A noun. A verb. A blog.
What fun! Pool seating in a handful of jellybean colours. As my beloved would tell you, I’m not keen on surprises. However, surprises in the garden are a few of my favourite things. The last thing Sarah and I expected to find behind the lovely Georgian home in Port Hope, for example, was this playful […]
Through the balustrade, stonework and wrought iron create instant history in this Lawrence Park garden. The long architectural heritage of Ashlar stonework and wrought iron can give your yard immediate garden cred. You can do them in a major way, like this garden does so majestically. Or you can be like Mr. TG and I, who “got […]
I’m truly thankful for the ideas that come home from our visits to artists’ gardens. Simple leaf cut-outs and a can or two of window frosting will get you this one. Much more fitting than curtains for balancing privacy and light in a garden shed! July 2015 was our first visit to the Port Hope […]
In 2015, Through the Garden Gate lets you peek into the gardens of Lawrence Park Garden tours let us be the ultimate snoopy gardener, stealing ideas from exploring snoop-worthy OPLs (Other People’s Gardens). Toronto’s grand master of garden tours is Through the Garden Gate, the annual fundraiser for the Toronto Botanical Garden. Each year, generous […]
Dippy the Diplodocus outside Pittsburg’s Carnegie Institute near Schenley Plaza. You might be forgiven for thinking (as I did) this was a Brontosaurus aka Apatosaurus. Nope, it’s notasaurus. But we’re right in thinking it’s a grand addition to the gardens. These large-scaley critters make common-garden lions and angels seem positively, well, prehistoric. Wouldn’t you love […]
The Locke-Irey garden alone (seen here with a hint of Buffalo’s many charming streetscapes), will have as many as 4000 visitors over the Garden Walk weekend. If you’d told us five years ago that we would eagerly visit Buffalo, Buffalo!, as a garden destination, we might have looked at you sideways. That was before, through […]
The tour program describes this Williamson Road garden as a “plantswoman’s paradise.” No wonder I loved it. Sunday’s Beach Garden Society garden tour had many highlights – and we’ll write about others, later. But, by accident, Sarah and I saved the best till last, the subject of today’s post. It showed how even a plant […]
This way to the gardens! We know you’ll be inspired. Have you ever wished you could be cloned? I have. Then you and I could be everywhere at once – especially every garden tour at once. This weekend, two local tours at least have the decency to be on different days. Saturday, it’s Leaside. Sunday, […]
The amazing green roof of the Hugh Garner (fingers keep trying to type “Gardener” – whose wouldn’t?) Housing Co-op. You now have official excuse reason to spend the Friday before Father’s Day in the garden. Toronto has proclaimed it Garden Day. Yay! Thank you, Toronto. What’s more, it’ll be part of an annual three-day garden […]
The gardens of Hogg’s Hollow are putting on their best for you, this weekend If Agatha Christie had set a mystery in Toronto, Hogg’s Hollow would be the ideal locale. Though many of the original bungalows have been remade in a grander style over the years, the neighbourhood’s narrow, windy streets still have the feeling […]
A modest entry marks one of my favourite garden experiences from 2013’s Through the Garden Gate – because the reveal was such a surprise, combining formal elements with quirky details. If you read our blog, you know: Quirk R Us. P’raps that wasn’t one of those headlines. You know. The crawler-friendly ones that neatly index […]
No grown-ups allowed! At the 2013 Toronto Islands garden tour in May, we enjoyed a closer look (as close as grown-ups are permitted) at a cool new treehouse. Isn’t it great? I don’t know about you, but I’d trade a few hours of grown-uppiness for a little time at the top of the ladder. Nice […]