Canada Blooms: Better than Ever

Wow and wow! That's the best way to describe Canada Blooms 2010. While the show has left me feeling a bit disappointed and underwhelmed in the past, this year I was really impressed. The new venue at the Direct Energy Centre is far more friendly and welcoming than the cavernous and sometimes dungeon-like Convention Centre. There seemed to be a renewed interest in real plants and people who love plants: horticultural societies and garden clubs got a whole aisle to themselves this year. And all of the really big showy gardens seemed modest, realistic, and attainable compared to the "I'll-never-be-able-to-afford-that-garden-ever" types of gardens that I expected to see. In other words, there were beautiful gardens to see and wonderful ideas to borrow.

"Sea Urchins" by Nippaysage Landscape Architects of Montreal was easily my favourite display. There's simply no way to go wrong with that many tulips. Gorgeous.

"Yellow Beacon," the Canadian Cancer Society's garden, featured a wall of daffodils.

The "Down to Earth" garden billed itself as "a studio garden of earthly energy and edible plants. A place to work, play, create...whatever your passion." It caught my eye with its use of lush ferns and awesome masks.

"Seen Unseen" featured plantings in oil drums to draw attention to Canada's Boreal Forest and how it's being affected by the rapid growth of energy production from the Tar Sands. Gardens with a "message" (like last year's horrible plastic pot landscape) usually make me roll my eyes and groan, but I found this one to be especially effective. The cold, steely drums contrasted well with the warmth of the plantings, suggesting incompatibililty. The size of the drums compared to the plantings also suggested, to me at least, that in the battle of the tulip versus the Tar Sands, the tulip won't win.

Edibles were everywhere, including this edible landscape that can only be described as cute. I just love that little mushroom path! Bright red cherry tomatoes featured prominently in several displays. I was very happy to see the City of Toronto promoting urban agriculture through backyard and community gardens. The focus on edible landscapes as something beautiful in and of itself was such a refreshing change from past years where some of the gardens seemed to be defined only by pavers and patio stones.

There was a lot to see on the floral design front including this eye-catching orchid display. Outstanding!

While there was a lot of creative, avant-garde design, this display of white roses won me over for its simplicity. Classy and classic.

I managed to resist temptation and walked away from Canada Blooms empty-handed. However, if this handmade copper water tree had been for sale I would surely have taken it home. It was just beautiful, as it simulated the sight and sound of rain falling through an oak tree.

Hellebore "Ivory Prince" was the perennial star of Canada Blooms. It was abundant in several gardens as were tulips, daffodils and rhododendrons. All were beautiful, of course, but wouldn't it be amazing to see a garden show in June or July when more plants could strut their stuff? Maybe some day. In the meantime, Canada Blooms 2010 gets a big round of applause from me.

Snowdrops and Seeds

The first bloom of the year! Hurray! This snowdrop in the backyard garden made my day.

Inside, the kitchen greenhouse is good to go. I had planned only to assemble it today. Then it occurred to me that a seed station isn't much without some seeds. Good thing I picked some up at William Dam Seeds last weekend.

It's still a bit early for planting so I decided to start with peppers because they need a good, long growing season. I haven't had much luck with peppers in the past (I have only ever successfully harvested one bell pepper over two seasons as a veggie gardener.) I love them enough to try again. Up first is Hungarian Hot Wax. Look at those colours! The pepper is described as long and tapered with medium heat. It starts off yellow and turns orange red.

I simply could not resist the Flame Hybrid. The presentation on the seed packet made me stop and look twice. The peppers are described as very pungent and hot; 12 cm long and just over 1cm wide. It is a Thai pepper. I love Thai food!

The sun is shining down brightly on the kitchen greenhouse and those pepper seeds as I type this. Would it be too much of a garden cliche to declare that this is going to best garden season ever?

