A noun. A verb. A blog.
Shaggy mane fungus, Coprinus comatus Keep your eyes open, and Toronto’s diversity is all around you. All it took was a walk to the Toronto Public Library, just two blocks away. Three different species of fungi hailed me as I passed with my camera – and I’m sure that many more were camera shy. I’m […]
Anemone blanda ‘White Splendor’ Where would gardeners be without the gigantic Ranunculaceae or buttercup family? Well, we’d be without perennials such as Clematis, delphiniums and hellebores, without annuals such as columbines (Aquilegia) and love-in-a-mist (Nigella). And we’d be without anemones. And, without anemones, we’d miss out on one of the easiest early spring bloomers, Anemone […]
Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ This is when the Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) ‘Bloodgood’ really starts living up to its name. Today, the sun was lighting up maples like this all over the city. ‘Bloodgood’ is one of the tougher ones – which it has to be in my dry shade garden. This is its second year, […]
Living willow fence on Laird Drive by The Living Wall There are hedges and there are fences. When the twain meets, it’s a living fence, like this one spied on Laird Drive at Commercial Road last spring. A closer look showed the material used as willow wands. Straight, flexible and determined to grow – anywhere […]
A carpet of Pushkinia and Chionodoxa at Rosetta McClain Gardens In his chapter on bulbs in Planting the Dry Shade Garden (a review of that will follow), Graham Rice mentions two that for me are tried and true, one that is on my wish list, and one big surprise. The charmer brightening the path above, […]
Nipponanthemum nipponicum in mid-October At first I thought this generous mound abloom in a neighbour’s garden was a shasta daisy. But, wait. Shasta daisies in October… and, now, November? And what’s with that distinctive foliage? The whorled form sort of reminded me of Pacific chrysanthemum. Could it be a mum? Well, I relish an ID […]
Patrinia scabiosifolia in the formal garden of Oldfields, Lilly House, on the grounds of Indianapolis Museum of Art There I was, wandering lonely as a cloud, floating on high o’er vales and hills (on the grounds of the Indy Museum of Art), when all at once, with apologies to Mr. Wordsworth, I saw a crowd […]
My son’s hand at age 12 still waves to me in my garden My first “concrete” art-making experience involved 250 kids, a stack of take-out trays, latex gloves, and a cement truck. My idea was to have each kid make a stepping stone with their hand print and name. We’d use the stones to repave […]
A confession: until the 2012 Toronto Gardener’s Journal arrived today, I hadn’t known the story behind its beautiful cover girl – an iris; each year a different view. Perhaps I’ve been asleep. Ssomehow I missed both the detail – and its significance. Just as the daffodil has come to represent cancer groups around the world, […]
Here’s the inspiration I promised when I wrote about concrete garden projects last week: works of imagination – all of them carefully crafted of concrete – by Victoria, B.C., sculptor, Birgit Piskor. And here’s the bonus. Not only is Piskor a gifted sculptor, she is also a gifted gardener. In July, I enjoyed a guided tour […]
The Microgarden, in all its Fall Frowsiness If you have a busy life, you can’t afford a busy garden. Take it from M.I.A.-me. My garden this fall is payback for a neglectful summer. The beds that looked charmingly cottage-y back in June could now be used in a dictionary to illustrate the word frowsy. I’m […]
Coal wagon stalled on muddy Ashdale Avenue, a photo by Toronto History on Flickr. When you consider this photo, taken just over a century ago, you realize that Toronto isn’t much beyond its infancy. This is on Ashdale Avenue, just a few blocks from where my home would be built — a couple of decades […]