A Fluffy Day

For the last few weeks, the poplar trees have been releasing their fluff like snow, except this snow drifts around in the breeze and collects in corners until it germinates more unwanted awful trees.  Can you tell I don't like the poplars?  They make me sneeze, invade my flower beds with their suckers, and aren't really attractive.  Unfortunately, they grow everywhere around here.  I can't do much about it.  My three year old looks outside and calls these "fluffy days".  To her, they are good days to be outside. 

Poplar fluff in the air

My white herbaceous peony "Lotus Queen" is in full bloom.  It is described as a zone 3 perennial and does very well here.  I only wish I had more peonies.  Ah well, someday I will. 

Peony "Lotus Queen"

Our first strawberries are ripe!  They are covered in netting so no critters get them, aside from the ones that live in our house and walk on two feet...and I see that I got a lovely dandelion leaf in the picture too!  Someday I'll get some time to weed again.  At least the power is on and we can bath and enjoy working kitchen appliances again.  The long weekend is sure to be a crazy one here.  Wish I didn't have to work!  

Power Out: Camping in Our Own House

Saskatchewan saw some tremendous storms in the past two days.  The southern province saw some tornados, but we just saw lightening and wind last night.  The lightening cut power to tens of thousands of people on Monday night, with our power finally restored today.  With the absence of power, we also had no water.  The town dispensed drinking water from the water plant.  I hauled some water from the lake across the street, some of which was given to the potted plants.

RCMP officer dispenses drinking water in La Ronge

 We have a generator, which helped to keep the fridge and freezer cold while the house heated to 30 degrees C.  Power outages of days in duration are not unheard of here, and it pays to have a generator on hand, rather than seeing all your meat thaw out and go bad.  Quite a few people in town were running their generators. 

Beach in La Ronge, a popular place in a power outage

 Most of the stores were closed, and I hear the CO-OP grocery store was broken into on early Tuesday.  The store did open to sell water later in the day, however.  The weather was quite warm and the humidity high, so the water was quite appreciated.  By the end of the day, my own layer of sweat was getting too sticky for comfort, so I brought a little bottle of shampoo with me to the beach.  I saw out a ways and made it look like a new backstroke.  Ah, relief! 

Robertson's Trading Post in La Ronge, closed Tuesday because of the power outage.

 Of course, fuel was in short supply, with gas stations not able to provide much or any.  Some wanted fuel to take their boats out on the lake, while others probably used some for their generators.  Local ambulances were warning that they had extremely limited fuel and thus limited travel abilities, so I hope that the available fuel went to better causes than recreation. 

Lineups outside the Shell station.

Northmart closed due to power outage.

La Ronge health center made arrangements for alternate water supplies.

I purchased a solar and dynamo powered radio/flashlight/cell phone charger online for the next great power outage, adding to our emergency supplies for the next time.  You can never be too prepared!

The Sunset of the Aquilegias

The showy Aquilegia (or Columbine), with its fanciful flowers of all different shapes and sizes, is a great pleasure to keep in a larger yard.  It is fun to keep many different kinds and enjoy the easy multiplication of the plants as they seed themselves around. 

Aquilegia from the Songbird series

My favourites include the large-flowered bright colors of the Songbird series.  These are each named after different songbirds (Bunting, Robin, Skylark, etc.) and a google images search will show all the pretty colors.  These flowers have long straight "tails" behind the faces of the flowers.  My photography didn't quite do them justice this year.  Oh well.

I most often have purchased my Aquilegia seed from this online company in California, who has been quite reliable for my seed purchases for several years.  I suppose I like the bright clear photos and can imagine these plants in my own garden.  If you're really fanatical about finding a particular plant, try Jellito Seeds, the German company.  They don't have the nice photo display of the other website, but if you choose your plants by their Latin names, this is the place for you. 

While gardens in warmer and more southern climates are probably all done with the Aquilegias by now, I still have some in full bloom, especially in the shadier areas.  It is very easy to start these perennials from seed.  Of course, you must be patient as they will only flower in the second year from planting.  I start mine indoors under lights and transplant out in the spring.   

Aquilegia from the "Clementine" series, pink and white flowering plants

Unknown Aquilegia which has spread itself around the flowerbed

 My dwarf-size Aquilegias are mostly done flowering by now.  These pictured ones are more medium sized, nicely suited to sit among the irises, finishing tulips, roses and immature delphiniums of the raised beds.  Actually, hiding dying tulips is a perfect role for Aquilegias.  The timing is just perfect.

This week, the Siberian irises started to flower in beautiful deep purple and white shades.  The old-fashioned bearded irises are long-since finished, so it is nice to see the Siberians now in late June.  The next highlight in the perennial parade will be the lilies in July.