A noun. A verb. A blog.
We should be grateful to Philippe Kahn, credited with inventing the camera-phone, back in 1997. (Or not, according to C-Net.) Whomever the mastermind, he (or she!) ensured we could have a camera, all the time and everywhere. So as we walked briskly past this fence near Woodbine Park one evening this May, I could follow up my double-take with the […]
An eye-catching swathe of red haws (hawthorn fruit) on Lake Shore just east of Leslie (taken Dec. 6, 2013) This stretch of hawthorns I often walk past keeps the ruby-red fruits well into winter. Have you noticed them? They’re well placed for show against the dark brown SolarWall on the City garage next to Loblaws. […]
Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) – a North American native shrub – with glossy black pomes and bright fall foliage First, to confess. These fruits are highly decorative in the fall garden, but none of them are berries. As botanically defined, berries are fleshy fruits and seeds produced from a single ovary. Currants, blueberries and gooseberries […]
The bright red foliage lesions and bumpy fruiting bodies of Pear Trellis Rust My sister-in-law was showing me the garden of their new home, including a number of fruit trees. Unfortunately, the foliage of the two pear trees are covered in red lesions, and the underside shows the clear signs that something is seriously amiss. […]
If you cross-pollinated the computing and home canning worlds, you might not expect the result to be so delicious. Yet, this is what makes Yes, You Can!, Daniel Gasteiger’s modern guide to food preservation, such a useful addition to the kitchen bookshelf. We were impressed with our review copy as soon as it arrived. Gasteiger is […]
The grapelike fruit of the hardy kiwi Actinidia arguta ‘Ananasnaya’ at UBC Botanical Garden, Vancouver If you aren’t a fan of the fuzzy skin on kiwifruit, you’re in luck. Not only are there smooth-skinned species, but they’re hardy in our climate. The one above was photographed in B.C. However, Actinidia arguta is available from at least […]
The dark blue normal fruit of the serviceberry, along with one infected with Cedar apple rust It seems to be an OMG summer. Unusual things are happening after all the rain of spring 2011 – including a problem on my usually problem-free serviceberry (Amelanchier). OMG, what’s that? …was my reaction on seeing the intriguing spikes growing […]
A big bag of fresh-picked apples is sitting on my kitchen counter. And I mean a BIG bag. If we had a bushel basket, it would be full to overflowing. What kind did you pick?, I asked my daughter. Oh, lots, she replied. Jonagold, Northern Spy, Empire, some other kinds. It’ll be a […]
What fun to attend a tomato tasting party! Vivian Reiss’s annual tomato tasting is held on her city rooftop garden in August. She grows 57 different kinds of heirlooms and sliced them up for visitors to taste the booty, and I was lucky to attend. Deciding on the best ones isn’t as easy as you’d […]
Where do you go when you’ve used all the space in your garden and in front of your house? You take it to the office and up the elevator. Gardener and artist Vivian Reiss has transformed two spaces in her office building on Merton Street into garden paradises in the middle of the urban jungle. […]
Not Far From the Tree (NFFTT) is expanding in the east end of Toronto. If you know someone with a fruit (or nut) tree but with no time or energy to harvest it, you can spread the wealth through this network of volunteers, plus avoid that litter of fermenting, fallen fruit. NFFTT operates in west-end […]
This might be a crabapple, though I’m not a crabapple expert. And the Malus or apple family, along with its fruit tree cousins such as the Pyrus or pear [ed: and I should add the Prunus family, which includes plums, peaches (which this might be), apricots, cherries, and almonds], are all five-petalled members of the […]