flowers… Timeshare Ending: Let Bygones be Begonias 2 Aug 20202 Aug 2020 A week ago, we checked out of the timeshare we had bought into two decades earlier. A few days later, we signed the forms to exit the perpetual lease that…
flowers… A Year of Unplanning 26 Jul 202027 Jul 2020 2020 has been a year of unplanning. Time away and a theatre production in March give way to a lock down. A cruise and engagement party for a loved one…
flowers… Rudbeckia Flowers 19 Jul 202018 Jul 2020 My children first spied Rudbeckia at Cullen Gardens and Miniature Village in Whitby. They thought that was a wonderful name for a flower since it combined their version of the…
flowers… Snapdragons for All 12 Jul 202012 Jul 2020 I have not planted snapdragons for four years but thanks to bees, I have a beautiful crop that is completely self-seeded. With hues ranging from ivory, pink, white to burgundy,…
Animals… A Canadian Scenic Safari 5 Jul 20205 Jul 2020 Whenever possible garden tours are incorporated into my vacation planning. I have experienced marvelous gardens on the campus of UBC in Vancouver, British Columbia; Flower Forest and Hunte’s Garden in…
art… Tips for Container Gardening 28 Jun 202028 Jun 2020 Like most other things this year, the garden workshops and tours I booked have been cancelled. While in person events are on hold, zoom has filled some of the void.…
flowers The Peony: Unforgettable Ephemeral Beauty — Emanuel Melo torontonian azorean writer 25 Jun 202027 Jun 2020 The Peony: Unforgettable Ephemeral Beauty Peonies visit the garden each June. They blossom for a short while, filling the garden with a quiet beauty that although understated, lasts in memory…
flowers… Sweet William 21 Jun 202022 Jun 2020 From its shape and colour, you may have guessed that Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus) is part of the carnation family (Dianthus). Dianthus is derived from the Greek words dios (God)…
art… June Irises and Rainbows 14 Jun 202014 Jun 2020 Irises are at full bloom in Ontario. I have loved them since my mother first brought home a clump shared from Randy’s garden. As well as being a close family…
art… A Garden as Art 7 Jun 20205 Jul 2020 I have a had a twitter account for a long time but it lay dormant for many years. This past fall, I became active again and started following gardeners from…
art… Jack Pines 31 May 202031 May 2020 Under normal circumstances, we pay little heed to the tall jack pines that exist in the median between the sidewalk and the street. We see them as we drive by…
flowers… Four Ways to Save on your Garden This Season and Next 24 May 202023 May 2020 It seems that bears and people have something in common this year. After months of forced isolation, they are back out in nature with a force. The traffic reports last…
flowers… Trilliums 16 May 202017 May 2020 Last week, I featured a photo of a trillium flower taken by Janine Elliott in a local woodlot. This week, I decided to paint some trilliums. I also decided to…
Garden Crops… Seeds of Hope IV 10 May 202010 May 2020 Hope Challenged My most recent day working from my downtown offfice was Friday, March 13. Yes, Friday the 13th. I had heard the news about illness over the past couple…
flowers… Homemade Fertilizer 3 May 20203 May 2020 When we moved into our home ten years ago, the gardens in our townhouse complex were well tended. Every spring the landscaping company would drop off a load of compost…
flowers… The Daffodils Bloom 26 Apr 202026 Apr 2020 Spring and hope are not cancelled. The daffodils bloom. David died two years and a half years ago of lung cancer. He was a nurturer and landscaper and it showed.…
art… Nested Dolls 19 Apr 202019 Apr 2020 When we were young, we had a series of older ladies as babysitters. My father was a politician and my mother was his press secretary and a volunteer in the…
art… Daffodils and Rainbows 12 Apr 202010 Apr 2020 Change is not always easy and sometimes positivity needs to be carefully noted. Again the good arrives at unexpected times and I don't want it to pass unnoticed. As cold…
flowers… Seeds of Life and Hope III 5 Apr 20205 Apr 2020 There is a lot of information out there now about staying positive. That said, the reality is that sometimes even with the best of soil, water and conditions, some seeds…
art… Seeds of Life and Hope II 29 Mar 202029 Mar 2020 I am back at work. Rather than my office in downtown Toronto, my new location is my kitchen. My 3 hour a day commute has been replaced by 14 stairs…
Garden Tip… Sometimes Life Succulents 22 Mar 202022 Mar 2020 I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago. Life has changed a lot in that short period of time but after re-reading, I decided this post still has some…
flowers… Planting Seeds of Life and Hope 20 Mar 202021 Mar 2020 “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”Martin Luther (1483-1546), monk, priest, theology professor, composer, central figure in the…
travel… Finding Fairy Trees 15 Mar 202015 Mar 2020 During our trip to Ireland we enjoyed day trips to Wicklow, Glendalough and Kilkenny and to Connemora and Cong. Our guides, Yoann and Michael, pointed out singular trees growing in…
