When a hummingbird comes right up to your nose to tell you that they're back.

Rain

Diversity of plants and colour.

I love sitting in my swinging chair with a glass of wine on a warm summer evening after all the pots and containers have been watered, the weeding is done and the lawn has just been mowed. Ahhhhhhhh!

Sharon

Thunder storms! With lots of wind, rain, lightening and Thunder! I know it seems odd, but for some reason I love them. I open the windows to hear them, or sit out on the porch to enjoy them.

I also love digging in the dirt with my bare hands. Phtoouey on gloves! I want to feel it, rub it in my fingers, dig out those stray weed roots. Hey I am a farmers daughter, the oldest of 6, who was always the one Dad had help him in the fields! It's all his fault! LOL!

Jenny P

Hey, isn't this all about what's in the bubble? lol

Fragrances, I have to have fragrances. Lilies, damp soil, wet grass, stocks, sweet peas, lilacs, all of them. Totally agree with you, Jenny, on thunderstorms. I love the smell of a good thunderstorm.

How about the pure peace in watching a ladybug on a flower? Or listening to a chickadee in a nearby branch?

Shauna

I love watching sunrises, although I must admit that when the sunrises are at 5:30am I don't see too many!

I love walking in the garden in the morning after a heavy dew and seeing all the "sparkles" on the flowers.

I love rocks in the garden......the bigger the better! And the sound of a waterfall. I kind of wish our pond was on the other side of the house so I could listen to it from the open bedroom window, but DH would say that it would make him have to get up and go pee 10 times a night!LOL

And I love touring other gardens. I always get such great inspiration from them.

I've been pondering the "what don't you like" question, so i haven't posted on that thread yet. I do know what i like, though! I like swaths of flowers, that cottage-y look of clumps of tall flowers waving in the breeze. I just haven't been able to achieve that exactly in my gardens yet. I like different plants - they can be mixed with "same-old" and really jazz things up. I like fragrance too, and lots of colour. Of course, i also like just white flowers in a garden, but i couldn't do that in every bed.

My favourite thing is to sit on the top step of the deck with a cup of coffee on a warm morning and just soak everything in and consciously appreciate our short summer. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. :)

I like the English cottage garden with almost planned chaos. Unexpected plants pop up here and there. Insects are plentiful..especially bees and butterflies. Garden features are more homemade than bought. We aren't perfect and neither should our gardens be. If there is a ground, it's not visible under all the plants growing.

I also like a natural looking rock garden with desert or alpine plants. Not overly planned or maintained. Rocks and other features in it are self collected and each has its own story.

The above types of gardens also have some character during the winter months.

I love to do a walk-about in my garden and see what has sprouted or bloomed from the previous day. I also love a freshly cut green lawn next to my raised flower beds. I am a bit of a neat and tidy gardener. I love my rock garden, all the rocks were dug up in Riding Mtn Park. Please don't tell the Government. Apparently that is illegal to do!

That's also my most favoritest thing about the garden...the little surprises you get everyday when you do your moring walk through...with a coffee...and it rained perfectly during the night, but now the sun is shining and you can smell wet dirt and grass. Oh man, I'm dying...

Its funny how on the other thread grass was disliked by a few, and on this one the smell and feel of it is a favorite. Just goes to show ya!

jennypat, I love thunderstorms too and so does my DH! When I was still living at home with my folks (southern Ontario) we would sit in the Sunroom and watch the storms roll by. We were in a rural area so there was a huge field we could look over so we could see for quite a distance.

What else do I love? Cottage style for sure. Ponds with natural looking waterfalls. Sitting outside enjoying the sun/warmth! Running around snapping pictures of the garden, especially taking macro shots 'cause they are so fun. Watching the wildlife enjoy the garden, especially the birds, butterflies and dragonflies.

