A noun. A verb. A blog.
Thank you to the academy for this recognition. What can I say? I’m one of the best at putting things off, neglecting, and just plain forgetting things. Thank you also to my plants that died, or threatened to almost die. I couldn’t have done it without them. I had an “Augh, I’ve killed it!!” moment […]
Our guests were almost here for our first new-tradition of Thanksgiving brunch on Monday. Then I noticed the beautiful arrangement my Number One Dot had gifted me for my Big Birthday. Oops. It really needed retiring. Once the flowers were pulled from the vase, though, it was clear that some were up for a second round. The blue […]
A regular reader of this blog might know our affection for Jane Austen. We began our very first post, more than 10 years ago, with one of her quotes. And she does pop up here from time to time. With the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death (aged just 41) coming on July 18th, 2017’s arrival flooded my social media […]
The Toronto Botanical Garden’s entry garden in January 2013 Today, we’ll put November to bed, and tomorrow we’ll wake up to December – which some feel means the end of colour in the garden. Well, all the leaves may be brown, and the sky is grey… but when we go for that walk on a […]
What is that – a flower spike? Could it be? It is! My Clivia is blooming! This was a year for miracles in the garden. Not only did the Hoya I’d tended for 30 years bloom for the very first time this spring – it did it three more times in succession over the summer! […]
Gorgeous, creamy and scented Rosa ‘Windermere’ from David Austin Today, I’m grateful for this lovely ‘Windermere’ rose, sent to me to trial and planted in spring 2015. Ultimately growing about a meter tall and wide, this rose easily fits into the Microgarden. And, unlike some David Austin roses I’ve tried, the heavy-headed flower doesn’t sag. It’s […]
Tables set amongst the vegetable rows at Muir Ranch School Farm “A day of thanks for the blessing of the harvest” – that’s what Thanksgiving is about. And if we did it earlier in the year (even earlier than we [ahem!] sensible Canadians do), I imagine Thanksgiving dinner might feel something like the farm-to-table dinner […]
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 […]
This brass Y spigot with the ball-valve shut-offs is very easy to operate My heart broke last week when – as temperatures dropped – I had to empty three full rain barrels. It seemed sinful, somehow. A long section of hose on the spigot, backed up by a watering can, let me spot water the […]
Hopefully, the wreath I end up making will be as beautiful as this one by Sarah Nixon By sheer serendipity, the day after posting my story about Sarah Nixon and My Luscious Backyard, an email landed in my inbox announcing Sarah’s December 5th workshop on making a foraged wreath. I jumped at the chance. So […]
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 […]
Thankful to be passing by, and spotted this little art piece by the sidewalk in someone’s garden Think of this as an Almost-Wordless* Wednesday-on-Saturday. Love the use of milkweed seed here. Gratitude to the internet and search engines for satisfying my curiosity: The fluffy, parachute-like structure at the top of the milkweed seed, or achene, […]