A noun. A verb. A blog.
A splash of morning sun helps this dry shade front bed Dry shade can be a gardener’s worst nightmare. It’s definitely a challenge. I know. I’ve been a dry shade gardener (on sand…under Norway maples) for 25 years. Many of Toronto’s city gardeners are in my dry, shady boat. But like any problem, dry shade […]
Author/gardener Olev Edur and his book, Ravine Diary Sunday lived up to its sunny name for the Beach Garden Tour. As a change from a photo essay, this profile of Olev Edur’s ravine garden will be the first in a series on some of the gardens… and gardeners… on this year’s Beach tour. Olev Edur’s […]
Naughty Berberis ‘Rose Glow’ in its brazen autumn garb, with a leaf in just the right place While there’s no denying its scarlet beauty in fall, purple Berberis thunbergii or Japanese barberry is a shrub I can’t in conscience recommend due to the tendency of barberries to install themselves, uninvited, in wild spaces. Darn it. However, this post […]
Papaver orientalis ‘Beauty of Livermere’ is an astonishingly red red*. Our grey-day colour series continues with red. A craving for red seems to be programmed into our red-blooded DNA, especially at this time of year. And this red is pure Santa-suit, Rudolph’s-nose, holly-berry red – the red that seems even redder when paired with its […]
She’s a perfect poster girl for my post on yellow: the much-maligned Hemerocallis ‘Stella de Oro’ (not, as is often written, ‘Stella d’Oro‘). This photo shows how effective she can be “when well used.” The day is grey. Grey, grey and more grey. Plus, it’s December. Naturally, this inspires me to begin a series about […]
With all the jackhammers and construction barriers at Nathan Phillips Square now, you might have missed seeing the new City Hall Podium Green Roof – especially as there’s no signage at the bottom of the ramp to direct you up to the podium for a visit. Too bad. Because the green roof is worth the […]
The good-things-come-in-small-packages garden of Paul Geary, he of Petal Pushers garden therapy, is around the corner and down the street. To compensate for the petite size of his own garden, Paul has made his city-owned boulevard strip a thing of beauty. Right now the strip is a particularly fetching bouquet of purple and gold. See […]
Can’t you imagine long conversations in this cosy spot? I love eating outdoors. There doesn’t seem to have been enough of that in summer 2010. My back yard is only big enough for a bit of garden and a dining table. A small dining table. So I’ll be putting on a sweater to squeeze the […]
Taro plant with rescued and repurposed piece of decorative concrete. Vivian saves architectural pieces from demolition giving new life to old beautiful objects. As you approach Vivian Reiss’s Victorian house in Yorkville you know it’s no ordinary dwelling, but a house and garden space created by a gardener of unusual and vivid passions. There was […]
More garden inspiration from Through the Garden Gate 2010 in “my” neighbourhood, the Beach. Some of the tiniest gardens were the most intriguing due to the added challenge of space – or lack thereof. The Asian-inspired garden above is one of five or six on this year’s tour designed by local landscape designer Kim Price. […]
Last Sunday, Sarah and Helen visited Barry Parker’s Open Garden Toronto and were once again blown away by this lovely Parkdale garden gem. Helen: The first thing that impresses me about Barry’s garden is its structure. Structure is one of the things that moves a garden from good to great. And Barry proves that you […]
This is my homework: historic Campbell House, an authentic Georgian piece of Old York (which was Toronto before Toronto) on a quarter-acre of land at Queen and University. And I, and my classmates, each get to redesign the garden. Well, design it in theory if not in actuality – although our designs will be juried by […]