Barbara's Garden Chronicles

Landscape Ontario Congress 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:28:00 +0000

This is what our winter has looked like so far. The only clue that we're in a colder month here is the unbelievably longggggg shadows. It has been an absolute breeze getting around. In fact Kevin didn't even have the shovel at the front door until last Friday when we

awoke to this.... Although as you can see - the road wasn't completely covered, just a bit greasy.

Today the warm temperatures have returned, the grass is all back and the ground has the texture of stodgy lentil soup - an excellent day to be at home and at my computer.

Last week I had the good fortune to go to Landscape Ontario's Congress 2012 - an eight acre playground of trucks, plants and all things for the landscape.

Here's some of what I saw when I was there:

Things that are made out of tires. Yes, making things out of tires is a good idea. Unfortunately, things made out of tires, smell like tires. And if they smell, they're emitting gases, which means not only would this mulch be stinky, it would be leaching petrochemicals into my garden. Good idea for someone, just not for me and definitely nothing I'd recommend for any of my garden friends.

Cool things made by men with power tools. If I didn't mind the noise, I'd almost be tempted.

I remember all the massive melters in Montreal; there was a melter just below the train station, where I dodged the giant trucks filled with snow and ice. All winter long there'd be clouds of cold steam and rivers of slushy slime that oozed over the sidewalk. This little darling is for parking lots - so fewer parking spaces are lost to piles of snow.

Very cool furniture. These are cast concrete - the colour (and there are more to choose from) goes all the way through the product - so no problems with dings and bashes. These products are manufactured in Winnipeg - so you can leave them out over winter. There are magnets in the pillows and padding and some metallic magic in the chairs to make them stick. Delivery is 3-4 weeks.

This is Rachelle, one of the Toronto Argonaut cheerleaders. She was my assistant for the bean bag game. Sadly with my poor bean-bag performance I won't be attending an Argos games any time soon.

If you like chain-saws and men in cages - is this the trade show for you!

The weather on both days I attended was fabulous. I've attended shows that seem to empty out by magic when the weather turns and everyone with a plow on the front of his truck has to go to work.

New shade wildflower seed from OSC. Very pleased to see that they're thinking of us shade gardeners. Jim of OSC was kind enough to hold the container so I could get a photo. I told him he'd be in my blog and asked if he was single. He said, "Sure put that out there!"

I can only think of two instances when I would have needed a machine like this, but heck if I win the Lotto and get a new garage, I think I'm going to buy one, it's just so dark cute.

The folks from Kubota brought their own touring truck.

Just think of the fun you could have with this little machine at the grocery store. Beep beep.

At the trade show there were just a few newer plants on display. This Acanthus is just lovely.

See how it shows up in the midst of all the other polished and primped plants.

One of my favourite stops is always at Q&Z Nursery Inc., or Hosta Central as I think of them. I spoke with Tom Toman from Q&Z Nursery. I have the Hosta reference book written by Mark Zillis - the Z in Q&Z. Their tiny booth was full of little liners and displays of miniatures. (That I don't seem to have a photo of....) They are introducing a jaw-dropping 62 new cultivars of Hosta. So I asked Tom who is in charge of sales, what he'd order of the new 62 if he only had three choices. His three were 'American Choo Choo', 'Liberty' and 'Spartacus'.

'American Choo Choo' is 22"x56" wide, has green centred leaves with heavily rippled 3" wide gold margins. The flowers are lavender and bloom from June into mid-July (sport of Choo Choo Train)

'Liberty' is the American Hosta Grower's Association 2012 Hosta of the year. It grows 26" x 63" wide. The leaves have dark green centres with a 2-2-1/2" wide margin that changes from yellow to creamy white during the growing season. The flowers are pale lavender and bloom from mid-July into early August. (sport of Sagae)

'Spartacus' is 26" x 51" wide with medium green centres with rippled 1" wide gold margin. The flowers are near white and appear from late June into mode July. (sport of 'Sea Gulf Stream').

So that's all from the show for today - more later in the week.

A Walk Through This Past Month

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:50:00 +0000

Lots of things business-wise to get done, plus Christmas, etc. have put me well behind in my blogging. So rather than let another day go by without any words, thought I might show some of what I saw on my morning walks around the 'hood for the last 30 days:

As soon as American Thanksgiving is over, the large homes in the neighbourhoods are professionally festooned for Christmas. These urns are just massive.

In front of a century home on Park, there's this wonderful old Hamamelis, blooming at the end of November.

More folks are growing Hydrangea quercifolia (I suppose if you live in Oakville, you must have an Oakleaf Hydrangea.). Their colour this year is outstanding. Considering the onslaught of Japanese Beetles this summer, the leaves look pretty good.

At one point in mid-December our temperature was warmer than Los Angeles - we had 12C - they were at 8C. The ground is still softish. In theory, if you can get a shovel into the ground, there's still time to plant tulips.

This Kale is definitely a do-over. One of the few mornings it was hit with frost.

Another house down by the lake, with lovely cedar rope and ribbons.

It wouldn't be Christmas without my birch bark buddies.

Boards are up, ready to roll. All we need is some cold, snow and a hose.

This was the morning of my Christian Women's Fat and Sugar Exchange Preparation Day (Cookie Baking) with my friend Norma. The better shot would have been outside, I just didn't feel like scurrying out into cold in my jammies.

I can't believe we're still getting viable Kale into December. The photo below this one, shows the Black Seeded Simpson germinating 4 months early. I suppose we've had just enough cold weather for it to think that it's time to start growing.

The long shadows and golden light make these grasses look marvellous.

This is the public pathway in front of this lovely garden.

This home never disappoints when it comes to Christmas. Will go back to get the night effect - truly over-the-top terrific.

Here's a question.....can you guess what's going on here? Stay tuned.

Excellent fuzzy-wuzzies down by the lake.

At this time of year, most of the colour comes from the sunlight - on a dull grey day - the rusts are practically non-existent.

Just last week, it was unbelievably still and quiet on Lake Ontario.

Swan fluffing.

Hard to resist taking this one.

A person could get some serious urn-envy.

Kevin and I managed to get out to the Royal Botanical Gardens at least once. Looks like Mr. Beaver's been busy.

On Sunday, there was just a wee bit of frozen ice on the surface of the water.

Lots of little birds helping themselves to the treats left by visitors.

This is what it looks like on the shortest day of the year at around 8:00 in the a.m. I like the fact that so many people have light sensors on their Christmas lights - at least when it's this dark, you have something bright and shiny to look at.

Look at how tall and thin we are. Do you think that this is why folks eat so much at this time of year? No problem with that extra cookie - look at how svelte we are!

and here's the question answered - someone is getting a nice heated driveway for Christmas. (Dec 3)

(Dec 5)

Here's one family who'll be singing, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"

If I don't have a chance to say it closer to the day, please have a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Wildflower Wednesday - Where Have all the Natives Gone?

