Farewell to Raven

[Ruth]

That's good you have buried them in your garden. This may sound crazy but I still have 3 parakeets in my freezer in little check boxes and then in plastic air tight bags. I haven't found a good place to bury them. I may have them buried with me.

[Catherine]

I actually fully understand that.  I kept a whole family of guinea pigs together in the freezer. As they died I put them in with the others so I could bury the whole family together. I knew I would need space so I left a patch of my garden not landscaped so I would have a place to put them. I have beautiful shrubs planted over them.

Raven will rest with Earl, behind the pond. I will get a special fern to plant over them. It is a gentle place. My whole garden is a gentle place of memories.

[Ruth]

Oh that's so nice to put a fern over Raven. Your garden holds lots of memories of dear friends.

[Catherine]

The garden holds memories and some of the plants/trees are chosen because they have memories. Others are chosen because I have never had a chance to grow them before I came to Toronto.

The Birch tree is for Manitoba and the Mountain Ash is for Alberta where I lived for years. The Lily of the Valley are my grandmother's favourite. 

The Japanese Maples are there because I love them and can actually grow them here. 
I grew 2 roses as a child and now I can grow them again, so roses mean home to me.
The cedar mulch is for the west coast where I spent special times when I was younger.

I fell in love with hostas and I love to grow them.
Ferns are special and I have a lot of different ferns. I will choose a special fern for Raven.

[Ruth]

That's really nice that you have all those lovely trees and plants there. It sure must be a nice peaceful place.

[Catherine]

My garden is a little back yard sanctuary. I will probably post pictures in the spring. The birds love to feed in my garden and the bees and butterflies are right at home.
I even see the odd dragonfly.

[Ruth]

It sounds like a beautiful place. I look forward to the pictures. I used to put bread out for birds all the time when I lived in a different place and it was possible to do that. I had a butterfly garden once, too. I love to see the pretty flowers.

[Catherine]

I did a little work in the garden today and it is pretty bleak looking. It needs so clean up, a good rain and some sunshine. Then overnight things will start growing.

The shrubs and trees looked okay, but it is too soon to tell about the wildflowers. Nothing is showing yet, but it is still only mid March.

I want to get over to the shelter garden soon and give it a bit of a clean up. They get more sun so it could be a bit ahead of my own garden.

I wore shoes and a light coat today. This time last year it was still very cold and snowy.

[Ruth]

I hope your garden will turn out the way you like. Having a garden is such a great thing! I envy you having one!

[Catherine]

A garden is a wonderful thing. You could volunteer somewhere that has a garden.

Can you grown some herbs in pots in the window?  Fresh green leaves seem to make a whole room feel fresher.