--------------------------------------------------------------------------Bee (19/05/2013)
We are starting to see Honey bees and Bumble bees again on the lavender.
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Rainbow (17/05/2013)
A rainbow at the end of the work week. It has been a long time since we last saw one.
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Rhodos (09-10/05/2013)
More of our Rhodos are in full bloom.
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Bewick's Wren (05/05/2013)
This Bewick's Wren has been checking out one of our bird houses.
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First Bee (29/04/2013)
We haven't seen many bees yet this year. This was the first one captered on camera.
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Tulips (25/04/2013, 30/04/2013, 03/05/2013)
Our tulips lasted very well this year and made a lovely display, especially when seen in reflection. They took a long time coming through but were well worth waiting for.
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Earth Day 2013 (22/04/2013)
We experienced Earth day under a beutiful blue cloudless sky, temperature 15oC. This year has been cool, so many of our tulips were not in bloom on Earth Day. Flowers out included Heuchera, some of the tulips, Violas, some wallflowers, some rhododendrons and the Labrador tea. One of the rhododendrons was visited by a bee as we were taking the photgraph, but it moved so its picture was blurred. Our blueberries have flowers, but the pear and apple have just started to blossom, and the lavender and sweet peas are only at early stages. For Earth day, we started our vegetable garden and planted a lot of Nasturtiums.
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Sunset (13/04/2013)
We haven't had many glorious sunsets this year, but this one was spectacular, as seen from our front door, and came after a day of rain, wind and hail. It transitioned to darkness in just a few minutes.
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Golden-crowned Kinglet (25/03/2013)
I enjoyed watching this little bird in the tree outside my studio window
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Rhubarb (17/03/2013)
The rhubarb which we planted last year is coming up strongly.
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March flowers (17/03/2013, 25/03/2013)
Some of our early-blooming herbaceous flowers, bulbs and shrubs.
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Snail (17/03/2013)
The 2013 snail find is earlier than previous years.
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Tubs (11/03/2013)
Our tubs of daffodils and tulips have been slow this year.
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Clouds (10/02/2013)
As well as being a star gazer, I am also a cloud watcher. I was recently given two books: The Cloud Collector's Handbook and the Audubon Field Guide to Weather. I was delighted to find that a cloud formation photographed above our garden in September 2009 was the rarest of finds - a Kelvin-Helmholtz cloud formation. At the time, it reminded me of one of my lace borders.
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Christmas Table Setting (25/12/2012)
Our Christmas table centerpiece this year came from the garden: late-blooming Rhodos, continuous-blooming Snowflakes, and a sprig of Holly. This is the first year these have all been available at the same time
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Hummingbirds (15/12/2012, 17/12/2012)
We started our feeder for the winter on Friday and by Saturday we were getting regular visits each day by both the male and female. We had back-to-back winter wind storms over these few days. On the Saturday, for a few seconds I had the flicker on the suet block and the Hummingbird on its feeder at the same time - just amazing.
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Studio (10/12/2012)
The entry to my studio, ready for Christmas. I have planted five Amaryllis for my indoor gardening.
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Bulbs (04/12/2012)
These pots are full of bulbs, ready for spring.
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Late blooms (04/12/2012, 10/12/12)
It's December and several plants have floweered again, including Tom Thumbs, Rhodos, Petunias and Snowflakes. Greenery in the plant pots is also coming back.
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Apple (28/10/2012)
We didn't have many apples this year and many did not do well, possibly weather-related.
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Halloween Truffle (28/10/2012)
A decomposing truffle made a scary face in time for Halloween.
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Late Bees (28/10/2012)
Late bees were still visiting the Tom Thumbs at the end of October
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Seed harvest (27/09/2012, 21/10/2012)
These seeds from my four large sunflowers were donated to the BC SPCA Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre (Wild ARC). The rest of my seeds included more than 1000 Nasturtiums, as well as sunflowers, lupins, peas, snow peas and sweet peas.
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Late season flowering (22/09/2012, 23/09/2012)
This late-blooming foxglove, and a second flowering of a Tom Thumb plant, continue to add color to the garden.
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Daisies (20/09/2012)
This daisy first bloomed in May. Four months later, it still has many blossoms which attract the bees.
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Petunias (20/09/2012)
These purple petunias are still going strong into the third week of September.
