Three Dogs in a Garden

Highlights from the Toronto Interior Design Show

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:37:00 +0000

On Sunday, we spent the afternoon at the Interior Design Show in downtown Toronto. The exhibition hall was packed with people and filled with inspiration.

Here are just a few pictorial highlights and my notes on design trends at the show.

Trend ideas in this picture: Ground level marble coffee tables, legless sofa and a book case with shelves organized in an irregular pattern. The shelves are filled either with spare accessories or stuffed full of books that have had their covers removed. (Should defacing books be a fashion forward idea? What do you think of those low tables? Are they really practical?)

Trend idea: Over sized arrangements.

(Did you notice the vase within a vase that holds the flowers and foliage in place? Clever!)

Trend ideas: Black and white accessories, blond wood, whitewashed floors, chrome and glass.

Love this statement making chandelier!

Bedroom ideas: Greige linens, distressed wood, collection of small mirrors.

Inspired by WWII aircraft this chest of drawers in the UP Country's display have a romantic,

vintage feel.

Accessory trend ideas: Collections of vintage globes, vintage trophies, worn books and antlers.

Trend ideas: This industrial chic look mixes metal cabinets, distressed leather furnishings, romantic mercury glass chandeliers and contemporary styled armchairs with clean wooden arms. All from Elte in Toronto.

Trend ideas: Over sized wall clock, graphic black and white artwork, rough wooden headboard

and a distressed chest of drawers. All from Elte in Toronto.

Trend ideas: Charcoal wall color, rough wood surfaces, metal legs and chairs, amber colored glass chandelier, silhouettes and high gloss decorative plates. All from Elte in Toronto.

All from Elte in Toronto.

Kitchen trends: High gloss kitchen cabinets, dark grout on backsplash tiles, clean walls without upper kitchen cabinetry

(What do you think of the fashion for using dark tile grout in kitchens and baths? I think that this is one trend that will date itself quickly. The dark grout may be practical, but it has a way of making even a simple white backsplash look busy.)

Color trend: Tangerine and lime colored accents

Alfred Sung Outdoor Decor

Outdoor furniture trend: Woven faux rattan, metal legs, and sculptural, over-sized floral arrangement.

Trend: Zigzag patterns, orange terry pillows

House and Home magazine has a video clip of a few other show highlights.

See it here: House and Home Online.

Creating a Focal Point, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:01:00 +0000

The beginning and end of this traditional allee is a classic urn. This focal point is accentuated with a circle of stonework. Brian Folmer's Garden near Walkerton, On.

How would a focal point work in the context of a smaller garden?

Here are some design tips I picked up from gardens that I have visited.

Heather Bradley's Garden, Mississauga, ON.

Guide traffic in the direction of a main garden feature by using a series of pathways.

Heather Bradley's Garden, Mississauga, ON.

This pathway leads you to the birdbath, and then circles around it, allowing you to view

the planting bed from all sides.

The Singer Garden, Brampton, ON.

Group collections of smaller objects.

In this pretty border, there is no focal point; nothing really demands your attention more than anything else. There are instead, multiple points of interest, that tend to draw you in.

The Singer Garden, Brampton, ON.

Look closely, there are little bunnies to be discovered amongst the flowers.

The Singer Garden, Brampton, ON.

Now, if the gardener had continued with the bunnies in the flowerbed opposite, the rabbits might easily have gone from a cute detail to over-the-top. Instead, she wisely put a single focal point in the planting bed across from the one with all the bunny rabbits.

Private Garden near Hamilton ON.

If your garden is really small, keep it simple. This garden has one main feature: the pond. Located right off the back deck, it is in the perfect spot for the homeowners to relax in the evening.

The Singer Garden, Brampton, ON.

Let the garden suggest a theme for your focal point. In this small garden, the

pond is again the main feature.

The Singer Garden, Brampton, ON.

What would be a more natural focal point than a pair of cranes?

Edwards Gardens, Toronto.

Focal points don't have to be traditional.

The Singer Garden, Brampton, ON.

They can be rustic as well.

Brain Folmer's garden near Walkerton, ON.

Private Garden, Mississauga, ON.

Make use of color and the plants themselves. Your eye goes right to the burgundy leaves of this Japanese Maple. Surrounded by a sea of green, the tree fixes and holds your attention.

Leave the beige inside the house. Instead go bold with color. Your garden can handle it!

Emphasis a focal point with contrast. Your eye is immediately drawn to the stone figure which stands out against the mass of dark green leaves.

Finally, channel attention toward a pretty feature by creating a frame for it.

These design ideas are just a few of the things that I have learned from other gardeners.

Creating a Focal Point

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:17:00 +0000

The shrub rose 'Palmengarten Frankfurt' at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, ON.

The senses are bombarded with information in a garden.

Hollyhocks in the RBG, Hamilton, ON.

There are visual cues like color...

The Rockery at the RBG in Hamilton, ON.

and shape.

The climbing rose 'American Pillar' at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, ON.

There is also scent, ...

A bee on a fall aster

sound and...

Moss covered rocks and fern, The Rockery at the RBG in Hamilton, ON.

the tactile cues of provided by texture.

When on top of all that information, a gardener mixes in a some garden gnomes, a few birdhouses, and/or a statue or two, a mild disquiet can start to creep in to the mind of the observer. When assaulted with too much information, what the mind wants most is an escape route.

A late fall bouquet of store bought roses in my favourite watering can.

I don't know about you, but when it comes to garden clutter, I really have to retrain myself. I love watering cans, birdhouses, fairies, mushrooms...gosh, what don't I like...well, maybe I can give plastic looking garden gnomes a miss, but you get my point; I love all manner of garden ornaments.

I don't believe you should feel that you have to rigidly adhere to design rules with regard to garden ornaments. It's your garden. Please yourself first! Heck, if you fill your garden with plastic garden gnomes, I say, go for it! Life is too short to worry about other people's opinions.

But if you look around your garden and feel a vague sense of dissatisfaction, understanding design principals can help you identify what is and isn't working and then help you to correct it.

Brain Folmer's garden near Walkerton, ON.

This finally brings me around to the subject of today's post: focal point.

Focal point is one of those designer terms that you hear tossed around frequently. Commons sense suggests that it is a point of focus; something whose dramatic presence demands or fixes your attention on it. In a garden, using a focal point can also take away from that feeling of visual clutter by centring your attention for a time on a single point of interest.

The picture above is a classic example of using focal point in a garden. The eye rockets along the lines of perspective created by a walkway flanked with two parallel rows of ornamental grass. Your point of focus is a single object, the gazebo in the far distance. Curiosity about that distant structure drives you forward, along the path to get a closer look.

Let's look back the other way. Again, there is a single focal point.

Brain Folmer's garden near Walkerton, ON.

What is that distant object anyway?

Brain Folmer's garden near Walkerton, ON.

I see now. It's an urn.

Fixing your line of sight on a garden focal point is like finding a stepping stone in the center of a stream you are trying to cross. It's a place to rest, to catch your breath, adjust your balance and then move on.

Brain Folmer's garden near Walkerton, ON.

Take a look at this garden scene. The bench is not only a literal place to rest, it is an object for the eye to rest on as well.

Lose the bench through the magic of Photoshop, and your eye starts darting all over the place. It is like a sentence without a period. The visual information provided by the mixed planting suddenly seems vaguely overwhelming.

Brain Folmer's garden near Walkerton, ON.