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:33:00 +0000

Alas, the wildflowers are mere memories. Displays of flowers are now replaced with seeds and berries. However, given the opportunity to play in the Wildflower Wednesday sandbox or not, no Sahara of blossoms is going to keep me away from this play date.

I took this photo on the weekend at Joshua Creek. My usual process, if I don't know what something is, is to do a quick Google image search and then work back. As a once-a-month newbe naturalist this posed a bit of a challenge this time. While I found some terrific naturalists and ID websites, more often than not I landed on some dreckian sites that seemed to spawn more sites that served the same information - almost with the same punctuation.

So, here was my first puzzle:

I began looking for woody plants in Ontario with black berries. Nada. It was at this point I thought, "I've really got to get myself a good shrubs of Ontario book." When I Googled that, I found a book aptly titled "Shrubs of Ontario" by James H. Soper and Margaret L. Heimburger. Nothing like a picture of a front cover of a book to jog my memory that not only did I have a shrubs of Ontario book - I had Shrubs of Ontario. You can see already how valuable this exercise was.

Although it was lovely to revisit all the wonderful line-drawings and relearn my leaf shapes. (The leaf I brought home was elliptical!) Sadly it is not a Shrub of Ontario. It is a foreign interloper. It is called Rhamnus cathartic and it is invasive. Reading many of the sites about the fierce thorns and deadly berries, you almost expect to see little children impaled on the branches, hanging lifeless with a half eaten handful of berries in their mouth.

The common name is Buckthorn and because I couldn't find any thorns in my photos, I still wasn't certain about the I.D. Fortunately I found a delightful site by a naturalist who has written a thoughtful post about this plant of terror. Her name is Seabrooke Leckie, and is now a new on-line source for me. Here is her measured post about this invasive plant. It turns out that birds do feed on the berries, so I'm hoping that I too will find some Waxwings on this little patch next year.

So continuing on my walk - you can see how the colours have oozed from most of the plants.

The Town had been by to cut the plants close to the pathway.

It was just on the other side of this cross over that I found my next invasive - the skeletal remains of Heracleum or Giant Hogweed. Again, in our Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid world - I've read that this plant causes dermatitis and blindness. I have only one thing to say. If you don't want to go blind, don't jab this plant in your eye. I used to grow this plant. It was during my Dinosaur plant period. I transplanted this plant, I pulled out seedlings, I cut it back - often without gloves. Obviously now that it is classified as an invasive I'd encourage everyone to be able to recognize it and use gloves to pull it out. However, don't feel that you need to don a Hazmat suit before you do.

Around the next bend was this lovely Phragmites australis - another invasive. Certainly is pretty though.

I could almost learn to like beige looking at this shot. Looks like we've got about 60% native here. The Solidago go the most lovely fuzzy cream don't they?

So hard to find any colour, I was drawn to these rose hips. They'll be munched down to nothing by the little creatures in the months ahead - something I'd learned when I put some in some decorative pots by my front door.

And, just to give you a little hope, in between shots I was spitting out bits of fluff and seeds. They were from these lovely puffs of Asters. The seeds were everywhere. With any luck they'll be landing successfully and growing in enough spots to challenge the foreign invaders.

Our Short Lived Santa Claus Parade

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:56:00 +0000

This weekend was the Oakville Santa Claus parade. The original route used to run just past the corner of MacDonald and Reynolds - an easy 3 block walk. My old Saints used to love it. Lots of people, noise and horses which absolutely delighted old Agatha.

These days, the parade route starts in downtown Oakville. I thought briefly about the possibility of publicly humiliating Bart with his adorable Santa costume, and then thought, no, let's just go and have fun. Well, guess who doesn't like Santa Claus parades? Bart. At every opportunity he poked his little nose into my leg and looked sad and pitiful. I finally gave up the dog walk/sidewalk drag in front of the butcher shop. I even had to pick him up for a block or two. Quite pathetic.

Here's my 15 minutes of the Oakville Santa Claus Parade:

The mustering and practice areas.

The town tree - taken the next day. Bart wouldn't even think of letting me get this shot on Saturday.

And my last shot of my pouting dog Bart. Perhaps he'll be in a more festive mood next year.

Pretty Scenes Through Squinty Eyes

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:47:00 +0000

The weather has been beyond wonderful. We normally are cruising highs of 7C and lows of 0C. It has been 17C/10C. Unfortunately the weather system also seems to have brought in a migraine that just doesn't want to let go. So fewer photos - can't seem to open my eyes wide enough to frame a shot.

The hard part of these silly migraines is that I've missed so many really good days of cleanup gardening. I suspect that I may be sending my garden into the winter a lot scruffier than I'd like. However, I've learned from experience that I can deal with those slimy hostas it in the spring if I don't get around to them now. At that stage, I don't need to clip them, all I do is take a good swipe and tug with my gloved hand and they're history.

And if I remember correctly from years past, at a certain point there will be snow and it all will be covered in a blanket of white. So as soon as the pretty colours of the little woody plants are done, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Last friday......could the lake be any prettier?

Most of the trees are now bare - except for the oaks and Norway maples.

Brussels sprout plant looking all handsome.

Next year, I vow I'm going to get some late blooming anemone - mine were all done by August. Another good combination with the grass. Amazing what you can learn just by walking around the neighbourhood.

Gymnocladus dioicus - the ultimate Dr. Seuss tree.

Could you imagine the bark would look any differently?

and three more shots, red, purple and yellow: Berberis thunbergii

Kale for supper tonight.

Lysimachia clethroides by the front door.

And Now a Little Chronicling

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:55:00 +0000

Looking back at my posts I realize that there has been lots of walking, lots of looking at the lake, lots of the Royal Botanical Gardens, but very little garden chronicling. So to rectify that deficiency, today is almost all about the garden and what's been happening.

There seems to be at least a 3-week weather shift since I began gardening in Ontario 25 years ago. The seeding I could manage in March is now done in April - and my last day in the garden has moved from the last week in October to mid-November. While it's pleasant to have the weather patterns change to suit my general nature of procrastination, it all seems very odd.

The big trees on the property now are pretty much bare - although the neighbours Norway Maples and Oaks have yet to let go. The leaf suck has begun. Here's a photo of Kevin hard at work. Notice how fast he's moving - not even my fancy camera can capture his muscles in motion:

So after working on the front, it was off to the back. I still had a couple banana plants I was abusing by leaving them out in the cold. I needed to lift and dump them into paper refuse bags to winter over.

Later.....you can see, the pots are emptied and I have a couple of tropical-esque plants to sneak into Kevin's garage. Some women sneak in shoes, I sneak in plants. I figure as long as the garage door shuts it's all good.

