The "At Home in Brantford" Main Page

May 18, 2005

Spring is not only shown prolifically in the garden but also on our little, personal page. There's lots to see and do out of doors and there's some, small impetus to post these pages.

With our somewhat late spring (an aquiantance in London, Ontario lost almost all his apricots to the same late snow that damaged our magnolias) the magnolia peaked only a day or two after we took the last crop of photos. Magnolias bloom before the leaves come. So what happens to the flowers once they've run their course?

They create a beautiful carpet of softness on the lawn. Unfortunately, you can't leave them there or they'll choke the grass. Two nights before this photo we had a heavy rain and cold weather and the petals already fallen turned brown. Had the warm, dry spell lasted another day this photo would have been one all white and pink with just a hint of green peeking through. One can't bemoan the loss of these delightful flowers as they make way for those broad, green leaves. Come fall, the leaves will cover the lawn, the buds will set for winter and flowers will return, again, for their spring showing.

So mow we must and those petals do present a challenge. They pack in the mower blade quite quickly creating a mushy, brown pulp that causes the mower to chug and chunk until you force them out. They drop the pulp where ever the mower happens to be and then you need to rake that mess away lest they utterly destroy the grass. Mowing magnolia petals is a lot of work!

Along the back fence the blueberries are setting their flowers. Of the three bushes, one seems to be more abundantly flowered than the other two - it is of a different variety. It remains to be seen if the other two are just slower or less productive. The raspberries are coming in nicely and the kiwi is showing signs of coming back to life. It's such an exciting time of year - the rebirth of our garden!

Around the front, the beds by the walkway are being reborn with all sorts of perennials we planted last year as well as some of the wonderful greenery and flowers which filled the beds before we came.

These beds are replete with decorative sages and beans - still short and uncluttered looking. The sages and beans will take on a lush, almost tropical look as spring comes to an end, as the beans loose their flowers and the sages overtake their corners of the beds. The few new tulip bulbs we bought have found a temporary home in these beds. These will be moved later (after we've enjoyed the flowers).

The strawberries, it seems, will be quite abundant this year while the chives are already tall, quite edible and ready to flower. Naturally, we're looking forward to the return of the day lilies. The holly berries are gone and the plant is now setting buds for next season. In another month or two the bees will be working, actively, between the holly, lavender, strawberries and peach tree. Today, the lavender is being collected by birds - for nests, we imagine. It's quite a lot of fun to see them hopping in and out and around the lavender, collecting pieces to take away... And the city tree is beautifully set, still, with its abundance of flowers.

We learnt that peach blossoms don't last long. The petals stay for about one week then they start falling away leaving, behind, a sort of husk that used to house the blossom before it matured as a flower. It turns almost bright, rust red. The stamen hang well after the petals fall from the flower. Oh well, if the petals don't fall you don't get fruit.

On the up side, we now see the first signs of apple blossoms - bright, rosy pink soon to be flowers (still to young to photograph) later to be granny smith apples. There are plenty of blossoms but we can't see how such a young tree can support so many apples on a single branch. The upshot remains to be seen. As yet, there are no signs of blossoms on the mac or spy branches - but we know they're at least a week or two behind the smiths.

And what came out of the oven last weekend? In addition to french bread we're enjoying a sugar loaf. First tried by Mason at the only bakery in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, in 1970, we found it in a bread book. We tried it and, now, after about 20 years we're enjoying it again ... gently laced with cinnammon, with it's sweet cinnammony pockets of sugar... It's quite the treat! (Not everything has to be healthy - some things are just for fun.)

Next week? Who knows!

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