doing better than it has for a few years.
I think it’s going to survive.
Irises are, hands down, my favourite flower. And there are so many varieties. Mom used to tell me that one could have irises blooming all seasons if one chose well. I have not chosen well, but, like Mom did, I will continue to love the blooms and appreciate their variety.
We stopped at a garden centre to pick up some tomato plants because I didn’t get my act together to start any from seed this year. Kirk spotted this little guy taking a break on a contrasting surface.
This long weekend wasn’t what it might have been; I’d originally been scheduled to attend a weekend workshop but, when Gizmo was going sideways, I cancelled with plenty of notice to not leave them in a lurch. Turns out they ended up in a lurch anyway because I couldn’t attend….or at least that was the impression I received. I felt a bit guilty, but my manager took the bull by the horns and said “No, you’re not going, you’re oversubscribed“. I am appreciating having a manager who cares about my personal well being, it’s a new thing that I’ve not experienced in the past five or six years.
So, the long week was looming, and me on a week long road trip into the interior. I wasn’t supposed to have been home until Friday; I had a hotel booked in Kamloops for Thursday night but couldn’t rationalize getting that far and not going all the way home. So I did….go all the way home that is.
Friday I was in a brain fog after a week of being around a rotating cast of people, only a couple of which I knew. As an introvert, it was draining and Friday alone was a gift. Sure, I washed and vacuumed a company car in my driveway and then took it back to the office. But I was well behaved in not reading or sending any work emails. I am trying to be better about drawing the boundaries between work and personal lives. I’ve never been good at it, but I’ve also never been on the verge of total burnout for years on end. It’s improved, and it was nice to hear someone recently tell me that I seem to be in a better place than I was a year ago.
So, back to the long weekend….
We’d originally intended to visit Victoria and spend a few days away from Vancouver. But everything was booked up, at least everywhere that we would have liked to have stayed. Then we thought we’d still do an Island ride on the motorcycles, but the ferries seem to be unpredictable these days. I’d thought about a day trip over to Bowen, but all the ferry sailings were cancelled Saturday because there weren’t enough staff.
But it was still a very good weekend.
There was a day of gardening followed by a visit to the Mexican restaurant in the Village and a BBQ back home, a day of riding the motorcycles down across the border on our favourite roads and the discovery of a new craft brewery in Edison, and a day with a run, a visit to a garden centre, and some additional gardening to get the veggie garden planted finally…..
So yes, we bumbled along and had a very good weekend, and enjoyed our shared company….even if it didn’t entirely go as planned, but plans change and …..it’s all about flexibility 🙂
Oh, and the bikes are insured and have had a very good test ride….so now we have some additional planning to do…..Hans….