Tarry black spot on maples

Black tar spot of maples (Rhytisma acerinum) is one of the few excuses I can accept for sending your leaves off in the yard waste truck. Toronto gardeners have likely noticed this unsightly fungal disease over the past few years. It manifests as dime- or quarter-sized black spots on leaves, hitting many kinds of maple […]

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Golden fall foliage: Katsura tree

The fall foliage I uploaded yesterday leaned strongly towards reds. Yet, sometimes yellow can make an equal statement. Especially a yellow intense enough to literally drag me down the street to investigate. Meet the Japanese katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), a tree that should be planted more often in Toronto. This picture is just as it […]

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Wordless Almost-Over Wednesday: A leafy one

Purple barberry (Berberis) showing its little red pal how to really do red in fall. In full sun, berberis gets that glowing embers effect; purple, red, orange yellow. Amur maple (Acer tartaricum var. ginnala, formerly Acer ginnala), striking in red. Yes, must get myself one. Too bad the columnar form is harder to find. The […]

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Frost? Time to rescue annuals & houseplants

Sarah’s plants Go To (Winter) Plant Jail, without passing Go and unfortunately without collecting $200 Is there frost in the forecast? Yep! That means the onset of the Annual Frenzied Midnight Annual/Houseplant Rescue. As per usual, I was out in the dark last night about midnight digging in near freezing soil with my bare hands. […]

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Goodness me, it’s Blooms Day, October ’09 in T.O.

The about-to-be-felled-by-frost ‘Paintbox’ nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus), still oh-so-orange and still going strong. Almost missed it with all the fuss and bother lately ’round these hyar parts. And it’s a suddenly wintery October 15, 2009. Tomorrow might be a whole n’other post-brrrrrrrr story. So here’s what has been dodging frosty bullets chez nous mid-month. Corydalis lutea […]

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Fall: From Leaside Bridge

No, we don’t want you to take a tumble. However, the view of the Don Valley from the Leaside Bridge is one of my favourite places in the city to enjoy the fall colours. As it’s impossible to stop on the bridge, the best way to get there is by bike, or park your hybrid […]

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Thanksgiving for Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving Weekend is a time to give thanks for all our blessings – like the wonderful family weekend Sarah’s family and mine spent together two years ago at her little house in the country near Marmora. Here are some outdoorsy images of that autumnal time.

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Grand Simplification: Taking stock of the mess

The unvarnished truth: My front garden, complete with hose and bald patches, doing its best to pose for its “before” picture at right. That headline almost said “Taking stock of the carnage.” After summer’s heat and drought, my garden – especially the front garden – usually does look like a battlefield by September. (To my […]

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What’s growing August & September: Rudbeckia

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 […]

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