Jules in the Garden
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juliwils.bsky.social
Jules in the Garden
@juliwils.bsky.social
560 followers 290 following 530 posts
Cat-less cat-lady 🐾 Alliteration aficionado ✒️ Mother of two littles ❤️ All-round nature lover 🐝🦋🪶 On a journey to grow/plant native species that support the pollinators 🌿🌻
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juliwils.bsky.social
53 days until spring 🌱

Small but mighty

#bugsky
#flowers
A green sweat bee forages on the pale purple trumpet-shaped flowers of a hosta. Photo taken last summer
January 27, 2026 at 10:13 AM
juliwils.bsky.social
I received what is likely my second-to-last seed order 🌱

I found a seed seller on Etsy last year when I had a hard time finding certain native species

I keep ordering from her and this is why:

(She also sent a convenient bonus once of a seed variety I had but lost while waiting for last frost)
A picture of several homemade seed packets with sheets of growing instructions underneath For every seed ordered, she sends a double-sided page of detailed information This order included feverfew, catmint, lemon beebalm, strawberry mint, and chive seeds
January 26, 2026 at 10:17 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
54 days until spring 🌱

Living art

#flowers
#pinkMon
A two toned pink columbine in various stages of bloom: toward the bottom right, a bloom that is just opening; top left there's a flower that has been blooming for a while; and in the middle, a flower with wilting petals. There are a few clusters of green seed pods and several seed pods that have dried out and turned brown. Photo taken later in the summer last year
January 26, 2026 at 2:06 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
55 days until spring 🌱

This mental exercise of mine is hard today with what's happening in Minnesota

Renee Good and Alex Pretti were two people trying to make things better and safer for people

They showed the best of humanity but were cut down by the worst of it

I'll never find words for this
White flowers from last summer, in honour of the bravery and the loving natures of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
January 25, 2026 at 2:45 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
56 days until spring 🌱

You'll never go in the grass again!

#greenSat
An image of a shrub that has been trimmed to look like a shark coming out of the ground; metal fins and teeth have been used to create this living sculpture. Photo taken outside of Ripley's Aquarium (Toronto, ON) last May
January 24, 2026 at 9:19 AM
juliwils.bsky.social
57 days until spring 🌱

Self-care

#bees
#BWFri
A bee sleeps on the fanned-out petals of a spiky white flower
January 23, 2026 at 12:46 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
58 days until spring 🌱

Two heads are better than one

#nativeplants
#yellowthursday
A close-up of a deep yellow lanceleaf coreopsis. Two flowers grow back-to-back on the tip of one stem. Photo taken last year in early summer
January 22, 2026 at 12:50 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
59 days until spring 🌱

There's no maybe, she's born with it

#redWed
#nativeplants
A picture of a cardinal flower. This native plant has red blossoms, red stems and reddish tinged leaves. Photo taken last summer
January 21, 2026 at 2:29 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
60 days until spring 🌱

There was a out of control hosta bed deep in my backyard

I was just going to rip the everything out to replace it all with #nativeplants when I discovered there were a few already growing

#tinyflowertuesday
#canadiangardening
Tiny flowers of a white vervain plant mingle with the larger yellow heads of rudbeckia. Photo taken mid summer last year A clump of brilliant white trilliums, our provincial flower, grows as the odd man out in a garden of emerging hostas. Photo taken mid spring last year
January 20, 2026 at 12:34 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
61 days until spring 🌱

Sipping a different kind of Joe

#pinkmon
#nativeplants
A close-up of a bee collecting nectar from the pink blossoms of a Joe pye weed. Photo taken last summer
January 19, 2026 at 2:41 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
62 days until spring 🌱

This was one of my favourite flowers last year

It was radiant, even on cloudy days

#flowers
#stunday
A large headed sunflower, with bright yellow curling ray florets, was a huge pollinator magnet last summer
January 18, 2026 at 3:27 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
63 days until spring 🌱

Tunnel vision

#trees
#greensat
A trail through a wooded area. The trees are so full of leaves and vines that they seem to create a tunnel. Photo taken last summer
January 17, 2026 at 3:19 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
After weeks of planning, gathering, and waiting, winter sowing is finally underway

