A noun. A verb. A blog.
It’s another heat wave. So we thought it worthwhile to repeat these tips for water-wise gardening from May 2009 – still useful, even as we enter July: Okay, the picture exaggerates. But today we’ll get a taste of it, and tomorrow’s forecast is 30˚C and full sunshine. On hot days like tomorrow, it’s smart to […]
Last summer, I was thrilled to visit the queen of all things handmade, Lorene Edwards Forkner, to see real-life versions of projects that would appear in her then-upcoming book, Handmade Garden Projects from Timber Press. Stick around to learn how you could win a copy in Toronto Gardens’ first-ever giveaway. If you’ve read my disaster with concrete […]
Clematis alpina ‘Pamela Jackman’ is in the Group or Type 1 or C (oops!) A pruning group. (Sometimes, a proofreader would be handy, too.) Clematis are usually classed as Type A, B or C (aka Group 1, 2 or 3), each with different pruning requirements. I know what the requirements are. Trouble is, I can never […]
A lily-flowered tulip was my first model for a snowflower If you need cheap, cheerful fun for a chilly day, there’s nothing easier than making paper snowflakes. Few crafts are so inexpensive – or so sure of success. All you need is a sheet of paper, sharp scissors and your imagination – which can get […]
Anemone blanda ‘White Splendor’ Where would gardeners be without the gigantic Ranunculaceae or buttercup family? Well, we’d be without perennials such as Clematis, delphiniums and hellebores, without annuals such as columbines (Aquilegia) and love-in-a-mist (Nigella). And we’d be without anemones. And, without anemones, we’d miss out on one of the easiest early spring bloomers, Anemone […]
For the garbage bins Toronto residents hate to love, or for those who say a rain barrel is too ugly, here’s one of our favourite snippets from the Garden Walk Buffalo preview. Paint yourself a garden. The gardener who painted these in Buffalo’s Cottage District gave me the basic how-to. She simply used acrylic paint, […]
Who doesn’t want a garden that’s low maintenance? Of course, the mantra is: Low maintenance does not mean no maintenance. Even if you’re laying down concrete grass and planting plastic flowers, some maintenance will be required. However, selecting well will help you keep plant maintenance to a minimum. If you don’t want to spend your […]
My Rosa ‘New Dawn’ is not only beautiful, she’s a tough customer. I’ve written about her before. Not many climbing roses put on a show with about a half day of sun. She does. But every couple of years at this time, when the buds show signs of life, she does need to be wrassled […]
Oh, what a tangled web we weave… when we don’t know how to prune a weeping mulberry (Morus alba ‘Pendula’). You can see this popular weeping standard tree all over the city – and when not wearing its cloak of green, the tangled, haystack-headed results of improper pruning are only too evident. Therefore, when I […]
A quick how-to as we head into planting time. When you succumb to the siren call of the flowers in the garden centre, especially annuals planted in cell packs (those softer plastic pots with multiple, small chambers), it’s likely their root systems will be pretty bunged up. Chances are, they’ll look something like this image. […]
Grass seed likes to germinate when the soil is warm (about 15˚C or 60˚F) but the air is cool. Warm soil encourages strong root growth, while the cool air keeps the tops from over-growth. That’s why spring (April-June) is the second-best time to sew a lawn. In Toronto, August-September are the sweetest months. However, spring […]
Rose pictured above is the “New Dawn” climber, one of the best performing climbing roses in our climate. These instructions are based on the step-by-step instructions provided at Pickering Nurseries, one of Canada’s best rose growers, supplying a huge variety of bare-root roses. Their planting guide in PDF form is downloadable here. These instructions will […]