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Sunflowers (20/08/2012, 16/08/2012, 16/08/2012, 17/08/2012, 21/08/2012, 17/09/2012, 20/09/2012)
I am very pleased with my sunflowers. The largest grew to five feet tall with a disk measuring nine and a half inches across, while the smaller ones were just over 50" with 8" disks.. One flower head did not develop normally (I see a heart shape in the middle) and produced a couple of very small secondary shoots towards the base of the plant. These little flowers are just blooming now, with a disk only 3/4" across, and are attracting insects. The seeds will be donated to the BC SPCA Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre (Wild ARC).
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Surprises (18/08/2012, 30/08/2012, 18/08/2012, 13/09/2012)
I am often surprised by blow-in and volunteer plants, like these petunias, snapdragons and mint, that pop up in unexpected places and include tomatoes that are bearing fruit. I believe many come from seeds that pass through my compost box.
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Harvest (07/08/2012, 11/08/2012, 11/08/2012, 29/08/2012)
Having harvested tomatoes, beets and potatoes throughout August, space was available to sink pots into the soil to allow spread of the Squash and Cucumber.
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Seed harvest (12/08/2012, 11/09/2012)
I harvested many seeds early in August, but some late blooming Nasturtiums will keep me going for a while!
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August FLowers (*/08/2012)
While some flowers have been in bloom all summer, others, like the lupin, have only recently bloomed.
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Dandelion (11/08/2012)
Although dandelions are weeds, they have a certain beauty when their seeds are lit up by a camera flash.
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Happy BC Day 2012
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Bees on carnations (04/08/2012)
Bees have have started making extensive use of the carnations that are past their best. It can be quite a struggle for them to find a way in!
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Bees on gladioli (04/08/2012)
The bees have been making extensive use of the gladioli.
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Dragonflies (31/07/2012, 01/08/2012)
We have had a lot of dragonfly activity in the garden over the last couple of days.
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Insects in the garden (Various dates)
Many insects feed or rest in the garden, on a wide variety of plants.
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Harvest (30/07/2012)
We harvested all our remaining snow peas and half our potatoes today.
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Gladiolas (24/07/2012, 29/07/2012, 31/07/2012, 01/08/2012)
We tried gladiolas this year for the first time, and are very pleased with the results.
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Nasturtiums and Sweet Peas (18/07/2012)
The nasturtiums and sweet peas grow well together.
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Ladybird Eggs (18/07/2012)
A ladybird laid eggs on several sunflower leaves, next to some greenfly.
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Sunflowers (17/07/2012, 24/07/2012, 29/07/2012)
These sunflowers, grown from seeds, are growing very well. A 5-cent piece on the leaf shows their scale.
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Clover (16/07/2012)
This year there are large clover patches in many parts of our neighborhood, including our own lawns.
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Every year (various dates)
From one year to the next, I bring through carnations, lavender, rose campion, sweet peas, lilies, hesperis, daisies, heuchera and foxgloves, as well as growing nasturtiums and hesperis from seed harvested the previous year. All these plants support pollinators. They flower at different times so there is a continuous source of resources for the pollinators.
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Insects on daisies (16/07/2012)
Flower flies (Syrphids), bees and small wasps all frequent the daisy patch.
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Tub garden (16/07/2012, 16/07/2012, 19/07/2012, 29/07/2012)
The tub garden is coming on very well, and the peas will soon be ready to harvest.
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Snail (14/07/2012)
Every year I usually find one snail in my garden, in a different location each time.
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Hanging Basket (01/07/2012, 01/07/2012, 13/07/2012, 25/07/2012)
This is one of my two hanging moss baskets this year. The fuschia produced huge flowers, and the geranium grew particularly well.
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Nasturtiums (01/07/2012, 12/07/2012)
Last year most of our nasturtiums were orange, but this year we had a large array of colors. They are well used by small wasps.
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Dragonfly (01/07/2012)
This dragonfly liked resting on our bamboo stakes.
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Foxglove (01/07/2012)
Most of our foxgloves are pink or purple, but this one is white. All my foxgloves started as blow-ins then I began to harvest the seeds.
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Butterfly (01/05/2012)
This swallowtail spent some time resting on the nasturtiums.
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Roses (27/06/2012, 07/07/2012, 13/07/2012, 21/07/2012, 01/08/2012)
This year we decided to plant roses.
