Native flowers by way of seed...

This is my garden, I'll plant it with care,

Here are the seeds I'll plant in there,

The sun will shine,

The rain will fall,

The seeds will sprout and grow up tall...

- unknown

I have decided to grow a bunch of native flowers by seed, but this time outside in small pots...

a mixture of potting soil and cow manure should get the ball rolling but also maintain water retention in these small pots...

fill the pots, drop the seed and wait...

it feels weird planting seeds this early in the year, but maybe the cool air and frosty nights will stimulate these native seeds to sprout...

Winter wonders...

if I look hard enough, there's beauty even in the winter...

on a cold and bitter winter day, ice crystals cling to the sugar maples high in the sky...

a wonderful contrast of azure blue and the whitest white...

Fall is upon us...

"Sweet summer is gone; they have laid her away, 

The last sad hours that were touched with her grace,

In the hush where the ghosts of the dead flowers play;

The sleep that is sweet of her slumbering space..."

 - Archibald Lampman

after a long dry growing season the last bits of colour fade away...

the first leaves from the sugar maples begin to carpet the garden...

the crimson tones of the virginia creeper (parthenocissus quinquefolia), the sedum 'Autumn Joy', and the staghorn sumac (rhus typhina) herald the coming winter with a final blast of colour... 

beautiful colours abound, yet I can't help but feel sad... the winter has become a cold and desolate concept to me since I began gardening... the long wait until spring always seems unbearable to endure...