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Journal Archive
January 2026
Our Winter Garden
Bill built an addition on to the south side of the living room. We call it the Green Room. In the autumn we fill it with a selection of tender perennials, orchids, clivias, our Wollemi and Norfolk pines, assorted ferns and palms. All summer these plants, in pots, have been outside in the garden. Other tender potted plants spend winter in the pit greenhouse or the greenhouse behind the workshop.
January 6
The plants in the indoor garden are trimmed and the space tidied up for the incoming pots.
Gradually we bring in the overwintering plants. In late winter we will begin to enjoy the blooms on the orchids and clivias.
Our cymbidium orchids spend the gardening season in pots in various places in the gardens. They do well in filtered light and require little care except for extra watering in dry periods. Excellent cultivation tips can be found at the American Orchid Society.
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We line the pots up by the back door at the end of the season and bring the pots into the house just before the frosts come.​
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During the winter the the sprays of blossoms last for ages. Once there is no danger of frost we move the plants outdoors again.
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The clivias grow in large plastic pots. They don't mind being pot bound. The pots of clivias are placed around the gardens for the summer. in partial sunlight. They look vigorous and attractive even when they are not flowering.
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In the autumn we clean the plants before bringing them into the house. We found a a little paint brush from the dollar store is the perfect instrument for evicting the collection of fallen leaves and assorted insects from between each of the leaves.
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In early spring the blooms are a long lasting pleasure. If the flower head is not removed then berries slowly form. It takes a year for the seeds to mature. It takes 2-3 years before a plant flowers for the first time.. We have found seedlings growing in neighbouring pots!
January 11
Snow again ...
The overnight snowfall seems to have obliterated the ice rink that was Keppel Croft after several days of temperatures above zero and more rainfall than snowfall.
The dry stream bed was flowing, flooding over our laneway as it ignored a culvert. Bill had to take an alternate route to the barn as the water was deeper than his rubber boots were tall.
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We aren't complaining. The first winter we lived here there was so much snow.! After one storm we had to dig out our 3/4 ton pickup and our little Chevette. All we could see of the car was the top of its aerial.
At the Feeders
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​• Blue Jays
• Chickadees
• Junkos
• Goldfinches
• Downy Woodpeckers
• Hairy Woodpeckers
• Red Bellied Woodpeckers
• Tree Sparrows
• Mourning Doves
• White-breasted Nuthatches
• Red-breasted Nuthatches
​​• one Red Poll
• and too many black and red squirrels​
February 2026
February 5
The first really sunny warm February day is the first day of pruning. We begin with our "Umbrella" tree, an old apple tree that we prune for shape not its crop of apples. We trim off the water sprouts, vigorous, upright shoots that are different from normal branches, producing no fruit and weakening the tree.
Heavy snow was too much of a load in winter, 2025. Two main branches snapped off. This winter Bill has made sure to knock off any piles of snow that accumulate on the branches. No damage so far this year.
February 21
Some winters are longer than others. One February, to ease the angst of a neighbour who really didn't like winter, we invited him and his wife over for a glass of wine on St Valentine's Day.
At least now we know that it is a downhill run to Spring!! Bill reports that the buds are starting to swell on the Pussy Willows.​
February 23
In late winter we enjoy the blooming of the pots of clivia and the hardy orchids which we brought in from the garden in the autumn. These plants spend winter is a
small conservatory attached to our house which we
call the Green Room.
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We store palms and ferns in this area as well as other tender plants in pots. In the spring we will move all the potted plants back into the garden when it is reliably
warm enough. ​
Don't forget that this is the time of year to go out into your garden and clip some branches of Forsythia to put in a vase. You will be glad you made the effort to be out in the snow when those golden buds begin to open!
March 2026
March 7
Two ponds and a stream joined forces to flood the hosta garden and discouraged some deer from coming here.
