Little Country Girls first trip to the big city - Canada Blooms

On March 24th, Little Country Girl and I got on a charter bus and headed to Toronto for the Canada Blooms flower and garden festival.  While I was born and raised in the city, this was Little Country Girls first trip beyond the northern suburbs. Her eyes were open with fascination as she noticed a definite change in the landscape ... "there are so many buildings Mom!"

And so much TRAFFIC!

The first thing we saw as we entered the building was this display of wood, Forsythia and Daffodils 

This cart of blooms greeted us on the inside, and Little Country girl willingly posed for me

I wasn't sure how far she would be able to walk - this was a large show and her enthusiasm was great, but I wondered how long she would be happy looking at gardens. We walked around the show, snapping photos all the way around. It was such a great show that I just have to share some of our favorite photos :)

 A mass planting of Tulips

 A garden dedicated to Ireland

 Little Country Girl decided this was her favorite planter because it had green flowers

 In the Sugar Shack

 I loved this tabletop display!

 Brightly colored theme garden

 A walk among the tulips

 Peeking ahead, the curves enticing her

A beautiful waterfall

 In front of the children's exhibit

A beautiful garden in a boat, part of a water feature

We both thought this cake looked good enough to eat, but it was made entirely of plant material

Making a new friend

One of the last things we saw before we left was this display from the wizard of oz

We were exhausted and decided that the big city was fun, but there really is no place like home

:)

Winter holding on

Yesterday was the first day of spring.

And while we were spoiled last year, here is the forecast for this week

 Certainly not the weather I had hoped for!

I have been itching to get out to the gardens, but I am going to have to ignore the blizzard outside and keep myself  busy indoors. And much to my surprise I found a few blooms!

This Impatien was the only one to survive the dreaded Impatiens Downy Mildew disaster of last year. I carried this pot inside last fall and cut them back to the soil. They are rewarding me now!

The first of the Elephant Ear bulbs are sprouting. I had planted them earlier this year because they took a very long time to sprout last year. I hope I can keep them happy until May!

A little early, but I have some Tomato plants started too, anything to satisfy my garden fingers!

Heading to Canada Blooms this weekend, that should help too.

Until then, my seedbox won't be safe!

March Break fun!

March break snuck up on me this year.

I usually feel stressed about what to do with the kids, but this year they seemed quite content to stick around the house. We did have a few trips out shopping and to the mini mall. The beginning of the week was snowy and even though we are all sick of winter by the time March break gets here, you could see the beauty

 Next day it warmed up and almost all the snow melted.

A puddle on the lawn this time of year always gives us hope for a skating rink.

It didn't happen right away, so we turned our attention to our seldom used pellet gun.

Country Boy was a great shot and hit the target every time! Isn't he too cool in his crocks? LOL

(In all fairness, we were all fashion statements on this day ... it was laundry day!)

Big Country Girl giving Little Country Girl a lesson. This was her first time!

Later in the week we were lucky to have a few cold days and our puddle turned into a skating rink.

The skating lessons are paying off!

A couple of great days to skate!
The week ended off with me falling and hitting my head.

A trip to the ER and 5 staples later, I am as good as new ;)

Back to school for the kids today.

2 days until spring and it can't come soon enough for me.
Gardening is so much safer!
;)