Friday Favourites: Of the Delights of Gardens

 

At last came the golden month of the wild folk -

honey-sweet May, when the birds come back,

and the flowers come out, and the air is full of the sunrise scents

and songs of the dawning year.

Samuel Scoville, Jr.

From the garden I picked the first two ripe strawberries today. They are indeed early, but red throughout with the sweetness of the sun. Plenty more green ones promise a good harvest in a few weeks. Red radishes and crisp green lettuce, spinach, and Swiss chard are being clipped regularly for salads these days. Each morning I go out to open the greenhouse to let air flow through. The tomatoes are growing tall and need to be planted out this weekend. The squash seeds (Red Kuri, Zucchini, and Cucumbers) have popped through the soil and are forming their second set of leaves in what seems like no time at all. I'll keep them in the greenhouse until June for they thrive in the heat. 

 

Rhododendrons with their golden-tipped stamens are blooming everywhere. Last Saturday my sister and her husband were in town and wanted to visit Butchart Gardens. Off we went. Huge bushes of rhodos formed walls of colourful blossoms - pink, red, purple, yellow - so showy. Rhododendrons are not in my list of favourite flowers, but I do concede their drama and the wonderful colour they bring to May. 

More to my taste are the Himalayan Blue Poppies just beginning to bloom in the Japanese Garden. I've tried growing them in my own garden with no success at all. Seeing them reminded me of our trip to Iceland two summers ago where they grew in a very northern botanical garden in the Icelandic town of Akureyri. 

Yellow poppies are currently blooming in my garden and fat buds of the double pink bread seed poppies promise blooms soon. There's always something new to see on my morning strolls. This morning I tied the tall bamboo poles to support the sweet peas that seem to be growing visibly each day. 

My own tulips did not do well this year, and the few that did are now dropping their petals. In Butchart Gardens a few beds still held tulips, but I noticed they were being replaced by other plants.

The sun came back over the Forest, bringing the scent of May.

All the streams of the Forest were tinkling happily to find themselves 

their own pretty shape again and the little pools lay dreaming of the life

they had seen and the things they had done.

A. A. Milne

The friendly wisteria vine planted by our former neighbours is being trained along the back fence, as well as over the garden shed. The fence vine is slowly beginning to bloom, a bit later than the shed vine, probably because it's more in the shade. 

Wind has been the weather of late, with a chilly edge. Skies are dramatic. Last evening we attended an outdoor concert in a park, put on by our youngest granddaughters' school. Each class sang two songs in a very well organized production. Kudos to the music teacher! While driving home I noticed the light filtering through the dark undersides of puffy clouds. This evening we've had a bit of rain and it's most welcome. 

Our rhubarb plant is not producing well this year. I fed it a few weeks ago with some compost and it's perking up, but not enough to harvest. However, our son has plenty and shared a dozen or so stalks with us. I made a roasted rhubarb and strawberry (from last summer's frozen berries) that was quite delicious over ice cream, according to my husband. Today, friends came for coffee and I made rhubarb muffins. I'll post the recipe to my other blog later. 

Looking out my window at 9:45, it's not quite dark. Very black clouds are racing across the sky and tree branches wave wildly. Soon I'll crawl into my cozy bed and feel the cool air from the open window on my face. Sleep will be sweet. 

Wishing you a weekend of delight, be it Spring or Autumn in your corner.