A noun. A verb. A blog.
[Update: Sadly, Gardenimport has ceased to operate. We miss it. But we have fun spotting Dugald here and there in all things horticultural.] It’s fun getting the emails from Gardenimport, the mail-order garden centre started by Dugald Cameron and his family back in 1983. There are always a couple of gems in his mailer of unusual […]
In no particular order, here are a few of my wisherful things: • A grey-water recycling system to turn water from showers or dishwashing into garden irrigation – like the one used by the Toronto Healthy House in Riverdale. (But it’s likely I’ll have to satisfy myself with our grandmother’s method. She used a basin […]
It’s windy, windy, windy – and you can bet the ground will be strewn with willow whips tomorrow. All the better to collect and add to your flower arranging materials, friends. This weeping willow seen the other day near Branksome Hall illustrates the lovely spring glow the willows get around Toronto at this time of […]
Sarah and I do gripe and moan and complain about the Norway maples (Acer platanoides) we’re each forced to share our gardens with. In the city’s urban forest, Norway maples represent 26% of Toronto’s street tree population; likely higher in the old city of Toronto (as it was before amalgamation). That’s not counting the volunteer […]
Monstera Philodendron and Orange Abutilon spending the summer on my canopied deck. You’ve got overwintered geraniums and houseplants that have been cooped up indoors for months. You’ve noticed they’ve started packing their bags and are impatiently awaiting their summer vacation. They’re ready to burst through the screen door and start soaking up that gentle spring […]
In my tiny back garden, which I’ve taken to calling the Microgarden, one of the first perennials to bloom is the Pulmonaria aka, among other things, lungwort and Bethlehem sage. It’s an old-fashioned variety that I’ve had for so long, it pre-dates my awareness of any such arcane things as ‘cultivars.’ From what I’ve learned […]
Hey, Sarah, that lovely little bulb you have colonizing that tough spot beside your front steps is Puschkinia scilloides, the striped squill. We’ve been looking at it for some time wondering if it was some kind of scilla (I really prefer the Latin name to the common squill; Scilla siberica). In fact, it’s a cousin […]
It’s clumps I’m lacking. Big lusty clumps like the ones my sister’s got. I’m verging into garden double-entendre here: that’s the effect snowdrops have. That first sign of life in the garden that makes you twitchy, crazed and happy. Snowdrops really are a psychological necessity in Canada. Charles Schulz once said that when we are […]
Picture shows kidney shape leaf form of first year growth of biennial garlic mustard. Garlic mustard does not provide a food source for this hungry Cotton-tailed rabbit. With thanks to a Toronto Gardens reader, who recently mentioned troublesome garlic mustard in our comment area, here are our Top Ten reasons to search and detroy this […]
Actually, they’re Dynamic Accumulators. So what the heck is a dynamic accumulator, you ask? They are some of the most powerful plants you can have in your garden. They are basically free, organic, living fertilizer, and they improve your soil due to their ability to mine important nutrients from within the soil or air. Jane […]
Walking by Ted Reeve Arena on Gerrard Street East at Main, I spied what looked like dried black leaves persisting on some of the ornamental trees. Turns out, it wasn’t leaves on the branches, but hundreds of thick, black growths; perhaps some kind of fungus. Google came to my aid back at the ranch, and […]
When asked what fruit I grow (in a garden questionnaire the other day), I was about to write, “sadly, none.” Then Sarah reminded me about my serviceberry, Amelanchier. How could I forget! This is one of the best native trees, a hard worker in the garden in almost every season. Lovely grey bark in winter; […]