Rich Christmas blessings to all who stop by this site.

We are having a quiet Christmas at home while our only son and his new wife visit her parents in Alberta. Her parents are restaurateurs and find it very hard to get away so we are happy to share our children (and theirs) with them over Christmas. Since we only have one child it empties the house in great hurry when they leave but they have traveled safely and we will look forward to Christmas with them when they return. My brothers and sisters are mostly in Alberta (2 bros and 1 sis) and 1 sis in BC, and 1 here in Saskatchewan (whom we will see). Last year it turned out we could get all but 1 to Edmonton at a niece's brand new house so that was very good.

We celebrate the birth of Christ with great thanksgiving for He is the Peacemaker between us and God and between us and our neighbour which brings great freedom, the real blessing of Celebrating "Emmanuel", God with us.



Winter has turned out to be like summer here in many ways as the number of daylight hours seems to be minimal. We have overcast again till after noon today and I see that there are many clouds to the west still coming. Thankfully the temperature is better than -10C. Into this season I have cast a number of small lily bulbs under lights and we are reaping the benefit of having live lilies for Christmas. They are seedlings and bulbs of seedlings from Lilium dauricum from the Honeywood Heritage Nursery and were wild collected in the forest around the yard site there. I was able to gather a couple of pods this fall and look forward to starting a number of seeds again after Christmas.
Here are some of the lilies blooming now.

Not a lot of variability but so nice to have the colors and the life here in our house.

So may Peace come to your house this Christmas and may you enjoy each day as a gift whether life is full and rich or crowded with trials. We are all under the same sky and since a true God can exist whether we believe or not, we have access to the same Blessings if we seek Him.

December scenes and a few thoughts

Well we have really had a pleasant month so far. There is just the right amount of snow although we are quite concerned for the spring already as there is fresh water showing up in ditches near us and then freezing in place. So everything will be full to start the spring season = a lot of water and some with now place to go. You can check out how bad summer was here on the prairies by going to Stuck in the Muck. These are for real!
I have blown out several paths around the yard for walking paths and places for the dogs to run so that is nice under the full moon!

The lilies in the basement are starting to bloom so we definitely have lilies for Christmas. Some are getting too tall and I am moving lights to keep them growing. First in line to bloom are several Lilium dauricum seedlings from which I hope to get a few different colors.          

This is quite nice and is in reality a little more orange. There will be more to compare with soon. Nice winter break.











Makes me wonder who will be next as there are also some trumpets in the seedlings.

I noticed today the greenhouse was sweating on the inside but did not check the temperature. It is standing up well so far but I am expecting there could be breaks in the plastic this winter as this is the second winter for this house and the plastic is just 6 mil construction material grade.





And finally a look around the yard here. We are so glad to see a chickadee stayed here for the winter along with the sparrows. It seems we get one and one only every winter even though we put out food. The staple is black sunflowers which many birds will eat but not many come here and stay. More trees please.

I neglected to put up pictures of some of the house plants and so I will feature a couple here. My wife is the chief care taker of the indoor plants (with a little advice from me from time to time.)

There is a small assortment of orchids which are now blooming and more to come. Very exciting in these short winter days.
So though life has it's bumps - 2 close acquaintances and one of my wife's violin friends passed away in the last 10 days , our son may have some rather challenging health issues, my favourite job at the hospital just disappeared on December 13th - we are truly and richly blessed. I think of the blessings each time we sit down at our table to eat a meal or just have coffee! Some would like to live life without believing in God. I choose to live life and live in wonder of a Creator God whose gifts to us are life and breath and love beyond measure. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God". The Bible.  Live in wonder this Christmas!

Alas poor November, where have you gone!!

Well here it is December 15th and the days continue to fly by! I have worked up to 3 days a week since the early part of October, and though I have enjoyed it immensely, many things have not gotten done. I was able to get a couple of posts up on Gardenbuddies and here with pictures and commentary. Otherwise it has been a very full time trying to do house repairs, blowing snow when needed and doing the other things in life.

Last evening was my final shift and the last shift of the job I was doing in the Pharmacy Department at Royal University Hospital. They were so kind and had a little coffee send off and a card and gift. Very thoughtful stuff and many kind remarks. I will miss being there but am looking forward to more time for plants and things here at home.