As far as plants go? There are so many favourites but top of the list would be Columbines, Peonies, Lupines, Sunflowers, Lavatera, Calenula... (the list could go on and on! LOL)

Ang

I love mature gardens that show all the years of love and attention, like my grandparents' did. I hope mine reaches that point before I'm too old to enjoy it. I love digging in the dirt, and finishing my weeding - heck, sometimes I even like weeding. I find gardening as a whole great for serenity, and wish I had more time to lie on my hammock and watch the clouds move through the branches of the poplar. I love the fact that gardening is not housework. Early mornings are great in the summertime, before the rest of the world starts roaring around, and the air is still fresh and cool.
Connie

I love the springtime when perennials start poking through the earth and I get to determine whether it is a friend or a foe [weed]. I love all the different textures of plants and I truly love the first cucumber, tomato, radish and potato that comes out of the garden.

Fern

Oh, yeah, great tastes. Nothing in the world tastes better than a ripe strawberry that's warm from the sun, unless it's that first vine-ripened tomato.
Connie

Like many of you I don't think it gets any better than walking around my gardens first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee. Half the time it gets left somewhere while I pull some weeds or nip off some flowerheads and inevitably ends up with dirt in it. I love the smell of soil. I love rocks of any size. I love the sound of water and watching the birds and other garden friends doing their thing. I fall in love with each lovely bloom of each plant and the blending of many greens.I love sitting near the end of the day just drinking in the beauty and harmony of growing things.

Kate

Raindrops on roses and warm woolen mittens...

Birds feeding, singing and nesting.
Plants just bursting with health.
A good soaking rain when it's most needed.
The smell of lilacs.
Putting in a long hard day and your muscles are aching and you're covered head to toe in soil and such, and then you step into the shower ... aaahhh.

"Putting in a long hard day and your muscles are aching and you're covered head to toe in soil and such, and then you step into the shower ... aaahhh."

That's special too, isn't it? And there's a scent to that, kind of a dusty one when you first step into the shower and before you get too wet. I like that too. :)

I like going into the garden for a quick look around and coming up for air 3 hours later. I like springtime and the excitement of seeing what is coming up. I like the first flowers in the spring and the wonderful surprise when you see them. I like sharing the garden with the little girls in the family (nothing wrong with boys, we just don't seem to have any yet)and watching them running around and chasing bugs and stomping ants. Can hardly wait!

I love walking in my gardens early in the mornings. When most everyone is asleep. The dew glistening in the early sun and the birds singing. Definitely, the most peaceful part of the day.
I love watching my plants grow and flourish. Nothing beats seeing a new plant flower for the first time. Especially if it's a beauty.
I love the look on my youngest daughters face, when she smells a new flower that she really likes, when she thinks she's helping me by over watering my pot's,and when she picks flowers and says I picked this for you. (You know, the one that you really didn't want picked off.)
I love the taste of the first of every vegetable and fruit from the garden.

Hmmm. I can't wait.

Shelley

on my knees working in soil warmed by the sun and hearing the White throated sparrow calling from the woods. Yummmy!

On my knees working beside lambsear or other plants that attract, and therefore, hummm with bees at work.

Watching the Flicker sitting her nest and taking in every move I make in the garden followed by the weeks of watching the young peeking out of the hole in the tree and eventually flying off to join their parents. I spend a lot of time watching those darlings!

Sitting by the lakeshore catching a back-draft breeze and watching the mallard mommie and ducklings wander through my gardens catching and eating anything that moves.

Ohhhhhh the sooner it all gets here the better!!

I love SPRING! The variability, the smell in the air when it might RAIN, the smell of old leaves being raked out of the beds, the hints of green I catch out of the corner of my eye, finding the plants that survived the winter and last summer's dog infestation, and most of all finding projects to start or improve so I can enjoy them this summer!

SPRING!
As you can tell, I lived FAR too long in places where spring equalled three days at the beginning of March, if I was lucky!

When things finally start to grow. I've been in my house for 4 years and I've been planting little shrubs, trees, and perennials every year. For the first couple of years they look so tiny and sparse, with few or no blooms. But I've been noticing some things starting to take off and they look better every year. I can't wait for spring!

