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The best plant labels for vegetables

I’ve been on the hunt for a good way to label the plants in my vegetable garden, specifically, the many varieties of tomatoes. I grow…

Witch Hazel is a great early blooming shrub for your garden

Plant profile: Witchhazel

Witchhazel (Hamamelis x intermedia) is the very first thing to bloom in my garden. I knew this shrub had a reputation as an early bloomer…

Plant profile: Tuberous Begonias

Tuberous begonias are super plants for containers and hanging baskets. They have large, luscious blooms in colours ranging from white and pale pink to brilliant…

What to look for in a good pair of secateurs

A good pair of secateurs is an indispensable tool for a gardener. I can’t think of anything else that I use in the garden more…

Lessons for home gardeners from greenhouse tomato growers

What we can learn from greenhouse tomato growers

Last fall, while visiting The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, I came across a very neat exhibit–it was a 38 foot mobile “greenhouse education…

Would replacing a fire hydrant destroy my garden?

A city gardener’s nightmare

One of the “features” of our front yard is that it has a bright yellow fire hydrant at the northwest corner. When I first bought…

Plant profile: Night Blooming Primrose

Night blooming primrose (latin: Oenothera flava) is a really fun plant to have in your garden, as the flowers open right before your eyes! Individual…

Garden quotes and sayings

Gardens and the act of gardening have inspired writers and artists for centuries. Here is a collection of some of the best garden quotes and…

Visit to a miniature village in Niagara

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…

How to figure out your zone

Has a gardening friend or nursery salesperson ever asked you if you “know your zone?” It’s not a pick-up line (well, it’s usually not a…

Get tree sap off your hands with two ingredients from your kitchen

The one down side from making your own Christmas wreath out of fresh greenery, or doing any holiday decorating with pine and other sap oozing…

Storing Tubers Over The Winter

I wrote previously about how to dig up tender tubers–the roots of dahlias, cannas, and begonias–to store them over the winter. I know that a…

Prevent snow and ice damage to cedars without turning them into burlap mummies

Preventing Snow & Ice Damage to Cedars

When winter storms come and pile on heavy snow and ice, it can spell disaster for some trees, especially evergreens, which have needles that hold…

Fuss less in fall--focus on essential garden tasks

Fuss less in the fall

Every year at this time articles about “putting your garden to bed” seem to pop up like dandelions. Worried new gardeners stop me to ask…

MOSAICANADA150 was an incredible Mosaiculture display in Gatineau, QC

Making and Maintaining MOSAICANADA150

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…

A Visit to MOSAICANADA150

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…

Monarchs and other pollinators love this tree!

Monarch butterflies love this fall blooming tree

Earlier this year I heard many, many stories of people raising monarch butterflies by hand, in order to help shore up their declining numbers. Well,…

What’s happening in my fall garden?

When I mentioned to a friend that someone was coming over to see my garden last weekend she was surprised and said “What’s going on…

How to protect your plants against early fall or late spring frosts

Frost protection

When you live in a climate with real winter, frost is a fact of life. But when frost comes too early, a gardener has to…

A Visit to Chanticleer

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…

Tomato leaf problems aren't cause for panic

Tomato problems. But are they really a problem?

In an ideal world, our plants would never have a blemish and would produce bumper crops continuously. I do my best to practice good…

How to save your coleus for next year

I’ve written before about how much I love coleus and how I’ve had a hard time finding my favourite variety at any of my local…

Rain barrels and why every gardener should have one

Rain barrels and why gardeners should have one

I think everyone who has a garden would benefit from having a rain barrel–I have four in my yard (three catching rain off the house…

A Visit to Whistling Gardens

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…

water doesn't fall evenly over the entire garden

Do you know the dry spots in your garden?

Rain doesn’t fall the same everywhere. I’m not just talking about the difference in rainfall between one side of town and another, I’m talking…

At the end of your hose?

We haven’t had a good, garden-soaking rain in my area for more than a week, and it’s been hot so I’ve been doing a lot…

From the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the NYBG

A Visit to the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden

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…

Deadheading makes a difference

Deadheading is the process of removing spent flowers from a plant—in plain language that means cutting off the dead flowers. There are two main reasons…

Pruning tomatoes

I manage the growth of my tomato plants in order to keep them growing on one or two main stems. Left to their own devices,…

Sedums grow better if you pinch them back

Sedums, sometimes known as Stonecrops, are great plants–they have nice flowers, they’re drought and heat tolerant, and they are beloved by bees and other pollinators.…

Supporting heirloom tomatoes

I really enjoy growing tomatoes, especially somewhat unusual heirloom varieties. By nature, these tend to be very tall plants, growing 8 to 10’ tall in…

Supporting plants so they don't flop over

Support structures to keep your plants from flopping over

Have you ever admired the beautiful blooms on a peony but lamented that they were at ground level, possibly splattered with mud, because the flowers…

Two things to do before you go plant shopping

I spent a lot of time this past weekend buying and selling plants. Besides a shopping trip or two for my own garden, I accompanied…

The dreaded red lily beetle

When I first started my garden, in the early 2000’s, I grew gorgeous oriental lilies that looked a lot like these: But these are…

Lavender with new growth, ready to be pruned

Lavender needs a spring haircut

Lavender, latin name Lavandula, is a heat and drought tolerant woody plant. Its native climate is the Mediterranean, so it grows well in fast-draining soil…

Dividing rhubarb

Rhubarb is one of the earliest foods you can harvest from the garden. Other than a spot to grow with full sun and an annual…

Tree peonies – how do you prune them?

Peony plants that die back to the ground each winter and then send up new shoots each spring are known as herbaceous peonies–the term herbaceous…

How to prune roses

Roses should be pruned each spring. Cutting back rose canes (i.e. the stems/branches) every year helps to foster healthy, good-looking plants and encourage more blooms.…

Easy care hellebores

Hellebores seem to be getting a lot of attention these days–they’re a great looking, easy care plant that blooms in late winter to early spring.…

It's important to protect roses for winter, but also important to remove that winter protection at the right time

It’s time to unleash the roses!

One of the first spring tasks in the garden is to remove the winter protection off of roses. As I explained in my post on…