A noun. A verb. A blog.
After our wet, wild, wonderful day at Jimi Blake’s garden on our Irish holiday, we tore ourselves off to visit the garden of his sister June Blake, about five minutes away. It was almost closing, and our visit was cut decisively short by a sudden, intense deluge, a theme for the day. The siblings share an exuberant […]
Would we think they were beautiful if we didn’t know they were weeds? weeding by Helen Battersby A gardener must not love a dandelion. Its rays must not hook a gardener’s heart or show themselves as stars upon the hills, gold on the imperative of green. A gardener must not love the silken spheres […]
Just stop with me for a moment. The wind is blowing my neighbour’s grasses. Miscanthus or maiden grass. Sometimes we need to hurry to appointments. Sometimes, we need to stand and watch the wind toss the maidens’ tresses. I think Robert Frost wrote a poem like that. About birches, weighed down by ice: So low […]
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.” ~ Laurence Binyon, For the Fallen This is an Oriental poppy, Papaver orientalis ‘Beauty of Livermere’, rather than […]
It’s that time again, when walking through certain Toronto neighbourhoods fills your nose with the scent of the black locust tree. These trees are all around the city, originally planted because their hard wood was useful for farm implements. They have a bad-mannered habit of spreading themselves around. You can see them, for example, sprouting […]
The first of the year’s bazillion morning glory seedlings have just popped up in my garden. To celebrate my love-hate relationship with this weed in my garden, I’m posting my little ode to the odious. Enjoy. morning inglorious by Helen Battersby The gate-crashing has begun. They’re prying cloven-footed through the gaps, glad-handing all invited guests, […]
With Apologies to my garden… (and Elizabeth Barrett Browning) How do I neglect thee? Let me count the ways. I neglect thee to the depths of summer’s day and night My garden hose can’t reach, it’s actually out of sight For the ends of Growing and ideal Placement. I neglect thee to the level of […]