Companion blog for http://ourenchantedgarden.net/ourench1, with photo updates & info.

One of the most celebrated holidays in Canada has arrived, heralding the start of the summer season  . This year it came with nice weather and an explosion of growth in the garden.
The birds are starting to get less shy when I'm working around the garden! I still had to hide a bit to take this shot through the branches but I like the effect it created! A sparrow is feeding on one side while a goldfinch is hiding behind - its tail is just visible behind the feeder!
   Such cheery spring flowers, perhaps because they are among the first to bloom in the spring adding their cheery yellows to the landscape. They are among my favourites in the spring garden! Short lived but a joy to behold!
Taken from Wikipedia;
The name Narcissus is derived from that of the narcissistic youth of Greek mythology called Narkissos. Though "Narcissi" is sometimes given in dictionaries as the grammatically correct plural of "Narcissus", The American Daffodil Society prefers the use of "narcissus" for both singular and plural. (the Webster's Third New International Dictionary gives "narcissus", "narcissuses" and lastly "narcissi" as plural forms).

Here's some Electric Blue Grape Hyacinth; The blue was popping out   
 in contrast to the green leaves and grasses around them and added a lovely compliment to the clumps of narsissus flowering beside them!
(They don't have the sweet perfume of larger hyacinths but they sure make up for it with their bold colour! )

I'll be working to get a few more shots together later today...provided the weather cooperates. Our strawberry patch is blooming up a storm, the leaves on the grape vines are starting to unfold and there will be all sorts of other opportunities to capture as things begin to spring into growth!  I'll try some shots as the sun gets closer to setting when the light is special. Like this shot, taken as the late day sun provided a nice warm spot for this goldfinch pair as they fed.
     It's not often I manage to get a shot of the two of them together! Once the leaves come out the females are much harder to see, they blend right in with the colour of the birch leaves! Plus they tend to be more shy than the gregarious males.
I wonder what this male thinks of his reflection on the feeder! It'll be quite a while before this pair mate and raise their hatchlings so maybe he's checking his reflection before they get reading to go dancing! It's likely he wants to be his very best and he'll sing his little heart out for the next month or so courting his female companion! The two will also be busy shooing away  last years' hatchlings - time for them to fend for themselves, but they won't go far away, the feeder will be a busy meeting place over the summer for them all! Their antics still give me giggles when I watch from the gazebo! Watching them flit through the trees, looking almost as if they're swimming through the air is always a welcome sight!

It's currently 10 C (not real warm but still enjoyable), the wind is out of the northwest a 20 km/h, it's overcast but not expected to rain. Humidity is 82% and Barometric pressure sits at 101.56 and rising. The temperature is expected to reach at least 14 C, which is around 58 F for my American friends. Not ideal long weekend weather but it's still nice enough for enjoying the outdoors and maybe even sparking up the barbecue for some burgers or steak depending on what we're in the mood for!
Until later!