A noun. A verb. A blog.
Parents of high school students likely know that to graduate in Ontario kids need to complete 40 hours of volunteer time. Some do more. If yours are still looking for ways to contribute their time, read on. From April 18 to May 7, 2010, Change the World: Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge hopes to get 10,000 students […]
My Rosa ‘New Dawn’ is not only beautiful, she’s a tough customer. I’ve written about her before. Not many climbing roses put on a show with about a half day of sun. She does. But every couple of years at this time, when the buds show signs of life, she does need to be wrassled […]
Who gives haircuts to all those Piet Oudolfian grasses at the Toronto Botanical Garden? In large part, it’s done by teams of volunteers. And you could be among them. On Tuesday morning before class, I saw a team of about six people busily at work in the entry garden at the TBG. Sandra Pella, the […]
Our visit from the Galloping Gardener resulted in her great post on Allan Gardens – and inspired me to drop by myself in search of Toronto’s reluctant spring. And there it was, in all its splendour! In fact, it was gearing up for the Easter Show next weekend, when the lilies will be trumpeting their […]
Only two Toronto neighbourhoods with garden-themed names come to my mind. One is Rosedale, north of Bloor Street edged on the east by the forested slopes of the Don Valley. Its winding streets are lined with grand, historic mansions. Rosedale got its name from the profusion of wild roses that once grew on the hillsides […]
Various blurry heads of Garden Writers Association members, with cameras (mostly hidden), as well as the famous head of Martha Stewart Brush with Fame, Part One: While at the Garden Writer’s Association Lunch at Canada Blooms, one of the highlights was a visit from Home & Garden Goddess Martha Stewart. (Read about how our hero […]
On my way home from having my hair pruned the other day, I popped into Ten Thousand Villages on Danforth and noticed they were all kitted up for garden season. If you’re shopping for garden pots or decor this spring, browse around their fair trade goods and shop with a healthy conscience. That lovely brown-on-brown […]
Words are funny things. They come into the language, and change shape and meaning over time. Most of us know what it means to call someone ruthless. Fewer would describe someone as full of ruth. Ruth (pity and compassion) has slipped out of common usage. In the gardening world, we call houseplants tropicals, yet even […]
I really could title this blog post Pay No Attention to those (thousands of) Gardeners Behind the Curtain. I’m talking about the people who put garden shows together. The masses of people. However I must start by acknowledging my perennial pet peeve about garden shows; then tell you how joining in with flower show worker […]
Other than a little huddle of snowdrops bowing under a March rain, there isn’t much Awakening yet in my garden. So to find a subject for a March entry for the Gardening Gone Wild Picture This Contest, I raided the archives. This little Pulsatilla vulgaris or Pasque flower – photographed in my sister’s garden at […]
A quick but timely post specially for us east-enders: Celena’s Bakery has opened on Danforth near Woodbine. I can write about this in a garden blog with good conscience for two reasons: One: See what’s on top? Rosemary! A fresh sprig tops Celena’s surprising and delicious Rosemary Raisin Bread. We have been back for seconds. […]
We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you… snowdrops! Finally. In sooth, they made their appearance in my garden on Sunday, but I was too imprisoned by a school project to do anything about it. But even March 7th is two weeks later than last year, despite the city’s lack of snow. Welcome snowdrops. […]