A noun. A verb. A blog.
My first snowdrop of 2019 revealed itself this morning, on St. Patrick’s Day. Here and there are more nubs of up-pushing Galanthus foliage, too. For me, the first snowdrop is a sign that, despite this long winter of our discontent, beneath the soil surface the garden is growing. Press on, says Nature, nothing in this world can take the place […]
Sarah wins the Snowdrop Sweepstakes this year [Ed: At least, on our street.]. Her prize is the chance to crow over these adorables sticking their tongues out at winter. And at her sister, because my 250 newly planted Galanthus and the 50 or so already in my garden are way behind. On the other hand, when […]
October and November have been so busy, I had to go back to look at my spring pictures to see aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall those bulbs in bloom. Just to remind myself that it’s worthwhile planting bulbs now, despite the fact that the weather is getting grim and life is unusually hectic. In spring, when my appetite was biggest, […]
After all my whining observations about the early wave of spring in other parts, we are finally seeing signs of hope in Toronto. One of spring’s bellwethers for us on the Toronto Gardens blog is the arrival of snowdrops (Galanthus) in our small city plots. Well, they’re here. Today! Or one snowdrop is, as you can see above – and glory […]
On the weekend, I FaceTimed with our youngest daughter, who currently lives in the UK. She was telling me about her life there. You know. Hopes, dreams, fears. But I was eager to get on to the important stuff. “I’ll bet you have daffodils.” “What?” She sounded confused by my non-sequitur. “Daffodils. I’ll bet they’re blooming now. Or […]
Hello, little snowdrop! This is our earliest-ever official Toronto Gardens snowdrop sighting – I noticed my usual earlybird snowdrop was up yesterday, February 3, 2016, but it had likely awoken a few days before. Our neighbours S and B have a nice little patch blooming in their front yard, too. Prior to this, the earliest […]
Do a little “Where’s Waldo-ing” on this photo, and you can see masses of happy snowdrops, finally welcoming spring. Yes, Toronto, there are snowdrops! This year, Sarah won the local snowdrops sweepstakes, with a handful blooming by her drive. Mine are mostly hibernating. But look, look, look at these in a Riverdale garden on Saturday! […]
In a sheltered position, close to the house, one tiny snowdrop defies Winter 2013-4 A little bit of spring has finally emerged from the Polar Voldemortex that was Winter 2013-4 – in the shape of this tiny snowdrop. This is a full ten days later than the latest snowdrop sighting we recorded back in 2008, […]
Sarah’s garden won the Snowdrop Derby in 2013 It’s a tradition at Toronto Gardens to mark the arrival of the first snowdrops. Despite the recent dump of snow and slush, these welcome babies arrived on Sarah’s south-ish facing slope just yesterday, if not before. Snowdrops in February? Priceless. Time to note where to plant more, […]
The evidence is in: there’s Spring in them thar hills! Or, at least, there are snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) blooming in the east end of Toronto. These fellas aren’t the 60 or so I planted last fall. They’re part of the happily multiplying family that has been hardily pushing through snow and leaves for years. One […]
The first snowdrop sighting on our street actually happened on Saturday. But this picture, snapped yesterday, really shows the tenacious nature of these little guys. Even snow doesn’t stop them. Unless there’s a mile of it sitting on top. Until neighbour M. transplanted a huge unwieldy shrub for me, I had one tiny patch of […]
This being the torture season, or the season where we look for signs that winter is in fact over, where we look for green things poking up out of the ground with buds on them or with – better still – FLOWERS on them, green things are at a premium. Was that sentence long enough, you ask? […]