Colourful Inspiration at TBG

I love perennials. They are crammed into every available space in my garden. From about May to November they look absolutely fabulous. Through most of the winter the sedums, coneflowers, black-eyed susans and globe thistles stand tall, braving the elements. Right about now, though, everything is looking...well... like a horticultural horror show. There's nothing to see but mud.

I would much rather have a winter garden that looks like this. For one thing, it's not all the colour of dirt. I found this little bit of inspiration at the Toronto Botanical Garden. It made me want to introduce some year-round colour to my garden.

Cornus Sanguineum "Winter Beauty" caught my eye from across the garden.

Its twigs have an orange-red to almost pink quality about them. The picture doesn't do them justice. The twigs were like a glowing beacon, beckoning me to start planting for a four-season garden.

The Golden Scots Pine or Pinus Sylvestris was golden, of course. I was planning to add some evergreens to the garden this year. I'm that much more excited knowing that evergreens don't necessarily have to be green.

Pieris Japonica "Mountain Fire" can certainly light up a gloomy late-winter garden. In spring, new growth emerges as a fiery red and the shrub also drips with pendulous creamy white blooms. And how's this for a bonus: it doesn't mind shade. Adding just these three shrubs to my perennial border would improve the garden infinitely. So that's where the garden budget will go this year: shrubs that provide winter interest.

If I'm lucky, the budget will also allow for the purchase of a Magnolia "Elizabeth." The fuzzy buds on "Elizabeth" were the size of small plums! I didn't even mind that the buds were grey, my favourite colour for describing our interminable winters. The sight of those buds was breathtaking and only made me more eager than ever to get planting again.

Gold and Gardens

I'm thinking of a new colour theme for the garden this year. It's either going to be red and white... or maybe gold... as in HOCKEY GOLD!!! YEAH!!!! WHOO HOOO!!! I wish someone could bottle the incredible feeling of euphoria and national pride that swept across our country last night. Just think of everything we could accomplish riding that wave of synergy. Congratulations to Team U.S.A. for a fabulous game. Congratulations to all the athletes for bringing their best to the Vancouver 2010 Games and showing the world exactly what they are made of. You should all be very proud.

Now, back to gardening. March 1st has arrived in style. Although there is lots of winter and bad weather left to endure, on March 1st I always feel we've made it through. It was an absolutely stunning day with above zero temperatures, sunshine to spare and blue skies. For me there was no better place to be than outside to survey the garden.

The miscanthus sinensis "gracillimus" or maiden grass looked nice all winter. It's time to cut it back. After two years in the garden, it has yet to produce flower plumes. I'm hoping this is the year.


The foliage of Hellebore "Ivory Prince" looks healthy and fresh under the snow. "ivory Prince" will be among the first perennials to bloom in the garden.

It's going to be another good year for the "Ludwig Spaeth" lilac. I can't wait to experience its fragrance once again.

The buds of the serviceberry shrubs add a touch of red to the garden. They will produce white blooms in early spring followed by tasty berries in June. It's always a challenge to get to the berries before the birds and raccoons do.

The beech is still holding onto its brilliant copper leaves which provide a much-welcome splash of colour in the winter garden. In the summer, its leaves will be a dark purple. Last fall, the tree's leader put on about three feet of growth! That's enough that it should block the view of an unsightly laneway and make the backyard feel like a little forested retreat.

The red twigs of the cornus alba "Elegantissima" stand out amid all the brown in the garden right now. Some of its older branches have turned a bit brown and unsightly. Nothing a little pruning won't fix.

And speaking of unsightly...this is the worst of the garden right now: a muddy patch under a huge balsam fir. It has always been difficult to plant here because of shallow soil and root competition. Last year, though, I helped some woodlanders move in here including wild geranium and red baneberry. A tovara virginiana or jumpseed plant did well here last season so I hope it returns for a repeat performance. Maybe it will sprout some friends that will weave themselves into a ground cover. I would be very happy with that.

It's so good to be back thinking about gardening again. It leaves me with an absolutely golden glow.