There is growth going on in the basement (lilies and Clematis) and in our woodwork shop where there are Clematis cirrhosa which is a non hardy Clematis in our climate. There is a good possibility they will bloom before Christmas. In the basement the Clematis are seedlings of a cross between Clematis crispa and Clematis Vancouver Morning Mist. They are very slow growing in my opinion but the light is not like sunlight.

The lilies are growing very well and even some of these could bloom before Christmas.Since this picture was taken they have reached the lights so I am going to move the shelf today and try to give them more room.
There are still bags of lily bulbs (some quite small) that are in the old milk house refrigerator and even still in the basement. Hopefully they will wait till March or so to be planted up.

This has been a very low light season here in Saskatchewan as was the summer. Or at least it has felt that way to me. Snowing gently many days out of an overcast sky.
More soon!

And now it is nearly November.......................................

Well the month of October has slipped by so quickly and I have been planting/transplanting something nearly every day.
Edible Blue Honeysuckle
First and foremost was/are Edible Blue Honeysuckle. With my wife's help we planted 120 seedlings in an alternating pattern for 6 populations. Should be interesting to see how they pollinate and what kind of fruit they produce. To accomplish this I removed 60 3.5 year old plants from which I chose or kept 10 (some were infills and were younger). One of the keepers yielded 6 liters of berries on a bush of only those short years. So I finished this group up with the extras in another planting of 43 plants of various background. The new planting is on 3 foot centers since I am not looking for production but rather quality fruit and plant type.
There are still about 70 2 year old plants in pots but I have run out of space so they will likely end up staying in the pots 1 more year.

Clematis
This spring there were a number of seedlings from germinations in the winter and most of them survived the summer rains and lack of care on occasion. These are mostly C. koreana species var. hybrids. These are mostly planted although there are still about 20 to be planted somewhere.

My seeds of a cross between C. crispa and C. Vancouver Morning Mist are germinating in the basement right now and so there will be some to grow under lights. These seeds were put into damp seedling potting mix and left on the floor in the basement. They germinated in about 3.5 months.
There are also a number of bags of seed heads drying from harvesting seeds from C. integrifolia seedlings. These plants did remarkably well for their first year in the ground. You can see pictures of the seedlings on my Picasa Web Albums site.

Lilies and daylilies
This is also the time for planting and transplanting lily bulbs and daylily seedlings. There are many mixed daylilies which are now in a long row. I am sincerely hoping they survive and bloom as I am a real daylily fan. Sources of seed were Ajax, DF mauve which is a seedling, Lemon Lily, Colonial Dame, a mix and what I thought the label said was Prairie Smoke. Cannot find this one so must be something other than Smoke. A nice gentle rain today is helping them settle in and grow into the winter. here is a part row to dig up and sort but no this year.

Here are a couple just for show.








Lilies are mostly seedlings from the last 3 years so some have produced very fine flowers which you can see in my Picasa Web Albums with the link above. I did not count the bulbs but I planted about 60 yesterday and still have a number to go. They are a mix of Trumpets, Asiatics and hybrid crosses. The potential is very good. I am also waiting for a couple of seed pods to ripen as I did some of my own crosses this year. A good winter ahead.

An finally a little musical joy.


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September is coming to and end.........

This has been an unusual late summer season with cold days and overcast skies; now changed to bright sunny skies and warmer nights. This fluctuation is causing much havoc in the plant world around us. I found this apples blossom walking around in the Siberian crabs behind our barn. Too bad it will just end up frozen. Still beautiful non the less! I also notified that the Black Currant bush which lost all it's leaves to frost has very full buds which look like the would like to burst into leaf!I am sure there are other evidences around as well.
And colors are so vivid this year with the lite frosts not killing but coloring up. Outstanding are the Pincherries, Chokecherries, and cotoneaster.

