After writing a post about the mind-bogglingly expensive projects featured on Dirty Business, the landscaping show which follows the earth.inc designers around as they whip up tired gardens, I watched an episode that peeled back the curtain a little bit. I guess it falls into the category of: shoemaker’s children syndrome.* One highlight of Dirty […]
Rosedale Valley Road’s bluebell glade
Seen on the road today: the field of bluebells, Siberian squills or Scilla siberica that blankets the corner of Rosedale Valley Road and Park Road every spring. Did someone plant them here? Or, more likely, did they tumble down the slope from the houses above, wantonly self-seeding into this amazing early spring display. (Always carry […]
Get behind your garden: In praise of back-lighting
When you’re planning, or planting, your garden, don’t forget to enjoy the view from all sides. Even the backside. The effect of light when seen through your garden can enhance its beauty in all seasons. I caught these geraniums glowing at an event held at the Bain Co-op about this time last year. The stained-glass […]
Throw your garden some curves
We’re in that in-between stage in our Toronto gardens: not quite winter; doesn’t feel like spring. If yours is like mine, the garden’s disheartening brown drabness feels like the morning after a big party. The fun part seems too long ago; all you can see is what needs tidying. But it’s the perfect time of […]
The importance of being urn-y
In case you haven’t noticed, there’s an on-again, off-again winter-spring thing happening this year. What’s more, the winter weather isn’t just wintery, it’s Antarctic. It may be March, but it has been too cold outside even for cold-hardy pansies or early bulbs. So nice to see something decorative that won’t be destroyed by the sub-zero […]
Toronto and Region Conservation Website
The wintertime is all about dreaming and planning, and a good deal of this is done on the web, since we can’t get to our gardens under all that snow. Tons of snow!! Sections of my neighborhhood look faintly ridiculous at the moment, with trees looking like lollipops stuck into pointy piles of mashed potatoes. […]
Toronto Island Gardens – Inspiration and Delight
A trip to the island is always a joy when you are enduring a summer in the city. As soon as I get on the ferry all I can think is, “Why don’t I do this more often?” It is so beautiful and green there, and it’s so close for us inner-city types. A quick […]
Rosetta McClain Gardens
This little paean to one of Toronto’s hidden garden gems is long overdue. Set at the edge of the Bluffs near where Kingston Road merges with Danforth Avenue, Rosetta McClain Gardens [link updated 11/21/15] is a beautifully manicured space, or should I say: series of spaces. All of them are worth a visit. At the centre […]
Lessons from English gardens 3
What a simple idea for preventing your monkshood from toppling: large open baskets composed of twigs and string. Rather than the unsightly stake, or the rigid rings, create something organic that almost disappears in the foliage. This one works, regardless of your continent or zone. It’s a keeper.
Lessons from English gardens 2
Colour! Colour combinations transcend borders. This one came from the to-die-for garden of our first cousin (once removed) Jill. Jill lives in a to-die-for rectory in an equally death-provoking, picture-perfect village in the rolling Welsh countryside. Sheep graze across the dry-stone wall and country brook and lavender springs up at will in charmingly grouped clumps […]
Lessons from English Gardens 1
Sarah and I recently returned from a trip to the U.K., each with a child in tow. Many gardens were on our list of things to see. Unfortunately, while the kids, despite being 14 and 15, were fairly cooperative, our eyes were definitely bigger than our timetable. With great sadness, we had to cross Stourhead and […]
Ingenuity grows in the garden
Last evening, I was down the street admiring “my” pink poppies. These are the poppies I killed by trying to transplant at the wrong time a few hot summers ago. Luckily, like most of the things in the Microgarden, I had given a few away. So there are some growing in the front garden of […]