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…
Yes, it’s a little early to start talking about mowing the lawn. In parts of Ontario, upwards of 10 feet of snow will have to melt away first. But something exciting in the world of mowing has been reported and I just had to share. Really. A large swath of grass lawn at Chanticleer, Pennsylvania,…
With April showers come May flowers and lots of bees (hopefully) to lap up nectar and do their pollinator thing. I always thought that whatever was served up in a flower was good enough for the average bee but it turns out that pollen and nectar aren’t great sources of moisture. Bees need sources of…
We’re already in the middle of April and I’ve just found out that butterfly season is already well underway. These bedazzled bugs start making their appearance in Canada as early as March in balmy British Columbia. It won’t be long before Ontario is in peak butterfly mode. What’s the panic, you may ask? It’s surprising…
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…
I’ve been trying my very best (for several years now) to start a completely natural wildflower garden at our cottage on the Bruce Peninsula in southwestern Ontario. The garden is a small patch of land, decorated with several dead logs and a tree stump, just feet from the shoreline of our small freshwater lake. I…
I had to share this post by Daniel Cartwright, Head Gardener at Winterbourne House and Garden, an Edwardian historic house and garden in Birmingham, which is basically in the centre of England. He shares his top 3 tips for attracting and supporting healthy bees Choosing flowers for bees: Take careful consideration of the shape of…
Is this the ultimate guide for the lazy gardener? If your ideal Fall Clean Up Day is to do as little as possible, you’ve come to the right place. But what if I told you that by doing far less, you’re actually helping your garden’s health and wildlife way more? That’s a real win-win. Here’s…
In spring, you can’t swing a bat in a garden centre without sending a display of bee-friendly flowers flying. Everyone’s on the bee-saving bandwagon and that’s a good thing. But even though we’re heading into autumn, you can still plant for beauty and the bees. Add a nectar-producing tree to your garden. Some of the…
I love driving out into the country to find a farmers’ market. Covering a few dozen kilometres or more doesn’t faze me a bit if it means scoring super fresh, local produce and maybe a homemade pie as well. But I’m not sure I’d be that enthusiastic about covering long distances for my next meal…
Here is a wonderful post I had to share from fellow blogger champagne whiskey.com. For an amazing few minutes of pure beauty, watch the videos of bird song turned into audio sculptures. Simply stunning. Here is the link: Speaking the Language
Who knew Monarch butterflies were so cosmopolitan? New research shows that these beleaguered critters prefer the comfort of a tamed urban garden than a wild meadow. Brian Cutting and Douglas W. Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home, recently wrote an article published online by Oxford University Press about where Monarch butterflies actually like to dine and…
As the gardening season reaches full swing, promoting awareness about our beleaguered bugs has ramped up as well. Everywhere I turn, I’m finding articles and opinion pieces on the need to add pollinator-friendly plants to our gardens. On a recent garden tour organized by the Toronto Botanical Gardens, I kept finding little plastic signs stuck into flower…
Warning: this post is a fluff piece. And it’s strictly for the birds. Fluff is important for building a nice, cosy nest. All soon-to-be Bird Moms know this. But pollution, weed killers and our innate desire to clean up our gardens has resulted in a dearth of plant-based fluff. But there are ways you can…
Even if you live in a skyscraper, if you’ve got a balcony (or a flat roof), you can help save bees and other pollinators. The Home Garden Seed Association recently reported that flowers don’t have to be growing in ground-level beds to attract bees and butterflies. If you plant them, they will find you–just about…
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 