Southern Ontario just got our first dump of snow and even though it’s only added up to a few centimetres (sorry, Buffalo), I’m already feeling nostalgic for green and growing things. So discovering a posting on David Suzuki’s website about eco-connections between urban and natural environments such as pavements and cliff faces, gutters and streams, was a…
If this coming winter is anything like last winter, I want to make sure I give my trees the best chance of making it through to spring. So I’ll be watering them, particularly the evergreens, until the ground is practically frozen solid. Here’s why: The needles of an evergreen are actually their leaves and, like…
You’d think a tree covered in pine needles in the middle of summer would A) be a pine tree and B) be evergreen. I’m learning how wrong I can be. And how un-evergreens are golden in the fall garden. Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) is indeed a pine tree–a beautiful, fast-growing native of Ontario with long,…
Now that the temperatures are finally dipping below zero celsius here in Southern Ontario, my container plantings are beginning to bite the dust. And so the big fall clean-up begins. But this time around, I’m going to be smarter about it. Having spent this year studying organic horticulture techniques, I’ve found that there are easy ways to…
Small is relative. When I went looking for a small evergreen to fit into a narrow garden bed I have in the backyard, it seemed most nurserypersons’ version of dwarf varieties was my version of gigantic. A shrub growing to the height of 15 feet is not my idea of small. So I could’ve hugged John…
What’s more fun? Visiting a garden that can kill or finding The Blob in your garden? Let’s see… The Poison Garden at Alnwick in England has a sign on its locked gate that says “These Plants May Kill”. I can’t think of a better incentive to enter for gawkers and gardeners alike. There are over…
Looking like a small sea of green waves caught mid-curl, my hostas have brought a soothing kind of coolness to the garden all summer long. But, now that we’re edging closer to November, that coolness has turned stone cold ugly. In another week or two, they’ll be flat on the ground and rapidly turning into…
I love a good swale. They’re so when-you’ve-got-a-lemon-make-lemonade. In garden geek terms, a swale is a shallow ditch. But it is a ditch transformed. A regular run-of-the-mill ditch catches the rain as it sheets off a gentle slope (like a lawn-covered front garden, for instance) and, in the case of suburban ditches like the one…
You see them there, looking vaguely sinister in near-black silhouette, projecting explosions of spikiness. So it’s totally understandable that you might want to wade into your garden bed, armed with a sturdy pair of pruners, and give your coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) the big snip. Hey, you’re making the garden tidier and, let’s face it, friendlier…
When you want to give your garden a brilliant send-off before it slips into winter, asters can supply the fireworks. Looking like mini-daisies in purple, pink or white, they’re easy-to-grow perennials and (bonus!) the best of the bunch is a native wildflower of Ontario–New England Aster (Aster novae-anglia). They’re the tallest of the asters and…
What’s likely to happen after you’ve put in all that effort to plant your fall tulips? Get a beautiful patch of blooms next spring? Nope. If you live in Southern Ontario, the chances of them making it through the first 48 hours in the ground without squirrels getting to them is pretty slim. I’ve had…
What would it sound like if you took a thin slice from a tree trunk and played it like a vinyl record? Would the tree rings work somehow like the grooves in a record? In case this has been a burning question for you, you’ll be pleased to know that there are several YouTube videos…
Turkey? Check. Mashed potatoes? Check. Mushroom gravy? Oh, yes. This Thanksgiving, give pause to thank the mushroom. Not only will it save your bird and spuds from dry, tasteless hell, but, as it turns out, it’s also capable of saving the world. Six. Different. Ways. I think you’ll find this video enthralling and, especially since…
Who knew that a fen system, one of the rarest types of ecosystems in the world, can be found on the west coast of the Bruce Peninsula in Southern Ontario? The Oliphant fen system is, as you might guess, right next door to the tiny hamlet of Oliphant. A fen is a wetland created by fresh…
Though its name suggests otherwise, the Toad Lily (Tricyrtis) is a delicate wonder. And it’s really helpful for shady spots in the fall garden–the part of the garden that so often looks the worst first as summer fizzles out. Blooming from September until late in the season in Southern Ontario, they’ll light up a spot…
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 