General growing and maintenance guidelines. Your plants and how to care for them…
UPDATE: Marilyn is the chosen-at-random winner of this giveaway. Please feel free to keep adding your words in the comments. Dear Margaret, Lately, I’ve been thinking about this short passage, an exchange between writer Alice Walker and her mother that appears in her memoir, The Same River Twice. “…”You(‘re) a little mess, ain’t you.” Meaning …
It was the day of our 20th anniversary, but I COULD NOT miss the annual Ontario Rock Garden and Hardy Plant Society sale at the Toronto Botanical Garden (a different account of this story appears over here). Davin entertained my desire to go — an anniversary gift of sorts and one that he has been …
I have a “stick them wherever they’ll fit” attitude towards onions, shallots, garlic, and leeks. While most edible alliums grow to be their biggest and best when the soil is rich and the sun is bright, I often start the season with more allium seedlings and sets than ideal space in which to plant them. …
Back in late July I told you about a two-for-one squash from Argentina called ‘Pilar’ aka ‘Zapallito Redondo de Tronco’ that can be harvested young as a zucchini, or left to ripen and enjoyed later in the year as a winter squash. Well, three months have passed and I have begun harvesting and eating the …
I went all out for succulents this year and had some fun putting together a range of containers using tender plants. I live in a colder climate where tender succulents must be brought inside to overwinter, and for this reason I have tended to stick to making mixed plantings of hardy succulents only (with the …
With flat and fleshy, bluish/silver/green leaves that reach out horizontally as if the plant may take flight, Propeller Plant (Crassula perfoliata var. falcata) is an aptly named South African succulent that I think you’ll love. For those who are curious, according to “Stearn’s Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners,” the Latin “falcata” or “falcate” means …
I love the idea of hot peppers much more than my body likes it when I eat them. For that reason I am always on the look out for what West Indians call “seasoning peppers.” That is, varieties that impart the flavour of hot peppers without the heat.* One of the best seasoning peppers that …
I’m beginning to see the end*. Gaps are appearing where summer annuals have been yanked. Seed heads are quickly replacing flowers and colour in the garden comes more from the green leaves that are shifting towards yellows, reds, and browns. The world is in transition. I’ve been thinking about this lately. The way I focus …
I probably should have waited to post this until it was doing something more exciting than simply being alive in a pot, but the fact that it is alive at all is one reason why I find this euphorbia so thrilling in the first place. Euphorbia platyclada is a living succulent plant that looks dead, …
‘Black and Blue’ salvia is really more blue and purple than black, but you know how these things go in the garden world. Dark purple is often considered black and identifying colour is mostly down to a bit of wishful thinking. This salvia is also reported to attract hummingbirds, hence the common name, hummingbird sage, …
I’ve been a succulent enthusiast since the start. They are easy to care for, can be crammed into small spaces, and they come in a wide range of alien-like forms. What’s not to love? While I have always grown a great many of them, moving out of my old apartment and into a very dry …
Clockwise from Top Right: ‘Noire de Coseboeuf,’ ‘Constoluto Fiorentino,’ ‘Zapotec Pink Pleated,’ ‘Yellow Ruffled,’ ‘Tim’s Black Ruffles.’ This is the time of year when I typically roll out a few photographs that brag of my annual tomato harvest. I have started taking photos, but I have to say that the strange weather this season has …