GARDEN NURSERY WORTH THE DRIVE: Lost Horizons in Acton, ON. MY RATING: ♥♥♥♥ (This highly unscientific and thoroughly opinionated rating system is based on a range from lowest score of one ♥ to a highest score of five ♥♥♥♥♥). THE TIP-OFF: I knew I had to check out Lost Horizons because it seemed every time I went to a…
I had fun last year gathering ideas for how to rock your garden. There are a whole lot of gardeners out there creating gorgeous environments using stone they’ve either recycled from their own plot of land or brought in. Now, like collecting different coloured pebbles, I’m hooked on finding inspirations. Here are more DIY rock…
Despite a torrential rain last night, producing the briefest dip in temperature, we’re enjoying a ridiculously hot and humid summer here in southwestern Ontario. Our flower beds are parched and our lawns are going KFC–golden and crunchy. There’s only one thing to do: go sit somewhere in the garden with a chilled glass of wine…
Can you make a retaining wall look like garden sculpture? Can you camouflage a lush zen retreat within a rustic ranch-style enclosure? The owners of this full-of-surprises home and garden in southwestern Ontario (zone 5) sure did and they made it all look so easy. Compared to the other homes and gardens I saw on…
It goes by the unglamorous common name of Tickseed. The botanical Coreopsis sounds much more appealing but, in fact, just glosses over a hard reality. This fancier name comes from the Greek koris, for bug, and opsis, for ‘like’, meaning the seeds of this plant look like bugs or ticks. Resemblances to insects aside, these starry flowers are…
There’s something really magical when a Garden Unfolds Into Rooms but you don’t need high fences and garden walls to create the sense of moving from one space to another. The gardens in this post, both in southwestern Ontario (zones 5a/5b) are very different from each other. One was a very big country estate. The other was…
A garden with room for a view is one thing but a gobsmacking garden with many rooms, each with completely different views, is something altogether different and a little tough to capture with still photos rather than 3D Sensoround. But I’ll try. On a recent (June 23, 2016) garden tour presented by the Toronto Botanical…
The first time I saw cosmos in a blindingly sunny garden, orderliness was not the word that came to mind. No, barely contained chaos was more like it. The impenetrable thatch of tall stems thrust up cartoon-like flowers, in brilliant shades of pink, nodding in every direction. But the story goes that Spanish priests loved the…
The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is a system of gardens working together to make one enormous woodland garden that rocks (appropriately with rocks) on the rocky, amazingly beautiful coast of Maine. My guy and I were there only last week and the ideas I got from these gardens are still whirling in my head–massive stone…
My guy and I just got back from an epic road trip to Maine and I couldn’t wait to show you the mesmerizing moves of this dancing garden sculpture we discovered on a rainy day at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. Powered only by the wind, its long, curving stems appear to dip and sway.…
Why have one hedge when you can have two layered hedges? Let’s put five separate seating areas in our average-sized backyard! Who wants to settle for a garden gnome when you can have huge shining metallic butterflies! ‘More is more’ seemed to be the mantra at the gardens I visited recently on a tour in…
The garden centre had left a voicemail for me. The extra tall Russian Sage I wanted had arrived and was ready to be picked up. As I looked out over my garden, trying to figure out where I could wedge in this new prize, I had a sudden hankering to drop it all and retreat…
What is it about coastal living that can bring out the zaniness in a homeowner? I thought I’d seen my share of mermaid garden sculptures and porches studded with seashells but I wasn’t prepared for the kind of no-holds-barred exuberance of Grimsby Beach, Ontario (one destination on a recent garden tour hosted by Frank Kershaw featuring gardening…
Secret hideaways with your choice of hovering rain umbrellas, pink flamingoes or a sparkling chandelier overhead. Old bed frames in new flower beds, a canoe filled with cannas and a loo with a view (made extra panoramic by the absence of a door). These were just some of the surprises awaiting us on a recent…
Early this morning, Justine, my stepson’s girlfriend, a prolific and inspiring Facebook-posting person, posted an image of a hand-drawn note entitled “Advice From A Tree”. Once again, Justine has inspired me. I can’t resist adding 7 more thoughts I think a tree might want to share: • STAY CONNECTED TO LOVED ONES. There are scientists actually…
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 