The Colours of Cuba

I had the very good fortune of enjoying a sunny visit to Cuba over the holiday season. The trip came just in time to save me from my annual, start of winter funk. Sunshine and shorts are a great way to start the new year! There was so much to see, including the above scene in Old Havana: La Bodeguita Del Medio, a bar famous for once being Ernest Hemingway's favourite watering hole among other things. I had to see it when I realized this particular street scape is somewhat iconic in Cuba. Paintings and photographs of the scene are everywhere, available in every style imaginable. The only thing missing in my photo is a classic car parked right out front.

So what happens when a garden blogger travels? Along with hundreds of pictures of historic buildings and monuments, you get hundreds of pictures of plants. These palms created a lush, green oasis at the Capitol Building in Havana.

The Royal Palm is Cuba's National Tree.

This Agave was obviously happy with its sunny location, reaching gigantic status.

This flowering climber in Old Havana is what I always envisioned for my home. However, I doubt it would appreciate that well-known Canadian endurance test we call February.

Many of Cuba's plants remain a mystery to me but I'm pretty sure this is bougainvillea.

It grows everywhere, often appearing as a wild, crazy overgrown shrub dripping with blooms.

Around the resorts of Varadero, bougainvillea is clipped into neat hedges.

The Crown of Thorns plant was also a popular hedging plant. Let's just say I took a little extra care when passing close by. They are in street planters everywhere.

The weather during my stay wasn't exactly red-hot, but these blooms were.

I love the way the sunlight hit these blooms. Somewhere, a hummingbird must be very happy.

These blooms appeared on a tree with leathery foliage very much like a magnolia...so maybe it is a magnolia.

And what tropical location would be complete without hibiscus.

Unlike the hibiscus I've seen here in Canada, including two growing in my backyard, the stamens are far more prominent and seem wildly intricate.

Cuba provided a much needed jolt of sunshine and warmth. And because one can't live on the joys of flora alone here's a shot of a glorious sunset to keep you warm during the cold months ahead.

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you the very best of the season and an awesome New Year. Happy Gardening to all in 2010.

Winter Urns and Window Box

Let's forget, for now at least, the bags of miniature iris bulbs sitting under the kitchen table waiting to be planted. And the two dozen daffodil bulbs. Not to mention the three dozen or so pass-along yellow iris rhizomes I brought home from my mother's garden today. They'll all get planted really soon...I promise. For this week, though, springtime plantings are on hold in order to give the house and garden a festive makeover before the arrival of the snow.

In the past I've had a local landscaper design my urns. I wanted a "wow" factor I could never seem to achieve. This year I'm determined to deliver the "wow" all on my own. The two pictures above are of an urn on my backyard deck. The yew came from backyard clippings. Fir boughs, cedar branches and bright red dogwood twigs were collected in the country at my in-laws' place. I added a few dogwood branches from my Cornus Alba "Elegantissima" as well. My newly sheared euonymus provided plenty of leathery evergreen leaves with bright orange fruit pods. The red "berries" and white branches are from previous urn designs. I kept them figuring they could be reused some day (today! yay!)

The second backyard urn features the same material as the first but arranged in a slightly different way. The cedar and euonymus are more dominant along the front of the urn creating a "skirt" effect. I also added several dried astilbe blooms from the garden. I didn't think the stems would be sturdy enough to stick into the ground but they were.

There are more of the same materials in the window box with one exception: I found some juniper clippings put out by a neighbour for trash collection and just had to have them.

I'm very happy with the designs. I think they have good height and beautiful colour contrasts. There is a fullness to the urns and window box that was lacking in my earliest efforts (the reason I got a pro to help in the first place.) I can't help but be extremely pleased that these designs didn't cost me a cent! Materials for urns can be crazy expensive! You can bet I'll be poking around neighbours' yards for clippings in the future. Finally, I'm happy I can say "I did that! It's an original design by me!" Funny how I found a creative outlet in some branches nobody wanted.

So things are looking a little more festive around these parts. The question remains: what do you think? Have I delivered the "wow?"