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…
I want to share my thoughts with you about an app I’ve been using that I think has really exciting potential for gardeners. It’s called One Second Every Day (1SE) and, no, I’m not getting paid to tell you about it. But I think you might find it really handy. Or just loads of fun.…
Autumn has officially arrived and to mark the occasion I thought it would be fun to reminisce a little. Here are a few of my favourite moments, relating to some of the blog posts I published this summer, that just go to prove that life certainly is like a box of chocolates… starting with the…
Hallelujah! Spring has officially sprung. Ok, it’s tomorrow but my patience for the return of sunny skies and warmer temperatures has run thin. In celebration, I’d like to share some of my favourite spring plant stars. These 6 spring flowering plants are dear to my heart because of their lovely colours–shades from dusky to brilliant…
Autumn is officially here and, just like the garden itself, gardening topics are dwindling as winter sets in–at least if you live north of the 49th parallel. From now til spring I’ll be posting a little less often but I promise to keep in touch as inspiration strikes. I find reaching out to my fellow…
Easter lilies are in grocery stores everywhere right now. They’re wonderful plants–heralding the coming of spring, symbolizing new beginnings (for both Christians and Pagans) and are/were absolutely de rigueur as an OTT decor flourish, especially during the fabulousity that was the 90’s. But as much as I respect and admire the glamour of Lilium longiflorum,…
A wonderfully mysterious plant at the base of a tree stump on our neighbour’s property caught my eye this spring (May, 2021). The stems and new leaves, looking like shredded rags, were a lovely deep purple with a velvety sheen. Amidst the leaves were tiny blue brown flowers, each accented with a mini golden star.…
In my ongoing pursuit of next-to-effortless gardening, this fall I’m taking a cue from Johnny Appleseed. Although Michael Pollan, in his book Cooked, pretty much debunks the legend of a friendly wandering giant sprinkling seeds through the wilderness with little fruit trees sproinging up in his wake, the idea of basically tossing seeds on the…
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…
The new year has arrived and we’re well past the winter solstice but in case you’re not convinced that the days are getting longer, this remarkable video takes only 90 seconds to transport you from the dregs of winter to a mezmerizing spring.
The garden centre had left a voicemail for me. The extra tall Russian Sage I wanted had arrived and was ready to be picked up. As I looked out over my garden, trying to figure out where I could wedge in this new prize, I had a sudden hankering to drop it all and retreat…
Yesterday, I partially devoured the latest issue of Allure, a glossy magazine devoted to glorious exposés of all things glamorous and how to achieve an approximation of such. I had only thumbed through a couple of pages when I came across an ad for getting “ridiculously glowy skin”. It seems that the miraculous benefits of…
I was riding shotgun with my guy last weekend. As we were flying down a dirt road, he nodded towards the ditch on his side. It was clogged with tall leafy plants topped with gazillions of tiny yellow flowers. They’re the reason for my fits of sneezes, he said. A conversation ensued. He was quite…
Just as the first wave of blooms in my garden has peaked in late spring, our wildflowers farther to the north are just starting to show. I’m amazed at how many truly strange and wonderful plants grow in Southern Ontario and though they’re not everywhere, you don’t have to trek for miles into the wilderness…
Most everyone with a garden has a spot under some trees or along the side of the house where the sun hardly shines and the soil is often (as my endearingly direct guy will sometimes put it) as dry as a popcorn’s fart. These are the places that try a gardener’s soul. What can grow…
Reflections On A Life in Exile
Saint Andrew’s 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
Gardening in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada
The life and loves of a plantsman
if your garden is bigger than a courtyard, but smaller than an acre
Exploring the Depths of Curiosity
A blog about nature, home, community, books, writing, the environment, food, and rural life.
Ministry of the fence 