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…
All gardeners know that gardening is good for you. We can feel it. Any skeptic can check out the oodles of studies about how gardening can benefit your physical health and mental wellbeing. There’s even been recent research involving a group of seniors in or around their seventies that revealed gardening activities (digging, fertilizing, raking,…
At one of my favourite grocery stores, the exit takes you right through the floral department. You have to push your laden cart through a gauntlet of kaleidoscopic bouquets and potted houseplants primped with foil wrappers and cute signs for maximum adorableness. Which is fine by me. In the depths of winter, I love a…
Pruning is one of those divisive words that can inspire fear, joy or annoyance but I think we can all agree that a shrub or tree, when in need of a trim and correctly pruned, looks the better and is healthier for it. But that’s the problem. How do you know what needs to be…
Fall’s loud and brassy flower show may have packed up and left but nobody bothered to tell the rhythm section. Seed heads of every shape and size are still shaking it up–none more rattlingly satisfying than Baptisia australis, a hardy perennial commonly called Blue false indigo or Blue wild indigo. A native of the Northeastern U.S., this robust…
The non-stop carols on the radio are already driving me crazy. I wish there was a switch I could flip. Before December 1st–no holiday anything. After December 1st–full-on Santa insanity. But I have one exception to my no-holiday-related-anything-before-December rule. That’s my adorable new Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides). Set into the ground just a few weeks…
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 