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Canada Day 2012 (01/07/2012)
Here are two fabric flowers to wish you a happy Canada Day, and two containers with over 150 flowers to celebrate Victoria's 150th birthday.
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Bees (13/06/2012, 16/06/2012)
This year so far has had more bees in our early garden (Heuchera, lavender, foxgloves, Osteospermum daisies) than we have seen for a number of years. Honeybees in particular have increased in numbers. Temperatures have been cool and we have not seen many other insects.
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Daisies (10/06/2012)
Bouquet of Osteospermum daisies.
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Birds (08/06/2012, 15/06/2012)
Finches and robins are more frequent visitors to our yard again. This robin was resting on the fence in the evening.
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Heuchera (02/06/2012)
The Heuchera plants are all in full bloom.
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Butterfly (29/05/2012)
A butterfly on a sunflower seedling.
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Daisy (24/05/2012)
First flowers on the daisy.
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Bee (24/05/2012)
The lavender and Heuchera continue to be most popular with the early bees. The Heuchera also attracted a rufous hummingbird. Apart from the bees, there are not many insects flying in the garden these days.
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Hot tub garden (24/05/2012, 02/06/2012)
Our hot tub garden grew a lot between May 24 and June 2, by which time everything had come through.
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Nesters (19/05/2012)
Our nesters in the apple tree this year are Black-Capped Chickadees.
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Eagles (30/04/2012)
At the end of a windy afternoon gardening, three bald eagles flew over our garden - a magnificent sight and a great end to a gardening day.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Raindrop (24/04/2012)
A raindrop on a Tom Thumb seedling after a heavy rainfall.
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Earth Day 2012 (22/04/2012)
Earth Day, Oak Bay, BC. Temperature was 18.6oC, a great day to garden. This year for Earth Day we were able to have our spring flowers in bloom at the same time as we planted our summer flowers. We are really enjoying the colours and structure of the flowes and shrubs along with the beautiful scent of the wall flowers. The weather has been on the cool side overall and many of the spring flowers have been in bloom for four weeks. Our big project this year was to turn our hot tub, which no longer works into a small vegetable garden. The tub is recessed into our deck so it should function as a raised bed with the sun reflecting of the white wall of the house. We live in a municipality which has a large focus on recycling, part of the program allows for garden refuse to be dropped off six days a week at the municipal yard. The facility is very well used and the refuse is used to make compost which is then sold for a small fee. The mixture is excellent so we filled the bottom part with municipal compost mixed in some commercial soil and added some of our own compost to the mix. The peas and potatoes have been planted. In the weeks to come we are adding beets, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and pumpkins Many of our other spring blooms are just coming out. No nesters so far this year.
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Studio Garden (21/04/2012)
Looking into my studio and out from the studio over the garden entry.
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Hot Tub Garden Conversion (16/04/2012)
Converting our broken and irreparable hut tub into a garden ready for planting on Earth Day.
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Spring Flowers (10/04/2012)
Daffodils and tulips outside my studio window.
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Clouds (05/04/2012)
A huge puffy cloud behind our plum tree. The buds have not progressed much since January. Temperatures have been below normal since then.
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Daffodils (29/03/2012)
A good display in time for Easter.
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Flicker (10/03/2012)
First sighting of the Flicker this year. It hasn't been arround much this winter. Overall, we haven't had the variety of birds we have seen in previous years.
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Hairy Woodpecker (10/03/2012)
It and the Flicker showed up on the same day.
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Hummingbird (18,19/01/2012)
Hummingbirds feeding, and resting about 25 cm from the feeder. in -4C temperatures (-13C with windchill). We saw three at one time around the feeder.
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Snow (18/01/2012)
Snow-covered solar lights, planter and path.
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Spring Bulbs (15/01/2012)
I planted 100 bulbs at the end of October. They started to appear above ground at the end of December 2011 and are continuing to grow.
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Apple Buds (15/01/2012)
The buds on the tree started to swell in the first week of January 2012.
