Tag: Weekend

The largesse (largeness?) of spring.

On By Sheryl @ Flowery ProseIn Alberta, Botany, Calgary, Canada, Flower, Gardening, Horticulture, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, Plant, wildflowers16 Comments

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Infinity is just so big that by comparison bigness itself looks really titchy.

~Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe 

O riotous spring!  My hayfever has hayfever, and the three of us (because of course the two hayfevers are their own monstrous entities) have a cold on top of it all.

But it’s cause for celebration! Why, you may ask? Well, let me tell you:

  1. I’m fairly certain I’m a walking medical miracle. I mean, hayfever + hayfever + cold and I’m still functioning-ish? My allergist needs to get on publishing that research – he could be retiring to the Caymans in no time.
  2. Although it’s probably reasonable to state that we had a more “accurate” winter than we usually do (lots of cold and snow versus a ton of Chinooks and dry, exposed earth), it felt impossibly huge and long and draggy and we. are. officially. (probably. sort. of. maybe). done. with. it.
  3. The photo says it all. The Prairie crocuses are blooming like mad all over the sunny slopes and despite the incessant sneezing and sniffling, life is pretty awesome.

 

Flowery Friday: Silver Springs Botanical Garden.

On By Sheryl @ Flowery ProseIn Alberta, Botany, Calgary, Canada, Flower, Gardening, Horticulture, Photography, Plant30 Comments

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And I do mean FLOWERY! I was digging through my photo files a couple of days ago, when I came across this shot of one of the large perennial beds at the Silver Springs Botanical Garden here in Calgary, photographed on a trip I took out there in July of last year. A sight for winter-weary eyes, that’s for sure!

Flowery Friday: ‘Picasso in Purple’ supertunia.

On By Sheryl @ Flowery ProseIn Botany, Gardening, Outdoors, Photography, Plant22 Comments

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Here’s a flashback to a gorgeous sunny morning in mid-June, and these new Supertunias from Proven Winners were really putting on a show in my garden.  What do you think of the brilliant green edge on ‘Picasso in Purple’?

(You can preview the 2017 collection from Proven Winners here).

Alberta snapshot: Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park.

On By Sheryl @ Flowery ProseIn Alberta, Canada, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, Plant, Rocky Mountains, Travel, Tree17 Comments

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The leaves are turning so quickly this year!  (And falling, too). I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise…we had summer-hot weather in April and May, and the whole growing season felt completely accelerated.

Hope you have some time to get outside and enjoy someplace beautiful this weekend!

 

Garden horror.

On By Sheryl @ Flowery ProseIn Book, Gardening, Writing32 Comments

Procrastination is totally a good thing.  You always have something to do tomorrow, plus you have nothing to do today.

                             ~Some random Internet meme I found while procrastinating on social media.  

Shhh….don’t tell anyone…I’m supposed to be working on an article due in a couple of days.

But I’m thinking about Garden Horror instead.  (See yesterday’s post if you are blinking at the screen and thinking I’ve finally totally lost it).

So, ahem, I thought of a few titles for as-yet-unwritten Garden Horror novels (which also ties into yesterday’s post – please do go check it out if you haven’t already).  Of course, these may sound eerily (see what I did there?) familiar to some of you:

The Slug Also Rises

Apocalypse Bough

Close Encounters of the Larval Kind 

The Drawing of the Tree 

The Turn of the Yew

The Tell-Tale Bark

The Call of Kudzu 

Okay, I must be getting back to work…the ball’s in your court.  What Garden Horror titles can you add to my list?  Make me laugh – the article I’m at this very moment feverishly churning out at a breathtaking rate of speed is about plant propagation, and we all know how very unfunny that topic is.  

Alberta snapshot: Moose Mountain.

On By Sheryl @ Flowery ProseIn Hiking, Nature, Outdoors, Photography12 Comments

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Snow in June!

Well, at that altitude anyway (2,437 m/7,995 ft).  My hubby and I hiked up to the top of Moose Mountain in Kananaskis Country a couple of weekends ago.  I should say, “almost” the top – you can’t actually completely summit the mountain as it is home to a fire lookout and it would be impolite to invade the privacy of the personnel stationed there.  We got to a few feet away, and sat atop the heli-pad to enjoy the absolutely incredible views.  “On a clear day you can see forever…”.

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Floral notes: Late May 2016.

On By Sheryl @ Flowery ProseIn Botany, Flower, Gardening, Horticulture, Photography, Plant, Tree, Writing8 Comments

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A gorgeous lilac I found in a school yard on my way to work…before the snowfall of last weekend.  (It looks like most gardens emerged unscathed, and the moisture – even if it was stupidly cold and in a more solid form than we would have liked – was seriously welcome).

I was digging around in my files this week and I came across this little list of gardening “advice” I wrote a few years ago. Some of you will have read it before, but it might amuse you anyway:  Burnt Casseroles.  While you’re there, check out the rest of Jennifer’s blog – her photo essays and gardening design ideas are absolutely incredible!

Also, if you’re on Facebook, love to garden, and live in Alberta or if you just want to join because you’re interested in what we’re posting about (which means you could live anywhere in the world), I started a group called Alberta Gardening.  Click here to request to join – we’d love to see as many gardeners as possible have fun with this and share their experiences.

Enjoy your weekend!  What are your plans – gardening or otherwise?

P.S. If you’ve got a bunch of lilac flowers and you want to make a lovely floral jelly from them, I have a recipe that you might like to try.