teaser

i realise that i have been absent from my relatively new post in the blogging world so i thought i would just check in. there has been plenty of action at our townhouse since i last wrote. the small back patio underwent some changes with the addition of a cedar deck, more planter boxes and a built in bench. the weather really has not been nice enough to treat it yet, so you will have to wait for less abstract photos of it until it fines up.

in the house there have also been some things that have come together recently. the spare room/office/den is a few steps closer to being ‘finished’ with some new shelves and computer desk as well a fresh coat of paint. it will be a while until any artwork (which still lives on the walls of our toronto house) comes west - but i can live for a while longer without it. the kitchen pantry also went through a bit of a mini face-lift by adding more usable shelving, a bulletin board and a small desk to store the laptop, cell phones and the dreaded catch-all bowl - all behind closed doors, but completely accessible to the main floor. a few more tweaks and will post some more pictures.

other than building, i have actually been gardening. with the last frost FINALLY out of the way i have had the chance to bring out some more tender succulents and bedding plants - though to be honest i lost a few when i jumped the gun a little in april. the warmer days have also allowed the banana plants to start to unfurl their first leaves of 2008 without the risk of being punished by the frost.

almost time to pick-up j from school. enjoy the moments.

red star in the evening

despite the temperature in vancouver being below the norms for this time of year i for one really cannot complain. after 4 years of toronto’s long winters, i welcome this comparatively early warmth, flowers reaching skyward and the ability to spend more and more of my time outside and, more specifically, in the garden. as i write this entry m is taking off from a snowy and rainy toronto and heading westward to spend 10 days with little j (who is on march break now until 26 mar) and me. i didn’t think that i would be post anything today - i have been waiting to do some more work in the garden - but when the sun hit this red star cordyline in my front entrance i couldn’t help wanting to snap a pic.

j’s garden

j’s hyacinths have slowly showing themselves to us over the past few days. both j and i were surprised when they turned out to be pink instead of purple - but they look fun beside the nz flax with its pink stripe.

rising with sun

i awoke to a sun beam streaming through a misaligned horizontal blind this morning at 8:30. i could hear that justin was already taking his shower and i thought how lucky we were that little j’s classes didn’t start until a civilized 9:30. when i got downstairs i could see that the north facing planter in the back garden was bathed in early morning sun so after putting on the kettle for tea i grabbed my camera and took some snaps of my dewy japanese aralia in the only sun it ever sees.

m is in town (escaping the snow in the east) for a few days and we have been planning and drawing another planter box for the back garden as i am already running out of space! i look forward to seeing how that project progresses.

life on the coffee table

put these together the other night - i love the dangley stems of the purple ones along side the fluffy green fern… and it’s cheaper than cut flowers!

this is not fish soup

what a great weekend - m was in town, the weather was terrific and i even got a few chores in the garden done! all weekend i have been dreaming about making a vietnamese fish soup. today i was going to the boats at grandville island marina to see what was caught this morning, take a walk through chinatown to collect dried mushrooms, chillies and lemongrass and then spend the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen experimenting with my soup. i couldn’t believe it when i woke up to find that my dream of a pleasant shop had turned into a wet, snowy errand. the soup would have to wait.

it was mid afternoon when my thoughts again turned to being outside, so with a few breaks in the clouds the memory of the snow was erased and to the garden centres i went. i planted the silver lace helleborus as soon as i got home, but i am still looking for a home for the crested hart’s tongue ferns. they may end up in a pot later this week.

 

banana update

they may not look pretty yet, but they will. i think i am going to move the nz flax in front of the nanners so i don’t have to look at these stalks all winter. m didn’t really think they would last the winter, especially with no protection, but even the smallest of pseudo-stems are still intact. i am looking forward to see just how big these plants will get this year.

oh that’s right, it’s not just my garden

the other day i looked down on the garden from my bedroom window and saw little j mucking about in my garden! as hard as it was to see him drag a small trowel through the ground where i was sure there was new bamboo shoots growing - there wasn’t, i should have known better - i had to admit it made me happy to see my 11 year boy singing and playing in the garden. since m and i adopted j almost 5 years ago, it has been clear that he was an artistic individual that was affected by environment. he is always one to point out the interesting shape of a tree, the way the light comes through an open window or the rainbow of light gleaming off fresh fish at grandville market, so it didn’t surprise me when he wanted to plant something of his own.

the next day at the garden store we spent an hour looking at plants. we talked about growing things from seed, as he always enjoyed watching spring unfold, but what really caught his eye was the hyacinth in all the various stages of flower that were available. we ended up choosing 12 plants with just a hint of colour in the buds and planted them in a simple terracotta pot. every morning since j heads out into the garden, after he makes sure that he hasn’t been attacked on some online game overnight, and checks on them.

i took this photo a moment ago, as the sun came out from behind the neighbouring building and have to say, i am happy to share my garden(ing chores) with him.

ahhh dirt under my nails

there is something freeing about being an adult and playing about in the dirt. it’s still early, but there are things to be done! i always love giving my plants an early spring fertilizer, nothing too heavy as i like fertilize more often with less, but enough to nourish them at this early date. with my bamboo is use a simple grass fertilizer - i cannot wait to see how high the new culms reach - and the bananas i lightly fertilize with something that can be used every time you water. i think i am going to look for something with a higher nitrogen content and see what reaction i get from my nanners with that. with their amazing growth rate at these temperatures i look forward to see what happens when it really warms up. the rest of the garden gets a thin layer of composted manure and a good watering.

there are some days that i am not happy with my magnolia grandiflora victoria - today was not one of them. it seems to have faired the winter better than i thought it might and i look forward to see what happens with it this year.

sunlight on shanghai alley

i took this photo of the backside of the townhouses looking up from shanghai alley. you can just see the tip of the sun tower rising up over my neighbours’ roof.

it has been nice to be able to show my friend around in the sun! as we drove out to horseshoe bay along marine drive he quipped how awful this road must be in winter - i had to remind him it was february. the hellobora looked so beautiful blooming at whytecliff park. i feel some gardening coming on.