A noun. A verb. A blog.
I don’t know why it is but I often seem to like things not for the thing itself, but for the thing that goes with it. Like certain types of food, I only like because of the condiments that go with it: curry – you get to have chutney, fried bread (yes! ancient English tradition!) […]
If you plant lily of the valley, you had better love lily of the valley. And your neighbour had better love it, too. If not, your neighbour had darned well better love you. Lily of the valley (Convallaria) is a plant that doesn’t do things by halves, and it’s no respecter of fences. Given the […]
This clump of hellebores (Helleborus orientalis) started to open up a week or so ago, towards the end of April this year. But I could see the flower buds marshalling for the big push under the leaves as early as March. That’s why a common name for this flower is the Lenten rose, because it […]
It’s too long since I’ve had the joy of seeing a sea of trilliums brighten up a woodland floor. This is one of my fond memories of childhood, having spent part of our youth living near wooded areas in different parts of Southern Ontario. However, I do have a few in the garden. This year, […]
In my tiny back garden, which I’ve taken to calling the Microgarden, one of the first perennials to bloom is the Pulmonaria aka, among other things, lungwort and Bethlehem sage. It’s an old-fashioned variety that I’ve had for so long, it pre-dates my awareness of any such arcane things as ‘cultivars.’ From what I’ve learned […]
This year, the Perennial Plant Association has chosen the beautiful Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’, golden Japanese fountain grass, as its Perennial Plant of the Year 2009. If you visit their site, you can download a plant sheet with the lowdown. Plants of the Year (PotYs?) have been selected through votes by PPA members, judged on criteria […]
What great flowers for late summer and early fall the Rudbeckias are. They’re like sunshine on a stick! This lowly little Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) is one of the earlier ones. Right now, the city is alight with constellations of Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’ which, in 1999, was rightly chosen by the Perennial Plant Association as its […]
There’s something about Toronto and roses. Even the most unassuming front porch can often have an amazing display of climbing roses in June. I once took a course on perennials at the then-Civic Garden Centre (now, Toronto Botanical Garden). It was taught by Keith Squires, of Country Squires Garden in Milton (worth a visit for […]
Really, it’s a little late in the month to be talking about peonies. But Sarah brought me a big bunch from her country place, which is a week or so behind the city. And so, of course, I thought: Peonies!! I’m talking herbaceous peonies here, not the glorious tree peonies that are becoming more readily […]
Dame’s rocket or Hesperis. The bees still love them. They still smell lovely in the evening. They’re still making flowers. And, this afternoon before the big rain, I even saw an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly swooping down for a sip. But they’re taking over. Despite, or perhaps because of, the perpetual flower-making machine at the […]
By dint of name alone, foxgloves are like fairy flowers. If foxes wore gloves, they might look a bit like these. The bell-shaped flowers remind me of the kind of thing I might have seen fairies wearing for hats — along with the fuzzy caps of poppies – in the British children’s books I grew […]
At this time of year, the words above go through my mind, and often pass my lips, in a bad Katharine Hepburn accent (with apologies to calla lilies). Old-fashioned lemon lilies (Hemerocallis flava) are among the legacy plants in my garden. Along with the morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea) and purple irises (Iris), the lilacs (Syringa) and mock […]