Background to starting this Blog

When gardens are not doing as well as they used to, what can you do? See What Can B

2010-2011 Winter: this time last year (second week of May) my garden was well under way. However, this year, I am still waiting for some of my rhodos to bloom (last year they were in full bloom for Earth Day), and the apple tree has just blossomed. Temperatures have been well below normal for many weeks. Insects are low in numbers, but blossoms seem to be lasting longer. On Earth Day we spent time in the garden and saw our first butterfly of the year, and the eagle flying overhead.

2011 Spring-Summer: Over the last few months temperatures have been below normal. However, the plants in my garden are now supporting a wide variety of insects, and the hummingbirds visit regularly.

2011 Fall: Now that fall is here I still have several plants in bloom. Of all my plants this year, the sweet peas surprised me most with the range of insects they attracted. I am still harvesting seeds and have started preparing perennilas for the winter.

2012 Spring: The spring this year has been on the cool side.

2012 Summer: Although summer was on the cool side too, it was an outstanding year for my flowers. This first year of our vegetable garden has been a learning experience, and what we harvested from the small patch has been great. Honey bees and bumble bees have been continuously busy since early May, and are still busy, although other insects including dragonflies and butterflies have been scarcer. There have been fewer birds, although the humming bird has visited, and the downy woodpecker has been feeding in the apple tree. The apple crop is sparse this year.

2013 Winter: Weather has been on the cool side with lots of rain. Buds and bulbs are quite a bit slower than last year.

2013 Spring: Weather still on the cool side with lots of rain. Lots more birds around than last year, singing and chirping. Also more more butterflies (Cabbage whites). Rhodos have been spetacular, and are the main source of color around our neigborhood gardens. Our garden is now fully planted, mainly with seeds harvested last year, with excellent germination. We are ready for summer and we are just waiting for the results.

2013 Summer: July had no rain at all, and broke the previous record for hours of sunshine, with 432.8 hours. The actual temperatures were close to the norms. Rainfall (mm) for 2012:2013 was 1.6:30.25 (August), 2.2:120 (September), 3.8:150.25 (Total August plus September)

Winter2013/14: Winter was on the cool side, and not as wet as previous years. Our apple tree has been very slow with blossoms only first opening around Earth day

Humming Birds (December 2013 - January 2014)

We had many viewings of humming birds at our feeders and perching in the trees in our garden

Spring 2014: Spring has been drier than usual this year

Summer 2014: Summer was very dry, total rainfall for jun-Aug was only 39mm. Temperatures were close to normal. We have seen very few birds: only two sightings of an eagle, although we had a great blue heron fly over (first time ever). We put sphagnum moss, harvested from our lawn, at the bottom of our pots and tub and also covered the surface of the soil in some pots - it was very successful

Fall 2014: We harvested a shoe box full of seeds from our garden this year.

2015: 2015 was notable for its summer drought and water restrictions. We used our watering times to water our trees, as well as using grey water from dish washing to water flowers. Worked well. Winter has been wet and mild.

2016:The year started milder than usual, and has continued mild through the spring. A lot of our plants survived over winter.
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Garden (September 2016)

We have a new type of sunflower this year, with larger petals. They are now starting to bloom and attract insects. The apples and pears are ready to be harvested (the first good pear crop in over 30 years, indicating excellent pollination). The Pussy Willows (which we grew from cuttings) have developed catkins.

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Garden (August 2016)

With many of the flowers now past their best, the bees turn to Snowflake and Nasturtiums, The Tomato crop has been excellent again this year. We saw some spectacular clouds one day, and also had our first visit from a Skipper this year.

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Garden (July 2016)

One shady corner of the garden has a messy mix of flowers, mostly blow-ins that arranged themselves. In the tub, one sunflower from a volunteer seed has huge leaves, almost 25 cm long, as well as a 10 cm diameter stem. Bees have started using the Heuchera again, and the daisies are well used by flower flies (Syrphids). At the hanging basket, one humming bird has started perching while it feeds. The tub is coming along well, with one very large early sunflower in bloom by the end of the month. Like last year, the Allium attracted many bees.

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Canada (July 1, 2016)

Happy Canada Day.

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Clouds (June 26, 2016)

One late afternoon we watched a beautiful display of clouds.

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May and June 2016

The last of the tulips had a beautiful center. The first bumble bee appeared and a small yellow spider cast its skin. Bumble bees made good use of a variety of flowers. This Gray Hairstreak butterfly made a first appearance, as did another as-yet-unidentified butterfly. A Rufus hummingbird came to our hanging basket - it is the first one we have seen for several years. Towards the end of this period we saw an eagle chased by crows and a Swallowtail butterfly on the Geraniums. We also saw a snail - the first one we have seen in the garden in two years. Flowers in the hanging basket are well used, and we have a lot of foxgloves in bloom.

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Earthday (April 22 2016)

A Downy woodpecker started nest building in a Garry Oak just before Earthday. Our Rhododendrons were out in full.

