Six on Saturday – 16JAN2021

Chris Mousseau

It seems 2020 was either the hottest or the second hottest year on record. It depends on your source. Either way, we’ve yet to see negative double digits where I live in southern Ontario, even at night. We had a nice snowfall at the start of the month, but what was left on the ground yesterday (when most of these photos were taken) will likely be gone by end of day today. My heart keeps thinking the bulbs should be poking through in greater abundance even though I know, in my head, we have at least two months left of cold and snowy winter. Ah well. Seed catalogues have arrived. Orders placed. And the Amaryllis has started to bloom (indoors). Here are six things garden related – The Propagator hosts this weekly theme and, if you visit his site, you’ll be sure to see actual gardens in bloom from all over the world.

The aforementioned Amaryllis – Hippeastrum – there’s a mini-forest of pink and white ones about to bloom in the dining room window.
  • Tracks in the snow #1 – squirrel I think? Look at the claws…
  • Tracks in the snow #2 – lots around this tiny Weigela – happily, the bush is, so far, unappetizing
  • Tracks in the snow #3 – Brooks GTS tracks, size 11.5
  • Tracks in the snow #4 – a coyote was following a rabbit on Jan 2
The foliage of most Allium species disappear after flowers fade. Chives turn to mush with a hard frost. Garlic chives are a bit hardier, but this Allium – Keeled Garlic, aka Witch’s Garlic, aka Allium carinatum – is REALLY hardy.
Speaking of hardy plants – I never would have predicted there would a green leaf on this passion flower vine – Passiflora sp – three months after our first frost. AND – it’s growing in a pot!
I trimmed off some branches of a basswood tree – Tilia americana – on new year’s day (a warm and sunny day it was) and left them on the ground. It appears basswood bark is a delicacy for some critter – better these branches than the ornamental shrubs that are often a winter staple in my garden.
The side yard and garden – rather dismal right now – starting in late March it’ll start to fill in!

17 Comments

  1. My passionflowers have proved tougher than the books say. Not as cold as you will get but still lower than its meant to last. Last year was a mild winter for me and they stayed evergreen giving them an early start and months of flowering.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Here also the passionflower leaves are for some still green but I have two advantages, it’s much less cold than you and in addition mine has been moved to the greenhouse… Very pretty amaryllis flower !

    Liked by 1 person

  4. The Hippeastrum look fantastic. I have really only seen one on a windowsill and yours look fabulous in a group. You also have a good range of wildlife as well.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. My group started out as one on a windowsill! Now it’s one pot with five flowering bulbs and two that are too small yet. They’ve been in the same pot for a few years now so I’ll likely repot in the fall, after I let them go dormant.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. I don’t often think of bark as a tasty treat, but there’s no reason it shouldn’t be. Interesting. And I like that last photo. I suppose from a gardener’s point of view it’s not very attractive, but the colors appeal to me.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I like the colours as well. This morning, with the snow now melted (it was pretty warm yesterday although cooler today with more snow expected this week) I appreciate the various layers and heights…

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Passion fruit vine is sensitive to even mild frost. I mean, it dies back here! It does not get ruined by the frost though. It is just deciduous like that. It dies back whether it gets frosted or not. The vines do not actually die, but if not cut to the ground, get replaced by new vines anyway. My colleague down south had been trying to kill one for many years at his parents’ home. He just lets it grow now. It is not the common ornamental type. He believes that it might be a remnant of a passion fruit orchard that was there at the end of the Victorian period. Once the roots get into a safe spot, like under the foundation of a backyard wall, they are difficult to get rid of. Back then, passion fruit was a common minor crop around Beverly Hills and into western Los Angeles, . . . before Los Angeles expanded so far west.

    Like

    1. It’s easy to start from seed and best, I think, to plant in small quantities/clumps rather than individually – the flower stalks are only 12″ – 16″ and, as they flower in the summer, need to compete with everything else blooming in the garden!

      Liked by 2 people

Comments are closed.