This is the leaf sucking brigade. The more humorous photos would be of the crazed home-owners trying to get last night's & this morning's leaf drop on the curb in time for the giant vacuum.

Here's how thing are looking at my front-side garden. Some herbs left. Some kale and of course there's always a few Brussels sprouts plants waving over in the corner.

I got this kale from Fantasy grocery store. They've got all sorts of weird and wonderful varieties. The pots were 5 plants for either .99 or 1.99, which suited my purposes just fine.

A volunteer nicotiana. I'm delighted that it had enough time to mature and bloom - thought all was lost when we had the frost a while ago, but it still managed to force out some blossoms.

Other remainders in no particular order: a lovely little thread leaf Coreopsis 'Route 66'.

An Oso Somethingorother Rose.

Now that I've got my new IMac, I'm working on making photo catalogues of my plants using smart files. The name of this acer is in my "look-up" list. I planted it when it was very small to cover the dining room window. It starts out pink, turns green and then finally goes out in a blaze of orange. Quite marvellous.

And looking out to the corner from underneath its branches.

Even the way its leaves are scattered is very elegant.

If all that wasn't enough, look at the way the blue sky frames each orange leaf. This is one happy place in my garden.

And in the category of just too pretty not to share - this is from my walk this a.m. The maple combined with the climbing hydrangea - a great pairing.

And one last shot of the lake looking back toward Burlington and Hamilton. Looks like the next weather system is definitely on the way.

More List than Life

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:59:00 +0000

I'm taking Gail's http://www.clayandlimestone.com/ advice and starting the day with a big breath and some easy pleasant thoughts. Bart too decided he wasn't going to be part of any day that didn't include a lot of stopping and sniffing. So my day of great commotion and getting things done, seems to have melted into a quieter sort of day.

The weather today is cloudy and unseasonably warm - I swear our seasons have shifted by 3 weeks - spring cold until May - fall warm until November. When I'm walking in the morning I try to give myself a photo project - today's challenge was photographing beautiful trees I want to adopt. I'll post them a little later on. There were a couple of trees, I'd never noticed and am going to have to do a bit of work on their id. But not today.

Today's photos are from a sunny walk Bart and I took last week. It was one of those days where I just couldn't imagine a day ever looking or being better. In the spirit of talking things a little slower and enjoying moments as they come, here's what I saw down by the lake.

I wasn't able to quite capture the leaf colour until I was on the lake trail...

Isn't this over-the-top fabulous?

There's still more green yet to bleed away to reveal the leaves true colours.

Hmmm. Pretty clear, but still that bit of pollution hanging over the lake.

So pretty to have a moon gate.

Bart marches along beside me on the top of these rocks - I think he enjoys being "up high".

This is a photo I'll come back to in the months ahead to remember the sun, the colour, the shadows and the sound of the lake and all those brilliant unscheduled things that are part of my day.

That One Extra Hour

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:28:00 +0000

And what a glorious hour it was. Kevin, Bart and I headed over to the mother-ship, the Royal Botanical Gardens and had a great trail walk. I was thinking that this is probably the last day of the year that we'll be able to walk in the gardens without heavy coats. There's something about just wearing a sweater deep into fall that makes me think I'm fooling with mother nature. Although with the heat of the sun on our backs and shoulders (16C 60F in November!), it certainly felt that she was in on it.

The predominant colours of the forest have changed once again - to the gold, brown and mahogany of the oaks.

In many areas I really noticed that many of the smaller shrubs and new trees are completely bare - this will be where the wind roars up the trail in the months ahead. But today - nothing but a gentle breeze.

We decided to take the Bridal Trail path which has more ups and downs. Much better that a treadmill or Stairmaster.

I like these beech leaves so much better than those on my own tree. Perhaps it's because I don't have to rake them.

Just a couple of weeks ago, there wouldn't have been a shot to the marsh - just too many leaves in the way.

Kevin and I saw several salmon - each about a meter in length - doing the slow swim upstream to spawn.

The next trail that connects to this one - the Creek Walk continues through a savannah-like area. When I stopped to take this shot one of the thousands of tame Chickadees came down next to me hoping for a free meal.

This is the spot where there are usually piles of Canada Geese. Wonder where they were?

We'd headed off in the opposite direction of the crowds mainly to avoid the gaggle of children who appeared to have O.D. on Cocoa Puffs, Captn Crunch and Fruit Loops this a.m. I guess while their parents were spending their hour in bed the children were quietly mainlining sugar.

Parents and children alike with their hands full of bird seed getting the birds to light.

Imagine this photo without the branches on the right. Much better.

And one last shot of the yellow and brown of the day.

New New New

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:15:00 +0000

I'm jumping in with both feet this morning changing my blog to the new format. I think it suits the style of my photo-intensive blog a bit better. What do you think? If you have an opinion of new vs. old please let me know. (Although - I just realized all my links to my lovely blogging friends seem to have vaporized.....will figure out how and get them back tomorrow.)

Today is a gift - it's going to be 15C (60F). So, I'm going to spend most of the day frolicking in the garden - doing leaf p/u and cutting back those perennials that turn to goo over the winter. I also have a few baby plants that I'm considering planting rather than wintering them over beside the house. Figure they'll have a better chance of getting through the winter if they've got more soil around their roots. I've also got a few tulips that I'll finally get into the ground. Infinitely better than the office work I had planned, though sadly will have to postpone the start of the "fix my life by cleaning a drawer-a-day".

This morning I really could tell that I'm so ready for the clocks to change - the alarm seems to be going off earlier each morning. It's almost embarrassing to see our paths cross with fellow walkers closer to the house rather than down by the lake. Good to see that some folks can keep to a schedule!

So here are some photos from around the garden this morning and of course, a few from our (later) walk.

Really nice yellow on a bush like species Clematis:

My dining room Japanese Maple is just starting to turn - it will be orange in less than a week.

Hydrangea quercifolia - such an unusual colour of red. Considering this was one of the favourites of the Japanese beetles - just shows my hard work with the J.B.B.O.D. (Japanese Beetle Bucket of Death) was well worth it.

The little thready bits of the Ipomopsis rubra.

Eupatorium coelestinum - looks like ageratum - but is perennial.

This Hamamelis is the jewel of my garden at the moment.

Some of those leaves that will be moved to the street.

Pretty and delicious - this purple kale has turned out to be a wonderful plant.

Sum and Substance in the sunshine.

Big, small, you just can't go wrong with a Japanese Maple.

See, we had the lake all to ourselves this a.m.

Beautiful skies signal the beautiful day ahead. Time to get outside again to play in the garden.

If Your Dog Had a Word, What Would That Word Be?