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March and April 2016

The Flickers were still around as we move into Spring. Daffodils then tulips were followed by other early-flowering plants. The first ladybird of the year had no spots. Spiders started to hatch, and bees appeared at the lavender

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January and February 2016

I always enjoy watching the Flickers and Humming birds when they visit. We had a rose bud come out in January, blooming in February! Also, the cherry blossoms have been out since early February.

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October and November 2015

Fall was memorable for the many visits by Flickers, which spent a lot of time foraging. As well as Flickers, we have been visited by many other species including Downy Woodpeckers, Stellar Jays, Juncos, Black-capped Chickadees, Golden-crowned, House and Fox Sparrows, Towhees, Warblers, Hummingbirds, and Bushtits. We have not seen Nuthatches or Wrens for some time.

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July, August and September 2015

After being scarce the year before, we saw a group of 5 eagles circling overheada few times this year. Good to see. Humming birds and flickers like to perch at the tops of trees. This year we saw fuwere honey bees and bumble bees, and more European black bees. This is our first year growing Allium, and it was very popular with bees. There was an incredible crop of tomatoes in our tub garden, which we shared with family and friends. The tomatoes shared the tub with a good crop of sunflowers and herbs. Every year we find one or two apples that make us smile.

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Canada Day (July 1, 2015)

Red and white sweet peas to celebrate the day.

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Garden (May, June, 2015)

One day we saw five eagles circling above the garden, but could only get two in the piucture. We often see humming birds at the basket outside the kitchen, but we haven't seen much of dragonflies this year. We don't see many birds at our new bird bath, but it is heavily used by insects. Both bumble bees and honey bees have been scarce up to now, but we are starting to see some, especially some very large bumble bees. Although it has been extremely dry, we had good seed germination rates and have had a good crop of flowers. The roses have been excellent, as have the sweet peas, and also the tomatoes in the tub garden. There have been many butterflies every day, and there have been more birds around than usual, although the nesting boxes not were used. So far, the apple crop looks good.

From March to June 2014 we had 217 mm of rain. This year we had only 119 mm (approx). Due to the drought conditions, we have decided not to water the lawns and are puting the water into the trees.

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Earth Day (22/04/2015)

There were more flowers out today than on other Earth days, however, there were fewer birds around.

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Bee (April 19, 2015)

This huge bumblebee is the biggest we have ever had inside our house.

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Spring Birds (February - April 2015)

We saw a finch again, for the first time in a long time, and the eagles were back circling, earlier than usual. The Flicker has been back often at the feeder, and also foraging in the back yard.

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Daffodils (March 15, 2015)

I always like to look at daffodils from my studio.

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Birds (November 1 - December 11, 2014)

Since we put out our bird feeders at the beginning of November, we have been visited by many species including Downy Woodpeckers, Stellar Jays, Juncos, Black-capped Chickadees, Golden-crowned, House and Fox Sparrows, Towhees, Nuthatches, Hummingbirds, Bushtits and Flickers. It is the first visit by Stellar Jays in years - we have been feeding them the surplus sunflower seeds from this years large harvest.

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SNOW! (November 29, 2014)

We had a small snowfall at the start of a week of very cold weather at the end of November

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Halloween (October 31 2014)

Spooky truffle and apple faces, from mother nature.

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Garden (Aug-Sep 2014)

We had an amazing summer for flowers, although our roses did not produce many blooms. However, we did have one beautiful rose back in August. Now the flower garden is starting to decline, although our tomatoes are still very prolific

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Sunflowers (Aug-Sep 2014)

We grew more than 40 and broke several of our records this year: tallest, largest head, and largest crop. They were planted directly into the soil, in pots and in our tub garden on the deck, and some even self-seeded from last year, which was a lovely surprise. . The centers of the flowers sometimes formed unusual shapes, like this heart. One (last image in the group) was small, with a flower only 1 3/4" in diameter

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Insects (Aug-Sep 2014)

We still have many insects visiting our garden, including many bees. Five are shown feeding at once on a sunflower. Sunflowers also attract Syrphid flies (Flower flies), both very large and very small.

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Garden (July 2014)

We continue to enjoy the different areas of our garden. This year we have grown our largest sunflower to date at over 8 feet tall. Many of our flowers and vegetables are from seeds that we harvested last year.

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Harvest (Summer 2014)

Our tub garden has been very productive this summer, as shown by these snow peas and tomatoes.

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Butterflies, Dragonflies and Damsel Fly (July 2014)

We have seen a lot of butterflies this summer, one of which landed on my hand than later on my arm. Its wings are quite tattered so we can identify it on its frequent visits. We see dragonflies most days, and have seen a damsel fly a few tines

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Bees (July 2014)

The bees have continued to be busy. We especially noticed a lot of action on the Oregon poppies and tomato flowers.

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Canada day (01/07/2014)

Red and white flowers for Canada day.

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Humming bird (26/06/2014)

This humming bird worked its way all round the garden. It is hard to spot in some pictures of the hanging basket

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Sunset (09/06/2014)

Sunset photographs from our front door.

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Birds (12/05/2014, 14/05/2014)

Black-capped chickadees nested in one of our nesting box, and a robin built a nest in one of the evergreen trees.

