Bicolour Streptocarpus

The pretty annual with the ugly name

Streptocarpus sounds like the kind of throat infection you really want to avoid but it’s the deceiving name of one of my favourite little houseplants–one that can outshine a lot of outdoors plants in the summer garden as well. And that’s not all. My weathered Streptocarpus after a recent rainstorm in mid-July. A relative of…

Garden seating areas

Ghosts of the Victorian garden

Last Monday was Victoria Day here in Canada, a national holiday that was once the official day to celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday and is now simply our unofficial kick-off to spring. This weekend also semi-reliably marks the moment when danger of overnight frost has passed–at least for most Canadians. Hence, gardening centres finally fling open…

Garden view through a window

Looking outside for gardening insight

The countdown to full-on gardening in Southern Ontario has started. But the ground is still frozen and our daytime temps are climbing. Very. Slowly. So, I’m still looking at the garden from inside the house and repeating to myself that, this spring, I’m going to plant some plants and arrange some containers out there to make the long…