Now, I know what you might be thinking. This is all well and good Jennifer, but I don't have acres of garden to work with in creating a focal point. Fair enough! I don't have vast acreage either.

In Part 2, I will show you some inspiration for creating a focal point in a smaller garden.

The Art of Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:29:00 +0000

Dames Rocket in a vase.

I was about to sit down to work on a design themed post on the subject of creating a focal point, when a long ago phone conversation that I had with my Mom flashed into my mind. Newly married, my husband and I had moved up from Nova Scotia and had been living in the greater Toronto area for a couple of years. That weekend I had gone on my first ever garden tour.

Goldfish from last summer's pond tour

"It turns out that you are a nobody gardener here Mom, unless your garden has a "water feature". Not a pond, mind you, that's way too country quaint! It has to be a "water feature" or it seems as though your garden is not deemed worthy of being seen by the public."

Water feature! Those two words do have a kind of grand, cinematic ring to them, don't they?

And here I am, all these years later, about to about wax-on about creating a garden "focal point". "Focal point" is another one of those somewhat pretentious terms that has the same flair for the dramatic as "water feature".

In my head, I started to imagine readers, who are always polite and encouraging in their comments, privately regarding their computer screens and rolling their eyes, "Blog posts on creating grand entrances, pathways and now one on focal points! Really, Jennifer! I just want to grow some pretty flowers and be done with it!"

Could all these years in the big city really have turned me into a garden snob who bandies around designer phrases as if I owned them?

Random shot of my front border

Gosh, I hope not! Honestly, I think that there is nothing wrong with a straight-forward, honest-to-goodness flower garden.

Growing up, my mother's garden was both simple and unpretentious. Her garden had no carefully designed layout. There were no curved beds, no sweeping vistas, no bubbling fountain or koi-filled pond. And if you asked her about her garden's "focal point", I am sure she would have told you, that if her garden had a focal point, it was surely the flowers themselves. My mother certainly knew a lot about growing flowers.

In my mother's garden, the beds were straight as arrows. One might think that this lack of artifice was unsophisticated, but actually, this simple design aesthetic was perfectly in keeping with the modern design influences of the late 60's and early 70's.

My mother never, ever, bought annuals like petunias or geraniums.

Having grown up in the depression years of the 1920's, she regarded annuals as an extravagance; throw-away plants that wouldn't last more than a single summer. There was also an element of snobbery in her opinion of annuals; they were common and therefore too ordinary for her tastes.

Her forceful opinions extended to perennials as well. In keeping with her contemporary tastes, she saw no charm in old fashioned cottage garden favourites like bleeding hearts.

Random rose shot. This is 'Clair Renaissance' which is an English Style Shrub rose

that I admired in the Spargette's garden in Brampton, ON.

And my mother absolutely detested roses!

And as for hostas, that popular shade garden staple? Well, her garden did not have a single one! To this day, my mother who is still gardening and almost 90, dismisses hosta's as "lazy man's flowers".

My mother created her garden back in the 1970's, when we moved into a Pepto Bismol colored house overlooking the Halifax harbour. (These days, you couldn't buy a car for what my parent's paid for that house!) It was the era of harvest gold appliances, spider plants in macrame plant hangers, hot pants, mini skirts and platform soled shoes.

So what did my mother grow in her garden? A wide range of perennials, but her favourite flowers were poppies.

She had a large collection of annual poppies.

She also had big, bright, orangy-red perennial poppies.

We had a vegetable garden too. It was a squarish, utilitarian patch of earth totally lacking in artifice. The vegetable garden's practical purpose was to provide the family with inexpensive food in the summer months. There were no herbs, no heirloom tomatoes. My mother grew modern, disease-resistant "Beefstake" tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, currants and common vegetables like beans and peas.

My biggest gardening influence has easily been my mother. I still aspire to have a perennial border that is as beautiful as hers was in early July.

I have also gone my own way at the same time. I do have bleeding hearts, roses and hostas in my garden.

And I take a far greater interest in the design aspect of gardening than she ever did.

Does that make my garden somehow better than hers? No!

I will use an analogy to explain the way I look at the comparison. A single violin can produce the most beautiful music. So can a full orchestra. The mix of different musical instruments in an orchestra adds complexity through layers of sound, but the music is not necessarily more appealing than a haunting melody played on a single violin.

My mother prefers the violin. I like to mess about with orchestral pieces. For me the design aspect of gardening adds an interesting level of complexity to more straightforward flower gardening.

It is your turn to have your say. Who or what have been your biggest influences in the way you approach gardening?

Spring Tulips in the Sunshine

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:22:00 +0000

The garden is sleeping, but there is a little spring bit of blooming in my kitchen.

It is little treats, like these pretty pink tulips, that get me through a cold winter day.

I will link this post to May Dreams Gardens monthly garden blogging event called Garden Blogger's Bloom Day. I am also going to link to Sunlit Sunday at My Little Home and Garden.

Down the Garden Path: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:16:00 +0000

Lost Horizons Nursery, Acton Ontario.

"May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day. May songbirds serenade your every step along the way. May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that is always blue. And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through." Old Irish Blessing.

The plan of Larkwhistle Garden from the book The Art of Perennial Gardening by Patrick Lima,

Photographs by John Scanlan, Published by Firefly Books in 2000.

If you look at this drawing of Larkwhistle Garden or at the layout for David Tomlinson's garden called Merlin's Hollow, you will notice that the pathways make up the skeleton or framework for each garden. Pathways link each of these gardens into a cohesive whole.

Merlin's Hollow Garden Plan

With a pathway, a gardener channels visitors through a garden. How a garden is viewed is determined, to some degree, by the nature and even the shape of a path.

Lost Horizons Nursery, Acton Ontario.

You are more likely to motor down a straight path...

Lost Horizons Nursery, Acton Ontario.

than one that twists and turns.

Merlin's Hollow, Aurora Ontario.

How wide should a path be?

I personally think that the spacing needs to feel comfortable, not claustrophobic. If a pathway is tight, a visitor has to pay too much heed to each footstep and this can distract from all the visual delights along a path's length.

Brain Folmer's Botanical Gardens near Walkerton, Ontario.

So, what about materials?

Even an ordinary lawn can function as a pathway between plantings.

Pea gravel is a nice option that has a pleasant crunch underfoot.

Larkwhistle Garden, on the Bruce Peninsula.

This garden has a hard-packed combination of sand and very fine gravel.

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Flagstone is a classic choice.

(Note here that the gardener here has continued the flagstone onto the lawn and around to the front of the house. In doing so, he saves wear and tear on the grass by directing visitors away from cutting across the lawn.)

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Stonework is more costly and requires a greater degree of skill to install, but is hard-wearing option

and it looks incredible doesn't it?

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Mulch is yet another alternative and is softer underfoot. It also helps to create a nice woodland effect.

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Of course, you can always combine pathway materials. Here we have mulch combined with flagstone.

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Pea gravel and flagstone.

This is Heather Bradley's Garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Moss and flagstone.

(Deborah of Deb's Garden Blog has written a wonderful post on creating a moss pathway. She has a spectacular woodland garden that you should definitely check out.)

Edwards Gardens, Toronto.

Plantings along a path can be crisp and tidy.

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Brain Folmer's Botanical Gardens near Walkerton, Ontario.

Or they can be uneven and more natural.

Brain Folmer's Botanical Gardens near Walkerton, Ontario.

