Garden

White Amaryllis

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Contrast Lighting
Stage Lighting

This amaryllis was a Christmas present. When I opened the box the flower stalk had already grown substantially and at an odd angle to the bulb. There was also a “bulblet” at the base of the bulb. When I planted the bulb I placed it on its side to accommodate the flower stalk, I also left the offset intact hoping it might continue growing – so far no sign of it at the surface of the soil. When the flowers are finished blooming I’ll lift the bulb to see what’s happened with the bulblet – never know – might be able to salvage both the original bulb and a new one.

I set the pot on the ledge in front of my patio doors and left it alone (aside from watering it). Within a week the stalk had elongated to close to its final height, but it took another couple of weeks for the flower bud to show signs of opening. This week, the flowers appeared. I now have all four. It doesn’t look as if this bulb will produce a second stalk. The leaves which were present when I opened the box have become green but not grown any further, but they will as soon as this flower head is finished.

I’ve never had a white amaryllis before. I like the pale green centre. Not as dramatic as the various red and pink varieties but quite attractive none the less.

I’ll enjoy the flowers for another week or so, then I’ll cut the stalk back and let the leaves grow.

I Guess It’s Spring…

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Coltsfoot 2021

People have been sending me photos of coltsfoot they’ve come across – it’s really the first native spring flower here in NS. Until today, March 31, I hadn’t seen any myself.

These two flowers were lurking in the wooded patch beside my building. I went looking because that location becomes covered with their happy yellow faces. it’s an interesting plant – the leaves don’t appear until after the flowers have bloomed. 

So I guess it’s now officially spring here. Last year I saw coltsfoot on May 1. The earliest I’ve previously seen any was on April 14 in 2017. March 31 (actually my friend Marlene spotted some last week in her son’s back yard) is VERY early. 

The question now is how soon will we see Forsythia? In the past the first Forsythia has been close to the first of May.  It will certainly be earlier than that this year!

Another Pair of Socks And Other Stuff

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On August 3, I finished yet another pair of socks:

Turquoise Socks

I kinda liked working on them. It was a long repeat so the pattern kept being interesting to work on. They’ve gone into the give-away stash (which is getting large).

Then I worked on a t-Shirt I’ve been meaning to make for over a year using one of the three gorgeous pieces of Marcy Tilton digital printed French cotton knit I had in my garment making stash.

New t-Shirt

I finished making it yesterday then I wore it – but it was too big (makes me look dumpier than I actually am) – I’d made a pattern from a Talbot’s t-Shirt I’d purchased last year which fits nicely, but the pattern didn’t quite translate to the stretchiness of the fabric. Today, I took 5/8″ off each side and it looks less sloppy. I may still shorten the sleeves as well. I’m happy with the fit of the neck and the shoulders are OK. When I’m satisfied with how this one fits, I’ll make the other two.

Today I had what I think are the last three blooms on my Datura plant. The pot is in the sunniest corner of my balcony but already the shorter day length is affecting the plant. I have no more buds coming along and leaves are yellowing and dropping off.

The Last Of The Datura Flowers

Tomorrow these three flowers will be drooping then in a couple of days they’ll fall off. At that point I’m probably going to get rid of the plant. I’ve enjoyed watching these spectacular flowers unfold. I just wish I had a sunnier spot for it. In the right conditions it would bloom till well into the fall. It’s an annual so there’s no point in trying to salvage it.

On July 9, I mentioned the Hoffman Skylines fabric I had bought.

Hoffman – Skylines Fabric

I’ve been walking around it since then. Last week I finally cut one of the two panels I have into 21″ square blocks. Now you no longer see the print as skyscraper buildings – now the colours pop out. I think I am going to try something with drunkard’s path.

A friend loaned me Louisa Smith’s book “Strips ‘n Curves” – she creates strip pieced fabrics from which she creates a wide range of drunkard’s path blocks. With my multi-coloured Hoffman fabric I don’t have to do any strip piecing, I can use it as it is. So now I have to figure out a  large block size to make the first drunkard’s path block, then scale down from there to work out smaller versions which will fit into an array. I was going to add more solid colours but the jumble of colour in the photo from the book makes me think I may just build my blocks from contrasting portions of the Skyline fabric and let the colour do the talking.

