Posts

Vine Maple Trees - iStock

The Surprising Things Trees Can Do For Your Garden

In honour of Earth Day, we look at a few of the magic tricks trees can perform in your garden.


Vine Maple Trees - iStock

 

MONEY WELL SPENT | In the landscape of memory, trees define the countryside. As the most prominent and long-lived of all vegetation (think giant sequoia), they are the one green symbol guaranteed to represent place. Mention Italy and Italian cypress come to mind. Images of southern France always include olive trees. The English landscape, that great affectation, is symbolized by large-scale deciduous varieties planted in “clumps” (by Capability Brown) that look from a distance like a single stylized tree. In the Pacific Northwest, iconic evergreens—Douglas fir, Western red cedar and hemlock—colour much of the landscape black-green, a situation that both pleases and perturbs me. Read more

Dan Pearson's Posy - Howard Sooley

Why Gardeners Should Make A Bouquet Every Day

Superstar designer and planstman Dan Pearson explains why you should make a garden posy every day.

Dan Pearson's Posy - Howard Sooley

 

WHAT THE PROS KNOW | There’s plenty of great how-to in Home Ground: Sanctuary In The City, British designer and writer Dan Pearson’s 2011 gardening book that will surely become a classic, but the author’s suggestion that keeners make a daily bouquet from whatever’s in bloom in their garden seems like a particularly good idea. Could there be an easier way to become more observant outdoors or to study the blooming habits and idiosyncrasies of the plants that grow right under your nose? Read more

Backyard chickens

Backyard Chickens Need A Moveable Coop

If you’re planning to raise backyard chickens, it makes sense to have a moveable coop.

Backyard chickens

 

CREATIVE SOLUTION | The 100 Mile Diet is becoming the 100 Foot Diet as increasing numbers of urbanites turn to growing and raising food in their backyards. Many of them will discover, however, that there’s a reason for leaving food production to farmers—it’s a serious amount of work. Read more

Crow finial

6 Fun Objects To Move Around The Garden

Six objects—no chairs or pots among them—that can be relocated around the garden again and again to make it look revitalized.

Crow

 

SWITCH IT UP | Because so many elements of a garden’s design are fixed I sometimes like to shake things up by introducing objects that can be repositioned according to the season or to whim. In my own garden, I have three metal crows that travel from tabletop to fence top routinely, and two, old wooden obelisks that have at one time or another bunked in every quarter of my suburban lot. Read more

Plant Props - H. Ross

How To Make This Curly Garden Stake

Why settle for pedestrian plant supports when these fanciful ones are super easy to make.

Plant Props - H. Ross

 

CREATIVE SOLUTION | This curlicue cousin of the commercially available metal plant stake is made with 12-gauge T-bar ceiling hanger wire, which comes in a bundle of precut lengths that are perfect for supporting garden smaller plants. Read more

Top Dressed Narcissus -Martin Tessler

How To Top Dress Floral Arrangements

Turn ordinary potted plants into miniature landscapes by choosing a soil cover that matches their look. There are lots of toppings to choose from, including aquarium stones, beach glass and even rosebuds.

Top Dressed Narcissus -Martin Tessler

 

CREATIVE SOLUTION | Plants potted up for the house are more than just leaves, stems and blossoms. They’re landscapes in miniature, with every aspect of their situation—the pot, the soil cover, the setting—adding to or detracting from the presentation. When I want my indoor plants to look all of a piece, I start by making associations. Read more

Chinese Lanterns On Mini'lights - Martin Tessler

Make A Lantern Plant & Mini-Light Display

Harvest Chinese lantern plant pods to create the perfect, illuminated holiday display.

Chinese Lanterns On Mini'lights - Martin Tessler

 

CREATIVE SOLUTION | I first spotted brilliant orange Chinese lanterns fitted over mini-lights on an organically decorated Christmas tree. This is one way to use them for sure, though I like them better when they are used to create an original Thanksgiving or Halloween display. I love them threaded through a tangle of branches on the front porch or on top of the mantel or on a dinner table. I also love mini-lanterns strung around doorways for a punch of spot-on seasonal colour. Read more

Andrea Cochran Garden

Make Your Garden Both Modern & Romantic

Learn the secrets of making a garden that is both modern and romantic from international superstar garden designer Andrea Cochran.

Andrea-Cochran-Garden

 

Design Wise | If you love beautiful gardens and find yourself near Robson and Georgia this evening with an hour so to spare, you might want to walk over to UBC Robson Square where international superstar garden designer Andrea Cochran will give a free lecture at 7 p.m. Read more

Agapanthus "Streamline"

Use Outdoor Plants For Indoor Arrangements

Some outdoor plants look spectacular potted up for the house before they’re turned loose in the garden.

Agapanthus "Streamline"

 

THE CREATIVE SOLUTION | Cut flowers straight from the garden or the corner store are a fine if conventional way to bring spring indoors. But bedding plants, which are becoming more plentiful everywhere as the gardening season takes hold, make equally attractive, arguably more novel and definitely cost-effective arrangements.
Read more

Terracotta Pots - Casey Phaisalakani

Clever Ways To Use Ordinary Flower Pots

Here’s how to create instant impact in the garden by using the same ordinary element over and over again.

Terracotta Pots - Casey Phaisalakani

 

CHEAP & CHIC | It takes a certain kind of fearlessness to believe that you can make a cliché look fresh. The cliché I’m referring to here is the wide-rimmed dime-a-dozen terracotta pot found in every nursery and hardware store from there to China. You know the (inexpensive) kind I’m talking about, pictured here empty. If you’re like me, you cannot wait to replace yours with their more curvaceous Italian cousins, or some skinny Long Toms from England, or something stunning in Asian stoneware.  Read more