flowers… Touring the Greenhouse Collections 8 Mar 202014 Mar 2020 environmental controls in the Desert Collection The University of Toronto Growth Facilities are open to the public during the week. The four main collection areas: Tropical, Palm, Temperate, and Desert,…
Garden Tour University Growth Facilities Then and Now 1 Mar 20201 Mar 2020 Bring our Children to Work Day has been ongoing at the University of Toronto for over 20 years. It gives children an opportunity to get insight into the work lives…
flowers… Barbados Revisited: Coconut Court, Flower Forest and Wildlife Reserve 23 Feb 202023 Feb 2020 Our most recent trip to Barbados was in July 2019. I was on leave in February when I spotted a great seat sale and a hotel bargain, so I convinced…
flowers… Club Barbados, Resort and Spa and Hunte’s Garden 16 Feb 202023 Mar 2020 Last week I wrote about our first trip to Barbados in 2001. After many years away from the beautiful sun and sand, we finally made a return trip to the…
Inspirations… Barbados and The Box of Secret Stuff 9 Feb 202024 Feb 2020 I have a box marked “Secret Stuff”. It is from a time before digital images and documents floating in the cloud. It doesn’t really contain secrets but rather memories of…
art Nature Meets Art 2 Feb 202024 Feb 2020 I have been gardening since I was a little girl. I have also always loved art. Education in 1980s Ontario required a certain number of art classes and the funneling…
flowers… Why Pesticide Free Gardens Matter: Honeybees and Me 26 Jan 202011 Jul 2020 I was attending a conference at the Seneca College campus during a quiet study week this past October. Over lunch attendees were given the opportunity to take a tour of…
Garden Crops… Fish are Garden Friends 19 Jan 202024 Feb 2020 Goldfish arrived in our home in the mid-90s. My oldest daughter was spending some summer break time with her grandparents when she came across an old fish tank in the…
flowers… A Canadian Winter Garden 12 Jan 202024 Feb 2020 I spent an hour gardening outside on January 3 in Canada. This is not west coast, temperate Canada, but middle-of-the-country should be really cold and snowy winter Canada. We had…
flowers… A Garden Trip to Nova Scotia 5 Jan 202024 Feb 2020 I asked my son Gavin if there was some place he would like to go on a family trip. He immediately responded “Scotland!” Although he was in his early twenties,…
flowers… Top 10 Garden Resolutions 29 Dec 201924 Feb 2020 While I generally avoid unrealistic goals like weight loss and fortune finding, I do like to make positive plans for times ahead. As I look back at what was great…
flowers… A Trip to the Emerald Isle 22 Dec 201924 Feb 2020 The first time I crossed the border I was 23 and we were on our honeymoon. We had time in between hotels and my new husband thought it would be…
Inspirations How I Crafted our Holiday Wreath 15 Dec 201924 Feb 2020 The first Christmas wreath I made was of grape wines from the backyard of our first home. I wove the vines together and added ribbons and ornaments. Thirty years later…
Dog Dogs in the Garden 8 Dec 201924 Feb 2020 My oldest brother Mark had a poodle when we were growing up. I was only two when the dog came to live with us and though I have vague memories…
flowers… The Top Six Reasons for Community Gardens 1 Dec 201924 Feb 2020 I was inspired to reconsider the uses of my own little plot of earth five years ago when I first visited the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Located a…
About Me… Planting Good Seeds for Change 24 Nov 201924 Feb 2020 My husband says I could never let a plant die. I do have fern that I received before I married him. His mother gave it to me to see how…
flowers… Zero Budget Gardening Tips 17 Nov 201924 Feb 2020 Money has been one of my biggest gardening challenges over the years. I married just two months after graduating from university and soon after that, we were expecting our first…
flowers… How to Grow the Biggest Sunflower 10 Nov 201923 Feb 2020 I have always loved sunflowers. When I was growing up, I would only see them on vacation in Southern Ontario. The growing season where I lived was not usually long…
flowers… Sowing Poppies for Wally, John and Jean 3 Nov 201923 Feb 2020 Wally and John My Mom always made sure I had some quarters to put in the box at school on Poppy Day. Though I had never seen a real poppy,…
Garden Crops Gardens Past and Pumpkins 27 Oct 201923 Feb 2020 This week is all about Halloween. Although jack-'o-lanterns were originally carved from turnips, pumpkins are now the standard. While I have baked my share of pies and carved a good…
Garden Tip Keeping Squirrels out of the Hanging Baskets 20 Oct 201923 Feb 2020 Critters can invade any garden. Pollinators including bees are indispensable to growth. Spider mites, like those that devoured my friend Carsey’s newly planted balcony garden, are unwelcome. Furry creatures can…
Garden Crops Growing Conditions for Cherry Tomatoes 13 Oct 201923 Feb 2020 This weekend marks Canadian Thanksgiving. I am not sure why it is earlier than that of our American counterparts, but I am guessing it is because it tends to get…
Inspirations Spring Gardening in Colder Climates 6 Oct 201923 Feb 2020 I grew up in a mining city in Northern Ontario. Up there snow can arrive as soon as September and doesn't usually disappear until mid-May. The Southern Ontario Victoria Day…
