A noun. A verb. A blog.
When I sprinkled the seeds of this lovely ‘Dukat Leafy Dill’ from Renee’s Garden, I was hoping this would happen. ‘Dukat’ is said to be leafy, delicious and a little slower to bolt. I had room for them to fluff up between the Gladiolus corms in my second trough, which this year is more of a […]
It’s easy for me to be a breathless fangirl when I truly love a garden. I wanna show you this and this and this and isn’t it all amazing? But then I take a deep breath. Helen, I say, control yourself. This garden is in Austin, Texas. Texas! What would that mean to garden people in Toronto? And I have the answer. Lots! […]
Wherever I travel, my eyes are sharply on the lookout for housing. Housing for birds and bees and butterflies, that is. This summer, my little eye spied this big bee and, perhaps, butterfly condo in the Smithsonian Gardens in Washington, D.C.. With all those living options, it would be the perfect home for all kinds of solitary, […]
A wee bit of excitement here, as we both spotted a Monarch butterfly on the butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) that Sarah has been nurturing along over in the guerrilla garden. It’s a male (you can tell by the two black dots on the lower wings), but we hope he finds a girlfriend and they start raising […]
Coming to a neighbourhood near you this garden season are a whole new crop of volunteer garden and wildlife enthusiasts who have been recruited by the David Suzuki organization to take on garden projects to revitalize nature and wildlife in the city of Toronto. I’m excited to say that I am one of the new […]
Doug Tallamy knows the importance of small things, like caterpillars. Doug’s a writer, entomologist, and is an expert on biodiversity and wildlife. His talk at the Toronto Botanical Garden was entertaining and informative. It was also heartbreaking. Nature lovers (like me) love feeding the birds. I buy those big bags of birdseed. It’s fine to […]
New-world asters aren’t Aster anymore. They are, among other things, Symphyotrichum as in Symphyotrichum novae-angliae or New England aster. Because these new-ish names are a bit of a mouthful, I prefer the term used (and perhaps created) by my friend Gail of Clay and Limestone: Ex-asters. It’s for Gail’s Wildflower Wednesday that I post this almost-wordless […]
The Minneapolis gardener who installed this sash of mesh netting across her front garden bed (can you see it?) told me it was to discourage deer. I don’t have a deer problem, but it looked simple and cool. I neglected to ask her one question: Does it work? Have you tried this technique? And how would you […]
Beautiful Crothers Woods will now be an official environmentally significant area in Toronto. Our beautiful ravine systems are one of the best things about Toronto, counteracting the concrete and condos, right in the very heart of the city. We are fortunate to have so many stunning, wild areas in Toronto: places where nature does the […]
Like the Little Black Dress, you can dress this up or down – a simple design to emulate Always, I’m grateful to neighbours for giving me ideas to steal copy emulate. That metal tube with its holes looks tip-of-the-tongue familiar – but I have no idea what it is. If you do, please tell us. […]
Native echinacea (Purple coneflower) and monarda (Bee Balm) attract all sorts of butterflies and other pollinators. This is one native plants for Ontario database I don’t want to forget, so I’m posting it here. Evergreen Canada is such a marvellous nature and environmental organization, and we are lucky that we have a headquarters here in Toronto, […]
I keep telling my friend D that she can give these to me We’ve had a word or two or even three to say about squirrels on this blog. Yet, for a gardener who wages a constant (non-violent) war on squirrels, I must confess to having a perverse squirrelophilia. For example, I always claim the […]