City Gardening

a gardening blog-azine by Lorraine Flanigan

Fresh Dirt

Delphinium Festival, July 5, 6, 2014

This year Plant Paradise Country Gardens in Caledon, Ontario is celebrating the 7th annual Delphinium Festival on July 5 & 6, 9:00am – 5:00pm each day. The festival includes: guided talk & tours of the botanical gardens, the world renown Delphinium hybridizer and creator of the New Millennium Delphiniums, Terry Dowdeswell, who will be traveling […]

Gardens

Child’s Play at the Toronto Botanical Garden»

If you go into the woods today, be sure to mind your “stooks and punes”! Don’t worry, it’s easy to do, and only a tiny bit scary. Nestled next to a lightly wooded area of Edwards Gardens, the “Stooks and Punes” art installation at the Toronto Botanical Garden (TBG) is made for exploration by the […]


Is there a spirit house in your garden?»

Those of you who have been following my Facebook posts know that I was lucky enough to be invited by the Tourism Authority of Thailand to visit some of that amazing country’s gardens and attractions. Fresh from that trip, I’m all agog with ideas for adding a touch of Thai to my own garden. Once […]


Plants

Falling in love with Helleborus x hybridus»

I’m in love. The handsome specimen that’s caught my eye is perfect in every way. Long-lasting flowers that bloom in a rainbow of colours, evergreen foliage that looks good all year-round (it gets a bit tattered after our long winters, but what doesn’t?) and it’s perfectly happy growing in shade. Oh, you thought I was […]


Best easy-care flowering shrubs»

Although I enjoy spending as much time as I can in the garden, I know that many of you just don’t have the time to tend to finicky flowers or vigorous vines. But you still want a beautiful backyard, right? Modern-day flowering shrubs just may be the answer for you. Shrubs have always been easier […]


Style

Should I ditch my 1993 edition of Practical Guide to Gardening in Canada for the 2013 edition?»

Once I find a great reference book I’m unwilling to part with it. Flags and tabs mark important pages so I can quickly and easily find information when I need it, and much-read sections are well-thumbed and annotated. So, it’s with great unease that I open a revised edition of any book, let alone a […]


Creativity, unleashed»

Look up the word “numinous” and you’re well on the way to understanding what you can gain by unleashing your creativity. Landscape architect W. Gary Smith opened his recent lecture at the Toronto Botanical Garden with a detail photo of a raked gravel garden at Philadelphia’s Chanticleer. He described a magical moment when cherry blossoms […]