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Early garden (May and June 2014)

The tub has snowpeas, tomatoes, parsley, thyme, blueberries, shelling peas and sunflowers. We have already had one harvest from the snowpeas. The lavender has been very prolific this year. We have had a few roses, but the buds are slow this year.

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Large Bumble bee (12/06/2014)

We have tried several times to get a picture of this very large Bumble bee, which has a body 1 1/8 inches long. We finally got pictures while it was feeding in a Petunia.

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Insects in the garden (May and June 2014)

We get lots of bees again, as well as Swallowtail butterflies and dragonflies, Cabbage white butterflies and ladybugs. This ladybug laid eggs among some aphids on a foxglove.

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Nature's Artistry (May and June 2014)

We always appreciate new exmples of nature's artistry.

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Earth Day (22/04/2014)

We recorded our garden around Earth day by taking photographs of rhododendrons, snow peas in our tub, and a viola growing between the steps of our deck. Our daffodils (which grew to 30" tall) were replaced by tulips. Birds in the garden included a robin in the apple tree, a Hutton's Vireo and a red finch. We have robins nesting in one of our trees - it is about 10 year since we last had robins nesting. There is extensive gathering of nesting materials by other birds every day.

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Woodpecker standoff (23/03/2014)

A Downy Woodpecker was feeding on a seed block when a sparrow arrived and demanded a share. The woodpecker appeared quite indignant but backed down. The sparrow flew away and the woodpecker continued feeding.

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Humming Birds (December 2013 - January 2014)

We had many viewings of humming birds at our feeders and perching in the trees in our garden

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Christmas 2013 (16/12/2013)

Studio window.

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Sunset (23/11/2013, 05/01/2014)

We are back into the time of year for spectacular sunsets, visible from our doors.

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Winter Birds (November)

As well as the numerous songbirds, we also saw Downy Woodpeckers, Flickers and Hummingbirds. Other birds we have seen this year in our yard include Fox Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees, Nuthatches, Robins, Towhees, Bushtits and Juncos.

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Late Flowers (October and November, 2013)

Some flowers, especially Nasturtiums, lasted through October until late November. In October, they were even visited by Bees! There was also a clover flower in one pot.

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Apples (07/10/2013, 09/11/2013)

We had quite a good crop of apples this year, but many were bad. One had a funny face, in time for Halloween!

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Flowers (25/09/2013, 06/10/2013)

One sunflower had two small offshoots that flowered after the main disc had been harvested. We planted several containers with a second batch of Nasturtiums later in the summer, and they are now blooming well.

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Ladybird (08/09/2013)

This ladybird dropped by while I was sorting seeds.

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Butterfly eggs and larvae (16/09/2013)

We found several batches of Cabbage White eggs and larvae. They are probably a second genaration for the year and may not survive.

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Spider web (01/09/2013, 04/10/2013)

We have had many spider webs in the garden this year. One spider made a beautiful orb between the stems of our ornamental grass, while another made one in our row of cedars.

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Seeding (30/08/2013)

The small blue flower from our basket produced seeds like a dandelion.

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Potato (07/08/2013)

We always get something misshapen that brings a smile.

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Flowers in the garden (August 2013)

We still have lots of flowers blooming in August - we have had a great year for pollinators. The large orange Nasturtium with the sunflower was a volunteer, so we left it in.

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Humming bird (07/08/2013, 24/08/2013)

The humming bird makes frequent visits to the fuschia.

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Skipper (08/08/2013, 24/08/2013)

We had several visits from Skipper butterflies this month.

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Sunset and Blue Moon (10/08/2013, 20/08/2013)

We got good views of sunsets as well as the August Blue Moon.

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Sunflowers (August 2013)

Our sunflowers from seeds harvested last year varied greatly in size. One grew to almost 8 feet tall. Disks varied from 5-8 inches in diameter. They were well used by honey bees.

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Wetlands and Swans (20/07/2013)

The wetlands around Somenos Lake, Duncan, are home to many birds. In particular, swans raise their families there. Interesting flowers grow on the banks, such as this spectacular but as-yet-unidentified flower.

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Natures Arrangements (July 2013)

The natural patterns of nature's arrangements can be beautiful.

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Insects in the garden (July 2013)

We have regular visits by dragonflies. Both bumble bees and honey bees make use of the wild mint that blew in last year.

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Humming bird (06/07/2013, 29/07/2013)

Humming birds have been visiting our garden for years, but this is the first time we have seen them feeding on Nasturtiums and Comfrey.

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Pictures (June-July 2013)

To record progress in the garden, my garden work table, some problems with rust, and a good sighting of the eagle flying low. It was a soggy June (perhaps contributing to a heavy blackfly population, and powdery mildew on the hesperis), but July is warm and dry. We had 40 or so foxgloves this year, mostly blow-ins; they were heavily used by bees and other insects. We managed to get some good photographs of a humming bird feeding on the heuchera and we had our first sighting of a humming bird feeding on a red nasturtium. Some foxgloves grew to eight feet tall. Six were pure white. Also, we have a bumble bee nest in the ivy. Significantly more butterflies were seen this year. Timings of flowers and vegetables are about the same as last year.

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