A noun. A verb. A blog.
Over the years, I’ve volunteered many times to be a Master Gardener stationed in the private gardens open for the Toronto Botanical Gardens’ annual tour – now called Mark’s Choice Through the Garden Gate. And I gotta tell you, a show like this can’t go on without a lot – hundreds and hundreds and, did I already […]
In the many times I’ve walked through Cabbagetown, I’d never stepped into the secret corner that’s home to the Wellesley Cottages – until last month’s garden tour. What a revelation! But stick around to the end of the post. You’ll see that one cottage kept the biggest secret of all in its back yard. Hover over any image to […]
On Saturday morning, June 23, 2018, I’ll be in Long Branch opening up the event that bills itself as “Toronto’s biggest free self-guided garden tour.” Hope you’ll be there to check it out. Besides my short talk on “eating your garden” before the tour begins, and a plant propagation talk by Jennifer Arnott of The […]
The Hidden Gardens of Cabbagetown is one of my favourite Toronto neighbourhood garden tours. Partly, it’s because Cabbagetown, a cornucopia of shady lanes and diverse Victorian architecture, is one of my favourite Toronto nabes. This year, after a morning accosting people to talk about plants volunteering as a Master Gardener in one charming garden, I had time to explore […]
The first new thing about 2018 edition of the Toronto Botanical Garden’s annual tour of private gardens is the name – and the reason for it. It’s now a sponsored event under Mark Cullen’s Mark’s Choice brand. It’s now Mark’s Choice Through the Garden Gate. Two reasons. First, the Cullen’s have a long history with the […]
One of our closest big-city neighbours is having its annual garden party this weekend, July 29 & 30, 2017. It’s always on the last weekend in July. As usual, all Toronto gardeners are invited. A couple of hours on the road, a bit of a wait at the border. Then, there you are! Garden Walk Buffalo! With […]
I was (regretfully) away for the 2017 preview of Through the Garden Gate. So I (regretfully) can’t show sneak peeks into the 30+ (yes, that’s thirty-plus!) gardens selected for the 30th anniversary of the Toronto Botanical Garden‘s annual garden tour, this weekend June 10 & 11. But I can tell you a few facts: It happens in North Rosedale […]
Google “classical Chinese garden Toronto” and here’s what you’ll discover: we have a lot of Chinese restaurants with “garden” in their name. Digging deeper might get you this link to the lost Chinese garden once-upon-a-time on Spadina Avenue. But do we have an actual, gardeny Chinese garden in T.O.? Not yet. And I wish we did. Classical Chinese […]
By many measures, 2016 was one of the most deplorable of annus horribilis-es. The Grim Reaper was unusually busy, and some things did not turn out as hoped. But let’s try to bright-side it. A look back: January One thing to like, every year, is Toronto’s skirt hem along the great freshwater sea that is Lake Ontario. A […]
Welcome to the Beach Garden Society garden tour, June 19, 2016, from 1 to 5 pm Usually, when we write up the Gardens of the Beach garden tour it’s after the event. This year, in fact last night, we had a sneak preview. So I’m glad to tell you there’s still time to go see […]
Go Through the Garden Gate in The Kingsway with the Toronto Botanical Garden in 2016 When The Kingsway was first developed, around the time of the first world war, the developer Robert Home Smith had a vision of creating “A bit of England, far from England.” As the Etobicoke Historical Society explains, by contract, he […]
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 […]