A noun. A verb. A blog.
Gardens are always a work in progress, in my case one that always involves rocks. 1. Grown more flowering annuals from seed, like zinnias and tithonia, (Mexican Sunflowers), and actual sunflowers. One of my favourite things about gardening is being able to make bouquets for the house, and my cutting garden wasn’t up to […]
This is my homework: historic Campbell House, an authentic Georgian piece of Old York (which was Toronto before Toronto) on a quarter-acre of land at Queen and University. And I, and my classmates, each get to redesign the garden. Well, design it in theory if not in actuality – although our designs will be juried by […]
A week ago, Sarah and Helen joined a packed crowd at the Toronto Botanical Garden to see English garden guru Matthew Wilson (aka the Heathcliff of the Hedgerows*). His RHS book New Gardening: How to garden in a changing climate was on sale at the event. [Update: At first, I couldn’t find it online in […]
…of mice and mums are certainly ganging agley this month. Remind me, if I try this again, not to take two university courses and attempt to work full-time – at the same time – again. In the pie of my life, blogging is getting a very narrow slice… more like crumbs. I have assignments every […]
You might need BBC blood in your veins to remember the childen’s show Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men (and I don’t mean the more slick, recent reprise). Bill and Ben were identical flowerpot people, not too unlike the fellow in our picture today, and every episode would end with the question: Was it Bill […]
Everyone in the north gets pretty bedraggled by the end of January. We’ve already coped with 2 months of winter proper, and only have February and March to look forward to, months often filled with snow storms, slush and bitter cold. Even though this January in Toronto was ridiculously warm, with rain some days, and […]
Commenting on my Leaf Eater review, wise Pomona Belvedere of Tulips in the Woods reminded me to wear ear protection. She’s quite right. As someone who has a severe-to-profound hearing loss, I should know. And know better. Called presbycusis – a great word to file away for Scrabble or crossword clues – my type of […]
Tree creatures. Walking in a park by the lake a few weeks ago I snapped this picture of a tree base that I instantly labelled, “Tree Feet”. Helen’s been writing a lot about trees lately and it has made me think about how I’ve felt about trees in my life. Trees were only one of […]
Park path in Beach area of Toronto, right off busy Queen Street Something about pathways through woods, parks and deep-dark forests has always been compelling to me. Did it start with watching The Wizard of Oz? A journey through strange places amongst strange people where you can’t get lost, because you have a surefire path […]
Perhaps it’s our English or Welsh blood*, but I like the rain. Sometimes we might get too much of a good thing, but there it is: a good thing. With my hefty, 2,424-page Compact Oxford English Dictionary (New Edition) came a button-shaped reading glass to magnify the mouse type. I love the way rain does […]
Or, rather, Au revoir. Ile d’Orléans, the island in the St. Lawrence River just a few kilometres east of Québec City, has been our family’s second home since 1987. This weekend, we drove the 800+ kilometres there (and back again) to pack, disperse and transport the accumulation of more than two decades. This, and the […]
Disclaimer: The images in this post are not pictures of my garden. They are gardens of simple inspiration from around the city. A new season: Time to take stock of the garden. Starting back where it began, twenty-two autumns ago in November, when we took possession of two rectangles of sparse lawn, with a house […]