Let the cold stratification begin

#nativeplants
#wintersowing
#canadiangardening
Several recyclable containers sit in a deep bank of snow. They are each filled with potting soil and planted with native plant seeds, including: butterfly weed, boneset, cardinal flower, several types of coneflowers, white wild indigo, bottle gentian, prairie dropseed and swamp milkweed
January 17, 2026 at 2:06 AM
juliwils.bsky.social
64 days until spring 🌱

A bird's eye view of some bird's nest fungi

#fungusfriday
An overtop view of some interesting fungi that resemble nests with shiny black "eggs" Photo taken last summer
January 16, 2026 at 3:23 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
65 days until spring 🌱

On the left, our current weather conditions

On the right, what I'm thinking about instead

#bees
#yellowthursday
A picture from this morning Snow. Everywhere. The mound in the foreground to the left is my compost bin. I opened it yesterday meaning that pile has accumulated in less than 24 hours. A close-up of a bee foraging for pollen on the sunlit face of a sunflower. Photo was taken in July last year
January 15, 2026 at 1:49 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
66 days until spring 🌱

A little bit of glossy perfection for #redwed

#growyourown
#canadiangardening
A close-up of several cherry tomatoes in various stages of ripening
January 14, 2026 at 2:15 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
I'm at the stage of seed collecting where I need alphabetized inventory lists based on plant type to stop myself from buying duplicates

I've added in annual flowers, something I've not done before

And now I'm exploring storage solutions

(This might be my version of a midlife crisis)

#gardensky
January 14, 2026 at 12:39 AM
juliwils.bsky.social
67 days until spring 🌱

Mind your step for #tinyflowertuesday

#bees
#nativeplants
One of the many bees collecting nectar from one of the many self-heal blossoms in the grass of an underused park last summer
January 13, 2026 at 8:59 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
68 days until spring 🌱

A double dose for #pinkmon

#flowers
#Canadiangardening
A close-up of nearly star-shaped blossoms which are a light pink on the edges and a brighter and deeper pink in the center. Several buds are unopened which are also the deeper pink shade
January 12, 2026 at 4:08 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
69 days until spring 🌱

A field on sunshine for #stunday

#flowers
#plantsky
A shot of an expansive field of sunflowers, taken from the side of a country road in SW Ontario last summer
January 11, 2026 at 4:38 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
70 days until spring 🌱

To start a countdown while observing #greensat, here's a surprise* jack-in-the-pulpit I discovered while tidying an overgrown section of my yard last spring

(*2025 marked the fifth spring here and I'd never noticed this plant before)

#nativeplants
#Canadiangardening
A hooded flower grows among the shiny leaves and blue-purple flowers of periwinkle. The spathe is bright green topside with maroon stripes on the underside and covers the spike of tiny flowers growing in the center
January 10, 2026 at 1:50 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
I was going to limit myself to growing a few #herbs this year

It turns out I have trouble making decisions so I'm now up to over 20 types (more seeds are en route)

There are many benefits to herb growing: some will be companion plants, some will be hosts, most will attract pollinators

#gardensky
An image of a variety of herb seeds, including sage, lemon balm, borage, dill, catnip, wild bergamot, dotted mint, German chamomile, and pale purple echinacea
January 8, 2026 at 4:36 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
It's a new year so I thought: find a new hobby or just lean harder into a current interest (e.g. #gardening)?

I chose the latter and joined my city's horticultural society

My first meeting is next week and the topic centers on #nativeplants

I think I made the right call

🌱
January 7, 2026 at 1:20 AM
juliwils.bsky.social
A flashback to warmer days

Most kids go to the beach for the swimming

My kids mostly go for the rock hunting

(FYI: #LakeHuron beaches have great rocks)

#beach
#rockintuesday
A close up of the rocky beach in Goderich, Ontario A young boy with downcast eyes in a dinosaur hat holds a flat rock up for the camera A close-up of some grouped rocks left behind by another beach goer
January 6, 2026 at 9:35 PM
juliwils.bsky.social
The one upside to the whole family being sick over the holiday break?

All the jugs of distilled water we need for the humidifiers = eventual containers for winter sowing

Otherwise, the plague upon our house can (insert Simon Pegg gesture here) jog on

#seeds
#nativeplants
#Canadiangardening
January 4, 2026 at 2:59 AM