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Winesap Apples (13/10/2011, 17/10/2011)
I started this blog in 2009 when my apple tree produced only TWO apples. Yesterday, Life Cycles of Victoria harvested a whopping 180 kg of apples from the tree. We had already harvested some, and some remain at the top of the tree. All-in-all, we estimate that the tree produced over 400 lbs (over 1000 apples) - way too many for us to use ourselves, and the most the tree has ever produced. This tree is also the tree from which our bird feeders hang, and it holds one of our nesting boxes. Earlier comments in the blog this year indicated that the blossoms came out later than usual, and lasted longer this year. Also, it had many visits from birds and insects at that time.
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Rhododendrons (13/10/2011)
This rhododendron bush is flowering for the second time this year.
Island (27/09/2011)
This tiny island in Stockholm's inner archipelago had several buildings and a few trees.
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Heron (27/09/2011)
I saw this heron on the shores of a canal.
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Swans (25/09/2011)
I think swans are such magnificent birds. I saw lots on this trip to Sweden.
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Sunflower (25/09/2011)
I saw this impressive sunflower, 11 feet high and 9 inches across the center disk, at the Rosendals Tradgard in Stockholm.
Seeds(14/09/2011)
This Tom Thumb seed harvest all came from a single large plant. By the time I had finished, I had over 80 seeds.
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Sunflowers (14/09/2011, 17/09/2011)
This sunflower grew to over seven feet tall, but blew over in a big storm in September. The sunflowers were popular with honey bees as most other flowers had withered by this time.
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Apples (28/08/2011)
Our apple tree is overloaded - a magnificent crop after many years of hardly producing anything.
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Plums (28/08/2011)
This year our plum tree surprised us - it actually produced some lovely plums.
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Eggs (28/08/2011)
Pieris brassicae (Cabbage white) butterfly eggs on a 1 1/2 inch long sweet pea leaf.
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Tom Thumb (25/08/2011)
Every year we get one huge Tom Thumb plant that climbs all the way through our deck.
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Bumble Bee (04/08/2011)
The sweet peas are still a big attraction to insects.
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Hanging Basket (03/08/2011)
This hanging basket is still doing well, although the birds have pulled out some of the moss
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Butterfly (31/07/2011)
A butterfly on a pumpkin leaf.
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Leaf (31/07/2011)
This Tom Thumb leaf was the biggest I have ever seen.
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Sharing (30/07/2011)
The daisies were a great resource for many insects this year
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Flowers (29/07/2011)
I like to surround my patio table with containers of flowers.
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Flower patch (29/07/2011)
I like to fill the corners of my yard with containers of flowers.
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Butterfly on bamboo (29/07/2011)
We often see butterflies resting on the bamboo leaves.
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Daisies (29/07/2011)
This daisy patch keeps expanding every year.
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Ladybird (28/07/2011)
This ladybird spent two days working over my pea patch. We have not seen many over the last few years
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Sweet Pea (14/07/2011)
Bees, butterflies and humming birds all visit this sweet pea.
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Basket (30/06/2011)
This picture of my basket shows the early stages of its growth.
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Foxgloves (30/06/2011)
I really like all the clumps of foxgloves in the nooks and cranies of my garden.
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Lilies (30/06/2011, 21/07/2011)
These lilies are the biggest I have ever grown. They produced a mass of flowers, although they are very late in blooming as they are usually out in May.
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Raccoons (19-20/06/2011)
This racoon and her four babies spent time in our yard on two successive days.
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Early bees (15/06/2011)
These flowers were the mainstay of the early bees in our garden.
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Butterfly (15/06/2011)
This flower that I purchased at Saltspring Island market attracted early butterflies.
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Spiders (05/06/2011)
A newly-hatched batch of spiders in my sweet peas.
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Bee (30/05/2011)
The first bee to visit our new lavender from Saltspring Island.
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Wrens (12/05/2011)
Bewick's wrens nesting in a box in our pear tree.
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Warbler (12/05/2011)
This is our first visit from an orange-crowned warbler. It spent several days feeeding on the apple blossoms.
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Apple Blossoms (09/05/2011)
Apple blossoms lasted a long time this year after coming out late.
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Snail (30/04/2011)
While working in the soil I came across this snail.
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Earth Day (21/04/2011)
For Earth Day, although it had been cold, I planted petunias, salvia fuschias, nasturtiums and geraniums. I spent 5 hours weeding and planting and cleaning out my compost box. During that time I saw my first butterfly of the year and the eagle soared overhead. --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Humming bird (09/04/2011)
The hummingbird continues to visit. We also had a rufous hummingbird visit one day.
