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I’m writing this post with my right arm in a cast from knuckles to elbow. Typing, needless to say, has become a lumpy process. C’est la vie. I love exploring the world of gardening and blogging about it so I’m pressing on. Just slower. Way slower. This, combined with new shocking realities reverberating through the…
Today we just lost an hour. You can think of this in one of two ways. Either you’re now late for something or you’re now one hour closer to spring when you can run outside and dig in the dirt and plant flowers and build something marvellous like a pergola. Ancient Romans first coined the…
Spring is in the air and each day more birds are showing up, singing their hearts out and partying on. But there’s a problem. By all reports, everyone’s doing fine in the making babies, erm, eggs department but hatching and caring for the demanding little rascals has become more of a challenge due to an…
Want to put a little vavoom in your veg patch? Whether you’re planning on installing a whole new garden or simply wanting to renovate an existing one, these 11 ideas I’ve discovered while snooping in all kinds of public and private gardens will have you dreaming big. 1. Try a new angle The distinctively angled…
Evidently, large water features are now considered passé. According to certain gardening pundits, large water features once promised “luxury and tranquility” and were a “symbol of outdoor opulence”. This year, big splashy (sorry, not sorry) fountains and faux creeks should be considered energy guzzlers that leave an overly large carbon footprint. I’d like to wade…
Having gained an hour of daylight, I feel like the rapid descent into complete winter gloom has slowed somewhat. At least when the cocktail hour arrives I won’t be groping around in the dark for a light switch in order to find the cork screw. For now. But I have to admit that increasingly dark…
Itching for something to do now that the garden is on autopilot and we’re gliding into the last days of summer? Now’s the perfect time for a garden shed makeover. Here are five awesome inspirations I discovered on my recent travels, snooping in other people’s awesome gardens. Palladian folly You can’t really even call this…
Just weeks ago, weather forecasts for warm sunny days were about as reliable as a used lawn mower at a yard sale (and yet so full of promise). And now? The heat is on. If you’re interested in bringing a touch of coolness–real or imagined–to your garden regardless of its size, I have some suggestions.…
For folks who love a little order in their lives, there is something very soothing about the checkerboard pattern. Graphic, precise and, well, neat, those lined up squares bring order to any underfoot situation. So it’s no surprise that checkerboard patterns in the garden have been around a long time (though not without some controversy,…
When my brother and I were kids we spent several formative years enjoying a backyard that had no lawn, a veritable forest of unclimbable trees, vast swaths of mulch (known back then as ‘beauty bark’) and an enormous cement patio. We were forever suffering from scrapes, bruises and splinters from this decidedly child-unfriendly garden. But,…
Winter gardens are simply gardens that have “great bones” as my mother-in-law used to say. These ‘bones’ are the structures that support and delineate a garden throughout the year but can look particularly striking in winter when there’s nothing else (like flowering plants) to distract the eye. They can be man-made, such as a gazebo,…
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…
One of my favourite signs that spring is on its way is the sound of bird song. After months of listening to the crunch of ice under tires and the crack of branches breaking under the weight of snow, that exuberant trill from a goldfinch or the unique melody of a sparrow is a genuine…
I couldn’t believe the inventiveness of this fellow in Australia (that’s him in the video below) who, after discovering a frog living in his fence post, proceeds to fine tune a better home for the wee thing (whom he names Frod) after a series of night ops-style observations. With some fancy 3D printing and a…
Sculpture? Gazebo? Multi-tiered plant container? The Growroom, an “urban farm pavilion” is all that and an elegantly presented political statement. Swedish architects Mads-Ulrik Husum and Sine Lindholm teamed up with Space10, an innovation lab supported by DIY furnishing mega-brand Ikea, to promote local agriculture and came up with the Growroom. They’re hoping the globe-shaped structure…
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 