Posted on by Jacquie Biggar

Floral Beauties in the Spring #Garden- #SundayStills


This week’s Sunday Stills Challenge on Terri Webster Scrandt’s excellent blog is one I couldn’t resist- Spring Flora & Fauna!

Vancouver Island is blessed with a temperate climate and is one of the few places in Canada that seldom sees snow. We live on the southern tip of the island with a zone 9b. Compared to the zone 3 we come from in Alberta, it’s like the Bahamas, lol

Here are some large cities in Canada and their respective hardiness zones from ParaSpace:

  • Vancouver: 8b
  • Victoria: 9b
  • Kelowna: 7a
  • Edmonton: 4a
  • Calgary: 4a
  • Saskatoon: 3b
  • Winnipeg: 4a
  • Toronto: 7a
  • Thunder Bay: 3a
  • Ottawa: 5b
  • Montreal: 6a
  • Halifax: 6b
  • Johns: 6a
  • Whitehorse: 0b
  • Yellowkife: 0b
  • Iqaluit: oa

Is it any wonder we’ve gone a little- okay a lot- overboard with our garden? This year alone we ordered a new Washington Navel Orange, A lime, and two Feijoas, which taste like taking the best elements of strawberry, guava and pineapple and mixing them together– yum!

Meanwhile, our cherry, plum, Asian Pear, Braeburn and Mac apples are all in bloom.

If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Every morning when we head into the garden it seems as though something new is blooming or has grown by leaps and bounds. Is it any wonder spring is the season of hope?

I’ll end this post with this uplifting message from the great John Denver:

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.

Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry.

Sunshine on the water looks so lovely.

Sunshine almost always makes me high.

John Denver

44 Replies to “Floral Beauties in the Spring #Garden- #SundayStills”

  2. Wow, Jacquie. 9b. It’s amazing what a difference that makes over where I am, which is fairly temperate. Your plants are beautiful and I’m jealous of your fruit trees. We aren’t at the budding/blossoming time yet. Soon I hope. And great quotes for the beauty of gardens and sunshine. 😀

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  4. Pingback: Sunday Stills: Fabulous Seasonal #Florals – Second Wind Leisure Perspectives

  5. I’m definitely a John Denver fan, too, Jacquie! We’ve had two sunny days in a row this weekend and spring is certainly in the air here. Your garden is incredible and I’m super intrigued by your feijoas! They sound amazing! You’ll have to tell me what that last flower is–the white with peachy-pink center–just gorgeous! I looked up my zone and Nine Mile Falls north of Spokane is 6A and 6B, like Montreal and Halifax–so cool!

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  6. I seem to have a high number of blogger friends from Vancouver. One thing is true of almost every blogger from there—they all seem to have beautiful flowers and gardens. My wife and I visited the year before the pandemic. While we loved everything about the island, I know The Butchart Gardens were my wife’s favorite.

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  7. What a wonderful post, Jacquie. I love all the gorgeous blooms. The only things blooming here are daffodils, magnolia trees and dandelions, lots and lots of dandelions.

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    1. We’re so happy we made the decision to move, Kymber. It was a huge decision, though.
      Hubby and I were both born and raised in our hometown, and in my case, the same can be said for three generations before me, so it felt like the hugest gamble ever to go after this dream but I’m glad we did 🙂

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  11. Beautiful photos and garden, Jacquie. I would do the very same thing if I lived in a climate where things grew so well! Perfect lyrics to add to it.

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  13. What you are basically saying is that I should rather visit Vancouver if I don’t want to freeze? LOL These flowers are gorgeous Jacquie!

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  16. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful flowers, Jacquie! Do you have to water them a lot?
    My daughter’s previous owner who was an optometrist and didn’t have kids. She planted plants and flowers bloom in different seasons year round. Her neighborhood planted lots of tulips, daffodils, rhododendrons, and many many kinds of flowers. The good thing about Portland, Oregon is that it rains so much, there’s no need to water the plants. They just grow.

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    1. It sounds beautiful, Miriam. Is Portland near the coast? I’ve always wanted to do the Oregon Sea highway.
      Bob set up an irrigation system for me last summer and it made all the difference! Before that, I would be out for at least four hours a day watering the plants.

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      1. It’s 72 miles from HWY 101.
        Your irrigation system sounds like a life saver. Our sprinkler system is not perfect. Some flower beds don’t get enough water. I still have to hand water them.

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