Early May in Northern Ontario

Everyone here is surprised at how long it is taking for winter weather to leave. The lake is still frozen, which is late. A week ago, some guys were still snowmobiling on it. But today the temperature reached 23 degrees Celsius and a few more days like this, and the lake will give up its ice.  

I am waiting upon the soil warming up before serious planting can begin. But these dianthus or pinks at Home Hardware could not be resisted. So they got popped in and you can also see a tiny iris paniculata to the left of the rock. There are a dozen of these planted there; how many survived the winter remains to be seen. 

 The perennial roots that came this week in the mail were beginning to sprout so I thought it would be good to plant them up in pots until the soil is thawed. So here they sit, awaiting the weather.

These are two hellebores sitting in pots in the spots that they will eventually have in the bed with three hydrangeas.

And always I must have pansies. These are probably my favourite flowers; it might have something to do with a water colour that my maternal grandmother painted about 80 years ago. My mother had it hanging in our house for years and I always loved it. So every year, there are pansies wherever I can put them.

I also dug a bed behind the garage which faces due south. The soil was nice and loose and very promising. I am planning on putting dahlias here, as well as tomatoes and sunflowers and perhaps a cardinal climbing vine. It was actually so hot in the afternoon sun that I had to call it quits and put in the top soil around 5 pm when the sun wasn't directly overhead.  I think that I can safely put the dahlia bulbs in here as there is no sign of frost in the next week's forecast.