A noun. A verb. A blog.
The Toronto Botanical Garden on a rainy (but clearly not grey) day in November Think November is drab? It doesn’t have to be, if you play your cards right. Look at the lusciousness in the photo above, without the use of a single flower – well, discounting the dried heads of a red-tinged oakleaf hydrangea […]
Guy McClean directs his team using the slightest touch While cattle mooed in the background, the Royal Winter Fair rep at the new President’s Choice Animal Theatre told us about the attractions at the fair this year. And as we listened, Guy McClean, the Horse Whisperer from Australia, warmed up with his four horse “mates.” […]
Travelling to a different part of the city lets you into different views, even different styles of fall planters. Saw this one outside the Roots store in uptown Toronto, and loved the pairing of the crimson mum and purple kale and cabbage. Remember the bad, old days when people didn’t put edible things into planters? […]
Dried oregano from my community garden You don’t need fancy equipment to dry herbs. All you need is a clean paper bag. Harvest your herbs, pop them inside. Roll the bag’s top closed to keep the dust out. And wait. Then do as I do. Move the bag back and forth on the kitchen countertop […]
Green dots goooood; orange dots, baaaaad. What the heck are those green dots? I wondered, as I walked up Coxwell Avenue the other day. They were painted on most of the towering ash trees (Fraxinus spp.) that line this stretch of road. Oh no. Have they run out of orange paint, and are they coming […]
Two bright red begonias – B. ‘Dragon Wing’ on top and B. boliviensis ‘Bonfire’ at bottom – with golden Ipomeoa ‘Marguerite’ Isn’t it just the way that the street planters are at their best just before a cold snap makes them collapse like a failed soufflé. Give them a nod as you pass, and say, […]
Toronto’s Dufferin Waste Management Facility Now I’m gonna talk garbage – more precisely, the stuff we Torontonians put in our Green Bins, and what happens to it. Ever wonder about that? Earlier this month, three other Master Gardeners and I were invited by the Compost Council of Canada to join a day-long tour of organic […]
Joseph’s coat amaranth is ornamental and (technically) edible Performers who sing, dance and act are called triple threats – a good term for amaranth, too. Amaranth’s three-times-great features include: highly nutritious seeds, tasty young leaves and rather smashing flowers and foliage. Although, not always in the same plant. Like trendy quinoa, its kissing cousin, this […]
Mosaïcultures Internationales returns to its birthplace, Montreal Raise your hand if you’ve never visited Montreal Botanical Garden (Jardin Botanique Montréal). That was me, until May of this year. Shocking. Shocking! But then I fell in love with one of the continent’s great gardens. And it isn’t far from Toronto. Until September 29, 2013, you’ve another […]
I’d call this a jubilation of purple (and not-so-purple) purple coneflowers (Echinacea), wouldn’t you? From mid-July into September, purple coneflowers (Echinacea) are among the bright stars of the garden. Long-lasting and fairly easy to grow, on well-drained soil in full sun or light to part shade, they are a great flower for beginning gardeners. What’s […]
Keeyla Meadows’ garden in Albany, California – would you be this brave with colour? Oh, my! The sensory overload of Summer 2013. We have so many wonderful gardens to share with you, it’s been hard to know where to begin. We should have been blogging all summer but, as you can see, we were barely […]
Fight for a just cause; love your fellow man; live a good life = FiLoLi I don’t own a goldmine, do you? That makes us unlike the Bourn family, who built the Filoli estate early in the last century. It’s also pretty certain we’re not Blake or Krystle Carrington (Filoli acted as their mansion on […]