A noun. A verb. A blog.
Q: I am hoping you can help me with my Annabelle Hydrangeas. Last year I planted 15 small plants. This year they look as though they are receiving IV steroids every day. They are 5 feet tall and have enormous flowers that are absolutely beautiful. The problem is that we have had so much rain […]
If you haven’t nipped it in the bud yet, at least get this menace before it sets seeds. The brownish flowers of dog-strangling vine aka swallowwort (Vincetoxicum rossicum, syn. Cynanchum spp., from the Greek meaning “to choke a dog”) usually look fairly insignificant, though they seem fairly showy in this picture. I guess this particular […]
Must be my Viking blood. I don’t do heat well. Was up Sunday morning early to douse the garden with my watering can and soaker hose before peak evaporation kicked in. Even laid down a couple of bags of mulch, now that I know where the volunteer seedlings are. (Mulch can be a major destroyer […]
Take a close look at the mottled colour on this hosta leaf, a pattern known as inkbleed. It’s one of the first signs that a hosta has been infected by Hosta Virus X (HVX), for which there is no cure. Photos of other telltale symptoms of this disease – which has become a silent epidemic […]
Pretty, isn’t it? Tamarix ramosissima, also known as tamarisk or saltcedar, is blooming with extra vigor here and there around the city. When not in bloom, it looks unassuming, and sparsely feathered – as if a shrub had disguised itself as asparagus fern. Don’t be fooled. I used to wonder why it wasn’t more widely […]
The Japanese umbrella pine isn’t a pine; it’s Sciadopitys verticillata, and like the ginkgo tree it has a prehistoric history. You can read all about it in this article from the University of Arkansas and this article from Conifers.org. What it is, though, is stop-in-your-tracks gorgeous. Yes, that’s the correct botanical term. Those crazy upside-down […]
Rust! I have rust. For the first time ever, rust on my roses. Not on my tough-as-old-boots Rosa ‘New Dawn’, but on my I-had-such-high-hopes-but-it-seems-they’re-coming-to-naught David Austin rose, R. ‘William Morris.’ Rust is a fungal disease, which spreads by spores. Sometimes, rust on roses is co-hosted by junipers, so I’ll have to inspect the tree in […]
Mother’s Day weekend is proving to be windy and cold. Hope you weren’t fooled by the recent Floridian weather into planting too soon. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are among those pre-started plants that must be protected, especially overnight, when temps dip to near zero, as they could tonight and tomorrow. Certain vegetable seeds, including beans, […]
I feel virtuous about spending at the Toronto Botanical Garden plant sale (which remains on till Sunday). Virtuous because what I bought* was tomato plants, mostly heritage ones at that. Three of them will find a home at my allotment in the community garden. One will probably stay home with mamma, churning out cherry tomatoes. […]
At the Toronto Botanical Garden on Sunday, we visited the Ontario Rock Garden and Hardy Plant Society plant sale. Wow. Wall-to-wall plants and people make for a floral feeding frenzy. Considering the temptations, Sarah & I were restrained, coming home with only three and two plants. (The members’ preview for the TBG’s own plant sale […]
Who doesn’t want a garden that’s low maintenance? Of course, the mantra is: Low maintenance does not mean no maintenance. Even if you’re laying down concrete grass and planting plastic flowers, some maintenance will be required. However, selecting well will help you keep plant maintenance to a minimum. If you don’t want to spend your […]
This might be a crabapple, though I’m not a crabapple expert. And the Malus or apple family, along with its fruit tree cousins such as the Pyrus or pear [ed: and I should add the Prunus family, which includes plums, peaches (which this might be), apricots, cherries, and almonds], are all five-petalled members of the […]