A noun. A verb. A blog.
In case you haven’t noticed, there’s an on-again, off-again winter-spring thing happening this year. What’s more, the winter weather isn’t just wintery, it’s Antarctic. It may be March, but it has been too cold outside even for cold-hardy pansies or early bulbs. So nice to see something decorative that won’t be destroyed by the sub-zero […]
I made a trip out to a great resource for bird feeding in Toronto yesterday, a store in north Toronto called Birdwatch. It was freeeeezing cold, minus 20 windchill outside, but inside the shop was full of harbingers of spring: wildly creative bird houses galore, and a beautiful metal birdbath created by metal artist Dog […]
February 25th. That’s the earliest snowdrop this year amongst my usually fearless few. In other years, I’ve had snowdrops as early as January 1st. To have the first appear near the beginning of March is a sign of our unusually cold winter, 2008/9. This one appears particularly feeble. But let’s take what we can get.
After discovering Richter’s Herbs yesterday I did some web searching and found a wealth of material on-line from Conrad Richter, president of Richter’s Herbs. His article, The Many-Splendored Scents of Herbs (say that 3 times real fast if you dare) discusses the scientific aspects of the many highly scented herbs that Richter’s grows. He really […]
It being Reading Week I was hoping for a getaway. In the weeks coming up to this one I indulged in a little fantasy web browsing, looking at south sea island destinations. Pure fantasy this year, but I started thinking about other destinations closer to home that would give me that sunny, summery “growing things” […]
A geranium in a 4 inch pot has popped out one bloom in these lengthening days in late February. I love the way overwintering geraniums come back to life around this time of year, usually with a sudden single bloom bursting forth. This one is particularly nice in a lime green pot – one I […]
It’s good to get out with a camera, even on a record-setting rainy day in February. Even under the raindrops, it’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood. I think the covergirl picture is bridalwreath spirea (Spirea vanhouttii) making with the pearldrops. Definitely privet (Ligustrum) berries. People don’t think of privet as ornamental, but they can […]
It seems we’ll get a brief reprieve from winter over the next two days. Mind you, we’ll have to put up with a lake of freezing rain in the meantime. A perfect time to stay indoors with a good book. I’ve spoken briefly before about my book addiction. Two books, however, I can proudly tout […]
The wintertime is all about dreaming and planning, and a good deal of this is done on the web, since we can’t get to our gardens under all that snow. Tons of snow!! Sections of my neighborhhood look faintly ridiculous at the moment, with trees looking like lollipops stuck into pointy piles of mashed potatoes. […]
I was extolling the virtues of the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s website the other day, mostly because of its beautifully designed, and expensive looking, graphics. I thought, “How unusual, for an environmental organization to have the funds to splash out on design services like this”. See post below. A reader quickly informed me of the hidden […]
Environmentally friendly publications and websites very often lack funds for professional graphics, and frequently come across as lacklustre and sad looking. It’s the bad side of the leftover 70s Hippie Culture: poor, underground, overlooked, just scraping by. So I was thrilled in more ways than one to click on this website this morning on a […]
Just discovered Project Chirp! when I went to the Civic Garden Centre the other day. The Garden Centre store was closed, alas – I had been hoping for some inspiring garden browsing on a cold January day – but the library was open, as well as the brochure stand, which was full of info. I […]