In the end, it comes down to the overall look and feeling you are after.

I hope you feel as inspired by these gardens as I do. Have a great weekend!

Down the Garden Path: Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:02:00 +0000

Larkwhistle Garden, on the Bruce Peninsula.

"I see my path, but don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I am going is what inspires me to travel it." Rosallia de Castro

"Every path has its puddle." Old Proverb

Nothing gently suggests, "Walk this way" like a garden path.

A pathway invites the visitor to enter into the garden, rather than just view it.

Larkwhistle Garden, on the Bruce Peninsula.

An enticing destination at the journey's end can be suggested.

Larkwhistle Garden, on the Bruce Peninsula.

And a pleasant place to rest can be provided.

Brain Folmer's Botanical Gardens near Walkerton, Ontario.

Larkwhistle Garden, on the Bruce Peninsula.

Alternatively, a pathway's end can also be obscured and made mysterious.

Larkwhistle Garden, on the Bruce Peninsula.

A hidden and unexpected feature can thereby suddenly reveal itself.

Lost Horizons Nursery, Acton Ontario.

Pathways also offer one of life's more stress-free choices. Shall you go left or right?

Lost Horizons Nursery, Acton Ontario.

A gardener can keep the walk along a path interesting by varying the planting...

Heather Bradley's garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

and incorporating interesting objects.

Larkwhistle Garden, on the Bruce Peninsula.

A distance to be traveled can be made more intriguing when accented with an arbor passageway...

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

or traversed with a bridge.

Merlin's Hollow, Aurora Ontario.

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Finally, pathways have useful as well as aesthetic functions in the garden. Paths can provide ready access to backyard structures like a storage shed and can keep the trip to this type of high-traffic destination looking neat and tidy.

Merlin's Hollow, Aurora Ontario.

Pathways also function to provide key access to planting beds for routine maintenance.

I have other inspiration for you, but fear that this post has already become a visual marathon. I will put up a Part 2 that will touch on design ideas and materials in the next few days.

Making a Grand Entrance

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:29:00 +0000

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression."

Unknown quote

The cold, snow filled days of early winter are a perfect time for gathering ideas, looking through seed catalogues, and planning next year's garden. What wasn't working and needs to be moved? What new plants should be added? What needs to be updated and changed?

I am unhappy with the entrance to the garden at the very back of our property and that has got me thinking about garden entrances in general.

Why fuss over the entrance to a garden?

Well, for one thing, it is the first thing you see. It makes a statement right up front and can set the tone for the rest of the garden.

A garden entrance is also a perfect place for a gardener to express their unique personality and design aesthetic.

The possibilities are simply endless. An entrance can be everything from rustic to sophisticated and formal, spare to romantic and vine covered.

Trumpet Vine, Campsis radicans, with its bright orange flowers, covers the arbor entrance way in this Niagra-on-the-lake garden. While the vine is attractive and a magnet for hummingbirds, gardeners should plant Trumpet Vine with some caution because, it can be invasive.

Incorporating a structure like an arbor at the front of your garden can impart a sense of order to the natural chaos that is a cottage style flower garden.

Covering that arbor with a flowering vine makes it all the more dramatic. The visitor passing through the arbor is enveloped by greenery on all three sides.

I knew from the get-go that this garden in Niagra-on-the-lake was going to take my breath away.

Artist and interior designer Eleonora Roberts designed this arbor to echo the peaked shaped of the roof of her Streetsville, Ontario home. I will be showing you more of her lovely garden in the coming weeks.

Arbors can come in all shapes and sizes. They can also be opened or gated.

Private garden, Waterdown, Ontario. A Climbing Hydrangea covers the lower part of the wall on the right side on the garden gate.

A gate is a perfect place to display accessories like a bell, a welcome sign or a decorative wreath. The hinges, latch and handle are adornments that can dress-up even the most basic garden gate.

Building materials offer a wide range of design alternatives. If wood seems too rustic for your tastes, wrought iron is another classic option.

Gate at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton, Ontario.

Garden gate at Canada Blooms 2011.

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Wood and metal can also be combined beautifully.

Private garden, Brampton, Ontario. A climbing hydrangea is on the left hand side of the gate and a Cotton Easter is on the right.

An unknown variety of Honeysuckle covers the arbor. Pink Bee Balm is in front of the arbor just to the left, Ligularia is the large leaf in front of the Bee Balm, and Gooseneck Loosestrife(caution invasive!)

is the white flower in the right foreground.

Of course, not every entrance is at the front of a garden. A garden can be divided into "garden rooms" and can have an entrance or passageway that stands at the doorway to each of the rooms.

Private garden in Burlington, Ontario. The white flower with the greyish-green foliage that

can be seen in the background is self-seeding Lychnis coronaria 'Alba'.

A more rustic approach to an arbor at the We're in the Hayfield Now Nursery.

Here a hedge forms the walls of the "room" and the rustic arbor is the doorway.

This is one of the gates that David Tomlinson has used in his garden called Merlin's Hollow. An arbor stands at the entrance to each of the four garden "rooms" at Merlin's Hollow.

The same gate from the other direction. The perspective created by the arbor's geometry adds a greater sense of depth and distance from one room to another.

A closer look at one of the passageways at Merlin's Hollow. Pink columbine has self-seeded itself in the middle foreground and a pink Beauty Bush blooms in the background.

An unknown variety of Wisteria covers the arbor.

In this Mississauga, Ontario garden, an arbor marks a doorway leading to a patio area.

Plant materials can be as varied as the entrance way itself. This gardener in Georgetown, Ontario has used annual Morning Glories.

This Brampton, Ontario gardener has used roses to great effect.

There are so many options for creating a garden entrance that the hardest part is trying to decide among them!

What should I do to re-vamp my back gate? It is time to get dreaming...

Garden Blogging Can Be Dangerous!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:17:00 +0000

A couple of mornings ago, I threw a couple of slices in the toaster and decided to returned to my computer screen while it toasted. I don't recall wether I was reading a blog post about a garden in a far off place or admiring someone's Christmas decorations, but I do remember wondering why I hadn't heard the bell on the toaster oven letting me know my toast was done.

When I finally finished leaving my comment and got up to investigate, there was thick, grey smoke billowing up from the toaster!

Now, what is the one thing that they tell you never to do with a fire? Give it a fresh supply of oxygen.

So what did I do?

I opened the toaster. The blackened toast burst into flames!

I stood there for what seemed like hours, but was probably mere seconds, amazed that a couple of pieces of toast could produce such an impressive bonfire.

Though alarmed, I did have the wherewithal to I call my son, who was getting dressed for work, to come down and help me. Then I fished out a pair of tongs from one of the kitchen drawers. I had one flaming piece of bread in the sink, when my son pushed his way in, grabbed the kitchen sink sprayer and extinguished the both pieces of toast.

By this point, the whole lower floor of the house was filled with smoke. We opened all the doors to clear it out, but the burnt smell lingered for days.

Two things failed me that morning. First, the kitchen fire alarm, which had a dead battery and second, the Black and Decker toaster oven that is, in my estimation, poorly designed. It is way too easy to turn the dial to "on" instead of "toast."

It wasn't a serious fire, but rather a good warning. I thought I would write about this little brush with disaster, because this is the time of year when there things like candles and tree lights around.

So do yourself a favour and go check those smoke detectors! We all want you to have a safe holiday season.