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Humming bird chick (22/03/2011)
Hummingbird nest with chick - a wonderful find. We later saw the chick practice flying in our backyard. It spent a lot of time resting in our apple tree.
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Stellar Jay (02/03/2011)
We had a pair of Stellar Jays visit again. We also had many other bird species that visited for the first time.
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Bulbs under snow (24/02/2011)
Spring bulbs horizontal. The day before they were vertical, with buds. However, they did recover, but many did not bloom.
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Snow (23/02/2011)
Overnight 8” of snow fell on my garden.
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Dracaena flower (01-02/02/2011)
Our Dracaena bloomed this year for the first time in 14 years. It is apparently an unusual event.
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Humming bird (25/11/10)
Although the flowers were gone, this humming bird could still find food at the feeder. The month of December saw some new kinds of birds at our feeder, such as a Varied Thrush and a Towhee. One day I saw two Stellar Jays visit at the same time. The suet basket has been popular, especially for the Downy Woodpecker.
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End of the flowers (25/11/10)
On November 25, a cold snap and snow fall brought an end to my flowers for the year. Zapped everything!
It was an interesting year gardening. I realize the impact of new weather patterns on what I can grow. Many long-time gardners commented on their difficulties this year.
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Winter Garden (20/11/10)
Towards the end of November I still had a lot of flowers.
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Diversity Garden (02/08/10)
My diversity garden at its peak.
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Sunrise (01/08/10)
Early Saturday morning, 6:30 a.m., I was amazed to see the sun was completely red, although this photograph does not do it justice. It was wonderful
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Garden update (July)
Many days had day and night temperatures significantly below the normals for this time year. There was no rainfall.
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Potatoes (26/07/10)
We started harvesting our potatoes today.
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Butterfly (26/07/10)
This Lorquin's Admiral is towards the northern edge of its range here on Vancouver Island.
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Geraniums (20/07/10)
These geraniums are constantly in bloom.
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Bees and wasps
A selection of the bees and wasps visiting our garden include honey bees, which have been scarce in recent years.
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Daisies (20/07/10)
This daisy patch is at its most spectacular this year.
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Bee fly (18/07/10)
Bee flies, which mimic bees, are very rarely seen.
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Flower fly (17/07/10)
We see many individuals of the flower fly family, including this Eristalis with a characteristic looping wing vein
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Sweet Peas (16/07/10)
The sweet pea growing in a hanging basket is at the peak of its beauty.
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Leaf Cutter Bee (15/07/10)
We enjoyed watching this leaf cutter bee digging its tunnel and carrying in leaf fragments. Like all the other insect images in this block, they were taken in our garden.
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Sweet peas(13/07/10)
Sweet peas in a hanging basket, against a backdrop of bamboo.
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Hydrangea flowers(13/07/10)
We have had this hydrangea bush for many years.
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Dragonfly (12/07/10)
This dragonfly rested on a foxglove where we got a picture of both the back and front.
It was hanging above the large thyme plant in our herb-come-everythong section of the garden.
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Butterfly (11/07/10)
Cabbage white butterflies often rest in our garden.
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Dragonfly (10/07/10)
Another dragonfly, resting on a cedar hedge.
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Sweet peas (08/07/10)
These Sweet peas in a hanging basket were a humming bird stop-over point.
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Harvest (04/07/10)
Harvesting some peas and garlic. We have already harvested the spinnach and eaten it, so no photograph.
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Foxglove (01/07/10)
At its last measurement, this foxglove was 8 feet 7 inches tall, beating our previous record of 8 feet 4 inches five years ago.
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Garden update (16/06/10)
Our Mason bees did not come through this year but we will try again next year. The weather has been on the cool side.
Our vegetables are all doing well, except the onions. The compost box is working wonderfully: the fruit fly population, which has been low in the past few years, is now back to high levels again.
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Dragonfly (14/06/10)
We often see dragon flies patrolling our garden. This one stopped and rested on one of the bamboo stakes of our pea plants. I had added this stake only two days earlier as the plants needed extra support.
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Swallowtail butterfly (10/06/10)
Common Swallowtail butterfly resting on the wall of our house.
