Originally posted on Garden Variety:
This photo courtesy of wallpaperswide. Subsequent photos copyright by Mike Alexander. Our man in Europe, horticulturist Mike Alexander, on the season of the dandelion, the bane of gardeners everywhere. The dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a perennial weed that plagues gardeners and grows on every continent on the planet, including Antarctica.…
Forecasters are predicting a long, hot summer. If we’re looking at a dry summer, too, that’ll also mean plenty of blazingly bright days. Luckily, you can still turn a deck or patio into a lush oasis despite the hot + dry + bright equation. One answer is wildly popular Calibrachoa hybrids, commonly known as million bells…
Despite below-average spring temperatures here in Southern Ontario, the big box hardware stores are busily stacking patio furniture to the rafters–always a heartening sign. But I’m not feeling the love for tastefully modern, ebony-coloured plicker side tables or neon-bright recycled-plastic faux Adirondacks. After one crazy-long winter, I’m thinking big and bad. Huge and heavy. I’m thinking…
Officially, spring arrived a month ago. But in Southern Ontario, late April is when spring really begins. Around our house, that’s when the BBQ starts winning over the stovetop, we can finally sit out on the patio (OK, so we’re still wearing our parkas) for the cocktail hour, and we make a quick weekend trip…
We’re almost at the end of April and that means one thing to a lot of gardeners and most landscaping suppliers in Southern Ontario–mulching time. If you’re already hooked on mulch, you know first hand the benefits of this spring rite. Let me count the ways we love mulch: Weeds are kept at bay. Mulch…
Ever seen a tree in a park or your neighbour’s front yard and thought “I want that tree for my garden. What on earth is it?” I just discovered there’s an app for that. Two universities and the Smithsonian Institution collaborated on Leafsnap, a free tree field guide for iPhone introduced three years ago. (OK–so…
Who’d transform a huge garden by planting all kinds of annuals and perennials to match a wedding’s colour theme? That’s exactly what Trish Symons did. At the Peterborough Garden Show last weekend, she explained how her daughter’s blue-themed wedding inspired her garden makeover. Me? In the same circumstance, I’d probably buy paint and super-saturate the…
In this month’s issue of Sunset magazine, a feature on mulches for containers suggests using untumbled mirror. That’s little pieces of broken mirror. Hmmmm. The idea is kinda cool. For a combo of alien-looking succulents, why not have something metallic and shiny as a mulch? I figure if you don’t have kids or pets and…
There are lots of amazing new plants being introduced in Southern Ontario this spring. I’ll keep you posted on the best over the next few weeks. Here’s one of my faves: a basil topiary. Tiny, tender basil leaves crown a woody (yep!) stem. Harvest the leaves all summer for salads and pasta dishes. Then bring…
After attending yet another lecture at a botanical society shoulder-to-shoulder with a battalion of grey-haired ladies, I wondered about where gardening was headed. I understand that in the eyes of most kids gardening is deeply uncool. Yeah, it was fun as a toddler, digging in the dirt with your bright plastic spade. But later, you raked the…
The last few mornings, the birds have been singing their hearts out. The big rush to find one’s beloved before getting down to nest-building is on. But I’m going to have my ears tuned to the electric whirr of a speeding hummingbird. I usually hear these amazing critters long before I can finally see them…
Yesterday, I sat in on a lecture at the Toronto Botanical Garden by plantswoman extraordinaire Marion Jarvie of Thornhill, Ontario. The topic was renewing and renovating your garden–starting now. This dynamo gardener had eyes popping over photos of her handiwork and eyebrows raised over some of her suggestions for sprucing up our own gardens this…
The countdown to full-on gardening in Southern Ontario has started. But the ground is still frozen and our daytime temps are climbing. Very. Slowly. So, I’m still looking at the garden from inside the house and repeating to myself that, this spring, I’m going to plant some plants and arrange some containers out there to make the long…
You may not have heard the buzz yet but now’s the time to keep bees in mind. April’s slightly warmer weather means garden clean-up goes into high gear and that can be a big problem for bees–solitary bees, that is. First, a quick note on the difference between solitary bees and honey bees. Honey bees…
You’re looking at your yard. Maybe there’s a spot at the back that needs some love. Or you’ve taken a personal oath to finally get that front walkway looking a little more, well, welcoming this spring. Even experienced gardeners can have a momentary crisis of indecision–”What’s going to grow and not die on me after…
Horticulturist, Arborist and Garden Columnist
Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life
Garden of Flowers, Beads, and Yarns
ruminate vb. to chew (the cud)
Reflections On A Life in Exile
Saint Andrews Forest Farm Blog
a chat over the garden fence
There's always room for one more plant.
a little garden near Gawler
.....and nurturing my soul
Ministry of the fence 