By now it is October since I started this post and did not get back to it!!!
So much to do so little ambition! Ha. I have posted a few pictures in a post on GardenBuddies Clematis Forum. I had completely forgotten about the Robin Smith Meditation Garden (see the links in the post) and now I regret not getting there in summer.
Well I hope to get here more often as fall closes down the outdoor stuff. I am still expecting to plant at least 150 or so Edible Blue Honeysuckles as well as gathering in and replanting a a number of lilies and lily seedlings. I bought 2 more at the Canadian Prairie Lily Society sale at Lawson Heights Mall in Saskatoon.
Today however is raining and I am off to work for 2:30 pm so not much going to get
done before that.
One job which has not gotten done for a number of years was to oil the mechanism on our old windmill. This is a water pumping type which has not been in use for at least 40 years. We have run the rotor from time to time but had not for a season or two now so I was concerned that it might have seized up.So last Thursday I ventured up and at least sprayed some parts with a lube. It will still need a better greasing this fall if I can get up the energy to do it. Thankfully it was absolutely still for about an hour. It was so still in fact that I was worried that the rotor had seized in place. But the wind will always blow here on the prairies and so it did............

Historical Mackie Lake House, Vernon, British Columbia

In August we had the good fortune to stay in my sisters lake house in Vernon and visit with another sister and her daughter's family for a few days. One of the events we took in was a 100 year Celebration at Mackie Lake House. Both of the sisters have volunteered here in various capacities but the big thing was a renovation of the flower beds which I think would face westerly from the side of the house. This is now a couple of years old and it looks great. They had been so dry there so some things looked a little parched but still a very nice place to visit. We did the tour of the house several years ago and it is an amazing place. Read the story on the link above. Here are some pictures taken while we were there this time. Some wild flowers in the grass and a plum tree along the drive are include. They do have a maintenance/gardener person who lives there for the regular care of the grounds and there is a community park which feels like it is integrated into the grounds. Very nice! There was good music , most of which we missed as it was a lot of fun to sit on the deck or the dock at the lake house and watch the boats and scenery.

There are pictures

New albums and pictures have been posted to PicasaWeb albums. I had the privilege of traveling to our lot at Pebble Baye last Friday and then on to Honeywood Heritage Nursery. Iroquois Lake was up to a good level and things look good around the community. Not a lot of construction this year.

Very nice time to be there and then coffee and coconut cream pie at the diner in Shell Lake.


Then it was on to the Honeywood Heritage Nursery to have a look at the last of the lilies blooming there. There were just a very few including a tall species orange which I did not get an identification on. So here are the pictures.

Last 2 are Double Orange Tiger and Yellow Blaze.
A very good place to visit. I was sorry to miss the summer lily day as they had over 500 people!

Follow up on the Blogger comment

It is very hard to get pictures and text in a set mode which you are trying to achieve. Very frustrating. Maybe it's just me.

Garden Delights and I wish Blogger really worked!!

I am so pleased with all the seedling Clematis that I have been able to get started and these 2 are doing well even though it seems the deer probably nibbled the plants early in spring. The fremontii is a very small bell shaped flower. It would be interesting to make some crosses with Clematis integrifolia(or attempt) to see what would be produced.

I did a cross of Clematis "Vancouver Morning Mist" with a tiny Clematis crispa seedling but so far no germinations. Could be a very interesting cross.

Then there are late flowers on  Clematis Joe Zary which is a very hardy clematis developed by Stanley Zubrowski of Prairie River, Saskatchewan. It is a very nice vine to grow and a good bloomer especially where I have it in heavy shade till the late afternoon. This is not the best place but it does prolong the bloom period. Another clematis from Stanley is Doctor FL Skinner and it is trying to bloom as well so a good season for clematis.

Another group that is doing well is Daylily seedlings. The row of seedlings planted 2 years ago is well established and has been blooming since mid July with nice variations of color and shape.

The seed came from Alison Merrit in Calgary. You can find her postings about clematis in particular on GardenBuddies  web forum. She is a very knowledgeable clematis grower and plant person. Here are some of the flowers. I also have some named varieties such as Ajax, Orange Crush, and several others the skip my mind at this point. They really add color to the flower garden and are quite easy to try on your own.

And here are a few blossoms of seedling Potentillas which I started about 1980 or so from seed gathered in the greenhouse at Olds College. They have persevered through thick and thin here with drought and flood and I am very pleased with them. I lost a small form plant a few years back which was too bad.

 And one final Daylily which was a gift in exchange for some cuttings several years ago and has only now begun to bloom in the last 2 years.

A special seedling as far as I know