A noun. A verb. A blog.
Yes, weedsday; you read that right. Norway maples, Acer platanoides, Toronto’s most dominant (in so many senses) street tree. You can’t garden in Toronto, especially its east end, without grappling with these non-native giants; trees that are as voracious as they are fecund. But, gee, they have pretty flowers. They’re all chartreuse and fluffy-y. From […]
This may be our last chance this summer to catch a major pest before it spreads its seeds. Watch out for these monsters: Under-ripe pods, packed with feathery, airborne, milkweed-like seeds. If you’re a Toronto Gardens reader, you’ve noted our campaign against the steamroller known as dog-strangling vine (DSV) or pale swallowwort (Vincetoxicum rossicum, syn. […]
They’re ba-a-ck! Now opening in a garden near you: the first of the yearly horde of seedlings of Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima). Recognize them by the shiny, round primary leaves, followed quickly by pointy secondaries. If you see them, pounce immediately. Tree of Heaven is a prodigiously fast-growing, liberally self-seeding, non-native tree whose fronds […]
Spotted during the Toronto Women’s Half Marathon in the Don Valley this morning (with my 15-year-old daughter; her first race) — masses, and masses, and masses, and masses of dog-strangling vine or swallowwort (Vincetoxicum rossicum, syn. Cynanchum spp., from the Greek meaning “to choke a dog”) I’ve written warnings about this pernicious weed before: here […]
This week, Nova Scotia garden blogger Jodi of bloomingwriter wrote about her experience freeing a hummingbird trapped in her barn. It reminded me of a similar thrill of mine. One summer at our place on Ile d’Orléans, in the St. Lawrence River just outside Québec City, the (francophone) kids next door were collecting Monarch caterpillars […]
Amongst the refuse of last year’s greenery, you might now be noticing the evidence of past crime: the dried pod casings of dog-strangling vine (Vincetoxicum rossicum) [Update: This weed is also known as swallowwort, Cynanchum spp., from the Greek meaning “to choke a dog”)]. In my continuing quest to do my part to eradicate this […]