A noun. A verb. A blog.
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 […]
While camping at The Pinery provincial park a few years ago, I took the green picture below, curious about the shrub. It had “leaves of three,” similar to poison ivy (formerly known as Rhus radicans, now Toxicodendron radicans syn. T. rydbergii) But those berries, if that’s what they were! Fuzzy, kind of like a staghorn sumac (Rhus typina). Turns out […]
Beautiful Crothers Woods will now be an official environmentally significant area in Toronto. Our beautiful ravine systems are one of the best things about Toronto, counteracting the concrete and condos, right in the very heart of the city. We are fortunate to have so many stunning, wild areas in Toronto: places where nature does the […]
Photographed yesterday, a row of Freeman maples (Acer x freemanii) along Carlton north of Allan Gardens At this time of year, you can especially note how often Freeman or Freeman’s maple (Acer x freemanii) appears along our streets. That telltale “x” says this tree is a hybrid – a cross between red maple (Acer rubrum) […]
I’d call this a jubilation of purple (and not-so-purple) purple coneflowers (Echinacea), wouldn’t you? From mid-July into September, purple coneflowers (Echinacea) are among the bright stars of the garden. Long-lasting and fairly easy to grow, on well-drained soil in full sun or light to part shade, they are a great flower for beginning gardeners. What’s […]
Fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus) in the Westview Terrace at the Toronto Botanical Garden What is a native plant? We weighed in on this complex discussion – or argument – in 2011. Let’s just say that the four lesser-known flowering shrubs in this Friday’s Idea File are native to North America. All are hardy in Toronto’s […]
The nodding bracts of prairie smoke (the actual flowers are hiding inside their pointy nose) blooming in May Don’t be entirely fooled by the name. The wildflower called prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) isn’t restricted to prairies and is native to some parts of Ontario, the eastern limit of its natural range. As you’d expect, it […]
Campanula and Veronicastrum against the golden leaves of Calalpa bignonoiodes ‘Aurea’, VanDusen Botanical Garden The same garden from beneath the fretwork of the branches A basketload of May/June blooms on the species of this North American native tree Now, in close-up And from a distance in an east-end Toronto parkette Helen and Sarah and […]
Wow, wow, WOW! The pre-sunset “golden hour” lights up butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) Stopped in my tracks on the streets of East York. That’s the only way to describe my reaction to this plant just after 7 pm on Wednesday evening, and thank the photo gods for my iPhone. Capturing the last of the sunlight […]
Ontario’s native floral symbol Trillium grandiflorum – can you be sure it was responsibly propagated? Is choosing native plants always the right thing to do for the planet? Simple answer, right? Well, after a couple of recent encounters, I’m surprised. The simple answer turns out to be more than a little complex. When are native […]
Guess which witch caught my eye while walking? Are they witches’ caps or gnomes? Whatever they are, they called to me (and my ever-present camera) from the shrubbery as I power-walked through our neighbourhood at 7:30 this morning. Not till I started to move again did I realize which witch was witch-hazel… in this case, […]