This year we purchased an Akebono Cherry tree from the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival committee. They try to get Vancouverites to plant cherry trees each spring. Vancouver has a long history of cherry trees, and there is a yearly festival. About 85 years ago, a Japanese immigrant donated two hundred trees to beautify Vancouver. Nowadays, streets are lined with the beautiful blossoms. It’s a stunningly gorgeous way to enter spring!

We decided to plant this tree in memory of Vern, Pam’s father, who recently passed away. He was cremated, and didn’t want a burial plot, but we felt that we wanted to do something to honor his memory. The tree is about six or seven feet tall right now, but it grows quite quickly. We’re hopeful it will flourish here, and give us much joy for years to come.

We took a few other pictures around the garden. Many years ago, when we lived in Vancouver, our next door neighbour had grape hyacinths growing. Some dropped over his retaining wall onto our property. Slowly, I transplanted them, stretching them out until they encircled our our whole yard, across the front yard, down both sides, and along both sides of the walkway, and along the front of the house! All from an original three or four bulbs. When we moved out here to Surrey, I took a handful of the bulbs with me. Slowly I’ve been transplanting them here too. Now they run all the way across the front of the house, and all along the back garden. This year I’ve started ringing our trees, and side gardens.

I dig the tulips each fall, and reposition them, and they’ve doubled, tripled, quadrupled in numbers over the years. This year, we have seven or eight batches of them! I tell you, bulbs are the best bang for the buck!

The dog planter is one that Pam really loves. He’s a little metal guy, about a fourteen inches long. We plant him with pansies or other flowering plants. He’s just been re-done yesterday, so he’s not very full yet. But he’ll look great in a couple weeks.