I visited my favourite fen, well, actually the only fen I know, a few days ago hoping that I wasn’t too late to spot some of the incredible wildflowers that grow there. I wasn’t disappointed. Late June/early July is actually often a better time than spring to spot gorgeous blooms including the aptly named Showy…
Having a garden that’s fully or partially forested is a wondrous thing. Not only does a woodland garden offer amazing interest throughout the year, the place is most likely an oasis for wildlife and native plants. Yes, you could leave it untouched save for maybe a winding footpath running through it. But then again, why…
This spring is unusual (understatement!). There’s a good chance you are A) needing to follow a very tight budget because your retirement savings are tanking and/or B) recently recovering from freaky storms that crushed your garden and/or C) up to your eyebrows in existential stress and just can’t get your head wrapped around a spring…
I think I have a memory of first seeing fireflies when I was a child wandering through a slightly wild garden on a hot summer’s evening somewhere in Ontario. I have to admit, though, that said ‘memory’ may be more of what psychologists call waking dream wish fulfillment. I’ve always really, really wanted to see…
Where I live in Canada, spring can be about as long lived as an ice cream cone which is to say not long. Sometimes I feel like we barrel right through late winter into early summer with spring merely a squashed hope staining the sidewalk. It’s the fleetingness and fragility of ephemerals (plants that pop…
Is your front yard a monotonous carpet of monotone green? Maybe this is the year you ditch traditional grass for something a little more interesting–a tapestry lawn. If you’re thinking this idea sounds vaguely familiar, you’re not wrong. Creating lawn alternatives with a greater diversity of plants is not new. After all, it’s a great…
It’s getting to the point when the briefest glimpse of blue sky is cause for wonder. I’m talking a quick break in the clouds. Nothing else. Sunlight–as in warm, golden rays streaming earthwards that create actual shadows–is a distant memory. This may be the reason why I’ve been obsessively scrolling last summer’s photos most of…
I was having a lovely (long distance) conversation with my dear friend (and outstanding gardener) who lives in Gananoque, Ontario about, oh, loads of things when the subject of fedges came up. I know. It is an unlikely topic of conversation. But I had seen fedges mentioned in a magazine and, of course, the meaning…
I love a good trend prediction. Declarations of this being the Year Of The ___________ just seem so optimistic and cheery to me. For instance, American online gifts and flowers delivery business 1-800-Flowers has just announced that Ranunculus is the 2025 Flower Of The Year and, bonus, Snake Plant is 2025’s Plant Of The Year.…
Over the last few days our little town of Fernie in southeastern British Columbia has been buried under a thick blanket of snow. Driving is a horror show but, man, everything looks so pretty. The colours of our town, the woods and surrounding mountains have receded or vanished in the glare of a whiteness so…
I have a couple of Cup Plants growing in amongst wild grasses and Blue Flag Irises, down by the water’s edge of the small lake where we live in southern Ontario. A garden this is not. I added the irises and the Cups in an attempt to add a little colour to the one and…
Of all the colours you can find in a garden, orange can be the trickiest, I think. As hues go, it can glow brighter than red or yellow all the while doing more clashing than complementing. It’s very much a shout out colour. But that’s what also makes it a great colour to have in…
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…
Is this the year you’re going to rip up your turf? Are you looking for an alternative ground cover that’s low maintenance, drought resistant and yet still delivers an eye-soothing swath of green where you once had a lawn? (Yes, I realize I’m sounding like a bad TV infomercial. I’ll stop now.) I’m really excited…
If you happen to be driving along a backroad on the Bruce Peninsula in early spring, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the dandelions have come early. Those bright yellow flowers sprinkled along a roadside ditch or covering a knoll beside a pasture in early March sure look like them. This hillside is covered with…
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 