For ever greens, indoors and out

If it weren’t for evergreen plants our Canadian winters would play out like an old black and white movie. Tree bark and grasses are drained of colour–wet or frozen, outlined in snow and lit up by a steely sun. Unless, of course, you live on the far left edge of this country. Over there, everything…

Bright red winter wonder

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…

The particulars on parterres

Winter gardens are simply gardens that have “great bones” as my mother-in-law used to say. These ‘bones’ are the structures that support and delineate a garden throughout the year but can look particularly striking in winter when there’s nothing else (like flowering plants) to distract the eye. They can be man-made, such as a gazebo,…

Plotting a coverup (in the garden)

Winter lays bare the bones of a garden. Some would say this is a terrific opportunity to appreciate its structural framework. With no distracting leaves or flowers or calls for another round of Sangria, what better time to appreciate good landscaping and the clever juxtaposition of trees and flower beds? Since I’m writing this from…