Sunset in winter with garden

The winter garden, only better

To me the garden in winter is fraught with deliciously poetic angst. That all-encompassing deep freeze, wiping out colour, lushness, life, really, brutally exposes the bald truth about one’s gardening ambitions which then need to be wrestled with through many a dark and unfruitful day. But, with the freedom of not being able to do…

Entrance to garden and path

Small town, big garden ideas

In what I hope becomes a long-lived annual tradition, I visited friends for a few days this month in Gananoque, a small, utterly gorgeous town on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Ontario. The timing is not inconsequential. Not only is “the Gan” practically vibrating in July with good times–outdoor concerts, boat…

Lines of desire

I love the garden design term “desire line“. Used in urban design as well, it refers to a path we take, whether it’s official (as in meant-to-be-part-of-the-overall-design) or renegade (more on that later). It’s usually the quickest route from A to B. You see them a lot in public green spaces–a dirt path carved into…