Take a look at that bright green or chartreuse shrub in my front garden above. It isn’t a shrub. It was (once) a single pot of ‘Wasabi’ coleus that I bought from Plant World this spring for my large container. A ‘Wasabi’ intent on taking over the world. Now, ‘Wasabi’ is an amazingly tough and beautiful […]
July 2016 in the Microgarden
Coming home to the garden after a few days away feels like seeing nieces and nephews after a break. Except when you say, “My, how you’ve grown!” plants are a bit harder to embarrass. Want to see what’s growing in a small, shady, city garden – maybe a bit like yours? Certainly, I’d like to recall what worked and what didn’t in the Microgarden […]
Creating a focal point at Hearts + Ivy
The small studio garden of Hearts + Ivy designer Donna Hamilton is like a jewelbox, sparkling with gems. With colour everywhere, everywhere, you feel like a bee, wanting to flit from flower to flower to flower to flower. This got me thinking about focus. I don’t usually post people pictures from garden tours, but this one makes […]
Red and white garden for Canada Day
A cottage garden feel in the colours of the Canadian flag (with sunshiny touches of yellow). And a matching red door. Just in time for Canada Day, a Leslieville garden full of ephemeral red poppies and what look like common ox-eye daisies. This stopped me in my tracks as I passed. Happy, happy Canada Day! […]
Not all Ipomoeas look alike
The one with the red star and the feathery foliage is Ipomoea quamoclit Oh, botanical names. How you confuse us! These two climbing cousins have a network of colliding names. One (with star-shaped flowers) can be called cypress vine (Ipomoea quamoclit but also Quamoclit pennata). The other one (with multiple tubular florets) can be called […]
Nasturtiums still going strong in October
Call this salt and pepper: peppery-tasting nasturtiums in one of our grandmother’s saltware jugs It’s feeling kinda frosty outside, but some plants are still chugging along – even those fleshy ones you’d think would be susceptible to chilling. Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum) for one. The buy zithromax online montgomeryanimal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/jpg/zithromax.html no prescription pharmacy y’re the biggest-bang-for-buck annuals in […]
Making the case for annuals
A bright flowerbed with annuals such as spider flower (Cleome) and snapdragons (Antirrhinum) If you grow perennials, people think, it means you’re a “real gardener.” Poor annuals, they’re thought of as second-class garden citizens. Yet for non-stop flower power, annuals can’t be beat. They may take a while to get going but once they do […]
Street planters before the Fall fall
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, […]
Amaranthus tricolor, pretty foliage you can eat
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, no online pharmacy buy levitra oral jelly with best prices today in the […]
Sweets for the nose in November
The nose doesn’t have much going for it in online pharmacy buy zanaflex with best prices today in the USA the month of November. That’s why we treasure any little bit of sniff going our way. The smell of fallen leaves is always heady to me, especially sugar maple leaves (Acer saccharum). Then there’s the […]
Cuttings without fear
Many plants are easily propagated by cuttings. And the process is far from complex. The most important step is, of course, to do it… and not be daunted by rule buy cymbalta online hiims.in/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/jpg/cymbalta.html no prescription pharmacy s or regulations. I own rooting hormone (#1 for softwood cuttings) which would have been an essential […]
Snow-on-the-Mountain (fire in the skin…?)
Today’s oblique musical reference is about Euphorbia marginata, also known by evocative common names such as snow-on-the-mountain, smoke-on-the-prairie, ghost weed, or summer icicle. All refer to the frosty-edged bracts of this Poinsettia cousin, in “bloom” right now in sunny Toronto gardens. The “fire” in this icicle relates to the toxic milky sap, common to all […]