Location: Adam Beck Community Centre, 77 Lawlor Ave. (north of Kingston Rd., west of Victoria Park Ave.) Time: 9 am – 11:30 am (or sooner, if all the plants are gone!). Special features: Beach Babies (plants made for Beach area gardens), hand-selected Connoisseur Collection, great bargains on member-grown perennials.

Helleborus 'Cotton Candy' Photo: Terra Nova Nursery

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 describing the love of my life?

Well, the current love of my garden is Helleborus x hybridus, commonly known as the Lenten rose, and it was chosen as the Perennial Plant of the Year in 2005, so obviously I’m not the only one smitten by its charms. The thousands of members of the Perennial Plant Association cast their ballots in favour of this gem which must meet the requirements of all perennial plants of the year, including: 1) suitable for a wide range of climates, 2) low maintenance requirements 3) easily propagated 4) comes true from seed or vegetative propagation, and 4) exhibits interest throughout the seasons.

If you were lucky enough to have visited this year’s Canada Blooms flower show, you would have seen Lenten roses growing in just about every feature garden. They are one of the first of the early spring perennials to bloom, and their flowers look good for up to two months! Well, I call them flowers, but to the horticultural cognoscenti, they’re sepals, but who’s splitting petals? Whatever they are, they’re beautiful – and they bloom in a wide range of colours from the purest of whites and the creamiest of creams to pale pinks, deep burgundies (nearly black ones too) and even a stunning green. Their nodding bell-shaped sepals form single, semi-double and fully doubles, and some are edged in a deeper colour known as picotee.

Because of the attractive, leathery foliage, Lenten roses look good right into the summer and fall months too. Over the winter, the leaves may get tatty, so cut these off to encourage new growth. And if deer are a problem in your garden (thankfully they haven’t become urban grazers – yet!), the leaves contain an alkaloid that keep marauding deer from munching them.

There’s more good news about these wonderful plants – they’re easy to grow. Lenten roses are happy in shade, part-shade or even in dappled sun as long as the soil remains cool and moist. They demand well-drained, humus-rich soil and once established, will tough it out during temporary periods of drought. Helleborus x hybridus is perfectly happy growing alongside other shade-loving plants, including ferns, flowering shrubs such as rhododendrons and hydrangeas and perennials like sweet woodruff, masterwort, bugbane and barrenwort.

Some new varieties of Helleborus x hybridus to look for in the nurseries this season include the Lady Series, a group of hybrids with cup-shaped, slightly upward-facing flowers that bloom in shades of pink, deep red, pink-rose and a deep, dark purple. The Royal Heritage strain of Lenten roses is also worth a second glance. These long-lived perennials produce large flowers and great foliage. Colours range from near black, purple and red to pink, green, yellow and white.

With such a rainbow of colours, handsome foliage and an easy going attitude, what’s not to love about Helleborus x hybridus?

Photo: Kirsty Hall/Flickr

Five Commandments of Composting

1. Have enough mass: compost bins come in all shapes and sizes, but to produce enough heat to break down the kitchen scraps and yard waste that magically turn into compost, the dimensions of your bins need to be at least three by three by three feet. Any smaller, and there aren’t enough plant sugars for bacteria feed on, and the more feeding that goes on, the more heat that’s generated. Lowenfels also recommends using a bottomless bin that sits right on the ground, rather than the tumbler types, for example, because they will attract indigenous micro-organisms to the compost pile.

1. Get the mix right: A balanced compost pile has a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 30:1. For all you soil scientists, an Internet search will reveal a lab full of online compost calculators that will tell you exactly how to achieve this ratio (for example, see www.agric.gov.ab.ca/app19/calc/manure/manure.jsp). If you’re really into this, you can get caught up in the formulae till the cows come home, but for we ordinary folk, try not to worry too much about it too much. As long as you add more “greens”, such as kitchen scraps, than “browns”, for example, dried leaves and grass clippings, “compost happens”, says Lowenfels. I can certainly attest to that. For years, I’ve been making compost in my backyard without the use of a slide rule, just by tossing in whatever’s in the kitchen compost can and debris from the garden.

1. Keep it moist: Without water, there is no life. It’s the activity of those trillions of microbes that breaks down the organic matter in your bin into compost. Dead microbes do not a compost pile make, so make sure your bin doesn’t dry out.

