It’s always nice to see your stitches being worn and enjoyed.

You will all know how thrilled I was to see this picture of Miss Wren of Facebook the other day.

She looks FABULOUS in her dress and shrug!

And I’m so happy to see it looks like she’ll be able to wear the shrug for quite a while. I was definitely winging it when I was upsizing it!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s of all sorts out there!

I’m not able to see my Mom today. Last week the mechanic gave us the unfortunate news that Dory shouldn’t make any more long road trips, and I need to start looking for new wheels (an expense I’m NOT looking forward to).

Mom’s going to come out next week when I’m on vacation, so we will still celebrate – just a little later.

I do have a present for her (sorry, no spoilers), but since she’s not getting it today, I put together a little something else for her.

Growing up, there was almost ALWAYS music on in the house. And when we were teens, my brother started playing guitar. Mom was a big supporter and got into music in a big way. She went to several concerts with both of us, and we frequently shared CDs among the three of us. In fact, we still share new music we discover – albiet digitally now- and have even brought Dave into the music-share-athon.

So in her honour, I created a play list of Mom music. These are all songs that, when I hear them, I think of Mom. They aren’t necessarily her favourites (I tried to stick to one song per artist – for some of these, there are SEVERAL songs that make me think of her.

Now, if you’re inclined to check it out – be warned.. it’s a LONG list. There’s over four hours of music. And it’s a pretty wide range of styles and genres.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom! Keep rockin’!

P.S.! We’re also having a Mother’s Day Sale in the shop – 15% off everything until Monday!

The first week of May is always a season of anticipation… there’s just so much about to spring forth…

Lily-of-the-Valley. I brought these from the townhouse and they’ve done great here. When they are done blooming, I’ll be moving them all into the Woodland garden where they can really shine (right now they are hidden by day lilies)

Spanish Bells. These were a new addition to the Woodland Garden in Fall. I wasn’t sure how they’d fare, but I’ve got several clumps coming up. They were supposed to be a mix of pink, white, blue and purple, but it’s looking like they might all be purple.

Foxglove. The one plant that has absolutely THRIVED here. I have soooo many all through the gardens. It’s going to be an amazing year for foxgloves (plus I bought more seeds!!!)

Peonies. This one is Coral Sunset, but I have several plants coming up, including four which were planted last year. One called Raspberry Sunday (pink/yellow mix), and the other three are a surprise – they were in a mixed bag and could be pink, red or white!

Raspberries. The Raspberries have gone absolutely WILD this year. I’ve pulled up a pile of sprouts that have come up all over the place. It’s going to be a yearly job to keep the raspberries contained! But well worth it. I’ve got red everbearing (which give fruit in early summer and fall), and the golden ones, which are so delicious!

Columbine: You saw the red dwarf version last weekend. They are always the first to bloom, but it’s bigger cousins aren’t far behind. I’ve got six or seven clumps throughout the gardens. And I don’t know what colours all of them are – several were bought in fall and not in bloom! It’s going to be wonderful to learn what I got! Like a lottery you can’t lose!

Honeysuckle. I’ve got two honeysuckle vines – the common pink/gold combo is on the catio. This one is gold and orange, and it’s on the dress form in the front garden. I can’t wait to see it in full bloom.

Yellow False Indigo: I’m very excited about this one. I bought it the first year we were here, but the spot I put it in was too shady and it didn’t bloom. I moved it last year, and while it grew fine, it didn’t bloom. I’d actually thought I might have lost it this year, but all of a sudden it came up – and now it’s growing like crazy – and putting on flower buds!!! (It’s also a native plant, though I didn’t know that when I first bought it!)

All of this beauty is about to burst forth – the garden is going to look very different by this time next week!

Now that the weather is mostly warm, it’s not unusual to look out in the catio and see this…

Or this…

Or this…

And you might be wondering… where is his Lordship….

That spoiled boy spends most of the day in the people bed. He does go out in the catio first thing in the morning, and again after dinner (and stays out until I bring them in before bed). But I think with all that black floof, he just can’t handle the sun like the other three. That or he really is just too spoiled!

The second pink sock is progressing, though not as quickly as I’d like. I managed to get a little done at an appointment, then more while on a couple of work calls.

As such, I’ve just turned the heel and I’m working down the gusset. I’m on vacation in a little more than a week – and I’d love to have it off the needles by then so I can start something new! Maybe a pair of shorty socks for myself!

I’ve started walking again**. I’ve signed up for a walking app, and it’s challenging me to get in 7,500 steps a day. It’s going pretty well – but that’s partly because the weather has been fantastic for walking – not too hot, not too cold.

I try to get out on my lunch hour. I go to the post office, check the mail and then take the long way home (a different route every day).

And right now… it’s an amazing time to be out and about in town. Nothing really exciting is happening (it is a tiny town after all), but the town is absolutely crawling with flowering trees and bushes. The magnolias and forsythias are done, but there’s crabapples…

Eastern Redbud

I actually had to look this one up. I’ve heard of Eastern Redbud, of course, but I’d never seen the flowers up close! Like tiny little fairy shoes!

Here’s another I had to look up…

Apparently it’s a Quince! What’s neat about it is the flowers are mostly inside the bush.

Both the Redbud and Quince are in the small park by the post office.

But one thing Alvinston has a lot of are lilacs!!!

I’d say at least one in every five houses has a lilac bush. Right now, this town smells AMAZING!!! (and being an agricultural town, that’s saying something because it frequently smells like animal poo!). Wherever you walk, the soft lilac scent is just wafting on the breeze. And because this town hasn’t seen a lot of… updates… in probably the last couple decades or so, a lot of these lilacs are old. And that means HUGE!!!!

Easily 12-15 tall and just about as wide! They are just amazing. If I could change the name of the town, I would definitely call it Lilacville.

