Farmer's Almanac Weather Prediction for Ontario: "Hot and dry initially...."
Currently blooming in my garden: Portulaca, Gazania Sonnegold, trumpet lilies (white and huge), tomatillos, tomatoes, clovers (really large and red and I forget what they are), lavender, plume poppies, salvia, African blue basil, Thai basil, nasturtiums, nicotina, Echeveria lilacina, and anise hyssop.
I appreciate all the advice people sent in regarding the baby bird. The bird was doing great for a few days. I watched it on and off all day on the first day and the parents located it quickly and fed it regularly. I even found the bird with a bug in it's mouth occassionally. A few days later I went out on the deck in the late afternoon and the bird was gone. We looked everywhere, but no trace. The cat was inside all day, and we don't have animal visiters on our deck during the daytime. We're hoping that the bird managed to fly up to the nest. It was strong and healthy so it couldn't have died. If it fell out of the planter box, we would have found it. I hope baby bird is one of the young sparrows now visiting the bird feeder everyday.
 Speaking of the bird feeder. I was really busy with work for a few days last week and unfortunately ran out of bird seed at the same time. I'd swear the birds are very familiar with me now. Everytime I went out on the deck they would start making all kinds of noise. My friend who was over said it seemed like they were yelling at me. They still had the seed bell to eat from--it wasn't like I was leaving them empty handed. They've just grown accustomed to the better stuff. I already have a spoiled brat cat. Now I've got a family of princessy birds on my hand. When I did make it to the hardware store for more seed stock, I purchased a big bad of pure sunflower seed instead of the mix. They just pick the sunflower seeds out and knocking the rest into my planter anyway. They love the new seed. And the best part is that the new seed has attracted what we think are red finch! It's so nice to have variation in bird calls out there. The sparrows aren't happy about the new neighbours. But there's lots of seed to go around.
Over Canada Day weekend we went to The Garden City: St. Catharines to visit Gord. His dad had set up a pully system in their tree that allowed them to lower and raise the bird feeder. They had an amazing variety of birds visiting their feed station: sparrows, blue jays, cardinals, the same red brested finch, chickee dees. I was so jealous. Oh I just checked out my Rand McNally "Know Your Birds" Flash Card Set and the red finch is called the Purple Finch.
 On the subject of our trip. The roads were brimming with blooming wild flowers. I wrote down what I could identify in my book: viper's bugloss, Queen Anne's lace, chicory, mullein, purple loosestrife, milkweed, oyster plant, various thistles, morning glories, sumac, and sow thistle. I'm really proud of how much I can identify now without my field guide. St. Catharines is a slightly warmer growing zone. As a result I saw a number of plants that were further advanced. In Gord's garden the day lilies were already in full bloom. Mine are still in the process of budding.
We did A LOT of walking and biking over the weekend and consequently saw a lot of fallow land, empty lots, fields beside railroad tracks etc. We went for a bike ride along the old Welland Canal and found sour cherry and black cherry trees. The cherries were perfectly ripe! I had to hold myself back from eating too many. They were so good. I talked to Beate later in the week and she had arrived in St. Catharines the night we left. They went back to that spot and picked a basket of cherries out of which they baked a pie! I love finding wild trees on the land that isn't sprayed! I saw apples there too but of course it will be a while before they are ripe. The canal is polluted though. Our friend kept making jokes about the amazing fertilizers that the pollutants are making.
Riding along the old canal was really nice. Wild peas (I think that's what they were), clovers and alfalfa were in full bloom everywhere creating a wash of hot pink. We also saw a crazy bush that was covered in fuzzy flowers. It looked like webbing. Later we went over to Gord's mom's house. It's an amazing old home on the lake. The garden is really incredible. Sadly the raspberries weren't ripe yet. We walked down a rickety staircase to Lake Ontario. There was no beach at that part. It was all rocks which were difficult to climb. Matters were made worse by the carpet of seaweed in the water (that's what we call it cause we don't know the real name). It was over a foot deep! I kept having visions of falling in but just floating on top. It was a clear day and we could see Toronto clearly on the other side of the lake.
I took a ton of really excellent photos over the weekend. I put a few of them into a little collage. We did lots of other super fun stuff but they have nothing to do with plants so I'm not going to bother mentioning it here. Maybe I'll write something in my other journal when I get a chance. I really needed the break. Even though this last week has been beyond manic, it's nice to have the photos to look back on as a reminder of a few days of almost no computer, and even less work and worry.
I did some work on the downstairs garden today with the help of my friend Jen. Thanks so much! It can be misery out there doing work while people stare at me. The garden was such a mess I had no choice but to take a break from work to water and clean it up. The black currant bush was infested with aphids, the weeds were so thick you couldn't see the brick path, and the plants were wilting from dryness. I've watered that garden a total of twice since spring. Appauling!
previous entry
| 
