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Meet Bonnie Prince Charlie
Dearest Reader,Thank you for stopping by. It's been many months since I last posted. A special thanks to all those who left comments or emailed me in my absence. I greatly appreciated the encouragement...
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Looking back at 2019 and Garden Trends for 2020
Every year around this time I review the posts from the previous year to assist me in mapping out an editorial calendar going forward. It's an exercise that helps me to know what was of interest to...
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Gifts from the Garden: Dried Flowers in Winter
I know I promised to return to regular posts, but so far, I have only managed two in 2020. Sorry about that! My sister was here for a visit from Ireland, so a number of renovation projects demanded...
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New Perennials for 2020 from Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. + Some Old Favourites
It's a gorgeous day here–sunny and warm enough for the snow to be melting. Though it feels like spring has arrived, I remind myself that it is only the first of March and winter may not be done with us...
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A Late Summer Visit to Lost Horizons Nursery
Any serious plant collector in the Greater Toronto area should be able to give you driving directions, but if you aren't watching carefully for the sign, Lost Horizons Nursery is fairly easy to miss....
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Spring Cleanup: To Rake or Not to Rake–that is my Question
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that delicate white snowdrops were peeking up through the brown leaf litter. Hyacinths, daffodils and tulip bulbs have all sent up green foliage as scouts to see if the...
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Get to Know a Native Plant: Bell Wort or Merry Bells, Uvularia grandiflora
I am guilty of taking this easy-going native plant for granted. It comes up reliably every spring and quietly goes about putting on a display of nodding yellow flowers. I sometimes give its flowerbed...
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10+ Ways to Dress up the Side of a Garage (or Wall)
Of all the crazy things, a garage can be a bit of a design dilemma for gardeners. Whether it's stuck out at the front of your house or recessed on one side, the wall of the garage often stares the...
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Rue anemone, Anemonella thalictroides
Before Humber Nursery closed for good in the fall of 2019, they had three short benches dedicated to native plants hidden in a back corner. Unless you went out of your way to search for natives, or...
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New Plant Introductions for 2020 from Proven Winners®
Even though a few provinces here in Canada are slowly reopening their economies, the shift back to any sort of normalcy has yet to begin in Ontario. There are still hundreds of new cases of COVID–19...
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A Visit to Duff & Donna's Garden in June
At the back of the house, there is a small plateau of land with a deck and then the property rolls down in a gentle incline to a lake. My friendship with Donna Evers began years ago when she sent me an...
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Butterfly Iris, Iris spuria
Last summer I visited the Royal Botanical Garden in Hamilton for the first time in several years. I found impressive displays of early summer perennials and row upon row of peonies in full bloom, but...
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A Beautiful Tapestry: The Garden of Heather Bradley
There are so many new followers to the blog, I thought it would be nice to repeat a favourite garden that some readers may not have had the opportunity to enjoy. Gardeners often focus on growing...
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The Early Summer Garden of Interior Designer Sandi Duclos
Every once in a while I get an invitation to a reader's garden. In all the years I have been blogging, these visits have yet to disappoint! Sadly in the case of Sandi Duclos's garden, I was unable to...
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Cold Frames and a Strawberry Cage
Charlie was not asked to pose. He inserted himself into my picture!A life restricted to home and garden has made for a spring filled with an abundance of little projects. Over the summer, I hope to...
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Our Visit to Les Jardins de Métis, Part 1–The Long Walk
For those of us who have been digging and dividing perennials, weeding, and dragging hoses around in the heat, gardening might seem to be an odd hobby for Elsie Redford's doctor to recommend while she...
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Inspiration for Shade Plantings from Reford Gardens
When Elsie Reford set out to create a garden at her summer home north of Montreal, she began in a wooded area. A meandering stream gave her a picturesque starting point and the conifer forest that...
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Sunday Night Supper
In the light of a new fall surge of COVID–19 cases, the Ontario provincial government has been urging everyone to keep this year's Thanksgiving celebrations limited to members of one's immediate...
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Gardening Trends for 2021
About this time last year, I sat down to write a blog post about trends for the coming gardening season. Who could have predicted that a global pandemic would sweep in and have such a profound effect...
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New Introductions for 2021 from Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc.
New for 2021 Geum Tempo 'Rose'The snow has almost melted and that has me dreaming up fresh plans for 2021. Here's a little inspiration that might help you get your own plant lists started:New Plants...
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A Work in Progress
A few years ago, we experienced a winter ice storm that sent huge tree limbs crashing to the ground. Two mature trees were so badly damaged they had to be removed. While the loss of the huge tree in...
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A Little Cheat with Spring Bulbs
Though warm weather seems to have arrived early here in Southern Ontario, I remind myself that we are only entering the second half of April. Not two years ago we had a snowstorm in the third week of...
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New Perennials and Shrubs for 2021 from Proven Winners + Some Old Favourites
Sadly, we are in the midst of yet another lockdown here in Ontario. I was surprised and a little relieved to discover that, despite the lockdown measures, nurseries and garden centers are open for a...
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Becoming a Plant Sleuth/ How to Grow Bearded Iris
If your new to gardening this spring, welcome. There is so much to learn and discover! After you've been gardening for a while, you begin to realize that there are some plants that are difficult to...
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Sadly, the Three Dogs in a Garden is on Hold for Now
Dearest Reader,Thank you for stopping by my gardening blog. I know I have been quiet for quite some time. In the last couple of years, this humble little blog has faced a number of significant...
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