A noun. A verb. A blog.
I don’t know why it is but I often seem to like things not for the thing itself, but for the thing that goes with it. Like certain types of food, I only like because of the condiments that go with it: curry – you get to have chutney, fried bread (yes! ancient English tradition!) […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Too bad this invention doesn’t exist, as this post about garden plants whose smells I love would be a lot easier. How to describe smells? Almost impossible. I suppose there should be some way of doing it, like the way wine experts use descriptive terms to describe the flavour of wine. When I read those […]
When you find a shrub that will grow in fairly consistent shade, and has interesting foliage, and will flower, and on top of it all will flower fragrantly, you need to crow about it. Hence this homage to Daphne ‘Carol Mackie.’ I was first introduced to ‘Carol Mackie’ in a fantastic garden during the Riverdale […]
I’d intended to write on another subject tonight. But, at the moment, my living room is filled to overflowing with the scent from a massive bouquet of lilacs. So guess what is top of mind. Sarah’s little schoolhouse in the country sits in a near-forest of lilacs that bloom later than ours. In two weeks, […]
Okay, it’s a laboured title, but an apt one. Someone gave me these pink hyacinths in a pot of three when our daughter Lucy was born, 21 years ago. I let them ripen and dry, and thought little more of them. Later that year, we bought a house – the one we still inhabit. The previous […]