Flower Friday – Rosa blanda

There’s a diminutive pink rose that you can spot this time of year at the side of country roads, where there’s a bit of shade from a tree line or woods. I’ve noticed it once or twice at the edges of my property as well, but just now and then…it hasn’t been spectacularly showy. But […]

Friday Blues

You know those packets of free seeds you get sent sometimes by charities hoping you’ll reciprocate with a donation? Or from a breakfast cereal giveaway promoting itself as ‘green’ and wanting to spread ‘native’ wildflower seeds all around the country? The problem with the giveaways, of course, is that a plant may be native to […]

Unsung Heroes

Much is said and written about maple tree leaves turning various shades of red, orange and yellow in the fall and I, being a proud Canadian, of course agree with how spectacular that looks. One of the best things about autumn in the Great White North. But I’ve come to appreciate two additional, smaller plants […]

Truly Drought Tolerant

This morning, it’s raining…YAAY!!! We’ve been without for about six or seven weeks so I’m really happy that trees and shrubs, in particular, will be able to drink up before frost arrives and the ground freezes, usually sometime this month. As you can imagine, without rain or supplemental watering most of the garden has been […]

My Favourite Fall Colour Combination

One of the first things I planted in my ‘Island’ bed after we purchased this property was a Pagoda Dogwood, Cornus alternifolia, that I dug out of my backyard in Toronto, where it had lived for just a year after being transplanted as a two food sapling from a friend’s property north of the city. […]