A week ago, I didn't think I would be doing an April update. We had more snow than normal and I really thought our spring gardening would be delayed. There was a foot of snow on my deck and only a little grass had appeared in the backyard. The front yard was still snow covered, but a lot can happen in our spring. After a short blast of unseasonably high temperatures (26 C, 78.8°F today) my backyard is now bare.

Let's go for a grand tour!
We will do the whole thing,
inside and outside.

I walked outside this morning to look at the garden and was completely surprised! I hadn't expected flowers. Each spring, I have a race to see what flowers first and I already have two winners! In the first photo is the Scilla. The Lungwort is in the one above.

Just refreshing my memory, we had an ice storm 7 days ago.

This is my backyard today.

Behind me are the hostas. All you see are last years dead leaves. We used to clear things like this in the fall but now we're told to wait until our temperatures stay above 10 C (50°F) in the spring so any little insects that wintered there have time to leave.

I have a few daffodils vying with the hyacinths for 3rd and 4th place.

Through the leaves, a hyacinth pushes its way upwards.

I only planted them last spring and it's nice to see them doing so well.

These are the daylilies. Did they really start growing under a snow bank?

I planted a clematis last year and I lost half of the little plant in our windstorm. As much as I would like to lift the leaves to find it, that's how I lost a clematis one other year when the temperature later plummeted and I had left it uncovered. I swear, this is the last clematis I'm planting. If it doesn't thrive, I'll find something else to put on that trellis.

The periwinkles are evergreen and in partial shade against the fence. Sometimes they are contenders in my blooming race but not this year.

This is the hardy kiwi vine.

I have two kinds of mint. One is planted in a flowerpot to keep them separated and you can just spot that.

Now, let's go inside!

Part of the gang in one photo with the big grandaddy of them all, my over 50 year old jade tree, looking down on them.

I planted a few rows of bunching onions -- they're doing well. I also decided to try some Swiss chard, not expecting too much because it's a cool weather plant and the house is too warm, but I have a few. There is a mystery tomato in there and I have no idea where it came from as the soil was new and I don't have tomato seeds in my house.

This is the little rosemary plant I put in my garden last spring and brought into the house for the winter.

You can tell by the leggy growth and flowers that it's too warm for the Thai basil. I'm forever pinching the flowers off.

Everything bloomed in February and the Christmas/Easter cactus has a few more buds.

The amaryllis bulb spent 2020 in my storage room when I went to Australia for 9 months. Normally, I let them die off in the autumn and then start them for a January bloom. However, until the bulb is built back up in size, blooming would put too much stress on the plant.

These two orchids are still going strong.

Did I mention that I never eat at this table? There isn't room!

A philodendron, a hoya, and a small jade tree.

My monster, the euphorbia, really needing to be transplanted.

The avocado.

The weeping fig can't wait for the first warm rain and its annual bath.

I'm always starting something here on the counter and it's a geranium cutting and a fuchsia cutting. The fuchsia will replace one missing plant in the basket upstairs.

I bought this little English ivy since I have returned from Australia. Eventually, it will wrap itself around the rack where it sits.

Just a couple of plants upstairs
and then we will go to the front yard.

It looks like I have another successful overwintering of my fuchsia. Yes, it drops leaves all winter. It was a big improvement to put it on the stool in front of the window so it's not so lopsided, and I didn't lose any of the plants this year. In six weeks, I will be hanging it up outside.

All of my geraniums are this colour. It came into my family in the 1970s.

One hibiscus and four geraniums.

The Front Yard

I bet that snow will be gone in two more days. See all of the mud and flattened grass? Once it's dry, I will rake the whole thing.

Nice to see the little shrub survived the snow removal equipment this year. Once it looks like we are past the worst of the cold weather, I will start removing the leaf covering.

The perennials are flattened but they will bounce back.

I'm not sure what that is...

Maybe chilly tulips?

A few more hyacinths out front. They are delayed compared to the ones in the backyard.

The vines on the house are getting ready to burst.

I have one last thing to show you...

Depending where you are from, you will call this a turnip, a rutabaga or a Swede... and it's sprouting so I'm going to see if I can grow them. Science experiments are my favourite.

That's the end of the tour. I have been watching all of the beautiful gardens in the Southern hemisphere here on Hive and now it's our turn again, but our big gardening time is still 6 weeks away.

Thank you for visiting!