1. Let there be air: Just as all organisms need water, so they need air to breathe. An airy compost pile decomposes quickly. A pile without air becomes anaerobic, a dead zone that is stagnant – and stinky! So, turn your pile frequently. (Lowenfels recommends the following aerating regimen: turn the pile on days 2, 5, 7 and 11, repeating until the compost is ready.)

1. Heat it up: To kill most weed seeds, the internal temperature of a well-maintained compost pile should hover around 58°C. Surprisingly enough, that’s easy to achieve by following the four previous commandments – and it has nothing to do with whether your bin is in sun or not. A compost bin sitting in the shade will heat up just as much as one in the sun – as long as the bin is large enough, you’ve added the right mix of organic materials, and there’s enough moisture and air.

Endless Summer hydrangea

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 to care for than perennials and annuals, many of which make high demands on our time. However, shrubs are plants of another disposition entirely. Give shrubs the space they need, lots of water to get them started, relatively good soil and some sunlight and they can be pretty much self-sufficient.

To improve on a good thing, plant breeders have been working hard to develop easy-care shrubs with foliage that remains attractive all season long, bountiful blooms that last longer than ever (some even re-bloom) and good disease-resistance. The result is a no-fuss garden that looks like it’s groomed by a team of gardeners.

Here are some of the most reliable ones.

Tough and stunning ninebarks

Coppertina ninebark

Ninebarks (Physocarpus) are some of the toughest shrubs for the landscape. Tolerant of both heat and drought, they’re also deer resistant (an important point for those of you who garden near a ravine). I’ve grown one called Coppertina for the last three years and I love it for its coppery coloured leaves alone – not to mention it lovely pink flowers. A new one to look for is called Lemon Candy, a compact shrub that grows less than one metre tall and wide with bright chartreuse foliage and white flowers in spring. Little Devil is another new, compact variety that’s about a metre tall and wide. It features reddish purple leaves and creamy white flowers. (Avoid ‘Diablo’ ninebark, which is susceptible to powdery mildew.)

Heavenly hydrangeas

Blushing Bride hydrangea

With all the new hydrangeas that have been developed over the last few years, it’s hard to know which one to choose. The good news is: you can’t go too far wrong if you stick to the arborescens and paniculata types and avoid the macrophyllas, which can be a tad touchy in our climate. ‘Annabelle’ is an old favourite arborescence type that’s been supersized in the form of Incrediball (Invincibell Spirit is its pretty pink sister). The huge flowerheads are supported by sturdy stems, too, so this one won’t sag under the weight of its blooms. Quick Fire and Limelight are fairly new paniculata varieties. Little Lime is a new, more compact version of Limelight that’s good for small space city gardens. I’m also smitten by Tickled Pink, another paniculata type that’s a little over a metre tall and wide with white flowers that fade to rosy pink. For the most part, hydrangeas will take a little shade (the more sun, the more flowers, though) but they absolutely demand plenty of water, so consider installing some simple irrigation – even a soaker hose on a timer will do the trick.

New old favourites

With this list in hand, all you have to do is find the time to visit the nurseries and pick out your favourite, easy care flowering shrubs.

Tickets are $45 and can be bought online at torontoislandhousetour2012.eventbrite.com

For more information, go to http://torontoislandhousetour.weebly.com/map.htmlor email us at granniesinspirit@gmail.com.

Medinilla magnifica is the "it" plant of the show.

After spending just about every day last week at Canada Blooms, helping Charlie Dobbin with the plant material, attending two media events and chatting with the garden designers, you’d think I’d be all Bloomed out! Instead, I’m so impressed with this show that I just have to share my absolute favourite gardens, plants and people. So, if you’re visiting Canada Blooms this week, don’t leave the show without seeing…

1. Medinilla magnifica is the “it” plant of the show. Big, blousy pink blooms cascade from deep, dark green tropical foliage. A longtime favourite houseplant of the flower-loving Dutch, Medinilla (think “med-” and “(va)nilla”) is being introduced to Canadians at Canada Blooms. To see it (and an amazing miniature grapevine that produces clusters of grapes — honest!), visit the Ontario Growers booth G17 — or just look up to find pots and pots of them cascading from the pergola that surrounds the booth. Medinilla magnifica is available in three sizes, from $19.99