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:19:00 +0000

This fall in our corner of the world has been so magnificent you just want to grab it and give it a great big kiss. There's been rain, but not too much. Just enough wind to make you understand that fall is really here, but not too much to knock all the leaves off. And the sunshine has been absolutely golden. Below are an amalgamation of photos from several walks I took over the last week:

From this pathway, I was able to see

this lovely pair of swans. The day before, we'd counted 18 bobbing away in the waves.

Canada postcard time:

In the garden, I've done some raking and some cutting back. The Persicaria polymorpha is a magnificent plant during spring summer and fall - however, it really looks like an unfortunate mess in the winter. So, it's one of the few plants I cut back. I was so surprised, when I was about 2/3's through the plant to discover the last monarch of the season. I left several branches standing and checked back the next day to see if it had been able to move. Finally on the third day, it must have warmed up enough and was gone.

What a good plant this Hamamelis is. Any plant that blooms around St. Paddy's day with the snow at its feet and is still cheerful enough to put on a show like this at the end of October deserves to be in your garden.

Underused and hard to find - this one is over 50 years old I suspect and was planted when the house was built is Calycanthus florida. It's not too tall, has bizarre blood red blooms that last for 6 weeks and is a most pleasant yellow in the fall.

More yellow and blue of fall.

Here's something that should also be planted more often - Liriodendron tulipifera. This one is growing down the street from me on an old property. Native to North America, it is fairly rare on this side of Lake Ontario - but look at the colour - it's beyond gorgeous!

Simple mums seem to have gone out of fashion. Instead we're buying those enormous fluff-ball plants that look like the Hulk just before he springs into action. These were in a garden around the block. You know sometimes I think some of the older varieties have a little more charm - and the fact that they come back year after year, just makes me think that I should find this variety and a space in my own garden.

It was very damp and misty down by the lake this a.m. As the mist started to list, everything took on a reddish hue.

Which brings me to the question of the day. If your dog had a word, what would that word be? Bart's word today is "Why?"

p.s. Remember, the Canadian Dental Association says it's far better to eat all your candies at once rather than spread them out. So, eat up!

First Frost

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:14:00 +0000

Last night it was just below freezing and this morning everything was covered in frost. I'd beavered away yesterday yanking out the basil and making a simple pesto with the wonderful trial plants I'd got from Loblaws (grown by Freeman Herbs) - Ocimum basilicum 'Greek Columnar'. I like its boxwood like shape and use it as a border in my veggie garden.

My gardening style is certainly less formal elsewhere, but because of the nature of vegetables and the fact that the garden is in my front garden, I like it to look like it's conforming to some sort of rule. This variety of basil has a small leaf and is stronger flavoured than the larger leafed varieties. One of its main strengths is that it can withstand cold far better than many other varieties. I was delighted to see what great shape the leaves were in considering it was the end of October and the temperatures had been hovering around 5C at night for close to a week.

The one plant I didn't get inside was the Banana - will go out and apologize this afternoon, dig it up and toss it in a brown refuse bag and dump it in the basement. Hopefully it will recover from the indignity of being left out to freeze only to get the brownbagbasementbanishment treatment. Here it was last week growing happily with the basil

Even though we'd had coloured leaves, it's not autumn in my books until I see the first frost.

Frosty pine needles.

The view down by the lake this a.m. was just gorgeous.

Isn't this a giggle......Nothing like a good frost on the ground to signal, "I better get out there and do some fall fertilizing." Poor guy had to keep stopping - think his spreader was getting jammed with the frost. You can see how neat and tidy he's being - look at the frosty checkerboard he's made.

And the best yellow leaves of the morning go to this lovely Ginkgo biloba - just so pretty against the blue October sky.

Wildflower Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:05:00 +0000

Fall is like a steeping pot of tea in reverse. The colours that were so bright and strong a month ago in my favourite wildflower fields are fading to greyed pastels. Where once there were flowers, only seeds remain. Tiny little flowers that I would have ignored just a few weeks ago are now the only floral food for my lens.

So without further ado, here's what I found yesterday on my walk and search for wildflowers on the Joshua Creek Trail in Oakville Ontario.

When the field was full of asters, I barely noticed the rose hips. As everything starts to grey, they'll be even more of a beacon.

It was very quiet when I visited yesterday afternoon. Sort of sweet to see at least one other creature having a lazy buzz about. Linaria vulgaris, a non-native.

I know this is a bit of a cheat, but it was one of the few bits of red left combined with some fuzzywuzzy bits, so how could I resist including some sumach?

One of the few flowers of Queen Anne's Lace (non-native) still blooming.

Most of it looks like this:

Tanecetum vulgaris (non-native)

Lessons from the wild:

I'm including this viburnum, because it reminds me that the insects don't only feast upon those in my garden. Fun to see the red leaves through the holes in the green leaves.....

And finally one seed-head that looks in need of some serious hair product. I'll be interested to see how the soft and sharp bits sort themselves out in the weeks ahead.

For those of you who want to see more wildflowers growing in gardens and fields around the world, visit Gail at Clay and Lim estone.

Soft Light on the Trail at RBG

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:56:00 +0000

Not too many words today. Just photos from my favourite spot at the RBG. The parking lot was full - and yet the trail was large enough to swallow all of us. Here's what those of us who were lucky enough to be there saw:

Trends from Expo 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:54:00 +0000

I was doing time with the iron this morning when Bart burst into the room smelling like death. It is beyond me how one scruffy little dog can collect so much vile odour on one little doggy body just by rolling. 15 minutes of bathing later, he smells like something I can live with in the house. Not sure if it's the cooler weather, but he sure is having fun these days - have a look at what he did to the lattice work on the left. Wonder if the squirrels are picking the narrower pathways and he's just too intent on the chase to pick the wider holes....that, or he's just been watching too many sporing events with Kevin.

Expo 2011 is the Landscape Ontario show that used to be mainly for the cut flower trade. It's evolved and grown over the years and is a terrific opportunity to see what some of the stores may be picking up to sell. A group of garden writers were invited to learn about what was new. We got to hear a few sneak peaks about Canada Blooms (now combined with the Home Show, it will be the largest indoor show in North America): it will have its own building; they have a number of international contributors interested in doing displays; and the organizers are delighted to see that there are even more landscapers interested in participating. So, after being disappointed when we discovered last year that the garden and home shows were combining to be the Ten Day Hot Tub and Plastic Pots of Tulip Show, we learned we should expect to be pleasantly surprised.

