Benched

The annual "Art in the Park" event was held over the weekend, and of course I love to see what treasures are created by the local arts community. It was a sunny day, just the right amount of cooling breezes. 300 booths were set up under the trees showing off paintings, photography, pottery, fabric arts, sculpture... you name it! I'm trying to declutter at home, so I definitely didn't need to buy anything although I was sorely tempted when I saw some beautiful applewood hand carved spoons. But I resisted.

My only purchase was an ice cream cone.

However I saw this beauty in the park.

View from the front. Dragonflies, butterfly, humming birds, even a little kitty.

View from the back. No indication who made it, but I love it!

Meanwhile, my giant sunflower (see previous post) seems to be taking a sudden U-turn towards the sun.

Sunflower

Back in May I found a tiny sunflower seedling had established itself in an abandoned flower pot, so I rescued it and transplanted it into my flower garden. Probably a single seed buried by treerats, er... squirrels, of which we have far too many.

Well, it grew and grew and grew. And it's still growing. Just how tall will it get?

A stormy day blew one of the sunflower heads against my window, so I could easily see the details of the spiral arrangement of the seeds. The Fibonacci Sequence.... a.k.a. Nature's Golden Ratio.

This visitor to my sunflower wasn't at all concerned about the spiral of the seeds, he (or she) was concentrating on a shopping trip to collect nectar and pollen. 

Wildflowers

Younger son had a crazy idea to start a wildflower patch in the meadow beside the house. 

You can see his first attempts here.

This year produced a bumper crop of Black Eyed Susans and blue and pink Cornflowers. Red Poppies too... but they flowered earlier in the spring.

The flower patches are full of bees and butterflies and little green grasshoppers. It's really buzzing! A third area of the meadow has been tarped to kill all the grass and it will be ploughed and rye will be planted, and then cut, and the wild flower seeds will go in. 

And this area by the little stream has been planted with Milkweed especially for the Monarch butterflies.

Through the Window

Lots of activity among the zinnias yesterday. My little Canon Point'n'shoot camera takes much better pictures than my rather ancient phone, especially through the window. 

I've had Ruby Throated Hummingbirds at my feeder all summer, and they are particularly active right now, preparing for a long migration flight to their wintering areas in Central and South America. This female was sampling the zinnia nectar. The wings can beat up to 53 times per second, so no wonder it's such a blur.

And not only hummingbirds among the zinnias, there were two of these green birds hanging onto the flower stems and sampling the seeds. Can anyone tell me what these birds are?

Co-operation Please!

I would have appreciated a bit more co-operation from this rather tatty Red Admiral butterfly. She (or he?) was happily flitting around the zinnia patch, enjoying the sunshine, and nibbling on the juicy nectar in the middle of the flowers. 

But she kept flapping her wings and fluttering about, and couldn't quite decide which flower was the tastiest, and I wasn't able to persuade her to stay still long enough for me to get a good photo. Perhaps she was camera shy.

I tried talking to her but she wasn't listening. When she landed on a flower, I crossed my fingers that she would show me her wings, and I told her how pretty she was but she ignored me, and kept her wings closed. Or with the occasional flap which was too fast for me.

Finally she landed on this blossom and opened her wings. She didn't stay long. She had places to go and things to do as I'm sure she is aware that it will be migration time very soon.

Thanks for visiting Ms. (or Mr.) Red Admiral.

Sunny

Do those sunny faces make you feel happy? Artist group gathering, drawing and painting the sunflowers. We had big smiles on our faces as we wandered through the fields, clippers in hand, looking for the perfect flowers to take home. 

Yes that's me, wading through those huge plants looking for the perfect bloom. Wow, those blossoms are heavy! And tough and scratchy. 

Teatime and Lavender

Lavender seems to be a very fashionable flower these days. My Mum grew lavender, and harvested the flowers and sewed fragrant lavender sachets that were scattered in dresser drawers and given away to friends at Christmas. My grandma did too. Today lavender has a new use. It's used in cake flavourings, and you can wash it all down with lavender tea.

Vive Lavender is a lavender farm just a little north of where I live, and last week I went with a group of five other ladies (yes, I'm a lady) to have tea at the farm. A wander round the lavender beds.... getting near the end of the season now.  And a lovely garden of perennials, sorry I didn't take a pic.

It was another hot day so we sat in the shade of the big tent, white tablecloths and linen napkins. A choice of around 15 different teas, all served in china teapots, and fancy bone china cups and saucers. An array of sandwiches and wraps, fruit, vegetables, scones with jam and cream, and on the top layer, fancy cakes. Are you envious?

Wildflower Meadow

The making of a Wildflower Meadow (Younger Son's special project).

The end piece of ground far left was covered with a tarp for 18 months to kill the grass and weeds, and then tilled and winter rye was planted.

A second area in the foreground is covered to kill the grass, this will be the home of the next batch of wildflowers.... we hope!

When the rye germinated and started to grow it was cut down before it could form seeds.  This would discourage more grass and weeds to take root.

Then a pack of assorted wildflower seeds were scattered and fingers crossed, hope for the best.