Perfect Corner of Toronto depicts the rebirth of Roncesvalles Avenue

2. Sweetpea‘s three — count ‘em — three displays. The super-talented Sara Jameson won two awards for her “Perfect Corner of Toronto” garden (Garden 6B), a streetscape of Roncesvalles Avenue that cleverly incorporates street signs, TTC streetcar stops and traffic pylons surrounded by a richly textured carpet of handsome foliage plants. Around the corner, you’ll find her display of found objects, including cake stands showcasing muffin tins and cake pans rescued from Granowska’s bakery when they closed their doors last year. And in the professinal florists exhibit area, Sara has created a glasshouse terrarium banked with moss and old, discarded books and filled with everyday, backyard flowers that any good gardener would recognize.

Terrariums showcase muffin tins at Sweetpeas' display booth.

3. Chock full of plants, books and a new series of weather-resistent terra cotta pots marked with its logo, the Toronto Botanical Garden (booth G8B) offers sooo many temptations you’ll be hard-pressed to choose the ones you want to take home. Whatever you do though, be sure to pick up a copy of <em>Gardens by Design</em>, a special issue of the TBG’s member magazine that celebrates 25 years of gardening with design ideas from the city’s top garden influencers. At $3, it’s a steal (and light enough to tuck away in your Canada Blooms tote bag)!

There's lots to buy at the Toronto Botanical Garden's booth, including signed copies of the season's latest gardening books.

Jonas Spring, in collaboration with Victoria Taylor, transform a concrete jungle into a horticultural art installation.

4. I love surprises. And one of the most delightful of them was discovering the horticultural installation called “Concrete Blooms Burst” created by Victoria Taylor and Jonas Spring. Concrete rubble never looked so good. Colourful flowers, bulbs and grasses spring from the nooks and crannies of this display, which stretches the width of the floor (G27A&B) demonstrating the sheer tenacity of the creative spirit. And look closely at the light fixtures: they’re made of reclaimed galvinized metal sprayed with shotgun pellets that let the light shine through. When you see it, betcha can’t stop smiling!

5. Three colourful suspended umbrellas will lead you to yet another garden that shows the ingenuity of its designer. B sq. Design’s “Plug and Play” features wooden pallets that form walkways, walls and vertical growing spaces planted with lettuces and other leafy green vegetables. I love the two-storey shed, complete with penthouse patio. What a great idea for space-starved city gardens!

Alhtough these were five of my favourite things at Canada Blooms, there’s much more to see, including the Garden Club of Toronto’s stunning floral exhibits, the colourful Taipei garden, the sinuous Reford Gardens exhibit, the Master Gardeners advice clinics and of course a terrific lineup of speakers. (Oh, did I mention I’ll be talking about the gardens of Thailand on Wednesday afternoon? Stop by and say, hi!)

W. Gary Smith

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 fluttered to the ground, filling the patterned grooves with their gossamer white petals. As he stepped into the centre of the gravel bed, the wind whipped around him, and more blossoms swirled about, creating the magical feeling of being in the middle of a snow globe. No setting, no occasion, no moment can be numinous by design. All we can hope to achieve, Smith says, is to set up the place where these moments can take place.

From that powerful opening image, Smith proceeded to describe how, by using eight universal patterns created by various natural or human processes, we can unleash our creativity to design landscapes that are ready for their numinous moments. If I tell you what those eight universal patterns are, this post would sound like a text book, but believe me, when Smith reveals these patterns and how he uses them to inform his designs, nothing could be less like rote learning. If you can’t attend one of his lectures, then buy his award-winning book From Art to Landscape: Unleashing Creativity in Garden Design, and if it’s sold out, visit his Stooks and Punes installation this spring at the Toronto Botanical Garden, and if you can’t make it to the garden, then visit his website – but be careful; he just might unleash your creativity.

While researching Mulch To Be Desired for the Spring 2012 issue of GardenMaking magazine, I visited the mulch-making site of Gro-Bark in Caledon, just north of Toronto. Sales rep Kerri Stevenson and technical sales rep Chelsea Stroud showed me around, pointing out how the mulch is dyed, the differences between the various mulches and generally filling me in on the making of mulch. I had an up-close look at my favourite mulch, too – composted pine bark. The crisp fall day was full of the earthy pine scent. It was bliss! Thanks Kerry and Chelsea!

