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…

Double clematis blooms

Plant Purple!

The Canadian Garden Council’s promotion ‘Live The Garden Life‘ for this year includes a collaboration with Communities in Bloom and is inspiring everyone to “plant purple, the colour theme of the year in 2023“. According to the council, purple was chosen for the variety of effects the hue has on mind and body including: Now,…

Iris Extraterrestrial

Plant an iris. Get a goddess. Really.

I’ve always thought irises were otherworldly. So it didn’t come as a surprise when I learned that, in Greek mythology, Iris is the goddess of the rainbow. With this in mind, planting some of these flowers in your garden might be a good idea on several levels. What was more surprising to me was that…