A noun. A verb. A blog.
Here’s a cute idea to toast with your wassail cup. These orange slice curtains were tucked into a little corner of one of the Allan Gardens Conservatory greenhouses, and might be easy to miss flanking a doorway on the north side of one of the tropical houses. The late sun doesn’t show these off to […]
When the weather outside is frightening… we prescribe Allan Gardens for an injection of the tropics. Sarah and I recently dropped by an hour before closing for quick, medicinal treatment from their Christmas display. That jumble of colour at the bottom right above doesn’t make a great photo, but it does represent the joyous profusion […]
There are trees in this picture. They are my excuse for writing off topic about the animated Christmas* windows on Queen Street between Bay and Yonge. You’ll notice I didn’t write: at The Bay on Queen Street. That’s because, to me, these will always be the Christmas windows at Simpsons. For those playing along in […]
13 Clues Winter Has Started 1. You wake up with the tell tale sign of something solid pelting the window pane. The big snow has arrived. 2. You are grateful that you don’t have to go anywhere in the car today. No outside appointments! Yay! You snuggle under the covers. *feel smug* 3. You remember […]
Today is opening day for the Christmas flower show at Allan Gardens – sorry for the late notice, but it is on till 5 pm (click the image for a larger view). Head on down to enjoy the carol singers, hot cider, carriage rides and other festal festivities. And, of course, see the floral displays […]
Some inspiration for front door décor from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington. Their display of 100 decorated doors continues till December 10th. The RBG is only about an hour’s drive from Toronto, and if you haven’t visited in a while (I hadn’t till a Garden Writers’ Association conference took me there on Friday) you’ll […]
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 […]
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 […]
Sarah & I often do things as a team. Like this lovely rosemary here. I bought it. Sarah rescued it by transplanting to a larger pot. I ignored it. Sarah made sure it got a bit of water over the summer. I left it outside in the fall. Sarah brought it in before the frost […]
Everyone loves that ferry ride to Toronto Islands in the summertime. It’s the perfect antidote to city heat. Who but its residents visit the island in winter? Last September 2007, some friends and I met on Ward’s Island to do the Terry Fox 10K and we made a pact — Let’s visit the islands at […]
Will it never end, Doctor? This compulsive diet of snow and ice and icy snow. And ice. I must confess, I’ve had my fill of it. Come on, winter, smarten up! There are snowdrops under there! Somewhere. I think. There should be snowdrops. There must be snowdrops. The snowdrops that usually tell me and the […]
It isn’t every year that Toronto is blessed, yes blessed, with such an agglomeration of snow. With the storms of the last week, I know it feels like the snow has been here forever. But think about it. As recently as January 8th, the Toronto Star had this to say about our typical post-New-Year weather: […]