A noun. A verb. A blog.
Canada Blooms 2016 may be over, but my mind keeps returning to this show garden from Jacob’s Gardenscape. I don’t know which criteria earned it the Most Innovative Garden award, but the gabion fences were really interesting. If you’ve spent time on the trails along Toronto’s Don or Humber rivers, you’ve probably noticed the original […]
The water garden from Genoscape won four awards at Canada Blooms in 2016: Outstanding Large Garden, Outstanding Use of Water, Best Overall Creativity, and Judge’s Choice for Garden of the Year. It was a standout. It’s the last day of Canada Blooms 2016. Many exhibitors told me they thought it was the best show in […]
Toronto’s downtown skyline from the corner of First and Channel Avenues on Ward’s Island For over 20 years, whenever we crossed the bridge to our summer home on Ile d’Orléans, in the St. Lawrence River just outside Quebec City, I’d take in the view of the broad river and forested mountains and say a little […]
I’m truly thankful for the ideas that come home from our visits to artists’ gardens. Simple leaf cut-outs and a can or two of window frosting will get you this one. Much more fitting than curtains for balancing privacy and light in a garden shed! July 2015 was our first visit to the Port Hope […]
A cottage garden feel in the colours of the Canadian flag (with sunshiny touches of yellow). And a matching red door. Just in time for Canada Day, a Leslieville garden full of ephemeral red poppies and what look like common ox-eye daisies. This stopped me in my tracks as I passed. Happy, happy Canada Day! […]
A good veggie reference for those who don’t need books with pretty pictures When you nickname your garden The Microgarden, as I do, one thing is certain: Abundant space is not a feature. The first is Karen Newcomb’s The Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden that invites you to grow tons of organic vegetables in tiny spaces and containers. […]
The patio in the garden of sculptor Birgit Piskor was actually used to play checkers when this was her childhood home. I love how she kept it when she returned home and made her garden. When the rain and sleet and snow come tomorrow, this is where I’ll be sitting in my mind. Join me?
If you notice a white-haired gal walking down the street with a bouquet of leaves… that’s me. Leaves, from large to small: tulip tree (Liriodendron), Freeman maple (Acer x freemanii), and even that danged alien Norway maple (Acer platanoides).
Call this salt and pepper: peppery-tasting nasturtiums in one of our grandmother’s saltware jugs It’s feeling kinda frosty outside, but some plants are still chugging along – even those fleshy ones you’d think would be susceptible to chilling. Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum) for one. They’re the biggest-bang-for-buck annuals in my garden, and I always have room for […]
Large firepit sitting area from designer-retailer JJ deSousa’s garden in Portland, OR Are you stuck with a garden that isn’t “on the level” – so sloped, it creates awkward changes in elevation? Want to turn that negative into a positive? Well, our promise to bring back ideas from the Garden Bloggers’ Fling in Portland OR […]
The tour program describes this Williamson Road garden as a “plantswoman’s paradise.” No wonder I loved it. Sunday’s Beach Garden Society garden tour had many highlights – and we’ll write about others, later. But, by accident, Sarah and I saved the best till last, the subject of today’s post. It showed how even a plant […]
The amazing green roof of the Hugh Garner (fingers keep trying to type “Gardener” – whose wouldn’t?) Housing Co-op. You now have official excuse reason to spend the Friday before Father’s Day in the garden. Toronto has proclaimed it Garden Day. Yay! Thank you, Toronto. What’s more, it’ll be part of an annual three-day garden […]