Hello and Welcome …
… to craftygardener.ca The drop down menus or the search box will help you find what you are looking for. I’m busy amalgamating old posts and deleting really old ones. If you come across something that isn’t there, please don’t … Continued
Plant Profile: Marigolds
Marigolds are a long blooming annual plant. The plant is a native to Mexico and there are numerous varieties to choose from. They are easily started from seed or can be bought from the garden centers ready started. They come … Continued
Crafts: Sea Glass Flowers
I adapted an idea for bottle cap flowers and made some magnetic sea glass flowers using up lots of white sea glass I have collected over the years. I have a can opener that removes the lids so that neither … Continued
Recipe: Upside Cottage Pie
I took advantage of a cooler day and made a potato and ground beef casserole in the oven. This was a recipe from yummakers, a site I follow on Instagram. Ingredients are all naturally gluten free: First was to take … Continued
Birds: Cardinals
I can still remember the first day we saw a cardinal in the backyard all those years ago. He kept coming to the back window and looking in. It would fly up and down the window and then perch again … Continued
Plant Profile: Iris
I love the spring when the perennial iris blooms. There are a few different varieties in the gardens from the early blooming mini purple to the mid height yellow to the tall purples, maroons and yellows. Each has their own … Continued
Birds: Downy Woodpecker with Yellow feathers
On May 25, 2024 we had a pair of downy woodpeckers at the peanut feeder with yellowish feathers. The first photos taken about 11 am by my husband show a male downy woodpecker. I didn’t see the bird at this … Continued
Plant Profile: Dame’s Rocket
Do you have Dame’s Rocket in your garden? and do you mistakenly call it phlox? I thought we had wild phlox but after lots of reading and searching of garden books and the internet it was discovered that we have … Continued
Plant Profile: Poppin’ Poppies
P is for Poppies. The seedlings pop through the ground in April. They are little hairy leaves that grow quite quickly. Those green fuzzy heads start popping up in early May. They are quite fascinating to watch as they slowly … Continued
Crafts: A Pressing Engagement
Every gardener should have a flower press to preserve the beauty of their flowers. Did you press flowers in the pages of books? and add more and more books on top of them for added weight? But what happened when … Continued
Books: Better Safe Than Sorry
My collection of books by Mike Martin grew to one more recently with the addition of the book Better Safe Than Sorry, the 14th book in the mystery series about Sgt. Winston Windflower. Sgt. Windflower is now the community safety … Continued
Birds: Red Bellied Woodpecker
We love it when we spot a new visitor to the garden. On Sunday October 13, 2012 around bird feeding time (between 4:30 and 5) a red bellied woodpecker was spotted on the peanut feeder. There was just time to … Continued
Plant Profile: Lily of the Valley
Lily of the Valley is an early blooming spring plant that can be very invasive. It will soon be poking through the ground and growing after being dormant all winter. The shoots poke out of the ground about the beginning … Continued
Garden Update: The Birds in April
April has seen mixed weather, from those teasing days of being lovely and warm mixed in with rainy days when it feels really chilly. It is so lovely to listen to the birds chirping away, all singing their spring mating … Continued
Birds: Leucism or Leucistic
Leucisim is a partial loss of colour/pigmentation in birds. It causes white spots or splotches. In birds it does not effect the colour of eyes therefore the birds are not considered albino. On the rainy days this month I have … Continued