On the way back from Gro-Bark, I passed this mountain of mulch mounded up over the roots of this spruce hedge. Hmm, not my favourite colour and those evergreen roots will soon be smothered to death!

1. Visit a Greenhouse

For an instant injection of spring, there’s nothing like taking a walk through a greenhouse. One of the loveliest is right here in the heart of the city at Allan Gardens Conservatory. You know – it’s that glasshouse you glance at as you whiz along Jarvis Street on the way to somewhere else. This winter, make it your destination. You’ll be amazing at the variety of tropical plants and desert-dwellers.

2. The second-best way to get ready for springtime is to take a gardening course. The Toronto Botanical Garden’s Spring Program Guide offers so many courses, from pruning workshops to armchair travel, you’ll fill your calendar in no time!

3. Take Stock

Winter is the perfect time to organize photos of your garden and take stock of which plants performed well and which ones were under performers. During the growing season, it’s easy to be so awed by a colourful clump of perennials that you turn a blind eye to a sulky plant or a difficult corner of the garden. Looking at your garden through photographs gives you a truer picture of what needs to be done, so sort through those photos and starting making your spring to-do list!

4. Take a Walk

At some point, you’ll have to brave the wintry outdoors. The Toronto Field Naturalists make it easy for you to experience nature up-close. Throughout the winter, the volunteer organization hosts walks led by various members who share their expertise by identifying birds and trees along the trails. Upcoming walks include High Park, Humber Bay East and Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.

5. Watch a movie

On a snowy evening, curl up in front of the flickering television and watch a gardening movie. From films with a gardening theme – my favourites include Saving Grace and A New Leaf – and armchair tours of some of the best gardens around the world (Audrey Hepburn’s classic series, Gardens of the World, comes to mind) to more serious fare such as the pesticides ban documentary A Chemical Reaction, there’s enough to declare one night a week gardening night in Canada.

6. Listen In

With access to so much online content, it’s easy to listen in to gardening shows from anywhere in the world. Some of the best are from the United Kingdom, where lucky gardeners watch daffodils bloom in February. BBC hosts several call-in shows (Gardener’s Question Time is often a hoot), which are available through podcasts at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer and you can even watch hunky Matthew Wilson, a.k.a. Landscape Man, on Channel 4.

7. Learn a Lesson

At one time, watching amateur how-to videos was at best comical and often misleading. But a quick Google search turns up some surprisingly instructive videos created by landscape experts. Some of the best include Patti Moreno’s Gardening Girl TV, PBS’s Garden Smart and Gardening Australia.

8. Read a Book or Magazine

During the gardening season, magazines and new books pile up on a table in my office, patiently waiting for winter when, I swear, they know I’ll finally have time to open and read them. At the top of the pile are the November issue of the Royal Horticulture Society’s The Garden and the spring issue of GardenMaking magazine. The View from Great Dixter and Growing tasty tropical plants heads the stack of books, as well as a pre-publication copy of Serving Up…No-Guff Vegetable Gardening by Donna Balzer and Steven Biggs.

9. Tend a Houseplant

Although I admit to being the worst indoor gardener ever, I know there are those among you who have a real knack for growing houseplants – and I envy your talents. Walk through the indoor plant department of any nursery this winter and take home whatever catches your eye – from traditional favourites like African violets to exotic tropicals such as clivias, you’re sure to find a charmer.

10. See Canada Blooms

An annual harbinger of spring, the Canada Blooms Flower and Garden Festival gives me hope that winter is coming to an end. Teamed with the National Home Show, this year Canada Blooms runs for 10 glorious days, from March 16 to 25 at the Direct Energy Building on the grounds of the CNE. It can’t come too soon.

There’s a buzz in the air about local hero Clement Kent, a York University postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biology in York’s Faculty of Science & Engineering and president of the Horticultural Societies of Parkdale and Toronto.  Kent founded the Pollinator Garden Project two years ago to teach gardeners, members of the public and school children how to create and conserve habitat for pollinators. The success of this project has garnered him the Pollinator Advocate Award of Canada from the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC).  Kent will accept his award at an international conference at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington in late October. Whoo-hoo!