Spring Flowers in Germany

These flowers were blooming in Germany in middle March when I visited my relatives for a couple of days.

These pink flowers are called SchneeHeide or WinterHeide and appear at the end of Winter.

Sunflowers from the Farmer's Market

We bought some sunflowers at the Square One Farmer's Market. They're quite nice!

Beautiful Purple Wanderer

We found this flower growing on the outside of my Dad's flower garden; we don't know how it got there, or what its name is.

Niagara Butterfly Conservatory

We were done in Niagara Falls this week, and spent a little time at the Butterfly Conservatory, located on Niagara Parkway close to the Falls. It's an interesting place, they have lots of gardens there, rose, herb, vegetable, and so forth, and in one heat-controlled building, there are hundreds of butterflies flittering around the tropical plants. Very interesting, and fun for kids who enjoy nature and animals, it's always a joy to see the smile on a child's face when a butterfly lands on them (well, some of them cry or try to squirm away). Here are a bunch of the more interesting pictures we took.

Russet Apple Hitchhiker

We found this lucky hitchhiker in our bag of russet apples. We were lucky to get some russets this year, the season for them is quite short, two weeks, so some stands at the Farmer's Market had one. Luckily, we found one with lots.

Birthday Irises

These blue beauties were given to me by my Dad as a Birthday gift, they lasted most of the week.

Some More Spring Flowers

Spring flowers are out in force, here are some beautiful examples.

A Profusion of Trilliums!

This must be a good year for Trilliums, at least in a forest near my Dad's house. These two pictures give you only a taste of the whole hillside of white flowers.

I learned today that when trilliums age, they last about 20 years, and mature after 8-11 years, they sometimes go pink in colour.

This oddly sharp, crinkly one is neat.

Carpet of Zilias

The zilias at my Dad's place have multiplied tremendously, there is now a thick carpet of them along his driveway.

Shamrock for St. Patrick's Day

A tradition my Dad has been keeping lately, is to buy shamrocks on St. Patrick's Day. A little bit of green before Spring starts.

Ice Crystal Trees

We had a cold snap for a long while in February. Often, that causes moisture to condense on the inside of windows and then freeze, creating beautiful crystal trees, with many branches.

Winter red berries

We had a light sprinkling of snow on the weekend, these red berries looked quite good with their dusting.

Christmas Irises

My Dad decided to gift me this Christmas with some irises. They lasted quite long, and look beautiful.

Dew on Spiderweb

I took this picture sometime at the end of summer, I thought it was quite pretty, the dew marking the web, strung between the blades of grass.

Encounter with Nature

There are certain things that bring joy to my heart, this is one of them. There is a place in Cambridge, a Conservation Area called F.W.R. Dixon, frequented by many nature lovers and hiking enthusiasts, where one can feed the chickadees, they will fly to your hand and take seeds from them. It is a wonderful feeling to have this tiny animal approach so closely, so trustingly, and return for more. The seeds that you see in my hand are sunflower seeds, the chickadees take one or more, fly off to a branch, place the seed between their legs, and crack open the seed to extract the edible portion inside. This time of year, they are not as hungry as mid-winter, when there is little food about, but there is still the opportunity to have a close encounter with nature.

Fall Berries

Hidden among the falling coloured leaves of autumn, these berries look almost good enough to eat.

End of the Season Apples

We were enjoying the very warm fall weather on the weekend by going for a walk in this excellent Conservation area near where my brother and his wife live, and we came across this tree with apples still hanging on them. They were still quite hard, and small, and definitely not sprayed in any way, most of them had spots on them. But we picked some, my Dad used to like them, what he called an Augustapfel in German.

Hibiscus Flower

Though a little bit fuzzy, this picture gives you a good idea of the beauty of the hisbiscus flower. My father enjoyed these in Africa when he was growing up, though the bushes were huge compared to the little plant that grows at his place. I like the long projecting stamen.

It's been a while since I posted some Flower Pics

The day-lilies are now at the end, but these Black-eyed Susans are starting to really bloom.

The Day-Lilies are early this year

Probably because it’s been warmer than usual here in Ontario, like it has been most everywhere. They are beautiful, though.