On a lighter note, the mild weather has meant that I have been able to leave a few things out in the garden. I planted my vegetables rather late is the season. I was worried that my carrots might never amount to much, but here they are!

They short and stubby, the kind of carrots that only the gardener who grew them could love, but I am thrilled when them. I cooked a few last night and they tasted pretty darn good, if I do say so myself!

This will be my final post of the year. I want to take a break to have more time for family. I also want to organize and backup my image files, so while I will return visits, I won't be posting until after the holidays.

Fingers crossed, we will have a white Christmas!

From my three dogs in a garden

and their newest little friend

we wish you the happiest of holidays and all the best for the coming new year!

The Year in Bloom

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:04:00 +0000

This will be one of my last posts of the year. I thought that for this month's GBBD I would take a look back at the gardening year that was. I will start in May, because that is when spring finally arrived.

May

Here in Ontario, it seemed that winter dragged on forever. Usually, I like to get out in the garden in April, but the cold weather made it impossible. There was still snow flying when my husband and I stood in the back garden and marked out a layout for the new vegetable garden I envisioned.

Warmer days didn't arrive until May. Spring lasted about two weeks into the month and then the temperatures began to soar. Here are a few pictorial highlights:

Double Flowering Almond.

Korean Lilac

White Bleeding Heart, Dicentra spectabilis alba. I was so "in love" with my existing white and pink Bleeding Hearts that I added 3 new plants.

A former birdbath in the back garden.

Oriental Poppy, Papaver orientale

Pasque flower 'Pulsatilla'

June

Peonies fill the front garden.

With the sudden heat, the garden made up for lost time. The peonies in the front garden actually bloomed right on time.

Meadow Sage Salvia, Nemerosa 'Caradonna' and a common Spirea in the background.

Deep blue 'Baptisia' and light blue 'Blue Star'.

Evening Primrose in the front garden.

A mix of June roses.

An iris that I inherited from the home's previous owner and self-seeding purple

Rocket in the background.

The last of June's flowers.

July

Hosta and Daylilies

In July there was very little rain. I don't usually have to drag the hose out to water until August. This year it was so hot and dry, that I had to water every few days.

The garden in June had been all about peonies and roses. In July, the hosta, daylilies and spirea came into the forefront. Toward the end of the month, the phlox and brown-eyed susan began to flower.

The front garden. Roses are slowly giving way to Phlox and Brown-eyed Susan.

Daylilies are a July staple. I have hybrid orange, pinks and reds.

In July, baby bunnies started feasting on my new vegetable garden. Japanese beetles mysteriously appeared and began to eat up my roses.

The back garden.

August

Phlox and Brown-eyed Susan has taken over in front of the white picket fence. Phlox paniculata 'Eva Cullum' and Phlox paniculata 'Laura Bright Eyes'

August started off with some much needed rain, and then the weather went dry again. The Japanese beetles moved from my roses to the Porcelain Vine in the back garden.

In the vegetable garden, the tomatoes and herbs were doing great, but the beans and peas were bunny food.

Helenium

A Tiger lily in the front garden.

Pee Gee Hydrangea in the front garden.

Try to spot one of the dog's in the back garden.

September

Stonecrop 'Matrona'

September was fair and warm, possibly my favourite month in the garden. I rescued some of my roses, which had become overcrowded with brown-eyed susan and did some front garden renovations to better space other plants. Aren't we gardeners always moving things?

Mixed phlox in the front garden.

Echinacea in the front garden is a favourite with the butterflies.

October

Sedum spectabile 'Stardust' was a new addition to my growing collection of sedum.

October was all about finsihing-off half-completed projects, picking black walnuts

up off the lawn, and raking leaves.

By mid-month, we several morning with light frost.

Thanks to the mild weather the Rudbeckia 'Herbstsonne' bloomed well into the month.

November

November was unseasonably mild; great for those of us still planing spring bulbs.

December

December continues to be mild. We have had only had a light dusting of snow, which quickly melted. Is Mother Nature making up for the late spring start? I don't mind if winter is delayed, but it would be nice to have a white Christmas.

My thanks to all of you that have stopped in to visit throughout the year and left kind, encouraging comments. It has been a wonderful experience to visit your gardens in turn and get to know you better.

After all is said and done, 2011 was a great year in the garden.

I will link this post to May Dreams Gardens Garden Blogger's Bloom Day. On Friday, I will also link to Fertilizer Friday at Tootsie Time. To see other beautiful gardens from around the world, please click the links.

Running with the Big Boys: A Pup-date

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:55:00 +0000

So how did three older dogs respond to the introduction of a young upstart? Total indifference really.

That's okay, the enthusiasm was mutual. Mator greeted his new friends with a deep, throat rumbling growl that was a warning for them to keep their distance.

The dust has settled somewhat now and Mator has started to run with the big boys.

Actually, I think Mator has begun to feel like he is the one in charge.

Ashes of Roses

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:18:00 +0000

These vintage bottles aren't particularly seasonal, but they were so pretty that I wanted to show them to you. The bottles are the handiwork of local crafter Dana Ruprecht.

Dana takes vintage bottles and adorns them with antique bits of paper, stamps and pretty stickers.

Each bottle is tied with a pretty ribbon or bit of lace.

Dana also does handmade cards, gift tags and other crafts that are re-purposed, designed or simply inspired by antique materials. Visit Dana's website, Ashes of Roses by clicking the link.

Today, I will link this post to Lisa Gordon's the Creative Exchange. To see some really great photography click the link. I will also link to Tuesdays Around the World. To see what is happening in other blogger's worlds, please click the link.

A Little Wishful Thinking

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Wooden Cutout Trees at West Elm

Today, I have a little visual distraction to break up your busy week.

I don't know about your family, but we only plan to do some very modest gift giving this year. Times are tough and it doesn't seem appropriate to so lots of lavish spending, when there are so many hard-pressed families out there this year. I want to make sure there is enough money left over to donate to local, charitable food and toy drives after our own shopping is all said and done.

Still, it is fun sometimes to do a little wishful thinking and look at nice things.

So, that's just what I have here for you today. A wish list of pretty things, many of them garden or nature inspired items.

Wire Terrarium at Pottery Barn

Wooden Terrarium at Pottery Barn

Farmers Market Baskets at Anthropologie

Porcelain Ring Dish at West Elm

There is a large selection of pretty lucite earrings to be found on Etsy. Take a peak.

Handmade, Rustic Porcelain Pedestals at Herriott Grace.

Nikole Herriott is a Canadian blogger who has a small online shop where she sells unique, one of a kind handmade items, many of them made by her own father.

Check out her blog here: www.fortysixthatgrace.blogspot.com Check out her shop here: Herriott Grace.

I love her father's wooden creations like this Red Cedar Candy Dish. All the shop's wooden products are hand-carved or hand-turned and finished with corn oil. This particular item is sold out at the moment, but you can sign up to be on their mailing list by clicking the link: Herroitt Grace

Organic Woodgrain Towels at West Elm

Perforated Porcelain Bath Accessories at West Elm

How about the Rolls Royce of watering cans? Haws watering can at Lee Valley

Canada's Garden Therapy has handmade floral pillows are created from flowers grown in their home garden, photographed and printed on linen-cotton canvas. Check out the Garden Therapy blog by clicking the link or purchase a pillow at their Etsy shop here: Garden Therapy Handmade Store.