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Bees (May and June)
Our Spanish lavender and a plant with tiny red flowers, that the hummingbirds also visit, are constantly in use by bumble bees. The plant we call the "Rootless wonder" is also well-used by the bees (see 08/08/09).
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Earth Day (22/04/10)
Follow this link to see Colours from our garden on Earth Day.
Last year on Earth Day we put up two bird houses. This spring we now have residents, visible in silhouette inside the door on Earth Day.
On Earth Day we recorded how the peas have come on since the picture on March 31st.
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Vegetable progress (13/04/10)
Onions and Garlic.
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Squirrel in the bird feeder (09/04/10)
We put out special woodpecker mix, but the squirrel got to it first!
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Spring Flowers(01/04/10)
By varying bulb planting time in the fall, I keep a nice display outside my workplace window in spring by rotating the tubs.
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Peas (31/03/10)
Peas from free seeds from the "Seedy Saturday" event on February 20th.
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Flicker (18/03/10)
Whenever this bird appears in my garden I stop working to watch. When it flies away, its colours are glorious!
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SNOW! (08/03/10)
Snow pellets on Rhodos. HELP! It's March!.
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Oregon Grape (07/03/10)
Oregon Grape and an as yet unidentified flower seen on a neighbourhood walk to Anderson Park.
Experimental containers (06/03/10)
Experimental/utilitarian container potato planting.
Basket preparation (06/03/10)
Preparing a hanging basket.
Spring Flowers (06/03/10)
Spring Daffodils and Primulas.
Amaryllis (08/02/10)
Amaryllis growing in stones, charcoal and water: very little root system but produced 8 magnificent blooms.
Worms (21/02/10)
Worms in my compost box ready for garden work.
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"Seedy Saturday" (20/02/10)
We went to "Seedy Saturday" at the Victoria Conference Centre for the Victoria 17th Annual Seed and Garden show today. The presentations were so inspirational and motivational that I am returning to vegetable and fruit gardening using new techniques, although I will still continue to grow flowers
that will attract pollinators.
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Squim Feeder (08/02/10)
I bought this feeder last year on a visit to the Sequim Lavender Festival in Sequim, Washington. The feeder is in a more secluded area of my garden to provide food for smaller birds. It works really well.
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Mason Bees (courtesy of Gladys) (08/02/10)
Presently we are waiting for mason bees to emerge - a new idea we are trying this year.
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Sweet Peas (04/09/09)
The sweet peas in this container also had a volunteer Tom Thumb seed come through. It was one of the strong Tom Thumbs and provided the perfect frame for the more fragile sweet peas. They coexisted well together.
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Hanging Basket (28/08/09)
This is the hanging basket made from moss and an old coffee bean sack. A volunteer squash seed came through this year. It was left in and one of the flowers was successfully pollinated and produced a small squash.
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Deer (19/08/09, 22/08/09)
The two deer visitors wandered into our neighbourhood on two occasions - this is their first visit in the twenty seven years we have lived at this location.
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Biodiversity Patch (08/08/09)
This area of the garden was home to bees, spiders, aphids, wasps, ladybugs and bald-faced hornets for about three weeks.
Ladybug (08/08/09)
Bald Faced Hornet (08/08/09)
"Rootless Wonder" (08/08/09)
I have been pulling out this weed for many years only to have it reappear. Last year I was late in getting around to pulling it out and when I went to the area I was amazed that this weed and the surrounding plants were home to lots of insects.
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Lavender (18/07/09)
Lavender growing at Sequim lavender farm. The work being done on these lavender farms is quite amazing.
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Crows (27/08/08)
These three baby crows came out of their nest too soon. They landed in our garden and were unable to care for themselves. They were taken to a wild life care facility until they were ready to be set free.
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Squirrel (19/07/09)
A neighbourhood squirrel frequently visits our garden. It finds food there and frequently leaves whole peanuts in various locations.
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Cedrus seedling (22/06/09)
This strange looking seedling was well established when we found it in the garden
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Compost 2006
Looking down into the compost box. It is working well.
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2005: Memories of a bumper year
This was the year that two of my flowers amazed me: the Tom Thumb on the left grew up the deck roof (about 15 feet) and continued blooming until Dec 25th when frost wiped it out. I still have seeds that come through from this Tom Thumb, but nothing has lasted as long as the first one. The foxglove on the right grew to an amazing height of 8feet 4inches
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