A noun. A verb. A blog.
Hello. My name is Helen, and I am a plantoholic. Most recreational gardeners are. Even the best of us, those who never set foot in a nursery without a shopping list, often start with a wish list. Of plants. We’re easily revved into a frenzy of plant lust by magazine, blog and catalog descriptions of […]
Urban gardens are usually small gardens. This little album of tricks contains ideas that help urban gardeners overcome some of our spatial limitations. The picture above has three to begin with: • Use the upward dimension. Be sure your small garden makes use of the infinite vertical plane with elements like arbours, trellises and wall […]
Small gardens like mine offer scant room for tool storage. That’s why constantly look for tools that are compact, easy to store and hard-working in the garden. Here are two I’ve had good results with – both time-tested as well as bankrolled by yours truly. The first – and the rust says it’s been around […]
All the trees on the street are usually bare before my next door Norway maple (Acer platanoides) drops its leaves. Look here; it’s still green, in this picture taken yesterday. It doesn’t matter if I rake. The day before the first big snow, this guy typically drops the whole shebang. Whomp! Then we’re shovelling up […]
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 […]
Perhaps it’s our English or Welsh blood*, but I like the rain. Sometimes we might get too much of a good thing, but there it is: a good thing. With my hefty, 2,424-page Compact Oxford English Dictionary (New Edition) came a button-shaped reading glass to magnify the mouse type. I love the way rain does […]
Compose your own captions for this Hallowe’eny Wordless Wednesday…
Linda from Crafty Gardener has alerted us to a new way to revisit some of our blogging blasts from the past – to introduce them to new readers and because some things are just worth repeating. This great idea comes from Happy To Design, who hosts links to reprises from bloggers everywhere. This post, written […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]