Martha Sturdy Shallow Resin Bowl in Shimmer Red from Provide Home. I have always wanted one of these exquisite and pricy bowls by Canadian Designer extraordinary Martha Sturdy.

From the top left :Ehrman Tapestry Gatherings by Margaret Murton Fire Flowers by Kaffe Fassett Fleurs by Raymond Honeyman India Garden by Raymond Honeyman

These are not pillows, but rather are needlepoint kits from the English company Ehrman (they have distributors worldwide). If you have often wished you had something to do while watching television other than nibbling, then this may be the hobby for you. The needlepoint stitch is basic and dead easy to learn.

So what's one your wish list this holiday season?

I am being more practical this year than usual and am asking Santa Claus for a very basic sewing machine. I am sure there will also be something pretty and maybe even a few books under the tree for me as well.

My son is the hardest person on my list to shop for. Why are men so darn hard to buy for?

It never rains, but it pours!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:06:00 +0000

It seems as though we have experienced one disaster after another. First, it was unexpected and expensive car repair bills.

Then the furnace just up and quit. (Actually, it is a boiler not a furnace, but "it" packed it in just the same. We have hot water heat and ancient radiators in this old house.)

Trying to find someone who knew something about repairing a ten year old boiler was like searching for hen's teeth, they were kinda hard to find!

Many fruitless call later, we finally found a guy who came out and told us we needed a new "motherboard."

Sounds like a part from space ship doesn't it? We were advised that this new motherboard would have to be ordered in at a cost of almost $600.

Days later, we were still waiting for this supposed "motherboard" arrive from the far reaches of outer space and land here on earth.

The house was as cold as a mummy's tomb and there was not a single drop of hot water. We had to heat water in pots to bath and do the dishes. I don't mind loading on an extra sweater or doing the dishes by hand, but a hot shower at the end of the day is one luxury that I find it hard to do without, especially when the house is stone cold.

I don't want to bore you with a long, sad story, but in the end we discovered that we did not need a new motherboard at all, just a $2 fuse. The only problem is that there is a short somewhere in the system that is causing the fuse to blow repeatedly. This mystery is still on going...

But at least we have heat and hot water for now!

If you think this is the end of my tale of woe, well it isn't.

There was fresh misery today. The toilet backed up at 6 am this morning and flooded the bathroom. The water seeped down through the cracks in the wood floor and flowed on to the kitchen ceiling below.

Then it began to rain from all the pot lights in the kitchen ceiling.

I was making lunches at the kitchen counter, when it began to rain on the red pepper I was slicing. After I took a moment to recover from the shock, I grabbed some pots and placed them all over the kitchen floor to catch the rising flood waters.

It took a good part of the morning to clean up the mess.

I am sure you must be wondering about this little guy. He is my other news. Meet Mador!

I know. I know. What another dog! Believe me, this wasn't my idea. Three dogs was more than enough, as far as I was concerned.

Mador is my daughter-in-law's Christmas gift from her own mother. Hanna has long wanted a dog of her own.

I have nicknamed him the "Poop-in-ator", because all of the little puppy accidents. He is very loveable though, with his one ear up flying up like a bat wing, and his tail that seems to be permanently set on wag.

The only bad thing is that Mador's care has fallen a lot to me, while Hanna is at work. As a result, I am hopelessly behind in my own work.

And time for blogging last week? Well, that flew right out the window!

I apologize that I haven't returned many of your visits. I promise to catch shortly on all your news and will post some pretty, new garden pictures shortly!

So what do you think Mador? Should I change the blog title to "Three and a half dogs in a garden"?

I linking this post to the Creative Exchange. To see some great photography, please click the link.

Tomorrow, I will link to Tuesdays Around the World. To see what is happening in other blogger's world's, please click the link.

A Couple of Holiday Decor Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:18:00 +0000

It has been mild and raining; hardly the weather to start getting into the holiday spirit, but I have begun to pull out a few holiday decorations anyway.

It is always nice to do something a little different every year. I found these chandelier crystals at a flea market and thought that they might add a little sparkle to my standard arrangement of branches.

I was able to find a couple of shapes for a bargain price. To hang them I simply used the original wire.

I was rather sorry after the fact that I did not fill the glass jar with some white navy beans to make it a little easier to arrange the branches and hold them in place. It might be a good idea if you want to try a similar arrangement.

I added a few glittery snowflakes, tied a ribbon on the vase, added a few sprigs of greenery and my arrangement of branches were done.

In the kitchen, I have tree with homemade gingerbread man. Unlike baked goodies, this gingerbread will last forever because they are made of wood. I can pull them out and use them next year as well.

To make them for yourself, pick up some wooden shapes at the craft store. (If you can't find the gingerbread men, try stars or any other cookie-like shape).

Apply several coats of wood stain with a brush. (I used Minwax 'Puritan Pine' Stain for my cookies.) Wipe away any excess stain with a dry cloth.

Allow the stain to set and dry as per the manufacturers recommendations.

Then with a fine brush and some white acrylic paint, create the "icing" by painting fine line around the perimeter of the cookie. Add a smile, some eyes and a bow-tie.

I did not add a top coat of varnish, preferring instead a flat finish. If you prefer to varnish your project, apply a coat of which ever varnish the wood stain manufacturer recommends.

Today I will link this post to Tuesdays Around the World. On Wednesday, I will link to The Happy Homemaker's Post of the Month Club. Please click either of the links to see other interesting and beautiful blog posts.

The Garden in November

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:59:00 +0000

Spirea 'Little Princess'

I seem reluctant to leave gardening aside this year. I find excuses to go outside to putter around, rake some leaves and put things in order.

The weather has been unusually warm.

A few roses ignored my prediction that they were finished for the season. In the last couple of weeks, the temperatures have dipped a few times and they are now freckled and battle scared. Finally, at the end of November they are ready to be cut back and put to bed for the winter.

This Pokeweed was one of the last plants to put on a fall display of berries. I forgot to show it earlier and thought that I would do so now. Two weeks ago the leaves turned brown, but the berries are still shiny and black.

Despite the mild temperatures, we had repeated hard frosts.

I continue to watch the skeletonization of this hydrangea with wrap fascination.

I have also been collecting seeds of all kinds.

These Amsonias or Blue stars have long, pendulous seed pods.

Rudbeckia seed heads

Dictamnus fraxinella,Gas plant

The trees are all bare now. It has been interesting to observe which shrubs and perennials have hung onto their leaves despite the frosts.

The freckled leaves of a Ninebark.

Ninebark

The odd leaf still clings to my Ninebarks.

Spirea 'Little Princess'

Spirea 'Goldflame'

It seems that a few of the Spirea are refusing to give into winter without a fight.

Viburnum leaf

Until last week there were still a few leaves left on this Viburnum.

Common White Lilac

I noticed this Lilac early this morning. I think it is downright confused by all this mild temperatures.

There are fresh green leaves budding!

Thyme and Parsley in a glass bell.

The warm weather has also meant that my vegetable garden is still going. There are spring onions, carrots, thyme, sage and parsley.

More mild temperatures are forecast for the weekend. I plan to take full advantage and plant just a few more spring bulbs. Yes, I am still planting bulbs in November. Shameless, I know!

To all my American friends, have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Pattern

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:15:00 +0000

It is a good thing that Mother Nature can't hire herself a fancy lawyer and sue mankind for copyright infringement, because we wouldn't have a leg to stand on in court. We have shamelessly appropriated all her best motifs to use in our decorative patterns.

