A noun. A verb. A blog.
Our 99-year-old windows are being replaced today. Much as I love the original look, I live with the downside all winter as I sit at my office keyboard with the window view – wearing mittens. It is hard to type wearing mittens. Mr TG just came to ask, “Do you want to keep the weights?” He laughed […]
Yarrow or Achillea millefolium is a reliable but kinda plain-Jane flower that’s easy to take for granted. That is, until you notice it used skillfully – as I did in the garden of U.S. landscape designer Barbara Katz on the 2017 Garden Bloggers Fling. Wow, I thought, looking at the vignette above, Great colour echo between the Echinacea and coleus. And, oh. […]
Since my earliest days with the long-lost, late-lamented Blotanical, I’ve been a reader of Loree Bohl’s The Danger Garden. With a focus on her passion for spiky plants, Loree has been a regular and prolific blogger since 2009. Get to know her through this interview. Now the growing conditions in Portland (USDA Z8) and Toronto (USDA Z5/Canadian Z6) […]
We’d spent 20+ years clambering over Nature’s crevice gardens, had we only known it. The natural rock formations below near our former summer home on Ile d’Orléans in the St. Lawrence River near Québec City held exactly the eroded vertical spaces that crevice gardens try to mimic. As they were also naturally photogenic, I have pictures to show you, […]
My adventures in urban wild bee hospitality have appeared on the blog before. Right now, other than some passive carpenter bee action on our shed, I’m out of the bee hotel business. But I’d like to get back into it. Over my garden travels, I’ve been collecting bee hotel pictures for inspiration. Hoping these inspire you, […]
On October 15 (that’s today), registration opens for the 2017 Garden Bloggers Fling in Washington, D.C. and the Capital Region. My sister Sarah and I are both gonna be there, and we hope to see you there, too. We’ve written before about why we Fling. So much of it is the people we’ve met, some are now friends for […]
Adorable multicoloured green roof seen at Joy Creek Nursery near Portland Winter 2015 is for the birds – and so are these nifty birdhouses. That’s just about all I have to say on this record-setting-cold-streak, Almost-Wordless Wednesday. Except: Enjoy! Give your fine feathered friends the licence to move in. This great recycle even looks like […]
Colour as punctuation: a bold blast marks a point of entry and a transition between levels Bet you’re as fed-up-to-the-teeth as we are with February 2015’s relentless, white-on-white colour scheme. Let’s think colourful thoughts, shall we? Have a looksee at the inspiring ways this Portland garden has used colour – Colour! Remember what that is? […]
A close-up of the bottle paving in Portland-area Bella Madrone garden There’s something magical about glass, isn’t there? Even when we can’t see through it or when light can’t penetrate from behind (like a stained glass window), it still manages to capture the light. As we approach the time of dull days, I like to […]
Two chairs: Here, they’re sculptural (Bella Madrona garden) What’s a chair but a piece of art you can sit on? Two-by-two, chairs are the perfect couple – invitations to conversation and affordable, form-meets-function focal points for your garden. Take a seat – from three great gardens in Portland. Which is your fave? Café-casual. Cappuccino, anyone? […]
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!
The rain brought out the rainbow in this mosaic rug by Clare Dohna – in the garden fittingly called Floramagoria Who knows at what stage this glorious mosaic came in this Portland garden’s planning and design? (A rhetorical question, as garden designer Laura Crockett and owners Craig Quirk and Larry Neill likely know quite well.) […]