Looduskalender

OK, I will take the plunge and hope that by my starting the Spring topic, Mr. Winter does not return!!!

Here are some photographs taken today in my garden:





Last week when I was on campus at the University of British Columbia, I saw cherry trees with blossoms on them. I will be back on campus on Tuesday, and will photograph them. What an odd Winter we had here! (And the Winter Olympics start in 2 weeks.)

hdarbysh wrote:------
Here are some photographs taken today in my garden:
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Last week when I was on campus at the University of British Columbia, I saw cherry trees with blossoms on them. I will be back on campus on Tuesday, and will photograph them. What an odd Winter we had here! (And the Winter Olympics start in 2 weeks.)

Pretty. The only green we have is envy ...
If it is any consolation for the Winter Olympics - the cherries may be a "winter flowering" variety. Sometimes, and some of them, have flowers very late in autumn too. Prunus x subhirtella, I think; no edible cherries to hope for.

Helen when I was out raking today -- building up mulch around my young trees -- I was thinking about starting a spring thread -- I don't want to jinx it, but it seems a bit silly calling this winter.

alice44 wrote:Helen when I was out raking today -- building up mulch around my young trees -- I was thinking about starting a spring thread -- I don't want to jinx it, but it seems a bit silly calling this winter.

We had the warmest January on record. There was not one day with a temperature below freezing, and the average temperature was 7.6 degrees C. One day it was 14 degrees C.

Helen and Alice, happy Groundhog Day!
is there any special customs on this day?
here in Estonia , Feb.the 2, is called Küünlapäev( Candle day- old folk calender), it is mostly a Ladies holiday, what means no work(esp. no spinning) and ladies must drink red drinks to get blushing cheeks
isn`t that nice!

would you like some snow, we have so so much of it....and please send some spring weather here

Apologies, what with the Olympics, university and work, I have been a bit lax! Here are some photos of Spring, which is now well advanced, taken today.


This is the view from my bedroom window looking towards the North Shore Mountains


This is looking south-west towards the park and the outdoor pool (no water in the pool yet!)


The clematis on my fence


A grape hyacinth in the garden


Bleeding Heart


Cherry blossoms in my housing complex, taken earlier this week. The blossoms are almost over now and some gardens are completely covered in spent blossoms!

I think of that as pink snow ;-)

I love all the green haze of new buds on the trees.

Hi Alice! I was in downtown Vancouver yesterday, and even though it is only 30 kms up the road, their trees were much more advanced than those here in White Rock/South Surrey. Vancouver was definitely looking very green! It must be the buildings that hold the heat in a little better.

Mocha sitting in the garden enjoying the Spring-like look of things!


The Katsura leaves are starting to take on shape


The Clematis on the fence

Easter Weekend in Vancouver has been cold (not above 10 degrees C) and very, very windy.

This past week we had all kinds of weather - thunder, lightening, rain, hail and SNOW! Today is nice though and I just saw the first swallow of the season. Here are this week's garden photographs:


This is a horse chestnut tree - or it will be in 100 years. My son and I planted a 'conker' about 4 years ago and are amazed to see this tree shoot up year by year. It is now abut 8' tall and has some lovely sticky buds on. The Katsura tree is in the background.


A Stellar's Jay that hopped on the fence to get a peanut. In the background, the cherry trees are getting greener.


My 2 tulips!


Yesterday I went to Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia, where my son goes to University. You have to go on a ferry. This photograph shows the snow line on the North Shore Mountains.

Yes,Spring has arrived at your place hdarbysh.!!
The conker has come up great. Just shows that 'you never know'?
We have a HUGE pine-nut (?) I hesitate to plant it. Its in the refrigerator meanwhile.

hdarbysh, congratulations on your conker tree. What marvellous growth in a short (!) time.
Your tulips are advanced compared with UK - ours are still tight green flower buds.

Macdoum , please plant your pine cone. (How deep does it have to be - naturally, it would not be buried deep) Maybe next spring there will be a tiny shoot?

Will do.

hdarbysh wrote:This past week we had all kinds of weather - thunder, lightening, rain, hail and SNOW! Today is nice though and I just saw the first swallow of the season. Here are this week's garden photographs:
------------------
This is a horse chestnut tree - or it will be in 100 years. My son and I planted a 'conker' about 4 years ago and are amazed to see this tree shoot up year by year. It is now abut 8' tall and has some lovely sticky buds on. The Katsura tree is in the background.
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My 2 tulips!
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About that conker & chestnut tree: Helen, beware! it will be a tree long before the 100 years! and you will be in a terrible quandary: to keep it, and forsake all else, or take to the axe ... My aunt searched her soul for years. They moved before she had decided.
About tulips: Stockholm had its garden show & fair (mostly the latter) last week. The Dutch sold - guess, what? - tulip bulbs . To be planted now, and not meaning in good time for next autumn.
So those leftover 10 bulbs that didn't get space in the pots that I planted in December (housed in garage; dragged tulip pots out of the way each time car had to go out or in for 2 1/2 months) - got planted yesterday.

Liis, I am already feeling guilty about that chesnut tree. I know it will overshadow everything before too many years pass. But I can't bear to tear up living things; I can't even bear to step on an ant!!! It is indeed a dilemma.

I laughed about you having to move tulips bulbs in pots each time you needed to get the car out! The things we do to save our flowers!

Because my garden looks much the same as last week, here are some photos taken near my work place. I work in the City of Vancouver, but in a building which is in a residential area of the city. It takes me an hour to get to work from my house using the bus and Light Rail train. Generally there is a 1 - 2 degree C difference between my house and Vancouver - it is warmer in Vancouver than Surrey!


This is looking down the street towards the city and the mountains. It is not a very busy street!


You can just see my building on the left, and some of the downtown buildings straight down the street.


One of the pink cherry blossom trees on a nearby street


A big fat cluster of blossoms!

I took some pictures of those big flower clusters too -- they are so pretty.

Are your jays typically Stellar's Jays?

alice44 wrote:I took some pictures of those big flower clusters too -- they are so pretty.

Are your jays typically Stellar's Jays?

Yes, Stellar's Jays. Noisy, but beautiful - I love them, especially when they are soaking wet and bedraggled. They remind me of teenagers - full of life and mischief!

Around my house most jays are Scrub Jays but there are also the occasional Stellar's Jay, which absolutely puts the Scrub Jays into a snit.

Our weather continues cool and unsettled but everything is now so green.


From the house, the view of the street is almost blocked by the new leaves on the trees.


To the left, the Dogwood is starting to bloom. The Dogwood is the provincial flower of British Columbia.


Things were looking quite Spring-like at the University of British Columbia yesterday.


More tulips at the University.