Any such lawsuit would surely end badly for us. There is evidence of our thievery everywhere.

Perhaps our only defence would be that our intent in not malicious.

We revel in the beauty of Nature's creations.

The markings on a wasp or a bee may well have inspired the first striped pattern.

Through time nature has always been a designer's muse. What is that old expression, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Manmade patterns are simply repeated decorative designs.

The size of these manmade patterns are generally limited by the method of manufacture. They have a "repeat" where the pattern stops and then restarts. The pattern in this wallpaper that I designed (years ago now) was limited by the 21" metal cylinders that were used to manufacture it and the length of the paper rolls it was printed on. A pattern "match" makes it possible for the wallpaper pattern to appear to be unending.

Zebra Grass

Nature has no such limitations.

She is endlessly creative in her patterning.

She adorns her creatures with patterned markings to camouflage and protect them.

Foxglove, Private garden in Mississauga, Ontario.

And she uses patterned markings to attract pollinators to come on in.

Cana Lily in a Brampton, Ontario Park.

For gardeners, the patterning on leaves can be a great way to add visual interest into an

otherwise sea of green foliage.

Fallopia Variegata on the left and Fleece Fower, Persicariafiliformis Tovara on the right. Both in a private garden in Brampton, Ontario.

Coleus, Edwards Gardens, Toronto.

Heuchera 'Berry marmalade'

Heuchera 'Ginger peach'

Spragette, Garden, Brampton, Ontario.

Mixing patterns in a garden can be beautiful. Here the striped pattern of the Japanese Hakone Grass contrasts beautifully with the dainty flowers of Lady's Mantel and a rounded leaf shape of Siebold Sedum.

A mix of hosta with different patterned markings in the garden of Joe and Kathy Covello in Brampton, Ontario.

Orangey-red Coleus, Geraniums, Variegated Ivy and deep burgundy Oxalis

Add color to a mix of leaf patterns and the effect can be quite stunning.

This post is the second part of my answer to Donna's Word for Wednesday theme: "Texture and Pattern". To see other interesting interpretations of this week's W4W, please click the link: Garden Walk, Garden Talk.

Texture in the Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:21:00 +0000

Donna of Garden Walk, Garden Talk has started a regular Word for Wednesday linking party, which is an "exploration of words through pictures, where a word relates to the story in photos." This week Donna has suggested a pairing of two words: "texture and pattern."

I found this week's theme challenging, not because it was a difficult pair of words to define in pictures, but rather because it was way too easy. I simply had too many images! In the end, I decided to divide Donna's theme over two posts. Today, I will focus in on texture.

Texture can be defined as the tactile quality of a surface.

Textures can vary widely. They can be soft, like the fuzz of a ripe summer peach.

They can be slippery and smooth, like the surface of an icicle in winter.

And they can also be sharp and foreboding, like these frost "thorns" on a branch in the winter.

The garden of Heather Bradley, Mississauga Ontario

In the garden, texture appeals as much to our eyes, as to our sense of touch.

Garden textures have many close friends. Repetition is one of them. A repeated planting is textural.

The green surface of a pond at Lost Horizon Nursery, Acton Ontario

Private garden, Burlington, Ontario

Shape and pattern are also texture's best friends. Here, the repeated shape of these lily pads and their random pattern on the surface of the water is textural.

The soft petals of this spring Ranunculus has the delicate texture of a taffeta party dress.

Soft textures invite us to touch them. Fine, delicate and smooth are a few of the adjectives we most commonly use to describe soft textures.

The delicate beauty of Annual Fountain Grass in a Brampton Public Park

Perennial Fountain Grass, Brampton Public Park

Soft textured wreaths in a local nursery.

Sea Holly, Larkwhistle Garden on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario.

Soft pink astilbe in the Spargette's private garden in Brampton, Ontario. (I wish my Astilbe looked this good! Astible likes to be kept fairly moist. It also prefers morning sun and afternoon shade. Mine gets too much shade and not enough water.)

The texture of fall grasses can be both soft and feathery. Colin Gosden's garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Bed and Breakfast Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

In a garden setting, stone textures can be ever bit as aesthetically pleasing as soft textured surfaces.

Private Garden, Markdale Ontario.

Coarse textures like stone and weathered wood may be rough and unyielding, but still have uses in the garden.

Soft petalled blooms look even more delicate when contrasted with the rugged, weather-beaten surface of stone.

Lily of the Valley, Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton Ontario.

Cupid's Dart in amongst stones and pebbles in Colin Gosden's garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Finally, leaves can have textural surfaces all of their own.

New to my garden this summer is Calamintha, Calamintha grandiflora variegata.

Heuchera in the Spargette's private garden in Brampton, Ontario

Heuchera ' Midas Touch', Humber Nursery, Toronto, Ontario.

Fall hosta in my own garden.

Niagara Botanical Gardens, Niagara Ontario.

In the garden, texture works so closely with its best friends, color, shape, pattern and repetition that it almost becomes indistinguishable.

But trust me, texture is right in there, quietly performing its magic.

If you are brave enough to endure another picture marathon, I'll put my take on "Pattern" up on Friday.

The Silver Lining

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:15:00 +0000

What will many flea market and antique dealers tell you is a tough item to sell these days? Silver.

No one wants to have to polish it!

I certainly couldn't see myself polishing silver, but then these two champagne buckets caught my eye. They were $10! How can you beat that for affordable elegance? (I must point out here that the champagne buckets are only silver plate and not sterling silver, but hey, I was after style on a budget.)

After that, I started to see silver in a whole new light.

Let me state at the onset of this post, that I am not suggesting you take up polishing silver knives, forks and spoons as a hobby. I am sure you have way better things to do with what little free time you have available.

I think that you are smart to pass on any small, high maintenance items like cutlery.

A few larger pieces however, might light up your holiday table or add some panache to your mantel display. Silver is classic. It adds sparkle and a touch of sophistication.

And the best reason of all that I can suggest for reconsidering silver? Because it is not popular at the moment, you can often find silver for a song.

I don't imagine that I will use my two $10 silver buckets not for champagne. How often do I serve champagne after all? Instead, I will use them to dress up potted plants and bulbs.

Here, I just dropped the plastic pot in and let it catch on the sides of the silver bucket. (To water the cyclamen, I would suggest that you carefully remove it from the silver champagne bucket, water the plant, and let the it drain in the sink before re-interting it back into the silver bucket.)

Just image how great the silver bucket will look with a potted amaryllis this holiday season!

This is an old silver pitcher that was probably used in an upscale restaurant to serve fresh ice

water to patrons. Cost $7.

Spring flowers look great in it.

Add some white mums, evergreen boughs, a few stems of red berries and the water pitcher becomes a nice arrangement for the holiday season.

This large silver tray cost $8 (again silver plate, not sterling silver). In my house, it will probably never be perfectly polished. I like the way a bit of patina brings out the decorative pattern of the tray (or at least that is my excuse anyway).

We often watch television in the third floor attic, and so I use trays to carry drinks or a snack to the third floor.

A silver tray might also be useful for serving coffee in the living room after a holiday meal or perhaps might be used to group cups or glasses into an orderly presentation on a buffet table.

While I can be fussy to buy for, when it comes to perfume, I like just about anything. So for years my husband gave me perfume for Christmas. The collection of bottles began to looked messy on the top of our bureau, so I organized them in a small round tray. Silver tray $2.

