A noun. A verb. A blog.
Sometimes, I feel bad about filtering the experience of being in a garden through a camera lens. Am I like one of those people who walk around seeing the whole world through the screen of their iPads? But the magic of photography can turn a frantic, 45-minute garden visit into hours of contemplation at home – letting me zoom in, identify hidden treasures, and […]
A shade gardener who values foliage design, someone like me, needs a healthy appreciation for the huge coralbells family (Heuchera). Hybridizers have created a ridiculously wide array of choices in coralbell leaf shape, colour, patterning, and size. Some have even put the “coral” back in the coralbell flowers. When you add crosses with Heuchera cousin Tiarella you get many more […]
Ever experience a strange coincidence? Like mine, years ago, when backpacking around Europe, I met two Australian girls who gave me that old line: Oh, you’re from Canada? We know someone from Canada. Uh huh, I thought, sure you do. Then they named my ex-boyfriend. This week I read that, statistically, coincidences like this aren’t really […]
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 […]
My photo is not exactly tack-sharp, but you get the idea. Begonia hybrid ‘Gryphon’ is a fabulous foliage plant Thank you to Proven Winners for introducing me to the fabulous ‘Gryphon’ begonia, which they sent me to trial in 2014. It looks like Proven Winners has since applied its own trademarked brand name ‘Pegasus’ to […]
For amping up your foliage design palette, there’s nothing quite like the flowing texture of Hakone or Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra). The cultivar with the gold and green stripes above is likely H. ‘Aureola’) First, my confession. For me, Hakone grass is a case of I can’t always – maybe ever – get what […]
Green veins, yellow between them – a symptom of chlorosis It was on a lot of hydrangeas I saw around town this year – yellowing leaves, with the classic green veins that signal chlorosis or lack of chlorophyll. Unsure why this happened more often in 2014, but when it did on my own Hydrangea ‘Quickfire’ […]
If you notice a white-haired gal walking down the street with a bouquet of leaves… that’s me. Leaves, from large to small: tulip tree (Liriodendron), Freeman maple (Acer x freemanii), and even that danged alien Norway maple (Acer platanoides).
Endearingly polka-dotted and charmingly shaped, the plate-sized leaves of Podophyllum ‘Spotty Dotty’ Another reason to thank Marie the Gardenbug: she introduced me to this cool plant, known only to me by name before. It’s an exotic hybrid cousin of our native may-apple called Podophyllum ‘Spotty Dotty’. For info on this dramatic family of plants, see […]
Look at that face, just look at it! Who could resist Rex begonia (Begonia rex-cultorum) ‘Escargot’? Not me, it seems. Despite her better judgement, Helen the House Plant Killer has become the owner of a slightly fussy Rex begonia ‘Escargot’. The showy leaves with their whorled, snail-shell centres wooed her, that is, er, me. In […]
A spray of rolled magnolia leaves adds a novel touch to this mantletop display by Sheridan Nurseries’ Jung Won Woo The ideas were cool, and not just because the topic was winter decor. Yesterday evening at the Toronto Botanical Garden holiday open house, Sheridan Nurseries shared trends and tricks for prettying up the outside and […]
All-green fall planters at Allan Gardens A little almost-wordless wow for another grey Wednesday in November. Don’t you love the textures here? And these babies will take a little nippy weather, especially here where they’re a little sheltered. It was hard to choose between them but this one might be my favourite after all.