You’ve heard that saying – Be careful what you wish for! I’ve been waiting for those classic hot-‘n’-muggy summer days to finally arrive here in Southwestern Ontario. In my mind, it ain’t summer until you and your can of cold beer are both sweating buckets. But with humid weather comes mosquitoes. And so the battle…
You say elderberry. I say elderflower. Tomayto, tomahto. Whatever you call it, Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis is a wonderful shrub for the garden offering a spectacular variety of bonuses to the gardener. You can even make music with the stems. (More about that later.) Here are 8 admirable attributes that I love about this elegant…
Going on a garden tour boils down to three extraordinary experiences: Being witness, on occasion, to divine splendour, be it a transformative garden or a single bloom Learning just how much your ardour for gardening will spur you on while spitting sparks and growing blisters Developing new tactics for dealing with and/or avoiding other tourists…
The longest day of this year will officially begin on June 21, at 5:13 a.m. here in the Northern Hemisphere. This means, of course, that June 22 marks the inexorable decline of daylight into another long winter. So I figure celebrating heat and happiness right now are in order. Here are 10 not-so-conventional ideas for…
If you’re not lucky enough to have a property measured in acres instead of metres, conveniently positioned at the edge of a lush forest, you can still adopt some of the landscaping and planting ideas from this spectacular woodland garden located in southwestern Ontario (Canadian garden zones 5b to 6a). Even its grandest elements, like…
With news headlines getting ever weirder and more worrisome, I recommend daisies. There’s nothing quite so charmingly uncomplicated as a daisy and there are so many ways you can make the world a better place with them. Give someone a daisy bouquet. Wear a pair of $800+ daisy and gold glitter heels. Plant them in…
When it comes to growing a cooler backyard, for once I’m not talking about edgy, eco garden design trends. As southwestern Ontario continues its record-breaking heat wave, gardening is now all about the temperature. And since last month (July, 2016) was the hottest month around the world in recorded history, I don’t think we’re alone in…
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…
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…
In hip urban neighbourhoods all over North America, the hottest new garden design trend is foodscaping–landscaping that melds modern garden aesthetics with agriculture. You can pin this trend on an urge to save on grocery bills, a newfound fascination for growing-your-own or the thrill of creating something beautiful out of what’s considered utilitarian. But motives…
In your own garden, reality isn’t the point. I think it’s more about making your own version of relaxing and beautiful and meaningful. Take dry creeks, for instance. They are so not a creek and yet they can convey a powerful sense of flowing water. And you can put one just about anywhere, even in…
What do 2,200 varieties of plants, all in containers exposed to a merciless Southern Ontario summer, look like? Awesome. The Sawaya Container Trials, one of North America’s largest, threw open their doors (so to speak) in late July for growers, retailers and members of the Garden Writers Association to check out what’s doing best, what…
A garden can be similar to the Tardis, as small as a phone booth to the casual observer but encompassing a boundless space with transportive properties. Parts of Keppel Croft Gardens have these qualities as well and it seems to me that the clever use of walls has something to do with it. So, for my…
In my previous post, I tried to describe Keppel Croft Gardens, the unique gardening experience created by Bill and Dawn Loney near Big Bay on the Bruce Peninsula in Southern Ontario. If pictures really are worth a thousand words then, when it comes to Keppel Croft, I still needed a lot of photos to describe…
On the eastern shore of the Bruce Peninsula in Southern Ontario, Bill and Dawn Loney’s very personal garden is equal parts labyrinth, zen oasis and trip down a variety of magic rabbit holes. Thank goodness they open it to the public during the summer. Though untrained in any formal sense, both gardeners have created a…
Love to Garden? Learn Some Helpful Tips And Tricks To Help You Get That Green Thumb
Life is an interesting journey. These are journals, stories, reflections of a traveller of this journey. (songoftheheartsite@gmail.com)
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Where observation and imagination meet nature in poetry.
A blog about life in Wellington, New Zealand
Plants, veg and chickens: a cottage garden on the edge of Brussels
This blog is about gardening in the north.
Discovering the joy of art
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Ministry of the fence 