A noun. A verb. A blog.
If you have been religious about deadheading your columbines (Aquilegia), you might still be enjoying the benefits of these generous producers. If not, and they’ve gone to seed, be sure to let them ripen and to sprinkle them where the tiny seeds will be exposed to light for germination. Or, better yet, shop around for […]
A tale of two beauty bushes (Kolkwitzia amabilis). This one is growing in full sun, spilling over the top of a fence along Broadway Avenue in Leaside. The other one was too pathetic, ungainly and flowerless to photograph, growing in shade in my neighbourhood today. Sunshine is the secret to such a splendiferous display of […]
After inadvertently toasting my Hoya this week, two days of rain have both quenched and spurred the garden. Poppies are in tatters and the necks of my alliums are bent and in a few cases, sadly, broken. The perky stems of catmint are prostrate, and risk being trodden flat along the pathway. Morning glory seedlings […]
I have barbecued my mother’s 25-year-old Hoya. I mean it. Literally barbecued. It looks decidedly miffed. Having brought this otherwise indestructible plant out for its usual summer vacation, I had thought perhaps it needed a shaded transition spot. And there was the ledge beneath our rickety gas BBQ. Oooh, thinks me, looks nice there. And […]
The deep red poppies belonging to my neighbour M. are making their brief but miraculous appearance in his garden. Therefore, I must bow down and worship, oh ye amazing Papaver orientalis ‘Beauty of Livermere’. It’s hard to decide which way to photograph them: as here, backdropped by the purple smokebush (Cotinus coggyria ‘Royal Purple’), or […]
Like this Hosta ‘Halcyon’, many of the prettiest hostas have what’s called a glaucous leaf – with a waxy coating that gives it a whitish frosting or bloom. The glaucous texture intensifies the blue of blue-leaf hostas and gives yellow or white markings a powdery glow. Unfortunately, this coating easily rubs off if the leaves […]
Lemon lilies (Hemerocallis flava) are planted in my garden anywhere I can sniff their heavenly fragrance. Some are on either side of our front steps. Some are tucked by our porch, where they soon will mingle with the scents of the old mock orange (Philadelphus) and climbing Hall’s honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica ‘Halliana’). As an aside, […]
Who says front yard trees have to be boring. Look at this specimen of the Tricolour European Beech (Fagus sylvatica ‘Roseomarginata’) growing on the south side of Mortimer Avenue. I love all beeches for their smooth, grey, elephant-leg bark and regal stance. I love the way the juveniles of our native beeches hold their buff-coloured […]
They’re ba-a-ck! Now opening in a garden near you: the first of the yearly horde of seedlings of Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima). Recognize them by the shiny, round primary leaves, followed quickly by pointy secondaries. If you see them, pounce immediately. Tree of Heaven is a prodigiously fast-growing, liberally self-seeding, non-native tree whose fronds […]
In 2007, we wrote about the whip of dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) that Sarah acquired in 2006 at Canada Blooms. Our fledgling tree, nursed along by neighbour M., has now flown the coop, and is planted in a sunny spot just across the street. Dawn redwoods are said variously to be hardy to USDA Zone […]
Spotted during the Toronto Women’s Half Marathon in the Don Valley this morning (with my 15-year-old daughter; her first race) — masses, and masses, and masses, and masses of dog-strangling vine or swallowwort (Vincetoxicum rossicum, syn. Cynanchum spp., from the Greek meaning “to choke a dog”) I’ve written warnings about this pernicious weed before: here […]
Make like a squirrel now and lop off your tulip heads – or deadhead them – after they finish blooming and before they put their energy into seed-making. Instead, we want the tulip to fatten the bulb for next year. For tulips, daffs and other spring bulbs, pinch off the seed pod, but leave as […]