The wildflower seeds were supposed to include evening primrose which is yellow, but mainly red field poppy and blue cornflowers appeared.

Photo by Sarah.

Magnolia

It seems to be a bumper year for magnolia blossom around here. There are trees on every street absolutely loaded with the blossoms, all variations of purple and pink and white. They don't last long.

This yellow magnolia grows beside the pond near my house. It had no blossoms last spring as an early ice storm killed the flower buds. But this year it's making up for the loss. 

Note: That heron beside the pond looks intriguing but sorry, it isn't real, it's made of metal. But a real heron arrives most evenings and walks around the water's edge hunting for dinner.

Coltsfoot

The first dash of golden sunshine after the snow has melted. Coltsfoot.  Tussilago farfara.  A flower in the daisy family, flowers appearing before the leaves.  Claims that a tea made from Coltsfoot can treat respiratory infections, sore throats, gout, flu, and fever.  I haven't tried it so far, and probably never will.

The leaf is supposed to be the shape of a colt's foot, hence the name.  Some other names are tash plant, ass's foot, bull's foot, coughwort, farfara, foal's foot, foalswort, and horse foot. 

Bloomin'

 I'd like to introduce Phyllis the Amaryllis.

She came to live with me back in December when she was just a dried up bulb in a box er.... I mean cute fat little baby with lots of growth potential. 

Liberal applications of encouraging words, TLC and H2O and look what happened.

Phyllis certainly warms up a cold snowy day with her bright smile. And it's Saint Valentine's Day soon.... the perfect day to wear red, Phyllis's favourite colour.

Yellow / Red colour swap

 

Playing with the camera settings again, this time a yellow / red colour swap. 

Gives these bright yellow nasturtiums a completely new look. 

Nasturtium

 

So bright and jolly, and edible too. I bought a packet of seeds about 6 years ago, and each year I save the seed crop, and plant new ones. 

Super Sunflower.

 

Super Iris

Trails End Iris Gardens.... my grandson's summer job weeding and transplanting iris plants.
 

Sweet Violets...

 Sweet Violets,

Sweeter than all the Roses.

Covered all over from head to toe, 

Covered all over with Sweet Violets....

Anyone remember that old song?  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtnLvrmyh3E&t=39s

The chorus is taken from the song "Sweet Violets" by Joseph Emmet, from his 1882 play Fritz Among the Gypsies. The song was recorded by Dinah Shore with Henri René's Orchestra & Chorus in Hollywood on May 20, 1951. Sweet Violets was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-4174A (78 rpm record), 47-4174A (single) (in USA), by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 10115 in the UK, and EA 3997 in Australia.

Finished?

I haven't painted anything for ages.... pandemic pause. This was a 16"x20" canvas with a failed rubbish painting from 4 or 5 years ago, so a couple of coats of gesso covered the horrible mess, and I started painting, no actual intention in mind.

I think it's finished. Possibly. I don't know. Is it?   .....   Update: I changed the sky colour to a shade of purple, made a few adjustments, and I sold it.

White on White

We've woken up to a lot of that white stuff recently, and when the snow removal truck clears the road, there's just nowhere to put the snow.... so it gets piled up in front of my house. Perfect for pretending I live near Mount Everest.

All this cold winter weather can be rather tiresome, so I decided I needed a boost of Springtime. 

A $6 bunch of tulips from the supermarket did the job. Now I feel like Spring might be getting closer.... and it's March tomorrow!

Dandy Lions Roar!

Some people hate them, and spend hours and hours battling them every spring. Some people tolerate them, some love them. I think they are like a field of sunshine.

The perfect medium for a couple of outdoor art installation projects.

Or a subject for a lino print.

And did you know that many parts of the humble dandelion are edible? Have you ever tried Dandelion Fritters? Now's your chance, while there are lots of golden dandelions outside, just waiting for you to pick them.

Dandelion Fritters

Ingredients:  4 cups of fresh picked (washed) dandelion flowers,  2 cups flour,  2 eggs,  2 cups milk

Mix the milk, flour and eggs and beat until blended well.
Warm some olive oil in a skillet on the stove (keep at medium heat). Holding the underneath of the flowers, dip into the batter until totally covered in the fritter batter then place into skillet, flower side down.
Once they are brown, flip and brown the other side. If need be, continue flipping until the batter coating is light brown.
Remove from oil and allow excess oil to soak onto a towel or paper towel.
Eat plain or drizzle with maple syrup, honey, or even roll them in icing sugar while they are still warm.
Be creative – add your favourite spices or herbs to the fritter batter!

Forest Ramble

The York Regional Forest trails are coming to life after a long winter. We walked part of Holledge Tract.... mostly flat, just a couple of small slopes. The woodland flowers are blooming.

Sessile Bellwort uvularia sessifolia also known as Merrybells or Wild Oats

Wood Anemone  anemone memorosa

Bulbous Buttercup ranunculous bulbosus  also known as St Anthony's Turnip!

Trout Lily erythronium americanum  also known as Adder's Tongue or Dogtooth Violet.