A noun. A verb. A blog.
The Islands might be flooded, and the record-setting lake levels are eroding the boardwalk. But all that rain in spring 2019 has had one wonderous side effect. The flowers on Korean dogwoods (Cornus kousa) this year are stop-in-your-tracks abundant. I had to pull over to capture this one exploding in white fireworks, just in time for […]
This isn’t a post so much as a mash note to the foxtail lily aka desert candle (Eremurus spp). Love isn’t strong enough a word. My recent Garden Bloggers Fling trip to Denver, Colorado, technically in the same planting zone as Toronto, made me fall all over again, and again, and again. Rather than “constant,” think “elusive.” The […]
Endearingly polka-dotted and charmingly shaped, the plate-sized leaves of Podophyllum ‘Spotty Dotty’ Another reason to thank Marie the Gardenbug: she introduced me to this cool plant, known only to me by name before. It’s an exotic hybrid cousin of our native may-apple called Podophyllum ‘Spotty Dotty’. For info on this dramatic family of plants, see […]
Who could resist the golden form of spike winterhazel (Corylopsis spicata) ‘Aurea’ also known as ‘Gold Spring’? Why do I always fall in love with the wrong guy? Look at those handsome leaves! All boldly goldy-chartreusy, with a blush on the newest. Then look below at the bright pink bud scales (that protect the leaf […]
A multi-stemmed river birch (Betula nigra) You can’t always get what you want. Although you can try sometimes (gardeners call this “zone denial”). But when what you want is a tree called “river birch,” what you want (this tree with the amazing, exfoliating bark, especially as a youngster) might be ruled out by what this […]
This Lust List item isn’t a plant (which, for me, is usually a tree) – it’s a book. About trees. I’ve lusted for it ever since seeing the teasers. Last weekend at the Garden Writers Symposium in Indianapolis I held it briefly in my hot little hands, and let me tell you: Seeing Trees from Timber […]
The Japanese umbrella pine isn’t a pine; it’s Sciadopitys verticillata, and like the ginkgo tree it has a prehistoric history. You can read all about it in this article from the University of Arkansas and this article from Conifers.org. What it is, though, is stop-in-your-tracks gorgeous. Yes, that’s the correct botanical term. Those crazy upside-down […]
My ever-unrequited love affair with paperbark maple (Acer griseum) intensifies when seeing it in its fall regalia. Hates drought, they say. Well with the somewhat hefty price of this tree, that makes it too risky for my garden, sad to say. That doesn’t mean I can’t fantasize. Paperbark maple is one of the perfect (*or […]
By September, I’m usually the Girl from Ipomoea, with a garden totally, er, beribboned and festooned (aka choked) with morning glories. Mine are not the ones pictured here. They’re the pretty but common Ipomoea tricolour, likely old-fashioned Grandpa Ott, the first seeds of which were probably sown about the time the foundations of our house […]
I’ve been suffering a major case of butterfly envy. My neighbour M. has been luring the Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) over to his mature purple butterfly bush (Buddleia) for some time. This year, they seem more plentiful than ever. Hooray! But they’ve been giving my new Buddleias a wide berth. Then came this plucky little […]
A lustworthy Toronto garden I’ve seen twice on the Riverdale garden tour – and still dream about – is the cover story on the Summer 2009 issue of Canadian Gardening magazine. If Sarah were here, I’d get her to Tweet about it. Wish I had pictures to post, but I do suggest you have a […]
The deep red poppies belonging to my neighbour M. are making their brief but miraculous appearance in his garden. Therefore, I must bow down and worship, oh ye amazing Papaver orientalis ‘Beauty of Livermere’. It’s hard to decide which way to photograph them: as here, backdropped by the purple smokebush (Cotinus coggyria ‘Royal Purple’), or […]