I may not be willing to polish knives and forks, but I am up to polishing a fancy serving spoon in order to impart a bit of glamour into a store bought pie. I personally don't think it even matters if the spoon matches the rest of your flatware.

For those of you reluctant to do even the smallest amount of silver polishing, mercury glass makes a great stand-in and has all the same holiday sparkle.

I got these little glass vases at the local grocery store for $3.99. They came decorated with a pinecone and faux evergreen bough that was tied onto the vase with a piece of raffia. I think that a group of these vases would look great scattered down the length of a holiday table.

Where can you find similar silver pieces? Watch for silver items at flea markets, thrift stores and even garage sales (my $2 tray was a garage sale find).

Garden Season Over? Not with a Cold Frame!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:51:00 +0000

Niki Jabbour, The Year Round Vegetable Gardener

Enjoying fresh homegrown vegetables and herbs even in the coldest winter months; now wouldn't that be wonderful!

I know what is probably running through your mind: it would nice, but it's wishful thinking.

That is certainly what I always thought anyway.

Then, I popped into visit Niki Jabbour's blog The Year Round Veggie Gardener. There, gracing the cover of her about-to-be-realeased book, was a picture of Niki in her snow covered garden kneeling beside a row of cold frames filled with fresh vegetables.

I knew that cold frames could extend the gardening season, but I no idea they could extend it this far.

I mean, are you kidding? I would love fresh vegetables even in the coldest winter months!

And not only does a cold frame make a winter harvest possible, it also makes it possible to enjoy homegrown vegetables earlier in the spring.

I wanted to know more about cold frames. I thought that you might feel the same way and so I have asked Niki to do a guest post on the subject.

So, without further adieu, I am going to hand the reigns of this post over to Niki:

Thank you so much Jennifer for inviting me to do a guest post on Three Dogs in a Garden! I'm thrilled to be able to share some of my tips on enjoying your own successful winter harvest.

The late January cold frame is a patchwork of various shades of green as the cold season crops 'hold' in their spots until I'm ready to harvest them. From the vibrant lime foliage of 'Bianca Riccia' endive to the forest green, spoon-shaped leaves of tatsoi, each crop is carefully chosen for its cold tolerance and flavour.

Our favourites for a winter frame include arugula ('Rustic' or 'Sylvetta'), spinach ('Tyee'), mache, claytonia and cold-tolerant lettuces like 'Winter Density' and 'Red Salad Bowl'. These crops were seeded or transplanted into the frame in early to mid-September to ensure that they have enough time to mature before the day length dips below 10 hours in early November and the plant growth slows.

The pretty deeply lobed leaves of 'Sylvetta' arugula are smaller and slower growing than the species type, but they still pack a flavourful punch! When harvesting winter greens for salads, I like to take 'a little of this and a little of that', picking the outer leaves of each plant, so that the center can continue to develop.

Tucked in beside 'Sylvetta', claytonia is another top choice for a cold frame. It's incredibly cold hardy and has a pleasing 'wild' flavour. As the small, heart-shaped leaves mature, each pair will wrap around the stem and a tiny,white edible flower will appear in the center.

Our main cold frames are sturdy in-ground structures that are crafted from 2-inch thick local, untreated hemlock. We have topped them with 8 mil thick double polycarbonate lexan for maximum heat retention and light transmission.

That said, a cold frame can also be very simple like this straw bale frame. I always include at least one straw bale cold frame in our winter garden as they are great for protecting crops like kale, collards and leeks.

Top them with a recycled shower door, old window or a homemade sash like ours. Just make sure it's something sturdy that won't blow away during winter storms-been there, done that! Once spring arrives I spread the leftover straw bales on my pathways to keep them clean and suppress weeds, as a mulch for crops like tomatoes and as a carbon source in my composter.

One of the most important tasks in cold frame culture is to vent your structures on mild days.

Generally from late November to late February, the frames remain closed except for harvesting.

But, as soon as the temperature rises above 4 degrees Celsius, I crack open the tops to ensure adequate air circulation and prevent heat build-up. As you can see, I don't rely on fancy props to vent my frames. Logs, sticks, rocks, and sometimes even my broken (but loved) pitchfork are up to the challenge.

We love winter carrots! They are incredibly sweet (thanks to the cold weather turning the starches into sugars), easy to grow and take up little space, allowing me to stuff hundreds in my cold frames.

One of the biggest benefits of the winter harvest is that there is very little work to do!

Because the frames are enclosed and the temperatures below freezing, there are no deers or slugs to battle, no disease problems and no watering/fertilizing/weeding from late November to late February.

Timing the plantings of your winter crops so that they have enough time to mature before the day length shortens to less than 10 hours of daylight is important. In Nova Scotia, I plant our carrot frames during the first week of August. Salad crops are quicker to grow and therefore are not seeded until early to mid-September.

Sometimes when September is warm, it can be tricky to get the seeds of cool and cold season greens like lettuce, spinach and other leafy veggies to germinate. To get around this, I often turn to my indoor grow lights to start my fall and winter vegetables. Once the seedlings are a few weeks old, they're hardened off and transplanted into the cold frames.

We love kale and because it is both cold hardy and heat tolerant, we are able to enjoy it 12 months of the year!

The narrow, blistered foliage of dinosaur Kale is a family favourite and once it's touched with frost, the leaves begin to sweeten. Kale is a tall crop, however, and not easy to fit into our in-ground cold frames. Therefore, I tuck them under straw bale cold frames or mini hoop tunnels where they can bide their time until I am ready to harvest.

A super easy way to extend your season by a few weeks in spring or fall is simply protect your crops from the cold temperatures and frost with a simple cloche.

These baby 'Tom Thumb' lettuces lasted until Christmas when covered with these inexpensive plastic cloches. You can also make your own recycled cloches from milk jugs, pop bottles or upside down clear salad containers.

Just use your imagination!

Photo credits on this post go to: Niki Jabbour and Joseph De Sciose. Thanks also to Storey Publishing.

About Niki Jabbour:

Niki is a garden writer and radio host from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her book, The Year Round Vegetable Gardener (Storey Publishing) will be available in December 2011. Niki's radio show, the Weekend Gardener airs March through October across the Maritime provinces in Canada on news957.com. Niki's work can also be found in Gardens East, Garden Making and Canadian Gardening magazines. Follow Niki's adventures on facebook or at http://yearroundveggiegardener.blogspot.com

Canadians can pre-order a copy of Niki's book, The Year Round Veggie Gardener by clicking here.

Pre-order on Amazon.com by clicking here.

Jennifer: Many thanks to Niki for doing this guest post. Niki and I would love to know your thoughts on the subject of cold frames. I have invited Niki to respond to any questions that you may have.

Chasing the Sun

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:53:00 +0000

A civilian (defined here as a non-gardener) once asked me why I would bother to grow daylilies, whose flowers last a single day. To her it seemed like a lot of effort to go through for a bloom that had a 24 hour lifespan.

How could I really respond? You can point out the beauty of a flower to someone, but you can't teach them to appreciate it.

Donna of Garden Walk, Garden Talk has started a regular Word for Wednesday linking party which is an "exploration of words through pictures, where a word relates to the story in photos."

This week's word is "ephemeral" which is defined as "lasting for a short time, transitory, fleeting or momentary."

When I sat down to think about how I might interpret the word "ephemeral" in pictures, daylilies and their fleeting blooms immediately sprang to mind.

