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.” […]
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 […]
A combination of luck and planning produced a pleasing fall display in 2012 A dry shade garden can be a happy place in a rainy year, especially when the soil has been fed properly. This spring, it enjoyed a healthy top-up of duck compost, as well as all the shredded leaves it could eat, the […]
Between the busy-ness of summer holidays and back to school, September’s garden can be messy. That’s so in my back garden, where morning glories typically take over by September. This year, they are true to type. Because our front yard Grand Simplification project consumed us this summer, the Microgarden in the back is now channelling Aretha Franklin: N.E.G.L.E.C.T., just a […]
Helenium autumnale – that’s Helen’s flower, to you. Not sneezeweed. Geez. Enough about me. Let’s talk about Helenium. I don’t know what variety this is (perhaps its short stature points to ‘Ruby Dwarf’ aka ‘Rubinzwerg’), but I wish it were growing in my garden. Despite what they say about the need for full sun and moist soil, […]
My corkscrew hazel (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’) in happier times I’m just awaiting the paperwork. Eastern Filbert Blight has again reared its ugly – uckily ugly – head, as predicted and feared when I wrote about it back in March. Now I’m waiting for an envelope from Rutgers University containing the import permit that will […]
We first posted this back in 2009, but 2011’s long, wet spring seems to have been perfect – many of our street trees seem spottier than ever. Here’s a repeat of our original post: Black tar spot of maples (Rhytisma acerinum) is one of the few excuses I can accept for sending your leaves off […]
The nose doesn’t have much going for it in 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 lowly little annual (in my climate) edging plant aptly called sweet […]
When you have 350 bulbs to plant – and your soil wears bulletproof armour in the form of impenetrable Norway maple roots – you’ll try anything to make your life easier. So when I noticed this inexpensive, ergonomic Y-Grip Trowel on the Botanus website, I wondered how it would stand up to my long-handled bulb planter. I added it to […]
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, […]
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 […]