Hoodoos - Tunnel Mountain - Banff.  Photo taken 17 May 2013.

In my last post, I mentioned that my creeping speedwell, Veronica peduncularis 'Georgia Blue' (aka 'Oxford Blue') was blooming merrily away, but I failed to put up a photo, as the flowers looked a bit waterlogged after two days of heavy rain.  I'll make it up to you now that the sun's come out!

This Veronica is one of my favourite early season perennials - a reliable, hardy, tidy mound that can tolerate sun or shade, drought or moisture. 

Gone so soon: the prairie crocuses are fading on Nose Hill, Calgary - 26 May 2013.

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• Could it really be here? (floweryprose.com)
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It's a bit too cold up here in Alberta to grow the ornamental cherry trees you'll find in warmer southern climes, but we're not complaining.  Especially when the double flowering plums (Prunus triloba 'Multiplex') put on a show like they are this spring.

Double flowering plums stopping traffic in front of  Captain John Palliser Elementary School, Calgary, Alberta

Chalk one up for having the perseverance and determination to trudge through that fiendishly long winter! 

New growth is "springing" up all over Bowmont Natural Area, Calgary, Alberta, 9 May 2013.

Prairie crocus and pal, Bowmont Natural Area, Calgary, Alberta, 9 May 2013.

It rained here last night, actual RAIN, not that frozen white stuff which made yet another appearance on Monday and Tuesday.  When I stepped outside this morning to head over to Nose Hill, I could smell it in the air.

Spring.

This time, I suspect it's for real.  The birds definitely think so.

And, apparently, so do the crocuses…

There is still snow on the ground here and there all across the province of Alberta...in fact, it is blizzarding here in Calgary as I write this.  This photo was taken in Valleyview, 21 April 2013.

I found this glorious zygocactus (Schlumbergera, Christmas cactus) in full bloom in a sunny bay window at my Mom-in-law's residence this past weekend, and it got me thinking that I've never attempted to grow one before.  It is definitely time to change that!

Do you grow zygocacti?  Do you have any tips for me? 

(P.S. In case you're wondering, I did indeed alter the natural position of the bloom so that it doesn't turn downward in this photo).

April 2013

105 kilometres (65 miles) northwest of Edmonton, Alberta lies the hamlet of Rochfort Bridge. This railway bridge nearby is cited as the longest wooden trestle in North America. It measures 736 metres (2, 414 feet) long and 33.5 metres (110 feet) tall, and was built in 1914.  The Paddle River and Highway 43 pass beneath it.

From the archives: A ghostly copse of forestry-planted trees in Sand Hills Wildland Provincial Park in Fort Assiniboine, Alberta, July 2012.

(Photo credit: R. Normandeau)

A grouping of Chionodoxa and Puschkinia poked out of my flowerbeds in a rare sunny moment last week.  Unfortunately, further blooms in my garden have been arrested by the cold and freezing drizzle that has been falling on and off for the past three days.  I can completely relate - the weather makes me want to go back to bed, too. 

Bowness Park, Calgary, Alberta - March 2013.

Now I know spring has finally arrived!  :)

At long last...there are a few bright blooms in my garden! And when I say "at long last," I mean it in more ways than one: these snow crocuses were planted in the autumn of 2009 and this is the first time they've flowered. I had honestly thought the squirrels had gotten to them during the Great Bulb Migrations of 2009 and 2010, when most of my tulips were transplanted to locations unknown via my bright-eyed and bushy-tailed buddies.

From the archives: A rainy sunset in Kananaskis Country, May 2012.