A noun. A verb. A blog.
Scrolling through my photo archive, I came across a set of photos I couldn’t believe we haven’t shared. These are just a taste from two visits made to the Royal Botanical Gardens‘ amazing Laking Garden iris collection in June 2014 and 2015. For many reasons, our opening shot lives up to its name. It’s Iris […]
For months, the Minneapolis Fling committee has been scouting out gardens far and wide for you, just like our Toronto team did. Some sites, the GBFling15 had to let go – like this formal spot in the Niagara Parks Botanical Garden. It’s heartbreaking for a committee to prune out great gardens, when we want to […]
Toronto’s downtown skyline from the corner of First and Channel Avenues on Ward’s Island For over 20 years, whenever we crossed the bridge to our summer home on Ile d’Orléans, in the St. Lawrence River just outside Quebec City, I’d take in the view of the broad river and forested mountains and say a little […]
In High Park, June 2015 – a patch of spontaneously regenerated wild lupines (Lupinus perennis) I’ve seen wild lupines in Iceland and in Nova Scotia. But I had no idea that Ontario was also a habitat for this lovely legume (Lupinus perennis). Then we visited High Park this June with the Toronto Fling and learned […]
Quaint, quirky and sometimes queenly, this is Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood, home to My Luscious Backyard Yesterday, I wrote about a cool art piece we noticed in Parkdale. Today, I’m writing about what we were in Parkdale for – to visit Sarah Nixon of My Luscious Backyard. Sarah’s an urban flower farmer with a novel way […]
If this shot looks familiar, it’s because I couldn’t resist reusing it – amazed at how lush and leafy a green roof can be. Every garden that welcomed our 70 Toronto Fling bloggers in June 2015 deserves thanks. But extra-special thanks go to the folks at the Cabbagetown Preservation Association (especially Helen and Ruth) for […]
Sculptors Wojtek Biczysko (barefoot) and Ania Biczysko in the Swansea garden that has showcased both their works. How would you put a price on artwork? Some artists may command high prices for anything they produce, though many can’t. The Canada Council for the Arts notes the median income for a visual artist in Canada is […]
A first glimpse at the most private section of a garden in Niagara-on-the-Lake The generosity of private owners who open their personal spaces to the garden public should never be undervalued. I’ve known this as a garden tour fanatic and as a volunteer. But being one of the organizers for the 2015 Garden Bloggers Fling […]
Who’d bother planting geraniums (Pelargonium) in planter boxes, when you could get a show-stopping display like this one at a Leaside pub. These are Mandevilla. And, in fact, so are dipladenias. Not till after I got a Dipladenia ‘Rio’ to trial, from Toronto Fling sponsor Fernlea, did I learn the difference between Dipladenia and Mandevilla. There […]
Fellow Toronto Fling organizers Veronica Sliva and Lorraine Flanigan on our scouting mission to Parkwood Estate With Mr. TG reading Roch Carrier’s Montcalm and Wolfe, I’m reminded how little Canadians know (or care) about the history of their own country. That goes for local history, too. How many Torontonians give a second thought to the […]
A shady entrance to the garden of plantswoman Marion Jarvie Marion Jarvie’s seasonal open gardens are a bit of an event among Toronto-area garden aficionados. But, although I’d seen pictures and even taken a class from Marion at the Toronto Botanical Garden, I’d never actually visited until we took the Toronto Fling bloggers there, the […]
The formal herb garden at Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens (with Savvy Gardening gals Amy and Tara) The act of garden making is an attempt to impose a human’s sense of order on the natural world. Even a native garden or, the latest trend, the messy, bedhead garden (a trend that I’ve been following for years), actively assembles […]