Joining Philip is Bruce Scott, Casa Loma’s head gardener for the past 20 years, who will expand on the heritage site’s grounds and gardens. The walking difficulty of this tour is medium: mixed pavement and grass, with some stairs and small hills on the route.

Time: 10am – noon

Start Location: The fountain at the front entrance of the castle

There are many more of these wonderful fall bloomers, including ‘September Charm’, which comes a close second to ‘H. J.’  Which one would you choose to grow in your “desert island” garden?

Brunnera 'Jack Frost'

You may prefer the creamy edges of Brunnera ‘Hadspen Cream’ or the gold-rimmed ‘King’s Ransom’ or even the silvery leaves of  ‘Looking Glass’, but my heart will always be true to ‘Jack Frost’. It’s not just the snowy foliage (it reminds me of Frosted Flakes cereal — maybe it’s a nostalgia thing…), or those gorgeous forget-me-not blue flowers, it’s that ’Jack Frost’ is so vigorous and healthy, he just seems to be in love with life. I’ve divided mine several times over the four or five years I’ve grown this wonderful shade plant, and I think I’ll have to do it again this year. By comparison, ‘King’s Ransom’ looks smaller and more delicate than when I planted it last year, and ‘Looking Glass’ has yet to make an appearance this season. So, my desert island choice for Brunnera is definitely ‘Jack Frost’. Any takers?

Photo: Blooms of Bressingham

Walking through my garden the other morning, it occured to me that I tend to hang onto plants whether they perform or not. In other areas of my life, I’m ruthless about getting rid of things I no longer use, wear, read, eat — well, you get the picture. So, in an effort to force myself to be just as cold-hearted in the garden, I’m compiling a list of desert island plants (or should I say, temperate island plants…).

So here’s the first in a series of “if I had to choose just one plant” posts.

I think it’s more than fitting that Geranium ‘Rozanne’ should be the first to kick off the series. This is a plant that belongs in every garden. Introduced at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2000, ‘Rozanne’ was nominated as the Perennial Plant of the Year in 2008 (what took them so long?!). In my garden, it blooms from June until November — I don’t know any other perennial that blooms as long! ‘Rozanne’ is such an easy-going plant, too. I moved it from the relatively rich soil of my perennial bed to the dusty dirt where a ‘New Dawn’ climbing rose thrives and ‘Rozanne’ didn’t so much as wilt. In fact, it clothes the naked canes of ‘New Dawn’ with lush foliage and those oh-so-lovely blue flowers.

So, are there any other nominations out there for the “If I had to choose just one hardy geranium” contest? Post a comment and let me know!

Stems and stalks of perennials like sedum, coneflower and phlox look wonderful growing through drifts of snow, but let’s face it, they’ve served their purpose, and as the world around them starts to turn green, their unsightly brown clumps should be chopped to the ground. Also remove the dead leaves of coral bells, hostas, barrenwort and hellebores (all but H. argutifolius and H. foetidus), and cut back ornamental grasses to within 10 to 12 centimetres of the ground.

Non-gardeners just shake their heads when I tell them one of the highlights of a recent pre-Christmas trip to New York (apart from the no-hassle flight on Porter Air…)  was a brisk walk along the elevated park that runs from Gansevoort in the Meat Packing District to just beyond Chelsea Market. I admit, the grass-lined walkway wasn’t bustling, and the wind whipped the bitter cold air into an icy, body-numbing cold, but it made the subsequent lunch at a cosy little Soho bistro all the more warming. And, winter isn’t such a bad time to look at a garden. The ornamental grasses obligingly bent to the wind and you could clearly see the way designer Piet Oudolf wove the plants into the patterns made by the old rail lines.

Larkwhistle

In the summertime, there are two types of families: cottage people and stay-at-home city folk. Ours is one of the latter. On the May 24 weekend, we watch as the city empties out and wait for the blissful quiet to descend on the city. This euphoria lasts for a few weekends, and then we get twitchy. Before you can say, “Let’s hit the road”, we’re planning excursions into the countryside. As a dyed in the wool gardener, these trips always manage to include seeing a garden or two, so I was thrilled to discover a network of private gardens open to the public all summer long: the Rural Gardens of Grey and Bruce Counties.

Larkwhistle

Spanning the countryside wedged between the shores of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, the gardens of Grey/Bruce (some 37 in total) lie down dusty dirt roads and along winding country lanes. One sunny June day, I headed off with a group of garden writers to the tip of the peninsula near Tobermory to visit Larkwhistle, a garden hewn from the rocky landscape near Dyers Bay by two talented (and plucky) gardeners, Patrick Lima and John Scanlon. The garden was brimming with peonies, dianthus, roses and lavender. And in the several ponds, water lilies opened their blossoms while frogs basked on their sunny leaves. A visit to Larkwhistle is like taking a lesson in gardening from a pro: stunning plant combinations, unusual plants and a healthy crop of vegetables and herbs. You could easily spend an afternoon exploring and learning from this garden.

Keppel Croft

But the siren calls of Keppel Croft Farm and Gardens drew us south to Big Bay. Here Bill and Dawn Loney manage four acres of spectacular gardens divided into a variety of styles, including traditional English flower borders, a Zen garden, rock garden and even a meadow with a stone-henge-like art installation the owners call Keppel Henge. The day we visited, a flock of guinea hens was feasting on the insects and seeds of the meadow grasses, ready with an album of poses for the camera that threatened to steal the show from the flowers of the garden (but not quite!).

Earthbound

Crossing the peninsula to Red Bay, our group visited Earth Bound Perennials and Gardens where herbs and perennials filled the landscape. Earth Bound is noted for its lilies and daylilies, which are in bloom from June to August. While strolling the grounds, visitors are sure to fall in love with one or two of these beauties, and to satisfy acquisitive gardeners, Earth Bound’s greenhouses boast one of the largest selection of lilies that I’ve seen, including the rosy coloured ‘Toronto’ lily, which is now blooming in my garden next to ‘Summer Wine’ beebalm – a more perfect combination I could not have planned.

These are a small handful of the many creative gardens scattered throughout this beautiful region of the province. The best way to explore the area is with the Rural Gardens brochure (available at many shops and at tourist offices throughout the region), or with information from the website: www.ruralgardens.ca. Both sources provide a description of each garden, the address, opening hours and entry fees or donations, and a handy map. As you travel through the counties, watch for the yellow daisy logo displayed at each garden. It’s a sure sign that a beautiful garden awaits discovery.

Acanthus hungaricus

For the last three years, I’ve been anxiously watching the progress (or lack thereof) of Acanthus hungaricus, a spectacular architectural perennial I fell in love with on a trip to Jordan, Ontario in the Niagara Region. For the first two summers, the plant was barely there. Last year, it seemed to leaf out into a lovely clump, but no flowers. Then, whammo, this year it sprouted 14 stunning flower spikes! It started blooming in early July and still looks handsome, even though some of the florets are drying and turning brown.

Although in warmer zones, lucky gardeners can grow the more common Acanthus mollis, here in Canadian Zone 6b, A. hungaricus is hardier and slightly more compact than A. mollis, making it a better choice for us.