A noun. A verb. A blog.
You might want to categorize this under “pets and diseases.” That first word isn’t a typo. Some disfiguring plant problems have nothing to do with bugs or fungi. Some “pests” are considerably larger. For example, if your lovely Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’) is supposed to look like this. And, instead, it looks like […]
If you only think “spring bulbs” or “rock garden plants” when you think of the Rock Garden at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, you haven’t seen it lately. In the last couple years, it has undergone a major transformation. I can’t believe it took me so long to visit, but being carless is my excuse. Even […]
Before the rain began this morning, our walking group headed west for a change. The Distillery District would be our turnaround point, but I never made it that far. Corktown Common and a golden patch of flowering witch-hazel fixed me and my phone camera to the spot. Click the arrows above for the slideshow. What an excellent […]
Sometimes you can know of a plant without really knowing it. You hear the name often, but wouldn’t be able to pick out the face in the crowd – or in the garden. That’s how it used to be for me with the native grass called little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium). Then I saw this display garden in […]
Ever experience a strange coincidence? Like mine, years ago, when backpacking around Europe, I met two Australian girls who gave me that old line: Oh, you’re from Canada? We know someone from Canada. Uh huh, I thought, sure you do. Then they named my ex-boyfriend. This week I read that, statistically, coincidences like this aren’t really […]
I’m a latecomer* to the term “see-through plants,” new to me until this spring. It was in a presentation on small-space gardening written by another Master Gardener. Her point was that designing with see-through plants is one way to make a small space seem bigger. Hmmm, thought this small-space gardener, interesting. After that, I started to notice plants for […]
Think of this as a late-blooming “Wordless Wednesday” – a visual, almost-silent* paeon to the glories of the late-July garden. These are all from the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, viewed on banquet day at the Minneapolis Fling. I’m not even going to name the flowers, but you can ask in the comments if you’re interested. Just […]
For amping up your foliage design palette, there’s nothing quite like the flowing texture of Hakone or Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra). The cultivar with the gold and green stripes above is likely H. ‘Aureola’) First, my confession. For me, Hakone grass is a case of I can’t always – maybe ever – get what […]
It has become so common, you might pass invasive Phragmites without recognizing it as a problem With all the excitement over ornamental grasses, you might not even recognize this towering escapee growing in many of the city’s wet spaces as an invasive species. The picture above is of a huge stand of European common reed […]
More blow than snow on this first snowfall of Winter 2014 (well, technically Fall). An almost-wordless Wednesday tribute.
Cascades of dried grasses at the Toronto Botanical Garden. Admit it: they look even better against all the snow. Some people live in the past. But as this Polar Voldemortex-blighted winter drags on and on, many of us long to live in the future. Spring! Spring! Please, be sprung already! Tell me, why do we […]
Instead of framing a parterre with boxwood (Buxus) hedges, how about using feather reed grass (Calamagrostis) instead? Unlike box, it will change through the season. Don’t you love how the soft foliage here allows these bulbs to shine? Grasses have been the big thing recently. I’m not talking about puny little turf grasses, but statuesque […]