Monday, June 09, 2008

More Smoke and Flowers

"Spritz, spritz, spritz, spritz, spritz, spritz, [pause for painful inhalation] cough-cough, hack-hack, gagggg". That's the sound of this gardener preparing to head outdoors -- the outdoors where DEET protects the thin pink human skin barrier from the wildlife who would suck away our bodily juices. Actually, the bugs aren't so bad today but that's probably because it is so dry that the fire people refer to the fire conditions as "explosive".

Here's my photo of the "Zbar" fire northwest of La Ronge, taken this afternoon. It is currently 13, 253 hectares, making it the largest wildfire in the province. The prevailing winds seem to be moving all the smoke due west, which at least spares our town the smell of roasting trees. The fire is in the center of the horizon with all the smoke blowing leftwards.


The crabapple is in bloom. That poor tree. I pruned it last year into a lopsided tree of ugliness. In my defence, the lopped off branches were diseased, broken, or crossing other branches. Ideally, I'd like to rip out the tree and replace it. The previous owners never pruned the tree, so it's really beyond fixing at this point.


Progress is being made on my new alpine garden. Thanks go to resident-lawnmower-man for doing all the sweaty work here. I just wander out in the evenings and mention things about "fulfilling my vision" and "making it look like the Swiss alps landed on my lawn".


The Medusa-like seed head of Pulsatilla vulgaris:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow! I just happened to find your blog, and its great!!

great garden too!

Vancouver Isle Doug said...

Hey, I have those medusa-like thingies in the garden too!! They look really cool with morning dew on them. We have a LOT of morning dew here on the Island.

Amy said...

I hate forest fire season - every time there's a thunder storm we feel nervous. There's way to much dead pine in the forests just waiting for a spark! Thankfully, it's been a very cool and wet spring this year so no worries yet.

I can sympathise with your husband removing all that sod - what a job! Can't wait to see your alpine garden when it's finished.

Anonymous said...

I revel in pointing my finger and saying "move that heavy thing over there" or "dig a hole big enough". I rarely get the opportunity so I make the most of it - and I always say please!