A noun. A verb. A blog.
A monstrously cool way to do succulents Yesterday was Hallowe’en in chilly Toronto. Must have a Hallowe’en hangover, because I feel like doing this quick little creature feature from Floramagoria last summer in mild (but rainy) Portland. Dollar-store finger monster. Ceramic monster says peek-a-BOO! What a neat way to do airplants!
White cedars (Thuja occidentalis) and yews (Taxus) get precision haircuts It takes you by surprise. As you walk up the gentle rise through a very pleasant, but somewhat conventional shade garden in front and stand beside the hundred-year-old cedar-shingled home in St-Romuald, Quebec you see this. It’s a wow reveal; so beautiful, and so unexpected. […]
Schlumbergera truncata, an unwieldy name for the Thanksgiving cactus In my post on unkillable houseplants, I missed a worthy addition that proves its worth with its pretty flowers around this time of year, Slumbergera truncata. It’s commonly known as the Thanksgiving cactus, referring to its bloom time near American Thanksgiving at the end of November. […]
At $26 a bunch, the coral-coloured winterberry (Ilex) was my most expensive buy. Worth every berry. Today, I began to assemble our winter containers – or winter container, singular. Have you noticed that it’s cold out there? The soil in my two smaller containers was frozen rock solid, making the fall stuff impossible to extract, […]
Simple but effective planter combo: Monstera deliciosa and this chartreuse coleus, Solenostemon ‘Wasabi’ Treating this one as an almost-wordless Wednesday, because it’s hard to type with a dislocated finger. Isn’t this planter great? Simple drama, with the tropical plant and fancy-leaf coleus – like giving your houseplant a summer romance. Love it with the blue […]
No grown-ups allowed! At the 2013 Toronto Islands garden tour in May, we enjoyed a closer look (as close as grown-ups are permitted) at a cool new treehouse. Isn’t it great? I don’t know about you, but I’d trade a few hours of grown-uppiness for a little time at the top of the ladder. Nice […]
LIke the big bad wolf, the wind huffed and puffed and blew the trees down. Big ones. Can you count the rings? Back in Fall 2012, a windstorm took down a swath of mature trees – about 14, if memory serves – in Monarch Park in our east-end neighbourhood. It was a surprise to see […]
Red-edge sansevieria (Sansevieria subspicata) and silverbush (Convolvulus cneorum) A charming combo from the Cactus House at Allan Gardens. I’ve never seen red-edge sansevieria before, and was surprised that its silver-leafed companion is a shrubby member of the morning glory family. I’ll have to come back to catch it in flower – a silver shrub covered […]
The Wave Garden in Richmond Point, California, overlooking San Francisco Bay. Is it essential for a garden, a serious garden, to always start with a plan? And if we don’t have a plan, should we say, “Oh well, nothing’s written in stone”? In June 2013, I visited a garden that began with no real plan: […]
The Aster Awards sit on the podium, eagerly waiting to be presented. Shall we be kind and call my photo painterly? It’s good to have a humbling experience sometimes. It happened to me last night at the presentation of the Toronto Botanical Garden’s new Aster Awards, which recognize what the TBG calls Canada’s green stars. […]
Majorelle blue paint on the bench goes perfectly with the crisp green ferns Three vignettes from 2013’s Toronto Island Garden Tour, all featuring ostrich ferns (Matteuccia struthioperis) and the rich azure known as Majorelle blue. A little bit of Morocco at the edge of Lake Ontario – and somehow it works. I love this colour […]
Instead of framing a parterre with boxwood (Buxus) hedges, how about using feather reed grass (Calamagrostis) instead? Unlike box, it will change through the season. Don’t you love how the soft foliage here allows these bulbs to shine? Grasses have been the big thing recently. I’m not talking about puny little turf grasses, but statuesque […]