Spring flowers! Can winter be far behind?! Here is the Edgeworthia chrysantha I see fairly often, particularly when I take the Aquabus ferry over to the market on Granville Island. And here are some over-excited daffodils - they're getting the folks here a little over-excited too. I see that I posted the Edgeworthia above in February 2019, with snow on them, commenting that it was the first winter snow. We'd best not be putting our booties away just yet.
Well the snow that was forecast arrived first thing today, so we got our coats and wellies on and went for a short walk to take some photos for this thread to give a little idea of how our little part of Hampshire was looking.
@Acerholic, I love snow on blossom photos. And clinging to branches. What are the red things in the first two photos, and how big are they? We had a big snow warning (two days of full page warning from msn.com when I logged on), but no snow, where I am anyway.
The snow is dissapearing fast and as can be seen on my photo this morning 25th January 2021 of Hedra Ivy seeds, thought they looked pretty enough for a posting. Lovely walk btw.
Spring was mentioned by N @Nik a couple of days ago in his posting, so when I saw these lovely daffodils just starting to peep through the fallen leaves on our morning walk, I had to take a photo and post it. Sure signs that we are on the way to some nice days not too far ahead.
This made me check what was going on at the bottom of my big cherry tree. I planted a couple of bulbs that my sons pulled out when we used to go and make bunches of daffodils, now they're slowly expanding in the garden. On the right, you can see a flower bud: very early... I don't rake the dead leaves, I think a lot of local plants that can be found in woods like that. There are also a few "wild iris" (don't know the scientific name) that seem to like the location too : The bluebells come just after (or before ? I can't remember) the daffodils. I also have some in a few places : The leaves of some "Orchis bouc" (Himantoglossum hircinum) have been out for several weeks. They're self-sown, I don't know how they came here, but I could spot some in nearby wastelands. The soil here is very calcareous, it must suit them. Too dark now to take photos but there's one I particularly like because I only spotted the spider after watching the photo onscreen :
Himantoglossum hircinum, I think the description of the scent from Wiki ie Flowers strongly smell of male goats.[1] would probably put a lot of people off. LOL.
I can tell you why here it's called "Orchis bouc" : it really smells like... A horny billy-goat ? The kind of (half-rotten, haf dried) shark fillets that are popular in Scandinavia ? The smell of the feet of a former jail inmate that was hitch-hiking to a monastery ? (true story) A beautiful plant. The smell is really... Ughhh... But it's beautiful ;°)
These Davidia involucrata fruits caught my eye in Queen Elizabeth Park today, not actually because of the fruits, but the red peduncles were glistening in the sun.
We've been mourning the loss of our beloved Storm so could not return to the dog park. Instead we decided to go in search of "mythical creatures".... Sculptures of mythical creatures appear in Burnaby park | Vancouver Sun Not only was it interesting to see these sculptures, made only with natural materials on hand and bound by twine, but the hunt itself was very enjoyable. And these creations are by no means small, as the photo of my husband with the Ewoks shows (Emerald the dragon is over 4 meters long). We searched for over an hour on the numerous narrow winding trails (very easy to get turned around) but could not locate the fairy, the Guardian or the troll. Oh well, maybe another day....
So sorry to hear about your loss, @pmurphy , they are truly a member of the family. Ours is on the decline, 16 years old...
@pmurphy good evening P, can I echo N @Nik words. The one thing just to add is, we give our pets a wonderful and happy time when they are with us, so that is the most important thing to hold onto after they leave. Your mythical sculptures are great btw.
1st February 2021 and my next door neighbour pointed this out to us this morning. So took a photo of Spring to share with the forum. Not much I know but every little counts atm.
Whilst out for our early walk this morning, these lovely but small Narcissus growing made us think of Spring. It gives me a wonderful feeling that this awful Winter is nearly behind us all.
Being such a beautiful day we decided to take a walk in Queen Elizabeth Park. I know it's been warm and the groundhogs saw their shadows (across Canada apparently) but it's only just February so I was surprised at how green and "Springy" things are already. Some of the plant growth is just starting so it's too early to really identify what some of the images are so suggestions would be appreciated. Some sort of pussy willow ? Hellebores Snow drops and naarcissus Unknown Had to throw in a photo of the hummingbird (Anna's I believe) Arum italicum Hellebores Unknown - looks familiar but I can't put a name to it Hellebores and sword ferns I believe this is a witch hazel but I could be wrong (couldn't get too close) I thought this was a type of Anemonastrum but maybe not
Today is the first snow of the season in the West End of Vancouver, not counting the half hour last week that was followed by sun the rest of the day. We've had daffodils since January 20. The windmill palms, Trachycarpus fortunei, are nicely draped in the snow.
Beautiful photos to possibly end Winter with. Here in England the weather is going to warm up from tomorrow with 16°C forecast next Saturday. Our Daffodils will be out then but with no snow covering.
Oh, I envy you such a forecast! I glanced at my weather gizmo a moment ago and the number '13' jumped out. For a split second, I though it was referring to the temperature but, no, only the date. It will quite a while I think before we enjoy double-digit temps again. If only the snow would melt.
Here too ! It was -5 this morning, it should be +5 this afternoon... @wcutler I didn't think you had palm trees in Vancouver.
