A noun. A verb. A blog.
I’m lucky to live so close to Ashbridges Bay Park on Lake Ontario. I can get there in a matter of minutes, and sister Helen and I have spent hours walking here, peering at trees & shrubs, trying to identify what’s growing, and gathering round rocks from the beach. The park has a mix […]
When the weather outside is frightening… we prescribe Allan Gardens for an injection of the tropics. Sarah and I recently dropped by an hour before closing for quick, medicinal treatment from their Christmas display. That jumble of colour at the bottom right above doesn’t make a great photo, but it does represent the joyous profusion […]
If you’ve travelled along Queen Street East, you’ve passed the white-picket fence enclosed Ashbridge Estate. This is the family homestead of one of the east end’s earliest settlers. The Ashbridges – from whom Ashbridge’s Bay gets its name – were Loyalists from Pennsylvania, granted 600 acres that stretched from the waterfront of Lake Ontario to Danforth […]
Entrance to the Toronto Botanical Garden at twilight. The Entry Garden Walk, showing its strong Piet Oudolf design influence – lots of native materials left to do their thing in all seasons. I love the repetition of reds in this fall garden. The smaller Floral Hall Courtyard, looking through to the front entrance […]
Starting last night, me, my battered notebook and a classroom of other garden keeners join Toronto horticulture-guru Marion Jarvie for three sessions at the Toronto Botanical Garden‘s George and Kathy Dembroski Centre for Horticulture. She’ll be talking small, shady, city gardens. That’s how I got the scoop on some dates you’ll want to add to […]
Park path in Beach area of Toronto, right off busy Queen Street Something about pathways through woods, parks and deep-dark forests has always been compelling to me. Did it start with watching The Wizard of Oz? A journey through strange places amongst strange people where you can’t get lost, because you have a surefire path […]
“Timelines, Strata and Ephemera” – See further info on this installation below. Québec City was born in 1608, and in 2008 it had a big party to mark its 400th. The Ephemeral Gardens were among the events and happenings that unfolded all through the year-long celebration – and which included a free concert by Céline […]
The rose window of the Toronto Heliconian Club, for women in arts and letters. A colleague of my husband’s invited us to hear her perform a Bach concert at the Heliconian Club on Sunday. The club, celebrating its 100th year in 2009, is a place I passed daily when (long ago) I lived in 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 […]
Or, rather, Au revoir. Ile d’Orléans, the island in the St. Lawrence River just a few kilometres east of Québec City, has been our family’s second home since 1987. This weekend, we drove the 800+ kilometres there (and back again) to pack, disperse and transport the accumulation of more than two decades. This, and the […]
This morning eight years ago, I remember where I was. My daughter was home sick with the TV on; she called me urgently from my office to the living room. We couldn’t stop watching. Today, the anniversary was spent differently. First, it was with a large group of friends. Second, it was spent in an […]
Shakespeare has been the attraction for my past visits to Stratford, Ontario. Sure, I’ve long been a fan of the swan-dotted park along the Avon River. Yet, I’d never thought of the town as a place to go just to see gardens. What a pleasant surprise. Between Brian Bedford’s not-to-be-missed Lady Bracknell in The Importance […]