I’ve been dithering about this for a couple of weeks. I think I may be ready to cut the fabric now.

Double Purple Datura

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Double Purple Datura/ Jimson Weed is an herbaceous annual with large flowers that are purple on the outside and white to cream on the inside. It is a summer-flowering plant that grows from seed.

I was given this plant by a friend six weeks ago or so. She started it from seed during the winter. The plant showed buds soon after I got it but the buds have been slow to develop and open.

Yesterday I got my first flower and I must say it is spectacular – however, it only lasted a single day. Today, it’s limp and droopy and it’ll probably fall off tomorrow.

There are lots of flowers to come, though. There are plenty of buds in various stages of development. Looks like I may get close to a new flower each day, although I don’t expect the next flower to open for another couple of days.

I’m hoping to see a couple of flowers at a time if the plant continues to grow and produce buds. The dilemma for me is the plant likes full sun. This is the sunniest place on my balcony but since it’s now past mid-summer, I’m getting full sun till about 10:30am with full sun decreasing slightly each day. So I don’t know for how long I will continue getting buds and flowers. I’m assuming the buds that have formed will open, but you never know, they may stop opening as we near September.

Oh well, I will have enjoyed whatever blooms that have opened.

First Real Sign Of Spring

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Harbinger Of Spring

First Coltsfoot of 2019

Saw these coltsfoot peeking through last fall’s leaves two days ago – a definite harbinger if spring arriving in NS. These were in a friend’s yard; no sign of any in their spot under the trees near my building. Next sign – forsythia in bloom – likely not for another 10 days.

Night Blooming Cereus

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Two nights ago my friend Marlene’s night blooming cereus was blooming again. It’s quite a spectacular site – the flower begins its display around eight in the evening, slowly opens over a couple of hours, around  midnight it develops a wafting scent (to attracts the bats that pollinate the flower), by three in the morning it has begun to fade, and it’s finished blooming around dawn.

Night Blooming Cereus

I took this photo around 9:30. The flower isn’t fully open; the outer petals will expand further creating a flat disc around the cupping petals. But you can see the glory of the bloom even at this stage.

Here is a photo of the first time this cactus bloomed (I don’t have the exact year mid to late 1980s, likely) – just before it was fully open around midnight.

Orchid Cactus – Original

We spent that evening in the garden, sipping wine, watching the flower open. No bats, sadly, to pollinate it. I had enlargements of the photo printed to commemorate the occasion. I still have the print hanging in my home.

On Deck 2

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Today: I added a medium weight woven fusible interfacing (which doesn’t seem to have “fused” – oh well – I’ve stitched it at the edge and around the “finished” image lines), I finished stitching the water, added some darker thread strategically to the headland to give it more depth, did a bit of sewing in the sky, just enough to bring out some clouds.

On Deck 2

Now I need to plan out the windows (the decking is there – I’ll make it more plank-like with permanent markers and stitching with dark thread). The windows I have to think about, so that’s for tomorrow – I need to let that next step percolate and see what ideas emerge in the morning.

Yesterday I visited my friend Marlene – her  Oriental Poppies were in glorious bloom (it hasn’t rained here for a few days although it’s raining today so I imagine I caught the flowers at just the right moment).

Oriental Poppies

The petals just glowed! Simply wonderful. There are lots of buds still to open so she should have more flowers after today’s rain has knocked the petals off the present ones.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to grow oriental poppies both in the garden beds and in my container garden at the townhouse, not enough direct sunshine. I never got much of anything. Marlene’s have been growing in that same location at the front of her house forever – close to 50 years, I’d guess.

I’ve given up gardening altogether (except for a few phalaenopsis and an occasional amaryllis indoors) – my balcony faces north-east – right now I’m getting the sunrise coming in my living room windows and on my deck but the sun’s completely moved on by 10:00am – not enough direct sun for anything other than geraniums. I wanted to grow hibiscus – I brought two potted hibiscus with me when I moved into the apartment, but once on the balcony I stopped getting flowers – just not enough sunlight.

