Brilliant Sunshine on my Snow

We may not be able to play in the dirt yet, but the brilliant sun is bringing people outside to walk around outside today. Here are some pictures of the yard this morning. Not one inch of lawn is showing. For the recent commenter that thought my lawn in mid-April 2007 looked poorly-maintained, this is because of the snow and snow mold. If you were completely covered in snow for 6 months of the year, you might look poorly too, come springtime!
Spirea shrub in the foreground, looking across the yard to the frozen lake:

Burlap-wrapped cedar shrub:

The road in front of our house. It was hard getting around town with the truck today, since the Subaru was out of town with RLM. I find that these near-zero temperatures create difficult snow and ice conditions. It's actually easier to drive in -20 or -30 C.

You can compare the yard with the same view from this time last year. The photo from March 29, 2007 is posted in the left column of the blog. Conclusion: we haven't had as much melting as last year at this time.

Spicy globe basil in the basement under lights:

The Ice Queen Reigns Here

Spring has not yet arrived in our local Narnia, as we sit under more falling snow with temperatures down to -23 C (-9.4 F) tonight. I'm determined not to plug in the car's block heater anymore though. Doing that would be admitting defeat. Is anyone else in the garden world still plugging in their car?

Yet again, the driveway is covered in snow:

In the absence of live flowers in my yard, I'm going to be keeping up with the proverbial Joneses in the rest of Canada with this display:

I bought these silk flowers at a craft store on my last trip out of town. I just need a few robins flying around the living room to complete the spring effect.

Winter Gardening Indoors

It is that time of year a gardener takes an involuntary leave of the dirt in the yard and must resort to satisfying the gardening passion indoors. So far, I have reorganized the seed collection, adding computer labels, alphabetizing them, and dividing them into annuals, tropical/indoors/novelty, and perennials.

I got the handy seed binder with clear plastic zip-loc compartments from Lee Valley Tools. I had to buy a few extra pages for the now-bulging collection of seeds. Of course, the solution to the burgeoning seed population is to plant them next spring!

The orchid collection is getting a bit more attention now, with my efforts focused on making them bloom. This is a combination of a battle of wills, wishful thinking and some surfing on the internet for tips to get the finicky plants to bloom. As it turns out, neglect is often the answer -- an absence of water and fertilizer in the winter will do it for several kinds of orchids.


The one pictured in bloom right now is the Dendrobium spatulata, my least favourite but most vigorous grower and bloomer. It's green flowers to eventually turn yellow and just slightly more attractive. I bought this plant as a shriveled up discounted item from the back of Dutch Growers in Saskatoon. It had no blooms on it at the time, but I was determined to try growing it anyways.

One of the other indoor plants I am growing: a dwarf Musa acuminata "Cavendish", which grows only to a dwarfish 7-9 ft tall! This plant grows very fast, likes lots of water and fertilizer. My hope is to eat my own northern-SK-grown bananas in another 2-3 years!