But one thing I did notice is that although there’s almost every shade of white and purple… there’s not one pink lilac in town.

That means my Tinkerbelle lilac is going to be quite the star when she finally pops open…

Which should be any day now!

** I don’t know if Walk-About Wednesday will become a regular thing again. While I’m getting out, there’s just not that much to document in this town. But I’ll give you a post whenever there’s anything interesting happening – I promise!

This weekend’s stitching helper was Relic

Several of us have noted that our sweet Relic is starting to show his age a little. We figure he’s about 10 years old now. (We’ve only had him since 2017, but we figure he was around 3 years old then). His FIV+ status means he might not make a super old cat, but he’s doing pretty good so far.

Under his supervision, I was able to finish the leaves on the right side.

There are some leaves on top, and a flower on the bottom to finish still – but this one is getting ever closer to that finish line!

Bit by bit, we are getting things done around the yard.

Last year. I bought a rain barrel on clearance, but we never got around to setting it up. But Dave decided to tackle it a couple weeks ago.

And it was pretty much full after just a couple of rainfalls! There’s no need to do any hand watering now (because of all the rain) but it will be nice to have when we get a dry spell. Just making the gardens a little more sustainable!

It took me a couple evenings after work (since the weather on the weekend hasn’t been cooperating) but I FINALLY got the new raised bed painted. And on Saturday I filled them with soil.

They look so much better painted green. Now I just need to get some mulch down on the pathways and it will be pretty much complete. We’ve still got a few weeks before I can plant much of the veg, though what I do have planted it doing well.

Spinach on the right, and wee lettuce sprouts on the right. I also have potatoes started, as well as the shallots. All of the above is new for me, so it will be fun to see how successful I am.

I realized I never showed you the porch boxes planted up for spring…

The theme was pink this year – Pink hyacinths, and pink tulips. Sadly, I didn’t get the hyacinths put in while in bud. They were in full bloom and they flopped terribly. A lesson for next year.

But that was weeks ago… this is how they looked now.

Definitely time for a refresh. I dug out all the bulbs (which will be planted in the other gardens), and filled them with some miniature roses and pansies.

I think this is going to be and amazing combination when it fills out more. And come fall, when I fill the boxes with mums, the mini roses can be planted in the garden.

Hanging above them I got a pair baskets just brimming with the prettiest shade of Calibrochoa

I will have to keep an eye on the predicted overnight temps, because it’s still a tad early for tender plants – but I can brings these in for the night if I need to.

There’s still lots to be done out there, but it feels good to have these few things accomplished.

Early May is kind of the inbetween time in the garden. The tulips (as you saw yesterday) are still putting on a decent show, but most of the spring bulbs are done or going over.

My ABSOLUTE favourite daffodil, Poet’s Daffodil is a late bloomer, and it’s just started.

They are a small daffodil, with a very short trumpet. And as you can see, a very pretty little red ring around it.

There’s still a few Pipit daffodils going too.

It’s bloomed for several weeks, and has and amazing scent! It was definitely a great purchase – I highly recommend it!

But now is the time to look to the late spring/early summer bloomers.

The irises are just getting started and it’s looking like it’s going to be a bumper year for a few of them!

In the driveway garden, the Spanish Thrift is blooming.

There’s a white one too, and it’s not far behind.

The dwarf Columbine is REALLY showing off.

It’s a native too. And it will reseed all over the place. There are a few other Columbines set to bloom – I think I have six or seven of them throughout the gardens – they come in sooo many colours, it’s hard not to collect them all.

There’s not much going on in the catio at the moment but there is one little clump of Summer Snowflake blooming.

There was more last year, but no doubt Lemmy put and end to it somehow. He’s a rather destructive lad.

There is one bit of excitement in the catio. Remember I showed you the Bachelor Buttons that turned out to be Forget-me-nots?

Well, apparently it’s both! See that big bud in the middle – that’s a Bachelor Button! The leaves of both plants are so similar, I really can’t tell them apart!

I got all the clearance perennials moved from their temporary home in the veg beds. This one is Leopard’s Bane.

You may remember it from the townhouse. The one I brought didn’t make the move, so I was happy to see it again in the nursery. It’s not happily ensconced in the Woodland garden

Speaking of which – a few of my shade natives came back, much to might delight!

On the right we have Wild Geranium and the left is Woodland Poppy. I was not optimistic about them so it was nice they came back.

And my experiment with the Hostas under the Norway Maple has paid off, despite what the internet told me.

There are about six of them out there, but these are the two that are the furthest along. They still aren’t my favorite plant, but they do the job in a shady spot.

And though Norway Maple are supposed to hard to plant under – pretty much everything I put under them is coming back – the Heuchera, the Astilbe, and Bugloss.

And there’s so much more to look forward too. We are just minutes away from these…

Lupin, Allium and Lilacs!

Today I thought it would be fun to take a closer look at some of the tulips in the garden.

Last year, I bought a bag of mixed “Fringe” tulips and they’ve really shown up this spring.

Such a great mix of colours.

This is one of the tulips that came from the previous owners, and it’s such a gorgeous tulip. You really have to look at it close to truly appreciate it – that red is just dusted on.

Have you ever heard of multi-headed tulips? Neither had I. But those three flowers all meet in one main stem a little lower down!

This pair are “Lemon Chiffon” – new this year. They are a triumph tulip, so there’s a good chance they will stick around for a few years, at least!

And this strange thing is an “Icecream” tulip! It’s gorgeous but a little on the short side for a tulip.

And the Peony tulips are always a delight! I should get more of these in the fall. I only have a few – in red and white.

The tulips are starting to fade, and will probably be completely gone in a couple of weeks. But they have been absolutely fabulous this year!