Coltsfoot In Bloom

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Yesterday it was gloriously sunny and the coltsfoot near the building just glowed. I forgot to photograph them – caught them today (which is overcast) so the flowers aren’t so bright.

Harbinger Of Spring

I saw forsythia in bloom yesterday as well – I imagine the first flowers actually appeared just after the middle of April but I just didn’t notice the new vegetation – but there they were yesterday, May 5 – in all their glory.

They’re shouting – “It’s Spring in Nova Scotia!” They make me feel like singing.

I saw coltsfoot on May 2 in 2015, last year I first noticed some April 15 2017. There’s no doubt the season is advancing each year – the fact that I didn’t notice the first flowers (besides the crocus in gardens which is earliest of all) is because we don’t have flower gardens here at the apartment building unlike at my townhouse where we had garden beds everywhere so we gardeners were primed to be poking around for signs of spring life!

I got back to quilting the quilt today – filling in the designs where I inadvertently left spaces that were just a bit too big. I’ve just finished creating three new embroideries so I can fill in some smaller spaces – tomorrow, I hope to get to those. Then the quilting of the border. Once I establish the size for the embroidery for the sides and top/bottom that will go quickly using an endless hoop which allows me to embroider and just move the fabric along. And binding – a couple of hours and that will be done.

Amaryllis – Stalk #3!

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Well, I’m going to have at least one flower (maybe even two or three) on this stalk. A couple of the flower buds look like they might poop out but for sure, this one is going to open fully.

Amaryllis Stalk #3

I’ve never had three stalks on an amaryllis before. This one has certainly been special.

Oh, and the snow is all gone. Melted away this past weekend with rain and mild temperatures. That doesn’t mean we won’t have another storm before the end of April, but if there should be snow, it won’t last long!

I even noticed buds on the trees this morning while I was out and about.

Charm Pack Quilt – 1

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A couple of weeks ago my physiotherapist handed me a Northcott charm pack with blue/turquoise fabrics – forty-two 5″ squares in 10 different coordinating colours. Not enough to make a quilt on it’s own. I went through my stash pulling out blues and turquoise fat quarters, half-yards, and scraps to cut another forty 5″ squares which would get me closer to what I’d need for a good-sized lap quilt. This quilt isn’t for me – she wants it to use in her new house.

Charm Pack with Quilt Backing Fabric

I thought about a lot of possibilities – finally decided to do a disappearing 9-patch. I didn’t want to invest a huge amount of time executing fine detail – setting up a 9-patch didn’t take long, cutting the blocks into quarters went quickly, arranging the resulting blocks is now my challenge. Because I didn’t think the blues/turquoises had enough life, I decided to use a golden yellow (with hints of blue) as an accent colour. I placed the yellow blocks at the centre of the 9-patch so they were all cut into quarters when I spliced the 9-patch blocks. Here is my current layout:

Disappearing 9-Patch using Charm Pack

Not big enough for a good size lap quilt – so far just a 5×7 array. The question I’m deliberating right now is whether to extend the quilt with a narrow border in light blue along with a wide dark border (I actually bought a second charm pack, in case I didn’t have enough for the quilt center – I could use the charm pack squares to piece an intermediate 2.5″ border then finish with a wider dark border). Or, I could add sashing between blocks/rows and space out these elements – but what colour to use for sashing?

I have to keep thinking about this – not sure what to do,  yet.

Oh, and I came across some appropriate backing fabric for half-price so I picked it up.

As I was leaving the physiotherapist’s office Tuesday, I noticed the additions to the tree in her yard. I think there’s a pottery studio in the garage – used by the previous owner – these faces bits of the potter’s work (top face missing it’s left eye).

Faces

Amaryllis 2 2018

I got a second amaryllis for Christmas – so far the first stalk has completely bloomed. There’s a second stalk well on the way and I think I’m seeing a possible third stalk peeking out….

Amaryllis 2 2018

Crazy weather – it snowed last night, then turned to rain, then the temperature dropped well below freezing leaving black ice patches. I haven’t been out yet today, but just about to venture forth.