Garden 'siteseeing' in Canada, the U.S., and Sweden
Each week Diggin' It takes a virtual magic carpet ride to visit gardeners and their gardens in the far-flung corners of the Internet. Today's jaunts land us in Ontario, Ohio, Texas, and Sweden.
At GardenJoy4Me, there's garden joy for all of us -- watching a lovely morning sunrise, admiring cute kittens, and enjoying some of last summer's most colorful plants (to remind us that, yes, warm weather will eventually return.
After all, if you live in Kingston, Ontario, you may occasionally need to be reminded of that. Somehow, those of us who garden in cold climes do need periodic reassurance. (The wind chill's hovering around zero F. -- minus 18 C -- this morning in Boston.)
"So here I am in my blue polar bear flannel pajamas," she writes, "dreaming of what it was like to walk around my garden," Boy, do I know that feeling!
In winter, it's sometimes easier to admire the sunrise than the sunset, which always comes way too soon in climates like mine. At Wishnik Woods, south of Canton, Ohio, one nature lover finds it a pleasure to arise before dawn and photograph the landscape as day gradually dawns.
"In the sweet morning light as the moon sets and the sun has just barely begun to peek over the horizon, I breathe in deep the freshness of the air. I let my senses absorb all the sights and sounds of nature bathed in various shades of twilight blues," she writes.
In our current cold spell, I wouldn't last more than 10 minutes outdoors before dawn, then I'd remember my warm bed and be back inside. So I appreciate the opportunity to enjoy the beauties of 4 a.m. at a later hour and in a warmer setting. Besides, her wooded rural surroundings are much prettier this time of year than my gritty urban ones.
Annie, the Transplantable Rose in Austin, Texas, looks back over the best of 2008: all the friends she's made among other garden bloggers, installing a water feature that can be seen and enjoyed from indoors, visiting other gardens on the Austin Pond Society's annual tour of gardens, and writing and recording songs about all this and much more.
She's one busy gardener and it sounds as though she's only going to get busier in 2009. It'll be fun to follow her exploits and see.
At Roses and Stuff in Gothenburg, Sweden (the country's second largest city), roses aren't flowering outdoors, naturally, so Katarina takes us on a visit to the greenhouses of the Gothenburg Botanical Gardens. There we find a pretty pink azalea and the variety of camellia from which green tea comes.
I loved her look back at 2008 -- one gorgeous photo for each month. It reminded me of my own garden successes and failures, while giving me hope for 2009. But it also put me in the mood to do some garden planning so this year's garden will be as good as I hope.
So I have my afternoon project. But do join us again next week for another siteseeing journey and every weekday for musings and news about gardening.
