April 22---Earth Day 2016.

[Catherine]

It was a terrible ice storm. Whole rows of trees were split right to the ground by the weight of the ice. I was lucky I didn't lose power, but many people did, for weeks. The ice falling from my neighbours tree was so bad I couldn't go out. My butterfly bushes split right to the ground.

We are working at replanting.

I have seen the butterfly mix. I do have a number of butterfly friendly plants. The butterflies love the butterfly bushes. One happy think happened. My next door neighbours have a baby butterfly bush seeded from one on my lost bushes. I miss my beautiful white one. I will replant, but it was not easy to get new bushes. I have a small purple one, but I want a new white one.

[Ruth]

I hope the replanting goes well. It's supposed to be cold tonight. I hope the frost doesn't destroy all the new growth outside.

We have had lots of ice storms in the past too and there were a lot of old trees that came down. People have replanted.

[Catherine]

I think we are past the danger of frost. Toronto is on a big lake and that does modify the weather a bit.

The over all city replanting is taking time. We needed more trees before the ice storm. We plant more trees every year anyhow.
I was lucky I didn't lose any of my own trees. They are not old and I keep them pruned of dead branches and badly placed branches. I hope to replace my butterfly bushes this year.

I did check my garden this afternoon and all my trees and shrubs are starting to grow. A few more days and my back yard will be full of flowers. Some of my shrubs bloom early. It will be beautiful and fragrant. Even my ferns are starting to grow and I believe my trillium is growing(so it made it through the winter).  It is like seeing old friends when my garden comes back to life in the spring. I hand picked and planted each one and they are all special to me.