The area around Keppel Henge flooded and
the barn stream flowed across two fields and came down the dry stream bed,
March 13
This morning we were listening to the weather forecast for the day and wondered if we should put more trust in the old saying -
Red sky in the morning,
Sailor's warning,
Red sky at night,
Shepherd's delight.
One of our red squirrels was up early making his forecast. It was all a fugitive moment. Everything was grey and dull for the rest of the day.
March 17
These snowdrops, the first blooms of the season, were bravely poking their heads above the snow. Enjoy small skiffs of snow as they may be the last of this winter season!
March 23
We are enjoying the orchids in our Green Room.
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Below the orchid are some promising buds on one of our clivia plants, which were originally from South Africa. Their seeds take a year to mature on the plant and are colour coded to let you know if the plant produces yellow or orange blooms. These pots will all go out into shady parts of the gardens in warm weather.
March 29
Today's sunshine and warmth (+12) meant the aconites were in full golden display. We have two bee yards close to our gardens but there wasn't a honey bee to be seen. Maybe they are waiting for the crocuses to open.
It is time to think of where to add new bunches of snowdrops to the gardens. Just poke a hole and slip in the bulbs you harvested from somewhere else in your garden. Snowdrops are the only bulbs that you can transplant while they are in bloom.
March 30
The first honey bees arrived on March 30, the day that the crocuses opened up in the sunshine. Dreary weather since has made the early spring blooms reluctant to .come into full bloom.
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The cottontail rabbits become a pest at this time of year as they cannot resist a crocus salad or two or three.....
We suspect that the chipmunks may be helping themselves out as well.
April 2026
April 1
A surplus of orchid blossoms is useful for making litle table posies as Easter gifts. They last really well!
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April 3
The first Iris reticulata of the season! This Easter Bunny was making the most of the end of the winter bird seed season, nibbling up the fallen seeds.
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April 5
Right now it looks as though a bag of large scruffy Brussel sprouts has fallen in the garden. Posies of blossoms will come.
Petasites japonicus or Butterbur makes a spectacular display with its big leaves and bold appearance. These plants left their original garden, went around the pond and under a fence to establish an eye catching row by a rail fence. This was not part of the garden plan.
April 10
Winter is unwilling to leave. We woke to another coating of snow and drove to Owen Sound at 30 kph. The snow ploughs were not active on this part of Grey Road #1 early on that morning. We got the ice scrapers and the snow shovel out of storage. Still have our snow tyres on the car, thank goodness!
The day before, on a beautiful sunny spring morning, I had hung out the laundry, Love the smell of laundry dried outside in the sun.
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April 14
More rain. Major repairs needed for the dry stream bed. Garden mulch has floated away and will need to be replaced.
April 15
Three years ago the dry stream bed was a raging torrent after heavy rains. Two large trout swam up the dry stream bed and ended up in one of our ponds.
Our friend, Keith, came with two nets. With a bit of improvising to extend the handles the hunt was on!
The fish were driven to the Big Bay dock. It was the opening day of the Trout fishing season.
To the total astonishment of several trout fishermen, Bill and Keith released the fish into the stream that comes into the bay west of the dock. Numerous trout were already swimming up this stream as it was spawning time. Our two trout would have a more successful time up this stream!
April 17
We are carefully cleaning off the of our peonies. Already the shoots are filling out. The first spring I lived in Canada. I was given an armload of peonies and had never seen anything so beautiful.
Among the Peonies. Emily Bi and Dennis Zang open their Annan garden, June 12th and 13th. Their peonies are breath takingly beautiful.
​Here are some of our peonies last year in June..
April 19
Early spring brings tiny beauties popping up in lawns and gardens. Ants are vital for snowdrop seed distribution.
Tete-a-tete daffodils
​Iris reticulata
​Squill or scilla siberica (blue) and. striped squill or Puschkinia scilloides (white with blue stripe)
Snowdrop or Galanthus nivalis
As a joke, Bill bought me a pot of snowdrops from IKEA-
quite convincing!
Glory of the Snow or
Chionodoxa luciliae