Also at our pre-tour meeting was Kris Kriofske, the rather baffled, Director of Marketing for Woodbine who is responsible for the digdropdone marketing bulb campaign. Knowing nothing about plants (his confession) he set out to find why the bulb industry is in such decline. While established gardeners may know about bulbs, they aren't buying as many - and they need to look further afield to find new markets. The problem seems to be with the Barbie-esque figures they've come up with to show that bulbs are for everyone - he thought it would be humorous, fun and thus attract some attention. The videos are borderline Saturday Night Live silly. Unfortunately, and this is were's he's baffled, the campaign is being roundly slammed for being sexist. Even this a.m. in the Star Sonia Day has pulled out her hockey stick and put some rubber at the head of digdropdone - followed by a very nice article about how squirrels eat bulbs, but if you plant daffodils all will be well.

I'm a bulb-convert. Digdropdone isn't for me. Give me the sizzle of the scent of a tulip and I'm there. The digdropdone part plays into the minimal gardening psyche of time-crunched women. As Kris said, "Many people don't know what bulbs are, and what they're for." (No doubt the relatives of those folks who returned a plant for butterflies, because it was full of caterpillars - not an urban legend, they were real people and I was working that day.) Sadly, nice articles about squirrels and bulbs haven't exactly been the ticket for bulb industry. The dust-up about the campaign is causing quite a bit of traffic to the site - let's hope people will take it a step further and maybe buy a few bulbs.

The show was in the new North Building at the Toronto Congress Centre

- very cool building - very good modern plantings outside and Award Winning Bathrooms - Girls LOOK AT ALL THOSE STALLS (actually your own little room!!!) on the left side of the photo. Heck, I'd give it an award, just for finally having enough spots for us to "go".

So, here are a few trends - plants growing up walls - specially built receptacles for growing plants vertically. Here's Smartwall.

And, Natur Garden Wall System.

Walls made out of plants - this is new from Mori Nursery. The idea is from Holland. Vines are trained up heavy-duty fencing. The planted fence can be purchased in sections and installed either in the ground or in containers. I think this is a great idea for an instant view block. The panels are being tested around the Mori Nursery sales territories to see if they can make it through the winter. Great idea if it will work.

Newish dipladenia from Fernlea. Very pretty flowers.

More easy-peasy gardening peripherals - this is from Eserro.com. A Canadian company, the bases are manufactured in the US, the legs sourced somewhere else. I spoke with Tom Korzeniowski who designed the product - he's had it on his deck for the last 3 years. It's made out of polyethylene just like water barrels and so for the water gardens (not pictured) the same rules apply - drain 'em for winter! They are very light weight as well.

If it's not lack of time, it's lack of space - see how much has been incorporated into this small seating arrangement.

Lots of lots of succulents - this is the display from Floral Dimensions. They're located in Fenwick. I haven't seen so many lovely little succulents all on one table.

To end this - look at what I found. Considering they were just shoved under a bench I thought these asters were awfully pretty - They are Epic Plants Aster oblongifolius 'Raydon's Favorite'. If they look this good in rotten conditions, consider how lovely they'd be in the garden. Something I'll definitely be looking for next year at the garden centres.

There's Going to Be Wind And Rain

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:43:00 +0000

Big warnings on the Environment Canada site this a.m. Remember when wind and heavy rain were just a part of fall? "A low pressure system currently over Kentucky will be tracking northeastward towards Southern Ontario today. Periods of rain, in advance of the low, will begin over Southwestern Ontario this morning and gradually spread into Eastern Ontario this evening." Be afraid, be very afraid.

We're expecting about 50mm (2") of rain coming along with the wind (90K-55mph). Wonder how many of those raked leaves are going to stay where I put them yesterday. Kevin went up on the roof to clean out the eaves so we'd be ready for the downpour. We did a real quickstep down to the lake this a.m. to get our walk in before it all begins. I think Bart thought we'd lost our minds.

Now that we've battened down the hatches, I'm going to spend the afternoon dealing with the largest bag of fresh cranberries I've ever seen in my life. My friend Jane brought them back from the cranberry festival in Bala and when I asked how much I owed her, suggested that she'd like some muffins instead. I'm thinking pumpkin/cranberry might be nice. With the rest of the 2K bag, I'll make some cranberry sauce and the rest I'll freeze.

So before it all blows away, here's a quick tour around my fall garden.

The clematis seed heads are marvellous. I look straight over this arch from my bedroom window. I love the fact they're getting so fuzzy.

Perhaps, I've waited a bit too long to put my chairs to bed? Just shows there hasn't been a lot of industry going on out here - too much time with my new computer.

Here's a close-up of the Heptacodium - if you click on it you can see the red/pink calyx feature. When we first started to plant these Chinese woody plants, no one really knew how big they grew. The whole idea was that they would max out at about 2-3 meters and the calyx would be visible to the eye. At 4 meters off the ground, it hasn't worked out that way, but will report back later to show you what happens next.

Really pleased with this Dahlinova that I got from Loblaw. Unlike some of the some of the old one-bloom potted Dahlias of years past this one really pulled its weight. In fact Kevin has decided where he'd like to see it growing next year.

You can see we really aren't anywhere near where we usually are for colour at this time of the year. The bits of yellow are the Gymnocladus dioicus I grew from seed. Finally after 5+ years it is up to my shoulder.

While many of the leaves are still attached, many of the beech trees are bare and I know where to find those leaves.....

With warmer weather the Texan native Ipomopsis rubra continues to put on a show.

We've had a few nights of 5C, which is normally fatal to basil. This small leaf variety, (the bright green little bushes) again from Loblaw is a real trouper. Sadly we'll have to yank up the banana for storage and start again next year for our quest for homegrown Daiquiri ingredients.

Here's the view of the lake this a.m. It was so clear we could see the little tower at Niagara Falls.

Is this not the tidiest leaf collection service you've ever seen?

And a couple more shots of the lake for good measure. You can see how the weather is starting to change. Wish I could send you all the roar of the lake - it was magnificent.

A Day of Adventure with the Tour Guys

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:08:00 +0000

My buddy Debbie and I had a fun day on Saturday taking a walking tour of China Town and Kensington Market in Toronto. It was the first sort of real blustery cold fall days, but the rain held off for the most part and we had a great time. Our tour guide Jason Kucherawy is a social anthropologist who adores the vibrancy of this area especially the urban artwork - commonly known as graffiti. There were five of us on the tour - Pat from Toronto - her mum from Regina, Deb, me and Reese - a pastry chef from England.

We started at the Henry Moore just outside the Art Gallery of Ontario. You can see from the warn away section that this lovely form is widely enjoyed - unlike the Moores in the museum that are completely out of reach.

We headed west and into our first alley - where we learned about tags, throw-ups and the code conduct of Graffiti artists. Once a mural is done - it's not to be defaced by anyone - or otherwise face the consequences. It would seem the best protection a business owner could have would be to engage a local artist to keep his business looking cool rather than shabby.

You can see the difference between the wall that Debbie and Reese are checking out, compared to the one behind her.

