A noun. A verb. A blog.
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 […]
Aiming for a shot of the rose arbour for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, way back the summer, I realized that one place to appreciate the (at that time) bower of bloom was from inside the house. This got me thinking: is garden design all about experiencing the garden from within it? When designing: is in […]
Yes, Mason Hogue Gardens is now Mason House Gardens. Had they asked me (it’s one of the things I do for a living), I’d have suggested a different re-naming strategy. Too many similar letters; people are going to be confused – as anyone who has tried to change their email address has experienced. However, the […]
Unless the real person happens to have been a multi-millionaire, real gardens by real people doesn’t apply in this case, but I can’t resist. The person in question was Sir Henry Pellatt, the super-rich Edwardian industrialist whose dreams and moneybags built Toronto’s castle* Casa Loma. At least, this picture is of a garden… which gives […]
Toronto is often described as a city of villages and Parkdale, on the west side of town, is one. We confined ourselves to one street for Sunday’s visit. Here are some observations. This may not be the face of Parkdale, but it will do for a start. Parkdale citizens are brave enough to plant Japanese […]
We don’t usually show people pix, but this one tells a story. From left to right, Barry Parker, Sarah, You Grow Girl Gayla Trail, Helen. Through crosshatched lines on our mum’s side, Welsh blood flows in our veins. So we were doubly delighted to be invited to visit the Parkdale garden of Welsh-born Torontonian Barry […]
The Judge’s Choice in the Community category, East York Blooming Contest. This shot would be better if the road beside it weren’t being chewed up by large earth movers. How do you winnow 135 nominees to a select few gardens for the official judge of the East York Blooming Contest? Send out ten teams of […]
Another garden gem in the Bruce Peninsula, at the northern tip of Dyers Bay, is Virginia’s Garden. It’s nestled in a slightly sloping pocket between the road and the towering limestone cliffs behind – a unparalleled backdrop of rock cliffs and towering trees. Gravel paths guide you through the garden, Virginia Dolliver’s labour of love […]
That was not a line from The Goon Show, that was the preliminary to a report on our guerrilla gardening efforts in a secret corner of the universe. Things are looking up. Our neighbourhood guerrillas have added two healthy (thanks to this year’s rains) trees to the city’s canopy, plus a happy-looking perennial garden. And […]
On Sunday, the Bluffs Garden Tour organized by the Scarborough Horticultural and Garden Club allowed us to see five very different gardens. Of course, the Bluffs being the bluffs, in a couple of them the star performer, as above, was the view. Seeing how the turf shelfs out along the coast, like something from a […]
A lustworthy Toronto garden I’ve seen twice on the Riverdale garden tour – and still dream about – is the cover story on the Summer 2009 issue of Canadian Gardening magazine. If Sarah were here, I’d get her to Tweet about it. Wish I had pictures to post, but I do suggest you have a […]
I was born in England, but my home is Canada. On this Canada Day, here are five reasons that, as a gardener, I’m glad to be Canadian: 1. The Maple Leaf, our emblem dear, the maple leaf forever. I love that our national symbol is something living and growing; I especially love that it has […]