The official start of fall is still a week away and yet my inbox is jammed with enthusiastic announcements from various nurseries. “OUR BULBS ARE IN!!!” (They’re caps, not mine). “Hurry! Get yours before they sell out!” Where to start? If you’re stalling for inspiration, here are some over-the-top ideas in the Go Big Or…
This summer has been exceptionally cool and wet so no surprise to see so many mushrooms popping up everywhere on our mostly-woodland property in southwestern Ontario. But I’ve never seen so many different kinds. And some of them are truly weird. Take a peek, if you dare. A reef on a leaf This is a…
If you need to install a staircase in your garden you probably have a really good reason for doing so. People don’t usually throw a staircase into their hardscaping plans just because they love to climb steps. There’s a good reason for them and there’s no getting around the fact that they’ll have to be…
This whole ‘She Sheds’ thing is a bit of a puzzler to me. I get that women can hanker after an equivalent of a man cave and I totally get that a plain old garden shed offers up infinite possibilities beyond storing gardening equipment and a lawn mower. But I didn’t realize how much these…
Filling up a big spot in a garden bed can be pretty easy. But what if you want volume (height or width or both) without bulk–as in heavy, leafy, darkness-inducing shrubs? Look to the frothy fronds of fennel and asparagus offering the softest forms there are in the plant world. They offer a lot of…
In what I hope becomes a long-lived annual tradition, I visited friends for a few days this month in Gananoque, a small, utterly gorgeous town on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Ontario. The timing is not inconsequential. Not only is “the Gan” practically vibrating in July with good times–outdoor concerts, boat…
I love discovering an extraordinary plant that just stops me in my tracks [insert head-exploding emoji]. Here’s a round-up of some of the best I’ve found that reach complete otherworldliness in mid-summer. Unfortunately, not all of them are easy to find, at least not in Canada, but they’re well worth the search. I’ve added website…
If you’re craving a little country in your city garden, it might be easier than you think to add some rural charm. And there are inspirations everywhere. But why would you want to? Because farm love is a real thing. Recently, the New York Times ran an article entitled ‘The Modern Farmhouse is Today’s McMansion.…
If you caught last week’s post on Chanticleer, I hope you were left craving more. Chanticleer seemed to me to have a never-ending supply of gardening ideas. A water feature that mimics a giant sarcophagus/banquet table, evergreen mastadons and a cutting garden to rival Giverny? Oh, yeah! The Ruin Garden The “ruin” in the Ruin…
On a recent visit to Pennsylvania, I visited two world class gardens–Longwood Gardens, which I covered in a post two weeks ago, and Chanticleer. Trying to compare these two extraordinary places or pick a favourite would be like trying to choose between Cabernet Sauvignon and Champagne. In my world, it can’t be done. They’re two…
Happy Canada Day! July 1st was yesterday but since we tend to spread out our traditional festivities over at least three days, I figure there’s still time to do something patriotic. Here are five fun suggestions for gardeners: 1. Brush up on your botanic identifiers The iconic maple leaf in the centre of our national…
Longwood Gardens in southeast Pennsylvania, U.S.A., has been on my bucket list for years and I finally got the chance to visit this outstanding place last week. Entry tickets are timed during the summer so my friend and I had no choice but to explore the gardens during a downpour. Were we disappointed? Not at…
This post is not completely on brand, I freely admit. It’s not about growing plants or designing gardens. It’s actually about something that takes place well beyond my garden and, I predict, a long distance from your garden as well. But I felt a need to share and ask your take on the trouble with…
There’s a lot of talk about nativars–cultivars of native plants (read: cultivars of plants native to your region.) Ultimately, are these plants a good thing or a bad thing? Unfortunately, nativars can be more colourful, larger, taller, sturdier, hardier, etc., etc., but at the cost of being sterile, blooming in colours that insects don’t recognize…
The Canadian Garden Council’s promotion ‘Live The Garden Life‘ for this year includes a collaboration with Communities in Bloom and is inspiring everyone to “plant purple, the colour theme of the year in 2023“. According to the council, purple was chosen for the variety of effects the hue has on mind and body including: Now,…
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 