I think we can all agree that winter in this country is WAY too long. In my last post it’s possible I gave the impression that I was a big fan of the season, but that’s stretching it. I love certain things about it, that’s true. I’m not a skier or a skater, or even...
Author: Vivian Lee (Vivian Lee)
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Escaping the Here and Now
Crazy how hard it is to imagine another season when you’re in the middle of this one. As you’re walking down a snowy, slippery sidewalk, imagine you’re in your sandals and shorts on a hot day. Or imagine yourself tending your garden in a sun hat and shades. It’s difficult, but barely possible if you...
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Garden Refuge
Is it my imagination or is there more bad news these days then ever? When I hear about all the Jihadist stuff going on, in Paris, Syria, everywhere, I feel like we’re back in Rome and the barbarians are invading and our world is about to cave in. We won’t really know it until the very...
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The Daylight is Growing
Yes, this is a gardening blog, and yes it’s January. I told a friend at work about my blog today and how it was back on line after several months and he asked, “Have you done any gardening lately?” I guess implying that perhaps the lack of a gardening blog through the winter is no...
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I’m back!!
Well, after several months of procrastination I finally decided to spend the needed hours to figure out how to restore my website. I’m extremely excited that it worked! I still don’t know why the site went down (the database was “corrupted” according to the helpful man from Bluehost), but the miraculous thing is that I...
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Think of the Birds!
I was out mowing the long grass in the Tranquil Garden today and occasionally studying the fading blooms of the echinacea and the Bee Balm. Normally I would be thinking about snipping those deadheads off, but I’ve been reading the news feed from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology‘s Facebook page and one of the things it...
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The Joy of Beauty in Public Places
In my neighbourhood there is a park with three parts to it; there are tennis courts, a playground for kids, and a small area for walking or sitting, complete with park benches, trees and shrubs. It’s a lovely park and I take for granted what a hub of activity it is in the summer. People...
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Not the Glamour Jobs
Yesterday, I finally decided to investigate the (first) compost bin to see how it was developing and take out the mature compost, if any. This is way later than I normally tackle this job, but my excuse is that I was away for four out of the last six weeks. This must be close to...
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Mid-summer Slump and Thoughts of Italy
I got back from Italy two days ago and with all the house organizing I have to do after a trip, I didn’t really get into the garden to do any work. Of course, I took a couple of tours around it to see what was going on, and I noticed that the usual mid-season...
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Roses, and why I grow them
As some of you may remember, I planted three new rose bushes last year. I already had five other roses in the Tranquil Garden, most of which are very hardy and only cause me a small amount of heartache every year. The ones I planted last year are Canadian-bred hardy roses, too, and I’m grateful for that; I...