I like bees too! And spring! Hee hee! This was already sounding like a Mary Poppins song before you brought it up Pudge.

Timlin, I love wildlife too... but someone really needs to tell those white throated sparrows that less is more when it comes to early morning whistling. >:0( Darn sparrows. LOL

Hey, Gil...The Sound of Music, girl! The other Julie Andrews classic. Man I haven't watched that in years...

So...when the dog bites, when the bee stings, when we're feeling sad...we'll simply remember our faaavorite thiiiiiiiings, and then we won't feeeeeeel soooooo saaaaad!

Ok I'm a dork and I used to watch it every year when it came on the local cable station! (Even when I was a teenager :^( )

Whoops! *blush* Old copper kettles and whiskers on kittens... I even used to have the LP of the movie songs. How bad is that! I was thinking of the spoon full of sugar song.

Oh, I think I got the words to the song mixed up a little, too. But these words, also part of the song, must certainly sum up Far North gardeners at this time of year:

Silvery white winters that melt into springs
(all together now, shout it out)
These are a few of my favourite things

LOL! :^)

So many of you have said you love the garden in the morning..I'm at the opposite end of the day..I love to wander around the garden just before twilight..touching, smelling and enjoying the quiet time of the day when all the work is done..can't wait :-) savona

I love getting down on my hands and knees to see if there's a tiny, itsy bitsy bit of spring green poking its head out of the dirt or brown bit of old plant. Then going back an hour later to see if it grew!

I love roses (mixed with perennials) - blowsy garden stuffed full (don't have that yet).

Love shopping for new plants to add to the garden or to replace dead ones. Love planting them. That's such a great feeling!

I love my garden!!!

Carol

Yes, early morning sun...the light in the garden is magical. The roses are more fragrant, everything glistens with dew/raindrops from the night before (I like it on the plants, but not on my feet!) And definitely the first stems poking up in spring, and bulbs sprouting! We are all so starved for something green, it is always so exciting! It just never gets old. And of course, getting those new plants you ordered months ago finally delivered! I'm sure I'll think of more later!
Judith

LOL! Carol...glad I'm not the only one who checks that often! But, you just never know and sometimes it surprises you how fast they can grow. Really!

I love this thread. I was busy for a few days and wasn't able to catch up on all the threads.

Have you all just slowly read through this thread? It brings tears to my eyes. Gardening is just wonderful...

I love..
-the smell of the yard after a rain,
-the hummingbirds and their dive bombing of each other,
-early in the morning, walking through my garden with a camera in one hand and a notebook and pen in the other to jot down the names of the flowers I take pictures of.
-seeing new perennials blooming for the first time and quickly taking a picture of them for my album
-seeing the joy on people's faces when I divide perennials out of my flowerbed for them
-weeding
-picking fresh fruit and vegetables from the garden and, of course, having them for the first time in the season
-showing others around the yard when they come to visit
-love the feeling of accomplishment when a flowerbed is fully weeded or deadheaded
-the peacefulness of living in the country and only hearing the birds singing in the trees and the occasional chatter of a squirrel that the dogs haven't scared away (yet!)
-tilling the garden (in bare feet when the soil is warm) and watching all those tiny weeds disappear under the dirt and then looking at the vegetable garden rows all nice and clean after I am done.
-In spring I enjoy the nice warm sun streaming in the windows (my cat does too!)

Brenda (who also loves the Sound of Music song...these are a few of my favorite things...and then I don't feel so sad!)

**weeding, digging, planting until my back aches; then laying flat on my back and watching the clouds roll by-
**loosing track of time in my garden & going inside to find out it's midnight-
**turning the compost bins-
**potting up plants for the Homer Garden Club Plant Sale-
**sitting in the greenhouse enjoying the HEAT with the tomatoes-
**harvesting anything:lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, raspberries, strawberries, potatoes, seeds
**eating the fruits of my labor (especially in winter)
**the list is endless.........

pam