Hi! Here’s a “Bits and Pieces” type of post, about what’s been going on outside around here over the past few weeks.
I’ll begin with the part that took no effort on our part this year — the spring perennials — they were quite lovely, with lots of tulips, lily of the valley, periwinkle, violets and lilacs.
Also, after skipping a year last year, three ornamental onion bulbs that I’d planted a few autumns ago surprised us by blooming beautifully.
↑ My favourite wild flowers / weeds – Daisy Fleabanes ↑
I was glad to see that some of the herbs I brought inside last autumn managed to survive the winter and are now back outside and doing well. Those include my rosemary plants (this was the second winter inside that it survived), two kinds of oregano and a small thyme plant. I also had brought in a hot pepper plant that lived … not sure if it will bear fruit this summer but it looks pretty good, so we’ll see.
As for the annual flowers and herbs, we went to Shaw Flowers twice to pick up all kinds of seedlings.
Here’s Nick carrying the selection home during the second trip …
I’m not sure why I’ve never planted annual geraniums before but I picked one up this year. My mother tells me that my grandmother over-wintered those by bringing in cuttings, so I’ll try that.
This pretty pink Zinnia unfortunately died a short while after I got it in a pot …
I grew this type of plant once before and it did very well all summer long, so I’m not sure what was wrong with this one. At least it looked good during a visit from friends. I’ve come to expect that at least one plant just won’t make it every year! Everything else I’ve put in looks like it will be fine though.
I get a fuschia plant every year but have never had this pink and white variety before …
Aside from a few days of cold rainy weather, we’ve had very nice summer-like weather this spring, so we’ve already spent a lot of time outside, reading and barbecuing.
My oh my, I’ve read so many great books since I discovered I could download them from the library (as discussed in this post).
I’ve gone from being someone who definitely preferred hard-copy books, to a reader of e-books, and haven’t looked back. I even chose to read an e-book version of something I had the hard-copy of! It’s so handy to have the internet right there, ready to look up stuff related to what I’m reading.
My warm-weather cocktail of choice this year has been this Iced tea, Juice and Rum Punch …
Here’s the cushion for our garden bench, that Nick got me for my birthday (mentioned in this post) …
We’ve had a couple of bbq dinners with friends so far that I didn’t photograph, one because our company were new friends (Nick met the fellow through a meet-up group for computer programmers), and I didn’t want to be sticking a camera in their faces upon first meeting them. We all got along very well though, so they’ll be back and I’ll get some shots then. The second was when Andrea dropped over when she was in the neighbourhood.
I did take some shots of the beautiful desserts from Nadège Patisserie that Gareth and Sarah brought over. Not only were these gorgeous, they were delicious …
And here are some pictures taken while barbecuing for just us …
We’ve recently been getting these uncooked papadums (from House of Spice in Kensington Market, written about in this post, if you’re looking for them in Toronto), so Nick tried making them on the bbq. They turned out perfectly!
And we’ve had cheeseburgers …
Our little guy, Eddie, is never far from sight.
This spring marked the 14th year since he left the streets after who knows how long, and adopted us. This makes him pretty old for a cat, so we appreciate every cute moment we have with this character. Regardless of age, he’s doing very well these days.
↑ His pal Stu needs a paint job! ↑
Here’s to outdoor living!
Thanks for checking out my post,
xo loulou
