Winter Wonder$*#$land

No, no.  This is not just an old post that I was too lazy to finish.  This is for realz. After a particularly brutal and unforgiving winter, and an equally nasty early spring, the plants (and humans) are finally starting to feel safe enough to emerge.  

Looks like winter right? EHHHHHHHHH - wrong.  It was March 31st. 

The crocuses and snowdrops are out, along with  miniature irises that are too cute for words. Too bad they were demolished by last week's snow... 

The spring bulbs (ie. tulips, allium, and daffies) are poking through (no blooms yet) and everything seems to be tentatively ready to explode. A couple of the earliest ones that seem to do well here are prairie crocus, succulents, berginia, and forsythia.  

Prairie Crocus and Creeping Jenny - April 

Meanwhile, this is happening everywhere else. 

Boo hoo hoo.  Tough life west coasters.  Wanna see Calgary last Saturday?

Calgary is one of the most volatile environments I've ever lived in.  The winters are consistently cold - like consistently colder than the freezer cold.  Spring is a moody bugger. Spectacular warm days followed by -10 and 6" of snow. We can't even plant anything until May long weekend.  Then a short intense summer with light until 11pm. It's a wonder anything grows here ever. 

Even the one legged flamingo looks winter weary

Monster Karl Foresters (still sleeping)

Planting at our neighbours on one of our warm days in April

The tomatoes are settled into the window ledge and will remain a fixture there until at least June 1st. 

There is an undercurrent of resilience and hope in this town. Hopefully it will rub off on me one day...

LP