A noun. A verb. A blog.
In the glorious weather on Saturday, I had to make a stop at East End Garden Centre, a gardening institution on Queen Street East for 27 years. Of course, the racks outside the store were laden with pansies, those frost-hardy annuals that are great for planters at this in-between time of year. I always stick […]
In Toronto, the blooming of the silver maple, Acer saccharinum, is a true sign of spring. Yet most people don’t even notice the modest little pompom flowers because they’re way up there on some of the city’s tallest street trees. When it’s not in leaf, you can recognize the mature silver maple by its shaggy […]
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 […]
February 25th. That’s the earliest snowdrop this year amongst my usually fearless few. In other years, I’ve had snowdrops as early as January 1st. To have the first appear near the beginning of March is a sign of our unusually cold winter, 2008/9. This one appears particularly feeble. But let’s take what we can get.
It’s good to get out with a camera, even on a record-setting rainy day in February. Even under the raindrops, it’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood. I think the covergirl picture is bridalwreath spirea (Spirea vanhouttii) making with the pearldrops. Definitely privet (Ligustrum) berries. People don’t think of privet as ornamental, but they can […]
When you find a shrub that will grow in fairly consistent shade, and has interesting foliage, and will flower, and on top of it all will flower fragrantly, you need to crow about it. Hence this homage to Daphne ‘Carol Mackie.’ I was first introduced to ‘Carol Mackie’ in a fantastic garden during the Riverdale […]
Yesterday, I want on a fabulous Toronto Tree Tour, sponsored by LEAF, and the Toronto Public Space Committee, this one of the trees of Danforth East. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to talk about all I learned just now. So more on this soon. However, I did want to quickly post a pic of […]
Tulipa ‘Angelique’ is a beauty – one of the first “peony-flowered” varieties on the market. I planted half a dozen of them in my garden a few years ago from bulbs purchased through the Beach Garden Society. And this one is really plumped-up and gorgeous. Trouble is, this one isn’t in my garden anymore. It’s […]
Ah, the anticipation of springtime. Waiting for the blooms to unfold after a long and trying winter. I look out over my domain at the sea of green and notice the garden is punctuated… by spikes; yes, once again, spiky stems of snapped-off tulips. Alas, lopped in their prime, before the buds burst into bloom. […]
Every year around March I go on a search for blue pansies. They are the first annual flowers that appear in the garden shops and local markets, and they are a certain sign that winter is over. I always grab some of these as soon as they appear, and put them in a pot outside […]
Okay, it’s a laboured title, but an apt one. Someone gave me these pink hyacinths in a pot of three when our daughter Lucy was born, 21 years ago. I let them ripen and dry, and thought little more of them. Later that year, we bought a house – the one we still inhabit. The previous […]
People think of flowers as just there. If someone asked you to draw a tulip, you’d probably draw a fluted cup on a stick. But really they are animated things, moving with the sunlight – opening wide, closing tight, leaning left and right. Tulipa tarda is one of my faves, and deserves to be planted […]