Sad looking, pale green, leggy, soft, and weak growth. This is the worst time of all for houseplants. They look like how we feel. Only one more week of this winter sunshine ebb, and then the sun will start on its way back. We can start counting down the extra minutes on the 21st. Then […]
Home Depot – Not Just Screwdrivers: Orchids that Give Birth!
As the days started to shorten a couple of weeks ago I went to Home Depot to get some little household hardware-y style item, something light-bulby I think it was. I can never go there without making a stop in their massive garden supply area. Their outdoor section was rolled up for the season, […]
What’s growing August & September: Rudbeckia
What great flowers for late summer and early fall the Rudbeckias are. They’re like sunshine on a stick! This lowly little Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) is one of the earlier ones. Right now, the city is alight with constellations of Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’ which, in 1999, was rightly chosen by the Perennial Plant Association as its […]
Cracks in the sidewalk
Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) is a favourite of mine. Under the right conditions, they can be light and ethereal, with starry flowers that live up to their name – like white, pink, mauve and cerise constellations. Rotten things. “Right conditions” means that they grow better in sidewalk cracks than they do in my garden. When too […]
The month of the triffids
Go away for three weeks in July, and what usually happens? A sudden onset of Gobi Desert. Go away for three weeks in July 2008, during which, the stats tell me, there was 171% more rainfall and 5% more sunshine than normal, and return to a world gone wild. The water-loving hydrangeas are weighted down […]
Life will intrude (and other excuses)
Drat this vacation. The maniacal rush to get things done before taking a break is screwing up my garden. Next spring, I’ll probably regret not having deadheaded those tarda tulips. Hopefully, all their energies didn’t go into making seed. Just popped out now and sprinkled the seeds over some new ground. Don’t know if this […]
What’s growing in June & July: Roses!
There’s something about Toronto and roses. Even the most unassuming front porch can often have an amazing display of climbing roses in June. I once took a course on perennials at the then-Civic Garden Centre (now, Toronto Botanical Garden). It was taught by Keith Squires, of Country Squires Garden in Milton (worth a visit for […]
What’s growing in May & June: Peonies!
Really, it’s a little late in the month to be talking about peonies. But Sarah brought me a big bunch from her country place, which is a week or so behind the city. And so, of course, I thought: Peonies!! I’m talking herbaceous peonies here, not the glorious tree peonies that are becoming more readily […]
On ruthlessness, or lack thereof
Dame’s rocket or Hesperis. The bees still love them. They still smell lovely in the evening. They’re still making flowers. And, this afternoon before the big rain, I even saw an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly swooping down for a sip. But they’re taking over. Despite, or perhaps because of, the perpetual flower-making machine at the […]
What’s growing in June: Digitalis
By dint of name alone, foxgloves are like fairy flowers. If foxes wore gloves, they might look a bit like these. The bell-shaped flowers remind me of the kind of thing I might have seen fairies wearing for hats — along with the fuzzy caps of poppies – in the British children’s books I grew […]
“The lemon lilies are in bloom again…”
At this time of year, the words above go through my mind, and often pass my lips, in a bad Katharine Hepburn accent (with apologies to calla lilies). Old-fashioned lemon lilies (Hemerocallis flava) are among the legacy plants in my garden. Along with the morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea) and purple irises (Iris), the lilacs (Syringa) and mock […]
Just because it’s June, June, June!
Now that the crazy humidity has eased off, I could actually go out and look in the garden – to discover that, next door, M.’s blood red poppies have popped open. In June of last year, I obsessively photographed their every move. But just look at them. Who could blame me? Oriental poppies (Papaver orientale) […]