Easy creative ideas for small gardens, shade gardens and rock gardens plus using colour in innovative ways.
I thought ‘Limelight’ hydrangeas–with all those minty fresh flower heads the size of my head (see directly below)–were the bee’s knees. Then I discovered ‘Wedding Gown’. The blooms of the aptly named Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Double Delights Wedding Gown’ (also known as ‘Dancing Snow’) really do make you think of ruffles and lace. ‘Limelights’ will always find a…
As the day grew hotter, so did the colours in the next couple of gardens we visited on our Toronto Botanical Gardens tour led by Frank Kershaw. Now we were pushing into Southern Ontario’s horse country, a verdant quilt of velvety green fields plumped on rolling hills fringed with forest. As much as the last…
There were plants everywhere–in the ground, dangling from trellises, stacked over other plants and lining the tops of fences. And yet, despite the sheer number of plants crammed into this garden, there was a distinct sense of calmness and elegance. This was an eye-opening garden. But discovering a place that leaves you gob-smacked is to…
With a shady garden, summer evenings (when you finally have time to sit back and relax) can be a mixed blessing. You’re not baking in the sun’s glare but lengthening shadows can fade bright flowers, shrubs, and lawns into a cool but disappointing dullness. Many a garden design guide will recommend white flowers and plants with…
Back in the day, people used to sneak out for a smoke in the garden. One of the more intriguing predictions from the Garden Media Group, a home and garden marketing and PR firm based in Pennsylvania, is a growing trend in smoking your garden–as in lighting up some home-grown. [ATTENTION CANADIANS: The idea of playing…
Though its name suggests otherwise, the Toad Lily (Tricyrtis) is a delicate wonder. And it’s really helpful for shady spots in the fall garden–the part of the garden that so often looks the worst first as summer fizzles out. Blooming from September until late in the season in Southern Ontario, they’ll light up a spot…
I made and designed succulent arches for a client recently that hand vertically. I was commissioned to make two of them and they would hang in the exterior entryway of their home. Each vertical garden is approximately 7′ tall and almost 2′ wide. During this process I discovered that certain succulents can take longer than…
The sun has almost completed its wide arc around your house and is low on the horizon, finally lighting up your back patio. Beads of moisture start to form on your icy G&T. After hours of chilly AC, you’re loving the heat. But for your flower-filled planters, maybe not so much. If you walk out onto your…
If you love to stop people in their tracks, try stuffing a garden bed with flaming red Caladiums. They’ll only last until frost but if you plant them in late spring, what a show they’ll put on all summer. They’re really handy if you’ve got: • a shady spot–part to full shade • lots of…
Nowhere is the old adage about beauty being in the eye of the beholder more appropriate than when you’re staring at a great weed. The unfortunately named Goutweed is a weed for sure. But what a beauty. And handy, too–if you feel like living dangerously. Aegopodium podagraria aka Goutweed aka ground elder, bishop’s weed or snow-in-the-mountain…
Sick of all those happy, shiny bright blooms out there? Reaching for your shades rather than endure another moment of glowing greenness? Same here. Come mid-July, I’m over the smiley-face-yellow flowers, the cherub-bum-pink rosebuds and the so-cheery-my-face-hurts flowerpots. It’s time for some black. Actually, I think a little black is great for the garden any…
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…
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…
Sometimes I can go into a garden centre and feel like my head’s going to explode. There’s so much choice. Which is a good thing, of course. The more types of plants, the better you’ll find just the right ones for your personal paradise. But an abundance of options can also make for, well, exploding…
I dropped into one of my favourite grocery store pop-up garden centres yesterday and was very surprised to see impatiens for sale. They’ve always been a popular plant, for sure, and a terrific problem solver in past years if you wanted lots of cheap ‘n’ cheerful colour in shady areas of your garden. But they’re…
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 