Garden Tourism

We had a wet weekend for the Long Branch Garden Tour. Very. Very. Wet. But that didn’t seem to dampen the spirit of the intrepid soles who braved the downpour last weekend, and the gardens couldn’t have looked better.   The day started off with a talk by garden expert Helen Battersby. She is a…

June is a popular month for garden tours in my area. It’s late enough that the garden has progressed beyond tulips, but early enough that everything still looks fresh, and many perennials are blooming. Unlike public gardens, where you can pay admission almost any day of the week and roam at will, tours of private…

This past weekend we took a drive to the Niagara Parks Commission’s Floral Showhouse. We wanted to see the poinsettia display in the greenhouse and the holiday light display, but the bigger draw was seeing the display of miniature houses, “Life on Display.” These are perfectly scaled replicas of southern Ontario homes and businesses that…

The MOSAICANADA150 exhibit held in Gatineau, Quebec this summer was a stunning combination of gardening and sculpture. I focused on the sculptural aspect in my last blog post. This week, I want to delve into the plants and methods used to create Mosaiculture, and celebrate the dedication of the gardeners who created and maintained these…

I’ve been looking forward to the Mosaiculture exhibit in Gatineau, Quebec since January. After a busy summer, I finally got to see it, just a week before it ends, and boy am I glad I did. MOSAICANADA150 is a tremendous display and a wonderful means of commemorating Canada’s 150th birthday.          …

I’ve been hearing great things about Chanticleer garden in Pennsylvania for several years. I’ve also attended inspiring talks in Toronto from visiting Chanticleer staff and devoured the book on Chanticleer, The Art of Gardening: Design Inspiration and Innovating Planting Techniques From Chanticleer. But I had never been for a visit in person. Until this year.…

Three years ago I drove an hour and a half out of Toronto, to Brantford, to see a garden. I’d heard that a gardener with a big vision, Darren Heimbecker, was building his dream–a new public botanical garden–out of 20 acres of former cornfield.   The plants were still small, the structures still taking shape,…

I first visited the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) in September of 2010. I was awed by much that I saw, including the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden.   By September there certainly wasn’t much to see in the way of blooms.   But the grand scope of the place–1.04 acres (4200 square meters) dedicated to…

Turn your thoughts with me to an exciting event coming to the National Capital Region this summer, as part of Canada’s sesquicentennial celebrations. It’s the MOSAICANADA 150/2017 exhibition of Mosaiculture which will be held in Gatineau, Quebec (just across the river from Ottawa, Ontario) for 107 days, from July 1 to October 15, 2017. So…

This is the second of two posts on my October visit to VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, B.C. For part one, which focuses on blooms, click here. Even in fall, there is lots to keep a visitor interested at this garden The visitor centre is a good place to start; just before you enter there…

The first time I visited VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, B.C. it was mid-November and the garden had definitely moved into “winter” stage. I still had a wonderful time, learned lots, and revelled in seeing plants that I’ve heard about but never seen in person. Imagine my excitement then, when I found out that I…

This is the second of two posts on Garden Walk Buffalo—the largest garden tour in North America which takes place in Buffalo, New York every July. In my first post profiled some of the most colourful gardens and garden element I saw. This post will focus on the creative touches that caught my eye–since this…

I consider myself fortunate to live only a couple hours drive away from the largest garden tour in North America–Garden Walk Buffalo. More than 400 gardens open to the public on the last weekend in July every year, free of charge.   My husband and I spent two days trekking through the gardens participating this…

On Saturday I attended the first ever Long Branch by the Lake Garden Tour, in the south west part of Toronto. Shortly after stepping out of the car, on my way to visit the first garden, I overheard one neighbour, out walking her dog, say to another “You know, I think it’s really weird to…