The Gardening Season

All winter we live with cold and snow and then April comes and things begin to change, some flowers begin to appear and tulips break through the ground. More happens in May, more flowers, more change, and life has returned to the garden. We've waited long enough for this and, still, it is slow. But you have to be patient to be a gardener, results are not instantaneous, they are slow, and the garden changes very slowly. It's years we're talking about, not days or months. And now, on the last day of June, the garden is still changing, the favourite lilacs are finished as are the peonies, and cone flowers, brown eyed susans, bee balm, and others are about to bloom. Some lavender has survived the winter and it is brave, it hangs on to life near a rose bush. Things are slow in our northern climate but even the climate is changing, we now have snails (many snails this rainy season) and these snails are new to us only in the last two or so years; otherwise, not much changes and what does change is slow. 

And then, last night, many fireflies in the dark night sky. What a magical sight!

Photos taken 30 June 2024.

The garden's progress: mid-August

When August begins the days grow shorter; now it's getting dark by 8 p.m. There is also the smell of August in the air, it's something I've noticed since I was a child; that smell of August coincided with shorter days and told me that summer didn't have long to last and then it was back to dreaded school in a few weeks and the end of my freedom. Now, the insects are singing at night, I hear them before bed around 11:30 p.m. and again at 5 a.m. I used to think fireflies were finished their business by mid-July but this year I saw them at the beginning of August; they say it was a hotter than usual summer but it seemed an average summer for heat except for the fireflies. Now we are on the downward slide to fall.

The garden's progress on July 3

Every evening, around 9 p.m., I go outside for a few minutes to see the fireflies, they won't be here for long. There seem to be more fireflies this year than last year or the year before. The first evening I saw fireflies this year it had been raining and I saw a firefly glowing on and off in the wet grass. I separated the blades of grass and the firefly walked onto my hand and then he was gone, off into the night.