I’ve had to interrupt my previously scheduled post to bring you this breaking news: Holy shit, it is snowing! I have tried over the years to come to appreciate winter more. I really have. I know there are lots of reasons to appreciate and even enjoy this time of year; I just don’t care about …
When I last spoke of the Office Tomato, I described a plant that was quickly headed towards its final days. It had three ripe fruit and I was hoping to keep the plant going long enough to turn out a forth. Amazingly, I managed to keep it alive to get not only a forth, but …
Back in January I introduced you to my office tomato, a mystery volunteer plant that I began nurturing for its delicious tomato leaf smell. Well, it looks like Mystery Tomato is about to offer up something else that is delicious — it’s making fruit! Here is a photograph of my plant in the window it …
When we moved, I abandoned the cobbled together grow light setup I had been struggling with for years in favour of beginning again with a much improved, bigger and badder system. In the old place I had to stuff the grow light shelving system into a corner nook of my office. Consequently, it couldn’t be …
Those of us in the northeastern reaches of North America are something like just past the halfway mark to spring. The days are getting longer, and even though I am thoroughly discouraged by endless applications of boots and layers of heavy clothing, there is some hope. Spring is within a reasonably foreseeable future. There are …
I apologize for temporarily turning this site into You Grow Girl: The Amaryllis Story, but I promise you I have more posts on other topics on the go. Until then, as promised, here are a few photos of the ‘Green Dragon’ amaryllis. And here are the flowers with red streaks down the centre of each …
Back in November, I wrote about receiving a green amaryllis from a friend (it’s just starting to bloom) and mentioned another variety that I was coveting called ‘Green Dragon.’ Well, I went and bought that one, too. Or rather, I bought three.
It must have been the influence of that month in the Caribbean where they are as big as trees, because I haven’t craved a holiday poinsettia in ages. The last time I remember growing one was the year I published a piece on restoring a dormant poinsettia to its original glory. That must have been …
Earlier this year I contemplated trying some unusual amaryllis (Hippeastrum) varieties including
I promised a follow-up photo of Clematis x cartmanii ‘Joe’ in full bloom and here it is. This small clematis from New Zealand makes a gorgeous potted plant, but keep in mind that it is not hardy in a colder climate like Toronto’s (around zone 5b-ish) and must be overwintered in a cool greenhouse. Meanwhile, …
A visit to Erika’s apartment a month back has inspired a new sense of excitement about my own windowsills. The morning after the tour, we experienced a rare winter treat here in Toronto: sunshine! While my windowsill has been transformed several times since, here’s what it looked like on that first morning of sun. In …
We popped over to the community garden yesterday afternoon with a frozen pail of compost. I thought I would take some pictures so you can see what it looks like in the middle of winter. As you can see, not much is happening. Drab and dull. We stop using our plots between October/November and March/April …