Fresh Dirt
Top evergreens for your winter landscape
In a climate where the winter months span almost half the calendar, it’s surprising that we design our gardens for summer and pay little attention to how they look during the longest season of the year. In the summer, it’s easy to fill a bare spot with a new plant from the nursery. That’s not […]
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Gardens
Best of Blooms, Part II: Canada Blooms Flower and Garden Festival, 2014»
Last night, as part of Charlie Dobbin’s volunteer team, while waiting for the pizza to arrive, I took the opportunity to get some shots of a few more of my favourite things at Canada Blooms. So, here’s what not to miss, Part II. 1. In J. Garfield Thompson’s Natural Flow, a river runs through…an outdoor dining table! When I chatted with him […]
Best of Blooms, Part I: Canada Blooms Garden and Flower Festival, 2014»
This year more than ever, we need a breath of fresh spring air. There is no better place to catch spring fever than at the Canada Blooms Garden and Flower Festival, which opened on Friday, March 14 and runs until Sunday, March 23 at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto. Before the show opened, I was […]
Plants
Top evergreens for your winter landscape»
In a climate where the winter months span almost half the calendar, it’s surprising that we design our gardens for summer and pay little attention to how they look during the longest season of the year. In the summer, it’s easy to fill a bare spot with a new plant from the nursery. That’s not […]
Beguiling orchids — be my valentine!»
For Inge and Peter Poot, it was love at first sight. Ever since Peter presented Inge with an orchid during their honeymoon in Jamaica, the couple has had a love affair with these beguiling plants that’s lasted 47 years and shows no signs of waning. In fact, their passion has extended to a 20 x […]
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 […]
