Lady Slipper Orchids

   A friend sent me a link to the Lady Slipper Orchids at Purdon Conservation area the other day because they are in bloom right now. After a brief discussion, discovering that we both hadn't seen them and wanted to, we quickly made arrangements for a road trip that afternoon. The web site was very helpful in telling us what percentage of blooms were out that day so it sounded promising. 

   With camera in hand we were off and it did not disappoint. It turned out to be not just about the orchids. It's a beautiful conservation area worth going any time of year I'm sure. It was also very magical and I'm sure there were many faeries and such roaming around behind our backs.

Lady Slipper Orchid

   If you ever get a chance to go, I highly recommend it. And if you have time in the next week or two check the web site to see what percentage of orchids are in bloom.

Happy Creating!
Wendy

Workshop time again.

I don't know if you noticed or not but I took a little time off of teaching workshops. Sometimes we all need a little time to reboot to get the creativity going again, some time to just play and create on ones own. I don't always know when I'm playing/creating if it will be something I will do for a workshop or not. This little  'Joy in Bloom' canvas was a fun one to make and I was happy to be able to teach it.

Yesterday I had three wonderful ladies in to create with me. They did a wonderful job of making it their own. 

Cindy

Kathy

Sharon

I love seeing the colour variations that people choose.

Wendy

A walk in the garden...

I am so lucky and grateful to live where I do. I love the peace and tranquillity of our country life. To start off my week today I took a short walk around the house with my camera to see what is in bloom at the moment and thank the universe for all that it has given me. 
So I thought you might enjoy a little peek into my garden.

Platycodon, Ballonflower.

Annebelle Hydrangea

Lily

Meadowsweet

Thanks for coming along to see my garden. Have a great week.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Gardens and Butterfly's oh my!

As I said the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and Butterfly Conservatory were my favourite stop on our little Niagara Falls getaway. The Butterfly Conservatory is in the Botanical Gardens and holds more than 2000 tropical butterflies with more than 45 species. As soon as we stepped in it was like being transformed to another world. Although it was quite busy there was a peace and tranquility that was hard to leave again. The butterflies seemed undisturbed by all the attention and often landed right on people as well as the lush greenery all around. 

As you can guess I highly recommend the Botanical gardens and Butterfly Conservatory. I hope you enjoyed my little tour of it.

Wendy

One foggy morning,,,

I love foggy, dewy mornings and that's just what I saw when I woke up today. So as the Tin man walked out the door to work, I followed behind with my camera. The dew changes the look of everything. It's like Mother Natures frosting.

This is what the Tin man noticed as we were eating our breakfast this morning. I am always amazed at the work and perfection in these kinds of cob webs and yet so delicate. As I sit here I can see the breeze start to break it apart already. It's mesmerizing.
Sweet Peas are on of my favourite flowers. They're so delicate and I love the tendrils.

The Tin man spotted this crazy cob web in an old milk jug. The work is this creation is awesome.
Here is my one lonely Dill plant that sprouted this year. I'm not a Dill fan. I grow it for the Tin man and his Salmon. I love the delicate nature of this plant though. It's worth growing just for it's beauty.
As most web. this one is already disintegrating. All that hard work and it lasts for such a short time.
This Borage is another favourite flower of mine. It's a tiny little flower only measuring about a half an inch but it's so detailed and delicate.

Oh what a great way to start the day. Hope you have a great one!

Gardening between showers.

Even though it's a grey day today I was out doing some gardening. We seem to be having a lot of rain the last few weeks and it's been difficult to get out there and get some much needed weeding done. As I sit here looking out the window, the sun is trying to peek out and another shower has begun...oh my!

After I did a little weeding in the herb garden I grabbed my camera and set out to capture some seasonal flowers. I was inspired by Sheila's blog the other day as she has an amazing close up of a daisy. Go check out the heart she accidentally captured along with it.

So I was drawn to do some close ups. I also seemed to be drawn to globe shapes today since that seems to be the pictures I chose to share with you. The first one is a Globe Thistle which is just about to bloom. It has beautiful blue flowers in a week or two. I'll try to capture them for you later.

The next photo is a Sea Holly thistle. The bees love this one. The photo is a little deceiving though. It's really only about a half an inch in size but there is lot's of them.

And the last picture is of my Giant Allium's seed pods. If you want to see them in bloom check out this earlier post. I'm not sure which I like best, the flower or the pod.

Peaceful Sunday

How was your Sunday?
I had a lovely quiet Sunday. The boys were home for the weekend, so while the Tin man was off watching a local ball tournament we played a game of Wizards. Their friend Chris said he hadn't played before but he prevailed over us.

While playing our game I had the tumbler filled with copper goodies to polish. Here they are after being rinsed. I tried a few new things with my copper sheet. I hope to get some jewelry making time in the next day or two. I'll post as soon as I get something new done.
Then it was outside to take a little tour around the gardens. There is so much in bloom. I must bring some in to make a bouquet.

The Honeysuckle are attracting the hummingbirds.


These iris' were a little sparse this year so I guess they'll need to be divided in the next week or so.

The peony's look like they need to be divided too but they will wait until fall or spring.

Today is looking very grey so maybe a little basement cleaning and organizing is in order! Wish me luck!

How does your garden grow!

I've been busy in the garden the last few days. The weather has been wonderful and the bugs have been few and far between which is a rare thing for us this time of year. The vegetable garden is almost completely planted except for a few more Tomato plants and maybe I'll add some Marigold here and there to keep the bugs away.

These Giant Allium are in my herb garden. Although they are only ornamental I look forward to seeing them each year. They're about 3 feet tall with 4 inch globes of miniature mauve flowers all over. They're on of my favourites. They just fascinate me.
The rose below is a shrub rose but I don't know the name of it. I got it at a local plant sale a few years ago and if it weren't for the profusion of beautiful single roses it gets all summer it would have seen the garden gate by now. It is the most prickly thing possible which makes it difficult to weed around and trim. Sometime it even attacks while passing by on the lawn mower. It also spreads runners underground and has to be constantly kept in check so as not to take over the flower bed it's in. But what's a gardener to do with such beautiful roses...I guess just keep the leather gloves on hand!

May and June are my favourite months of the year. Their is so much new growth right now, that I find it inspiring. I think after the long winter months I need to get out and dig in the dirt to feel grounded again and be one with nature.















It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain