Veronicas

If life gives you lemons... make lemonade.

If your Veronicas get mildew, make a bouquet!

I have had the same problem with these flowers for a number of years now.  Just when they are ready to bloom, they come down with mildew -- powdery or downy, I don't know which.

Any idea on how to conquer it?  Solutions anyone?

This year I tried keeping the area around the plant open so as to keep the air moving.  Didn't work!

Also, I have other Veronicas, including this Royal Candles variety, and they are not susceptible to it.

Royal Candles Veronica

Veronica spikes with a splash of pink Prairie Joy roses make a beautiful display.

Blooms

Haven't been uploading in a bit.  So here goes.  I bore you with more blooming favourites.  

The above pics are both catchflies.  (The flowers are sticky, hence the name.)  The one to the left is a native wildflower growing in a ditch.  The pink one on the right is it's perennial cousin, probably a hybrid or from another locale.

Gadzania -- one of the few annuals you will find in my little patch.

Peruvian daffodil, spider flower, or basket lily.

This is a quite fool-proof bulb.  It is fast growing, and multiplies each year.  The bulbs are lifted for the winter.

Hope for Humanity rose

The roses all love the weather we've been having.

...as do the hostas!

This house plant is new.  I have only had it for a few months (Thanks Susie) and have forgotten the name.  It is one of the most elegant plants I have seen.  Love how the bloom grows on the long stem.

edit -- The plant is a Streptocarpus (Cape Primrose).  I shall call it by its' common name.  It does look like a primrose.

Here is a website with info on the plant 

http://www.gflora.com/index.php?cmd=genus_body&genus_id=140

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Spring Blooms

I was gone for the weekend.  I came home late this afternoon and planned on working on my flower beds this  evening.  The temperature is not quite inviting though and when I heard there were frost warnings in effect tonight, I got my camera and captured a few pics of some beautiful spring plants.  I am not sure what the frost will do to them, but seeing as they are all perennials, they should be okay.

Woodland ferns (I think), never more beautiful than when in the fiddle-head stage!

Primroses -- begifted to me last year by one of my sisters.  This is their second show.  They came up right after the snow went.  I killed them off by removing their leaf cover too soon.  I am really glad to see them again.

Pulmonaria -- also known as Joseph's coat or lung-wort -- a spring bloomer, and a favourite of mine for its beautiful hosta-like leaves in the summer.

This is the first time this fern leaf peony blooms!  Can't wait for the flowers and hoping the frost doesn't damage them.

Yellow cushion spurge with bleeding heart and day lilies in the background.

Spring update

Well, yes...

these pictures were taken yesterday morning, May 2nd ...and a fine one it was too!

  You can see one of my students without a jacket in the picture.  I took  my class out for a walk.  We have been studying 'Air and Water in the Environment' for science.  What better way to learn than to go out on a spring morning and find the evidence.  We did find ice, water, and snow; however, there was not a cloud to be seen.

Lucky for us the weekend fury had passed...

leaving us with an interesting combination of snow, ice, and budding leaves on the Manitoba maple tree.

I liked the ice formations on the slough edge, evidence to water being wind-washed on the banks.  It was frozen over when we visited, and stones being skipped slid and bounced their way to a stop.

Northern Flicker (wood pecker family), 

a first real sighting for me.  

I have seen the bird around but never got close enough to identify it. I do need a camera with a better zoom!!

In my spare moments --

A patchwork quilt I am working on.

  It is almost done -- just in time for warmer weather.  I have been planning on a new quilt for a while now.  I learned how to do the binding stitch and am finishing it off by hand.  This is a quite enjoyable task; I am done one side and a corner (quite a feat, I must say).

More on it later.  This will be the first quilt I actually finish!

Art Projects

I haven't posted student work in a while.  Here are some of the projects we've done in the last few months.

Block printing -- the picture is etched in foam board, inked with a roller and pressed on to the paper.  These turned out really well, I thought!

Tempera painting -- a block of cardboard was used to make the tree and their thumb-print for the snowy owls.  The details were added with a fine line marker once it was dry.

Polar bears -- torn paper art.  No scissors were used.

Polar bears again; this time out of air dry clay.

Valentines day mobile -- quilling idea, though out of larger strips.

Yes -- I still have a Nativity scene in my classroom. 

 I was going to put it away for the year when I found it thus arranged.  I thought it too cute!!  

As adults we like to make a pleasing scene where all figures are seen; kids have different thoughts.  Someone arranged it so that all figures were huddled around the baby Jesus!  

As it should be!