A noun. A verb. A blog.
When visitors see our garden renovation, one of their first positive comments is about the gabion retaining walls. We agree. For high design impact at low cost, the gabions – the stone-filled wire baskets shown above from our window on a rainy day – were among our most satisfying decisions. Other options for the garden walls ranged from cheap (cementing the old limestone pavers that […]
Our back yard transformation began with the demolition of our +30-year-old cedar shed and construction of a big, beautiful new Urban Studio from Summerwood. We managed to snag it at a Black Friday discount in November 2020. Picturewise, this is a long post! Here’s the TL:DR. We’d thought about a new shed for a long time. Summerwood offers […]
In 2020-21, who didn’t miss seeing friends and extended family, or dream of being able to celebrate with them again? Because outdoors is the safest place for that, given the pandemic, garden renovations boomed. Prices for building materials shot into the stratosphere, if you could find any, or find someone to build things for you. Our solution was to do it […]
No matter how much I learn about the garden, there’s always more to know. To plug the (many!) gaps in my knowledge, I often designate my own “Year of the [Fill in the Blank]” to zoom in on a single subject. One was The Year of Ornamental Grasses. At the start, I knew almost zip. Except […]
I’m SO excited to discover this free eguide on helping our endangered wild bees, including the rusty-patched bumblebee. Written by bee scientist Sheila Colla, wildflower garden writer Lorraine Johnson, and illustrated by science illustrator Ann Sanderson, this little ebook gives you all the info and tools to create your own habitat for this endangered wild bee, and others. A wild […]
When a garden friend told me about this mosaic installation by Canadian artist Katharine Harvey, I rushed right over to Chester subway station for a new installment of our TTC Garden Tour. Wow. These glorious panels of hand-glazed ceramic tile depict native plants that might have grown in and around the old Chester Village or Don […]
When times get tough, how do you hold it together? For me, it’s being outdoors. Often. I wrote about walking around the nabe in a love letter to my neighbours. But it’s not only out in my yard or on city streets. Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe, that wide band sweeping around Lake Ontario’s western […]
Sometimes I think we’re bonkers. In 2017, we inherited an annual garden journal that was already a hit, and yet we kept on trying to make it better. Then, we introduced an interactive digital version of the immense gardener’s source directory. We laminated the print book’s covers to stand up to soiled fingers and power-use. […]
I’ll be frank. The whole “COVID Thing” had me tongue-tied, blogwise. It was a lot easier to post regularly on my Instagram feed than to write blog posts. The result was bite-sized eye-candy, easy to share, and easy to digest. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll get an eyeful of photos and sometimes videos […]
Way back in winter, I decided to turn some of my bigger planters from vegetables to flowers. Yes, I made a cutting garden in the Microgarden. With no regrets. Not one. When COVID had everyone scrambling to buy up veggie seeds, I already had my seeds – for Zinnia, Calendula, Cosmos, and other long-blooming flowers […]
Days after I was moaning about seeing no butterflies in my garden, a big rain came – and soon afterwards came three butterflies. One was an Eastern Black Swallowtail, and I watched her lay eggs in a small pot of parsley. My first thought was: I’m gonna need a bigger parsley! Because, I’ve seen swallowtails […]
Have you noticed fewer butterflies in your garden in 2020? For me, the bees have been plentiful, including the native ones, but butterflies of any sort? Remarkably few. It’s probably not just in my garden, or just in Toronto. A garden friend in Washington, D.C., commented on the same thing. And another Facebook commenter noted that […]