A noun. A verb. A blog.
Show’s to go, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. We miss the grand entry gardens like this one from 2011 Helen: First, right out, we support Canada Blooms, and want it to succeed. We know how much goes into it, especially volunteer time (800+ volunteers in 2013). Plus, money (lack of) and […]
The florists’ display was a standout at Canada Blooms. This, by Quince Flowers attracted photographers like bees to nectar. As a daydreamy ten-year-old, I was often late for school. Taking our long walk through fields of wild weeds, time disappeared as I carefully arranged a bouquet of ox-eye daisies and Queen Anne’s lace, and learned […]
Shawn Gallaugher’s new venture Otium Exercise Gardens creates spaces that look like a garden, but act like a gym. A few of the gardens this year incorporated some aspect of fitness and outdoor living. Today’s Friday Idea File brings you ten things of note from this first day of Canada Blooms 2013. With one wee […]
Over the next few evenings this weekend, you can share a close-to-Dickens-y Christmas celebration at an historic site just around the corner in Hamilton. It’s at Dundurn Castle, a national historic site you might not even know about. I didn’t till recently. We Canadians tend to be wimps about our own history. Just as with […]
Double Vision exhibits the unique perspectives of twin sisters Debbie Richards (left), a quilter, and artist Diane Stewart Admiring Diane Stewart’s work from afar, you’d never guess her medium: minuscule fabric swatches, applied painstakingly to canvas, sometimes augmented by embroidery stitches. Three years ago, she and her twin Debbie Richards, a talented quilter, had an […]
Garden tours are like a box of chocolates. There’s sure to be at least one you love. It’s Toronto garden tour season! Last week, I previewed a few of the gardens you’ll oooh! and aaaah! over in Resplendent Rosedale for the city’s splashiest annual garden tour Through the Garden Gate, held every year in a different location as […]
Get started on your beautiful garden. Local plant societies are beginning their plant sales for 2012. Toronto Gardeners in the east end won’t want to miss the upcoming 2012 Beach Garden Society plant sale. The sale is tailor-made for city gardens, with personally chosen Beach Babies (see below), hand-selected Connoisseur Collection plants and great bargains on […]
Surface Deep from the International Garden Festival at Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens A friend asked me about Canada Blooms, “Is it good this year?” And I replied, “There are ideas worth stealing, so that’s reason enough to go.” It is. Many of those ideas make better experiences than photographs, like this exhibit from Jardins de […]
Autumn at the Toronto Botanical Garden Joining the Toronto Botanical Garden was one of the best garden gifts I’ve given to myself – to preview how good it can be, check out tomorrow’s TBG Open House (Dec. 8, 5:30 to 9:30 pm). The TBG gardens are beautiful in any season – ignore the parking lot reno for […]
Today is the grand opening of the Allan Gardens Christmas Show. From 10 am to 5 pm daily till January 8th, with candlelight viewing on Saturdays and Sundays from 5-7 pm, you can wander through the conservatory’s winding walkways, wondering at the wuvwely… okay, I’ll stop. The Christmas flower show is a family tradition with […]
A hundred years ago, it was cottage country. Today, it’s Toronto’s laid-back Beach neighbourhood, along the lake in the city’s east end. This Sunday, June 26, 17 private gardens in this nature-loving area will be open on the Beach Garden Society’s annual garden tour. From small, intimate spaces to ravine-side surprises, you’ll see some of […]
With 300 varieties and cultivars, the Oshawa Botanical Garden is the home of the Peony Festival If you, like Sarah and I, have a bad case of peonies envy, you’ll want to know that June 11 & 12 is the kickoff for the Oshawa Peony Festival. Peonies, like poppies, tend to come and go in […]