Going fabulously fake. Super-sizing. Turning the practical into art. There are plenty of I-can-do-that garden ideas designed for maximum wow at Toronto’s Canada Blooms, the annual festival of all things horticultural in full swing all this week. Here are my top five ‘likes’. Click on any photo to start each slideshow for more details. 1. Try un-natural:…
Even if you live in a skyscraper, if you’ve got a balcony (or a flat roof), you can help save bees and other pollinators. The Home Garden Seed Association recently reported that flowers don’t have to be growing in ground-level beds to attract bees and butterflies. If you plant them, they will find you–just about…
Pruning is one of those divisive words that can inspire fear, joy or annoyance but I think we can all agree that a shrub or tree, when in need of a trim and correctly pruned, looks the better and is healthier for it. But that’s the problem. How do you know what needs to be…
Whoa! Garden geeks listen up. Is it just me or do the latest brilliant ideas from Jeremy Rifkin, prolific writer, lecturer, and advisor to heads of state, sound familiar? In his latest book, The Zero Marginal Cost Society, he explains his theory about “the emerging Internet of Things”, a “global Collaborative Commons and the eclipse of…
This Sunday, we jump ahead by an hour (except in parts of Saskatchewan), collectively acknowledging that Spring isn’t coming quickly enough. Funny how we can take matters into our own hands and get more daylight in our days–or at least the perception of it. To mark the occasion, I thought it would be fun to…
One day, somewhere in the middle of the 23rd century, Spock boldly goes on a plant hunt (watch the video clip at the bottom of this posting). He discovers a species that, at first, he dismisses as the horticultural version of “a happiness pill”–as if such a thing couldn’t exist. Every gardener knows that they do exist. And…
Why is it that sometimes the things closest to us are the least understood? Here’s a quick myth-busting guide to native plants with some gorgeous options for adding “local colour” to a garden in Southern Ontario. Myth #1: Native plants are drought tolerant. A plant native to your area has thrived in your area for a…
On a recent trip to Iceland, I hoped to see the Northern Lights. I didn’t. Even the moon and stars were crowded out by storms in a continuous loop of advance and retreat. And for the first couple of days exploring this spectacular country, I thought the landscape was going to be just as elusive. Clouds transmogrified into…
Cute illustration. Great (read: easy) ideas. And it helps you help bees. Love this post from fellow gardening blogger Nigel Boldero aka Old School Garden. If you’re thinking of adding a new flower bed to your garden, check out this plan. Bee Positive.
Houseplants can get a bad rep as limp dust-collectors your Grandma lines up along her dining room windowsill. But when you walk into the Wisley Glasshouse, part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Wisley gardens complex in southern England, you get in-your-face proof that these plants can have a much wilder side. In a previous posting,…
Even on the wettest and chilliest of grey winter days, Wisley is a wonder. Granted, just about anything green and blossoming in the dead of February would seem like a minor miracle to this Southern Ontarian’s snow-wearied eyes. But this garden isn’t a jewel in the Royal Horticulural Society’s collection just because it so effectively reaps the benefits…
I just sprayed eau de Dirt on my wrist and got a lovely memory rush of digging in my garden. Such is my longing for spring on this cold and grey winter’s day. I’ll admit that I’m also hooked on Demeter Fragrance Library scents, as much for their uncanny encapsulations of time travel as for the…
In Southern Ontario, long, frigid February nights may seem particularly abysmal but at this time last year, a couple of photographers in our region captured the dark sky filled with vertical streaks of coloured light. Though Science and Weather Reporter Nicole Mortillaro romantically referred to the pillars as “one of winter’s gifts, an almost apologetic gesture for the…
Who says you need a brain to rally help, change course to avoid an obstacle, or share your food? After reading The Intelligent Plant by Michael Pollan, you’ll think twice about being so “cerebrocentric”. Published in The New Yorker in 2013, this article is a fascinating overview into the curious, contentious and controversial world of plant intelligence research. Reading up…
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 