This thin home is in a lane behind Kensington. Love the ode to Escher on the wall.

Good to know that the rent is cheap and there would appear to be a great deal on telecommunication services.

In the back alley the cat who owns 42 Kensington appears to have forgotten his keys. I've never heard a kitty yell so loud to be let in.

I love the fact that even in the back lanes, there's gardening going on.

The veggies and annuals continue on into October.

I love having my head twisted about - I don't usually think about pristine lanes and walls full of grafitti.

These bubble letters are a good example of a throw-up. And the pots - an example that you can grow anything anywhere.

Back out on the street, I was amazed by all the little patches of gardens in front of the rows of houses. This dahlia was spectacular.

Again, more dahlias right by the front door.

Maybe this is one residence that might not be improved by a bit of greenery.

Enlarge the photo and you can see my partner in crime Debbie hiding in the rose bushes.

Most of the front gardens were combinations of annuals and vegetables - something for the soul and another for the stomach.

A restaurant endorsed by our guide Jason - sadly by the time lunch rolled around we were too far away (and too hungry) to make the trek back....next time.

Can you believe the owners below were given a notice to remove graffiti by the city of Toronto. Apparently you have to have permission to create a mural.....needless to say there was a bit of back-tracking and Miles was allowed to stay where he was.

And here's a carden! The city has decided this mini-attraction can stay put, providing it was insured (against people climbing on and falling off). I didn't get a good shot, but looking through the side windows you could see how carefully the soil had been prepared.

Jason and me beside the lawn and carden.

More lovely murals.

Neat house, neat garden & of course a bicycle.

If you've got no room for a mower, there's no point in having grass.

Folks had shared seed along this stretch of houses. Looks like a lovely old variety of morning glory.

Check out the elevated irrigation system.

Just think of what you do with a little garden - maybe they'll catch the gardening bug next year.

So it was back to Spadina and the hum of Saturday shoppers

and of course a couple of dumpling ladies. And, best of all a new appreciation for city art and the zest that this neighbourhood has to offer.

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:40:00 +0000

(Double click on Photo to see a lovely big bug)

More Wordless Wednesdays at *

I feel like I've fallen off the earth

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:34:00 +0000

Still hunkered down with my new Mac. At first I decided that I was just going to take all the documents I made before and try to recreate them on the new machine. Then after fiddling about, and trying to glue hair back on above my ears realized that I was going to have to do it the long slow and probably better way: teach myself the software and then see how I can do my job better. There's no point just pasting the old over the new and missing all the good stuff the new has to offer. However, my head hurts and it hasn't left much time for sending my thoughts out into the universe.

I fear my less than positive thoughts have caused some of the more expensive bits of mechanical stuff that I rely on to fall ill - the CRV was doing a ur UR ur UR ur UR noise while simultaneously doing BRIGHTER less bright, BRIGHTER less bright warning lights thingie. I told Kevin it was the alternator. He said that it was impossible for me to know that. We're picking up my fixed car with the new alternator shortly. I'm not all that clever, I simply had the good fortune to drive a Dodge Dart Swinger in the 70's that would break down and leave me/or a loved one in a situations so frightening, you will never forget what the car sounded like before the alternator gave up. My mother still goes out to dinner the time car died between Montreal and the West Island in the centre lane of the 3-lane highway. Fortunately the Quebec police were close. Unfortunately they parked in front of her - they knew a dangerous situation when they saw one - and left quickly once they knew she'd finally been able to restart her engine. Nothing like a 318 (when it's working) to get a car up to speed when everyone is zipping by you doing 70MPH.

And, down the hall, the Sub Zero is sub par - it's leaking. Fortunately it's still covered under the long-term warranty. All fingers crossed that the repair man will arrive before the w/e.

So enough about machines not working, here's a few shots from my Thanksgiving weekend showing that I do indeed have much to be thankful for:

The best bench by the lake - that's usually empty and waiting for me.

the glorious places to walk here in Oakville

my wonderful little Hamilton pound hound Bart.

the weather that has been so glorious for late season flowers.

Bart too is thankful - here he is ready to eat his first Tim Bit.

And most of all, I'm thankful for family, our friends and the time we spend together.

Wild Flower Wednesday - A Little Wilder than Normal

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:05:00 +0000

Ooooboy. Day Two of my new computer and I've managed to stick all my files on top of each other. Unable to delete files. Can't seem to move around series of other files. Can't get out a locked mode. I'm so looking forward meeting my little blue shirted Genius this afternoon at 2:00.

This weekend I took Bart to one of my favourite stomping grounds in Joshua Creek to see the wildflowers. Figured the fields would be full of b-flies - and they were. And, a very odd family that was alternately chasing after and catching butterflies, and then screaming in horror, "OOOOHHHHHHUUUUUUHHHHHH THAT'S SOOOOOOUUUUUUHHHHHHH UUUUUUUGLLLLLLLLY!"

It was a praying mantis. Maybe there's a good reason why families should stay in the house and play computer games. Even Bart was ready to bolt. The family leader decided that the ugly creature would be good to take home for their experiment. I don't even want to know what the nature of that experiment was. I suspect they were all doing one child's homework. I'm sort of hoping the female parental unit prevailed upon the rest of the family unit that the green creature would clash with her furniture and hopefully be left alone.

As you can see, our fields are at their colourful fall best - the yellows of golden rod, the creams and purples of asters, and the pretty swishes of their clumps across the open fields. So here goes, some Wildflower Wednesday photos in honour of our favourite Gail of Clay and Limestone.

The reason for so many of my other photos poor focus....would love to know what he's nose about after - one of these days, I'm going to install his own personal Bart-cam.

Experiencing Short Term Pain For Long Term Gain

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:44:00 +0000

I finally got my new computer - an IMac. It came last week. Because I was running with 3 external drives with my old Dell Inspiron 9300 and had increased my memory 2 times, the nice blue shirted man at Apple said I needed 2T of memory. It took about a week to arrive. And then because of work deadlines - it sat in its box just waiting for me. Yesterday I took it back to the store for a set up. Another nice young man in a blue shirt helped me unpack it and plug in in. Then he said, "I just love watching people start to play with their new computers, because they get so excited."

If he liked excitement, he should have seen me this morning when I was unable to attach to the internet. Fortunately there is a little white manual that I was able to refer to. It suggested I visit the Help section of the Apple web site - How to Connect to the Internet. You know, it's odd how such well intentioned, though ridiculous, instruction can send someone who is so very close to the edge, over......just like that.

