Stand-out plants for an outstanding gardening season
When I first saw this mesmerizing flower at Sissinghurst Castle Garden in the Weald of Kent (which is a fancy way of saying in a bit of South East England) I had no idea that the plant was actually a North American wildflower. All I could think of was that all those delicate white and…
Globe thistle (Echinops sphaerocephalus) shares its name with a cuter-than-cute hedgehog from Madagascar (Echinops telfairi) because of their uncanny resemblance but, by the light of a recent super moon, I thought the plant looked very nearly like a teeny, tiny exploding planet. Almost, but not quite. Planetary explosions must be massively messy and the head of a globe thistle has to…
Maybe it’s that we’re lucky to live in places where there are lots of big trees (read: gardens with lots of shade) or maybe it’s because we’re looking for plants that reliably show up every year, do a great job of quickly filling up an area with lushness and look quite elegant in the process.…
GOODBYE CRAYOLA CUTIES If your shady bed of hot-coloured Impatiens suddenly collapsed last spring, you probably encountered a case of Impatiens Downy Mildew, a pathogen that can attack the plant very quickly and leave an entire bed looking devastated. The disease has now struck Ontario, Quebec and parts of B.C. and may affect gardens in the future…
Lilies are the glamazons of the flower world. But have you ever got up-close and personal with a gorgeous lily, taken a good whiff of that heady scent and then backed away only to have a friend say you look like you just gorfed down a ballpark dog and got mustard all over your face…
One of my old gardening books, circa 1978, had this withering comment about catnip–”favourite of cats, not very ornamental and best grown in inconspicuous corner”. But catnip is going on my plant shopping list despite the fact that my kitty died a couple of years ago (at the ripe old age of 23). This spring,…
Horticulturist, Arborist and Garden Columnist
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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 