Yesterday was a scorcher. The thermometer outside our kitchen window registered 38ºC. You could almost hear the lawn sizzle as it turned, with frightening speed, from green to gold. Of course, that got me thinking about the state of the world, why lawns aren’t always green, and whether I can still rock tank tops. But…
If you’ve got a lot with a house on it, chances are you’ve got a fence. It just comes with the territory. Literally. They’re practical things, keeping kids and pets in, other people’s kids and pets out, and quietly asserting just exactly where your responsibilities for grass cutting and baseball tosses begins and ends. But…
I have to admit that growing my own groceries hasn’t been high up on my WhooHOO-gotta-do-it!!!! list. Except for a brief love affair with basil and tomato plants back in the day, picking herbs and vegetables for me seemed a whole lot easier at a farmer’s market than in your own backyard. [And, yes, I…
I just got tipped off by the folks at Garden Rant that they’d been asked by Time Inc.’s Money.com for some “brutally honest” advice about where to spend big moola on your garden and when to keep your cash in your pocket. From an online collective with a website subtitled “Uprooting the gardening world” that…
Is it just me or are gardens filling up with rocks? Huge stoneworks. Massive boulders. They’re everywhere it seems. If you’re in the mood to add some hard stuff to your personal paradise, get inspired by some of these ideas from gardens here in Southern Ontario. Click on any photo to get the slideshow started…
Having leftover firewood at our place is a little like having leftover wine. Basically, it never happens. But if the fascination with setting things, er, logs aflame slows to the point where we do have some hanging around, I’m definitely going to try this nifty idea I came across during a terrific weekend visit to…
Originally posted on Anna International:
The sun is shining and the weather is sweet, and it makes me want to be out in the garden making it look beautiful! Lately we’ve been collecting pallets wherever we spot them with the intention of doing ‘useful things’ with them, but so far they’ve mainly just been used…
If Wilma Flintstone was a gardener, I bet her back yard would’ve been gushing with native plants–garden centres selling imported varieties having not been invented yet. But what would that garden have looked like? You can get a pretty good idea by visiting San Francisco Botanical Garden’s Ancient Plant Garden. My besty Diane Hall did…
A pot of plants at the front door makes a great welcome. But a really BIG arrangement of plants and sticks and stuff that towers over your head registers high octane on the Howdy Meter. Here are some ideas for easy, budget-friendly containers inspired by front entrance whoppers I found on recent garden tours in Cabbagetown…
A friend of mine recently asked me about manure. In a nice way. And it got me thinking. And doing a little research. And what I gathered will raise some eyebrows. But first, I’ll back up a bit. She asked me about manure because she knew I’m in the middle of taking the Organic Horticulture…
Real estate agents love to talk “curb appeal”. In Toronto’s Cabbagetown, home-owners have taken this concept to a whole new level. Here are some ways home-proud gardeners have created teeny, tiny front yards that can make any sidewalk stroller do an “Oh, wow!” Click on any image to get more info.
Ignore the calendar. Today’s your lucky day. There’s an Urban Vegetable Patch Garden Tour in Oshawa starting at five this evening. You can ride a bike to each private patch. Kate’s Garden Annual Lavender Vintage Fair in Unionville just kicked off its two-day shindig this morning. And you can do a Honey Tasting featuring honey harvested…
A pool with its own rain maker, a veggie patch on wheels, complete with pinwheel, and strings of Christmas tree bulbs carefully chosen to match the posies in a June-blooming front garden…. Yup, these can only mean one thing–the annual Cabbagetown garden tour in downtown Toronto. Yesterday, I did this annual walkabout with one of…
ipolitics.ca reported that Prince Edward County, right here in Southern Ontario, has become the first municipality in the country to ban (albeit temporarily) a controversial insecticide believed to be killing bees. Let’s take a step back a minute to appreciate this. The article mentions that “Scientists estimate one-third of all plants and plant products eaten…
You can watch your fave episode of Sons Of Anarchy twice, so why can’t you do the same with your plants? Well, you can. Amazingly, there are plenty of perennials that burst into flower and then, do it again, and sometimes, again and again. Talk about getting your money’s worth–particularly when these plants, being perennials,…
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 