Fortunately my personal friend and computer expert was able to talk me through it all - hard boot of the router, reconnection to the internet of both my and Kevin's computers. I managed to get my printer to work; forced my scanner into retirement; removed my speakers from the desk and found the three pieces of software we loaded at the store yesterday. I'm meeting with a 'Genius' (blue shirted person who knows stuff - I kid you not) tomorrow to help me find the UNDO key; explain what the command key does; help with the ejection of the scan disk so I don't get an error message each time I try to remove it; and hopefully if it isn't too much, maybe, just maybe, help me get some text inside the text boxes on a consistent basis.

Without further ado, here are a few random shots of the monarch migration on the tips of the Heptacodium and on various flowers around the garden captured over the last few days.....

always nice when butterfly bush works...

not a monarch, but a visitor all the same

the bits of petals of the Heptacodium knocked down by the orange marauders

here's what the Heptacodium trunks look like

while I was photographing the b-flies up above, on the street, the hospital run was in full swing:

Time to start on supper....and I think a small glass of wine may be calling my name.

The Birds

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:51:00 +0000

The starlings have returned in crazy quantities as they do every year in pursuit of the Beech nuts. The trees are ancient and full of nuts. The flock moves from tree to tree where they pull off as many as they can, dropping them to the ground and following them en masse to devour their harvest below.

Here they are munching away.

I was pretending I was Tippi Hedren - tall, blonde and svelt at this moment.

Obviously the No Parking sign means nothing to these hungry creatures.

I remember reading a book on Hosta where it said in very plain terms - never plant Hosta under a tree. Perhaps I should look up the author and send him this as more photo evidence. (I noticed there is even a feather in the hosta cup - perhaps they should never be planted under the path of flying birds either.)

And speaking of Hosta, I'm kicking myself for not having the tag on some of the species Hosta I've moved around the yard. This one is in bloom now and is particularly pretty.

Here's a new trial plant from Terra Nova - Heucherella 'Solar Power'. It's in its first year - so I've yet to see how it comes through the winter, but at the moment, I'm really pleased with the way it looks.

This is the last gasp of the Brugmansia. It is lovely to have a plant blooming away in the back garden during this period of flower-drought.

And of course one more shot, because you can never have enough Brugmansia photos. Below is my gift from Canada Blooms from my dear friend Gill - Agapanthus 'Storm Cloud'. It was in bloom when we got it, so I'm delighted to get a second bloom in the same season. I'd stowed it by the bird bath and dumped the bathwater on it when I changed the water over - seems to have worked just fine.

Speaking of new plants, this is my haul from the last Garden Writers conference. Can you hear the screams of those who have just realized that they've come to my Zone 6B (US 5B) garden? But, if you don't try to see if something's hardy, you'll just never know will you?

From my back garden to yours - hope the sun is shining where you are today.

Fall - Now Two Weeks Earlier!

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:29:00 +0000

Every morning I wake up to a list of email messages from sources near and far about new plants, old plants that are as good as new plants, and plants that are sooooo stupendous that you want to take them to bed to let them have their way with you. Well, last week I received a message about a maple "that turns red a FULL TWO WEEKS before any of the others do." So I did what any self-respecting Canadian would do - I swore and then I deleted the message. Was this message from some romantic living in Florida? I do not know, I blotted the source of the message from my mind.

But if I had that poor little marketer in front of me, I would assure him that where we come from, leaves turning red a full two weeks before anything else does, is not like a phlox that blooms two weeks earlier; nor like a rose that lasts two weeks longer; nor is it as good as a lettuce that keeps its good flavour two more weeks into the heat of summer - NOOOOOOO - leaves turning red a full two weeks earlier means pulling out the rake; yanking down the heavy duty car mats from the top gross shelf in the garage, servicing the car for winter; changing the tires; locating the snow shovel; pulling out your wool coat to see if it still has the buttons on it; checking to see if you can get one more year out of the dog walking coat without grossing anyone out; changing to storm windows; having the chimney swept; stacking the wood and looking for recipes with lots of fat, sugar and chocolate.

As I see it, he's trying to sell the first maple on earth responsible for early onset autumn pudge.

On the other hand, the lovely people from Vanhof and Blokker sent me some bulbs today and that fills me with joy. Joy without car mats. While bulb planting does signal that summer is over, it's about hope, beauty, promise and spring. The Canadian Liberator tulips were named by Princess Margaret in honour of the members of the Canadian Army, Navy, Air Force and Merchant Marine who took part in the liberation of Holland during WWII. To this day, Holland still sends thousands of tulips to Ottawa in thanks.

Early this morning, Bart and I did a quick survey of the back-yard. It was so dark and cloudy, I was shooting at 1/30th of a second. Just wanted to show you the Aralia cordata that I'd disparaged a short while ago. Think I've found the secret to keeping it looking OK. I've removed most of the lower leaves and good old Aralia c. seems to keep the other leaves looking nice and green. It isn't as tall as other years - may have been the dry summer - nor does it have as many flowers - but I think it looks not too bad.

Here's what the flowers look like. The birds go wild for the seed.

My friend Susan suggested I leave the dried flower heads on the Aruncus dioicus - - I'm glad I did. When I'm having a bad day, I look at them and think, "Yup, that's exactly how I feel."

After my short photo-foray into the backyard, it was off for some personal maintenance. It was pouring rain upon my return, but I really wanted to get a few photos.....

so I grabbed my umbrella to save my new doo.

Here's what I found: The Eupatorium coelestinum has just started to colour.

With or without that high fructose corn syrup of a maple, it looks like Autumn may be here shortly. Kolkwitzia 'Dreamcatcher' going a very pretty colour of pink.

Here's the bed that was driven through last year. Looks like Hosta may be improved by driving over them.

Poor Bart was sure I'd lost my mind. The rain was coming down in water pistol shots from the sky.

Another plant I took the shears to after it bloomed and am pleasantly surprised with the results: Kitaibelia vitafolia.

And, my favourite blossom of September. Probably have permitted too much of it to grow in my garden, but on a day like today with the light so low, it is my secret source of sunshine - keeping my mind off thoughts of fall chores and more importantly recipes involving fat, sugar and chocolate.

Avon Gardens IN

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:23:00 +0000

The weeds, the lawn and the Brugmansia were all waiting for me upon my return from Indianapolis. It was the first time that all three were blooming at the same time. I played Friendly Giant* and moved my chairs around in the lower section of my back garden so I could sit facing them. I was intoxicated by their over-the-top petticoat flowers and head slamming scent. Bart didn't care what I was doing, just as long as the two of us were back together in the garden again.

While I was sitting there I became rather perplexed with a garden dilemma. See that patch of big round leaves to the lower right. Well, next to them is a species/bush type variety of clematis. And from the chair on the other side of the umbrella looking back I realized that I need some height, need to banish the big round flowered plant because it needs more water than I can provide, move or destroy the bush clematis that isn't nearly fancy enough to stand out at all and find the perfect plant. Last year I planted a butterfly bush. It was perfect until it died. With the neighbour's tree gone, this garden is turning into a burka zone. So much for the shade. Anyway, will have to think on it. Its attributes must include late flowering, height of around 3 meters tops, and hopefully be poisonous to Japanese Beetles.

