Defying the deep freeze

While I am trying not to complain, I will anyway. Like much of North America, Ontario got hit with record cold the past several days. Ironically I had driven to North Bay to visit a friend for the weekend. I have only been that far north in Ontario twice in my life.

The temperature outside his kitchen window plummetted to -30ºC or -35ºF on Sunday night. At least the air was still. In Toronto, three hours to the South, temperatures didn't drop that far but the wind chill hit -50ºC, -45ºF. My car wouldn't start Monday morning, not even with a boost from my friend's car or from the tow truck. I had to get it towed to the garage. The old oil was so cold it took 45 minutes to drain. I finally got the car started, drove around for a while, then plugged it into a block heater to keep the engine warm overnight.

I arrived home a day late to find two buds on my Cattleya orchid had opened in the south window of my bedroom, giving off a light fruity perfume.

Look at it this way. At 46º North, even North Bay is further south than Seattle. Ontario reaches as far south as the 42nd parallel, in line with Northern California and the city of Rome. But we get these deadly winters.

A week ago it was raining in North Bay, Toronto and my own city, Guelph. Even on the weekend, my poor garden was protected from the blistering cold by barely an inch of snow. With such changeable and extreme winters here in Ontario, is it any wonder I go to such pains to grow tropical flowers in my apartment? Or that I compulsively visit the greenhouse every week or two?

For those of you who need a good dose of greenery to fend of the cold and gloom of a winter's day, I decided to provide some visual paradise. Following are some web sites with great images of beautiful flora to warm your heart.

You could take a virtual tour of one of the world's great conservatories or botanical gardens. Longwood Gardens touts itself as the "world's premier horticultural display garden." I can't comment on that, because I have yet to bodily visit this Pennsylvania landmark. But its web site has lots of photos from 20 indoor gardens as well as many outdoor landscapes.

One of Canada's best is  Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ontario, just a 30-minute drive from my

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