We popped into the C.N.E last night for a bit of picture-taking and happened upon the Toronto Gesneriad Society table displaying the largest selection of the craziest African violets I have ever seen! Some of the names were just a little bit naughty, and some of the plants over-the-top Vegas Show Girl shimmery, giving me …
The raccoons may have got a lot, but they didn’t get my tomatillos.
A few weeks ago my beautiful blue jade corn was devastated by squirrels or baby raccoons. We’re not sure which because both have been spotted on the deck since then. I’ve been so miserable about the loss I couldn’t bring myself to write about it until today. Not only did they devour all the immature …
Yikes. It’s been a long while since I’ve updated. Obviously an awful lot has happened in my gardens since my last update. The weather has been the strangest this spring/summer of any year I can recall. It has been wetter, cooler and greyer. As a result, some plants have grown taller and bigger than ever …
Guest post by Zesty ‘Arbolist’ Look up the word. I don’t know, maybe I made it up. Anyway, it’s an arbotree-ist, somebody who knows about trees.’ George W. Bush as quoted in USA today; August 21, 2001 Well the reckoning has finally come. The cute little apple tree in our back yard can no longer …
It’s time to start posting updates on my gardens before things get too out-of-hand. Over at the community garden plot I dug in some fresh soil amenders and finished planting quite a while back. Thanks to some rain all the seedlings are coming in nicely. This year I planted: Purple Cherokee tomato Black Krim tomato …
The following photos were taken on a walk along the railroad tracks in my neighbourhood today. Row1: Unknown, Viper’s Bugloss, Coreopsis (aka Tickseed) Row2: Milkweed (open flowers) Milkweed (closed flowers)
The Summer Solstice, or “Midsummer’s Day” has its origins in paganism as a celebration of various Sun Gods. Cultures everywhere still celebrate this day, which marks the middle of summer, not, as with today’s calendar, its beginning. SOLSTICE – sol stare: “standing still sun” In Spain, the eve of solstice is called “Night of the …
Guest post by Zesty Thinking upon the last weekend of May, there are words that spring to my mind. Words like ‘triumph’ and ‘omnipotent’ and ‘whupass’. For yes truly, as the phoenix doth rise from its ashes so too is my garden no longer a cover candidate for ‘Crackhead Landscaping’. What was once a weed-ridden …
An article by Karen von Hahn on Gayla Trail and You Grow Girl. “…it’s as punchy, quirky and irreverent as its hip young urban audience.” “Sanders (Trail) who is slight, intense and wears the statement eyeglasses of the srtistically inclined, also had trouble with the gardening industry’s conventional beauty ideal. “It was intimidating to see …
In keeping with tradition I am posting this year’s Herb Fair haul. And in further keeping with tradition I was a complete glutton.
Guest post by Zesty I’ve decided June 1 is New Year’s Day at least when it comes to gardening. It certainly doesn’t make much sense to go with January 1. In June I can get outside, take some action and not indulge in any whimsy. For whimsy and wishful thinking have ruled the day for …