Enough garden dilemmas for the moment, I would like to kindly jerk you back to the wonderful state of Indiana yet again. This time to the marvelous display gardens of Avon Gardens. While the summer was a trial in Indianapolis and surrounding region, these gardens were absolutely lovely. Beautifully cared for and a great design for weddings, parties or just plain poking about.

There are 5 acres of display gardens, a nursery and small giftie type store. I like the way it was all put together - imagine how 5 acres has swallowed almost 400 people. Amazing.

I can assure you there's nobody at the bottom of the drink. Kevin was golfing with Walter this day - at a golf course laid out around the Indie500 racetrack. When I showed him what he'd missed he said, "I bet everyone took exactly the same picture of that waterlily." It was a lovely waterlily, it deserved its photo-moment.

See the state of Indiana isn't flat at all.

Ah, here are a few of my fellow travellers.

This specimen was over my head.

Even when the light is too bright....

the grasses look amazing.

Well, would you lookie here, big round leaved plants with enough water send their blossoms over the leaves rather than along the soil line. Anyone with a pond want any of my Ligularia?

This was the pathway before lunch.

And during as we queued for our meal.

Wonderful little butterflies on the nursery product.

These hosta were in perfect shape. No doubt the trees are forbidden from dropping anything on them.

And here's my last shot at Avon gardens - showing that even the butterflies are at their best at this garden treasure.

*a 15 minute CBC children's show from many years ago - was paired with another 15 minute show - Chez Helene in Montreal which made up my permitted daily TV viewing.

Back from Indianapolis

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Kevin and I spent five glorious days in Indianapolis enjoying a taste of what this fine city has to offer. I was amazed at how clean and pretty it was. The natives are friendly and quietly proud of their fair town. The weather was between 65 and 82F and dry as a bone - such a marvelous relief from our soup of warmth and moisture. Who knew you could have five consecutive good hair days?

We took a stroll just after we checked in - the displays of container flowers were everywhere. Can you believe the sidewalk? Looks as clean as a floor in your house.

A few steps away another pot with a good combo of old and new.

There was a park behind the Hyatt where we stayed. More pristine perfect public space.

Our favourite garden of the whole tour was the garden that is home to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. There are 26 acres including the Oldfields-Lilly House (oh, and right next door is another 100 acres - the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park). Not only is the garden beautiful, the breakfast, sponsored by Fiskars, happened to be one of the most delicious - baby bagels and eggs, bacon, salmon, fresh fruit, juices, teas and coffees - I suspect that this was the primary reason why this garden topped Kevin's list.

Everywhere you looked there were thoughtful touches - this was in the Ladies Loo.

Excellent varieties of plant materials along more perfectly pristine sidewalks.

As delicious as breakfast was, we finished quickly to get out to take photos. Was able to get a number of "empty" photos.

It was the sort of garden where you had to be sure to do a 180 or you'd miss a really good shot.

Lots of good statues. It would be great to be there over several days to do a photographic study.

And, did I mention they gave us an extra 20% off at the garden shop. We scored two fabulous hats and a bowl for Debbie and Brian who took care of Bart. For folks who drove, there was a good selection of unusual wildflowers. I scribbled a couple of names down hoping I might find seed on this side of the border.

Kathy Wood from Bracebridge and Ken Brown from Whitby - obviously up to no good.

It was just inside this garden that I re-learned an old lesson - the look, but do not touch lesson....
Here is Patrinia scabiosifolia 'Nagoya'. Great yellow, good form, very cool bugs on the leaves.

Does this not look completely pet-able?

Apparently not. It was id'd as a Asp Caterpillar - which gives a furious sting. Fortunately we let go of the leaf before anything happened.

But why not tempt fate for a second time - same plant - isn't this a cool little green and brown thingie - yes, it is. It is a Saddleback Caterpillar and it also shoots poison through it's little hairs - which aren't hairs but tubes. All that excitement in about 5". Someone could have really been hurt. See, even the bugs were nice to us when we were there.

I can only imagine what else might have been lurking in this little paradise.

I wasn't the only one tempting fate - here are some photographers after that perfect Spidey shot.

Sadly it was over all to soon - here's Kevin leading the way back to the bus. I don't know if I'll ever be back - but if you have the chance to visit - be sure to include this gem during your stay.

Something New

noreply@blogger.com (Barbarapc) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:55:00 +0000

Yesterday, I joined a group of garden writers at a vegetable tasting event sponsored by Stokes Seeds and President's Choice (Loblaw). After much detouring (yes, I'd been there before - and no, it makes no difference apparently in my ability to get lost) I joined the taste test in session. We were taken out to the sandy soil fields where we got to see the growth habits and taste the veggies right off the vines.

The test fields are located outside of St. Catharines which is just below Lake Ontario - when I say sandy soil - I mean sand. This is a tumbler variety - while the yield is beyond impressive, it tasted tomato-ish. At the end of lunch, we were asked to vote on our favourites. We had been shown several stunted tomato plants currently under consideration for Urban Gardeners. High yields, small plants, bland taste. The crowd of writers was split about these sawed-off wanna-be(s). There were those who thought, the Urban Gardener would be happy growing tomatoes no matter what they tasted like. And then there were those (no doubt where I stand on this) who said, the only reason you grow tomatoes is for the TASTE. I'm wondering what kind of repeat business you'd get if these so-called Urban Gardeners tried these tomatoes and were disappointed?

Now, here's a tomato to keep an eye out for - it's called Montisino. However, it may just be that tomato plant you'll never be able to find because the seed is .75 a piece. I would gladly turn over all the tomatoes I currently grow for this one - it was absolutely delicious. I could barely move away from it, I was trying to stuff as many tomatoes in my mouth as humanly possible. While it's tasty, it isn't going to win a beauty contest. Although after the taste testing yesterday, show me a tomato plant that is attractive, and I'm going to be immediately suspicious.

Here's what the fruit looks like:

And here's something completely different. At first glance, what do you think you're looking at. Do I hear a collective, "Hold on....what the heck?!" Looks like a tomato, but what's with the eggplant leaves?

It's an eggplant called Turkish Orange. Not only is it gorgeous, it is delicious. It doesn't have the bitterness of regular eggplant, but a slight sweetness. Just wonderful.

I was extra lazy last night, and decided to bake them at a high heat with nothing on them. They were great.

I am really curious to see after our day of tasting, what makes it into the line-up next year for President's Choice. No matter what they choose, they're bound to have some fabulous new veggies for their customers.