It would have been easy to expand this idea out to other flowers that make a fleeting appearance each summer. My peonies, for instance, only bloom for a little over a week.

I felt however, that I wanted to dig deeper into the meaning of the word "ephemeral" and look for something that that has a bigger impact on my garden than the brief appearance of its flowers.

The seasons certainly come and go.

My garden in its seasonal transition as I write. The leaves are all turning color. Flowers are setting seed.

Still, I was not satisfied. I wanted to focus in on something more personal, something that was not only ephemeral, but was ironically a constant factor in each season and on every day of the year.

So what did I come up with?

Sunlight!

Sunlight changes constantly throughout the day, as the sun rises in the sky. It can fade as the sun passes behind a cloud and it disappears altogether each night.

In my open front garden, I can grow just about anything I want. In the backyard however, the amount of sunlight that passes through the tree tops severely limits what I can grow.

Through trial and error, I have discovered which plants will tolerate the limited sunlight that passes through the dense leafy canopy.

Sunlight not only as an impact on my garden; it has a huge influence on my photography as well.

I court the sun with my camera.

I often wait impatiently, toe tapping, for the sun the pass out from behind a cloud.

The sun lights reds on fire...

and it sets yellows a glow.

It adds more drama than any actor ever could.

For me then, the sunlight perfectly defines the word ephemeral.

To see other interesting interpretations of the word "Ephemeral"

hop on over to GardenWalk, Garden Talk by clicking the link.

First Frost

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:59:00 +0000

We have had our first hard frost.

It was as if a key had been turned and a seasonal door unlocked. Our huge black walnut dropped all its leaves in the space of a single morning. Standing underneath its limbs was like being in a golden rain shower.

By noon everything was covered in a blanket of leaves. My rake and I have our work cut out for us now!

The frost carried off the marigolds in the vegetable garden and left the orange Calendula in the front garden looking downright pitiful.

Many of the hosta have turned golden and translucent in the cold.

I love the way frost crusts tiny flowers. (Spirea)

It seems overnight mu hydrangeas went from rose to tan.

I think that frost makes all the seedpods more magical.

My Japanese Maple has turned a pretty shade of orange.

Red berries and frost crystals glow in the morning sun.

Even as the garden heads into its winter slumber, there is still beauty to be found.

I am also going to link to Lisa Gordon's The Creative Exchange. There are always amazing photographs to be found at the Creative Exchange, so check them out by clicking the link.

White Roses in a Blue Jug

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:55:00 +0000

I couldn't decide which white rose artwork I liked best, so I am showing all three.

To create this artwork I used Kim's Stained Linen texture and a crackle texture of my own design. The center image uses Kim's Stained Linen, and And Then Some textures. All texture layers have a soft blend mode at varying opacity. To see some other great artwork, please click the link: Kim's Cafe Blog.

I am also going to link to Tina's Tuesday's Around the World. To take a glimpse into other blogger's Tuesday's, please click the link.

Get Ready for Some Adorable Faces!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:33:00 +0000

If you dog owner lucky enough to live in or near the city of Mississauga your pet can take advantage of a series of "leash-free" dog parks. Each park is a large, fenced area, where dogs are free to roam off-lead.

One of these parks is a short five minute drive from the house.

The park a large open field, as well as a shaded forested retreat.

At this time of year it is a beautiful place to take your dog for a walk. Needless to say, the boys love to hear the those magic words "Let's go to the lease-free park."

It's a brave squirrel that ventures into the wooded area of the park with little guys like this on the job!

Here comes a big, happy fellow!

What beautiful dark eyes you have!

Bloodshot eyes and tongue hanging out! Hard day at the office, do you think?

This is Jasmine.

And this is Jasmine's sidekick Felix.

Hey, cut a guy some slack!

Sometimes, when you're a little girl, you need the comfort of a safe vantage point to

watch all the action.

This is Molly.

And sometimes, even though you are a little guy, you're not shy at all.

Aww!

Oh, oh it's a traffic jam!

Is this dog coming or going?

Do these darn shelties ever shut up and stop barking? (No!)

There are a couple of watering holes where everyone can get a drink. Some of us like our

water served in a dish. Thank you very much!

And some of us like our water fresh from the hose.

Hey, will you look at me! I actually got to the ball first!

Can we come to the dog park again tomorrow?

I am posting this as part of Carolyn's Autumn Walk challenge. To see other autumn walks,

please click the link.

On Thursday, I am going to link to This or That Thursday at debduty photography. To see some great photographs, please click the link.

On Friday, I am going to link for the first time to Fabulous Friday's at Mcdougall Photography. Be sure to click the link to see some awesome photography.

A Visit to Ferri Lands: Apples and Paintings for Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:17:00 +0000

Can you name a well-known, contemporary female painter, other than popular artists Georgia O'Keeffe or Frida Kahlo?

If you can't, you are probably not alone.

When it comes to celebrity, artists generally tend to be a more obscure group than many other creative professionals. Their faces are not ones we necessarily recognize like movie actors, writers, politicians and other public figures.

Add to this, the fact that women, as a whole, have not historically faired very well in the visual arts.

Did you know, for instance, that less than 5% of the artworks in the collections of major art museums are by women?* At the Tate Modern, in the years 2000 and 2005, less than 2% of the solo shows were by woman.*

It is not all grim news. In the United States, the National Museum of Woman in the Arts is dedicated to promoting woman artists who have been over looked or under-acknowledged by other institutions. (There is no similar museum here in Canada. I am not sure about the situation internationally. Feel free to comment on this.)

Still, in the States at entry level female make 90 cents on the dollar for every dollar made by their male peers. The statistic gets even more grim for older female artists.* (I am not sure if there are any similar statistics for incomes in Canada or female artists internationally.)

Why have women artists faired so poorly? I don't think there is an easy answer. (Feel free to speculate on the reasonings on why female artists go unrecognized in the comment section.)

So, who are some of these female artists painting away in the trenches in relative obscurity?

Today, I am going to introduce you to one little known, local artist who has been painting for decades. She may never be an internationally recognized painter, but she has a dedication to her art that I, for one, cannot help but admire.

Welcome to Ferri lands. There are apples and paintings for sale here. It is an unorthodox combination, I know. Let me explain.

In 1933, Nazzareno and Celia Ferri immigrated to Canada from Italy and purchased a 10 acre farm near Brampton, Ontario. Their son, Mac bought his own 5 acre property down the road from his parent's farm. Here, Mac and his wife, Marie raised their children and established an apple farm.

Marie Ferri

When her children became older and more independent, Marie acted on her lifelong interest in art and drove into the city of Brampton to take lessons with several local painters. In the following years and even after her husband Mac passed, Marie has continued to paint and help manage the apple farm.

This October, Marie turned 90 years. Her health is good and her mind is still sharp as a tack. She still paints in her little studio whenever she can.

The artist's small studio overlooks the orchard.

This is Marie's small, sunlit studio. On the left you can see the beginnings of her next painting. Generally, Marie finds inspiration in local scenes, which she photographs herself for reference.

The small village of Huttonville is depicted here.

Most people imagine that buying art is an expensive proposition, but that's not always true. Marie's paintings are artistic bargains, many of them being under $200.

Winter scene

This is a painting of the homestead of one of Huttonville's founding families

Winter landscape

When we stopped in yesterday, Marie was outside, dressed in a warm coat, greeting visitors and selling apples. She always invites anyone interested into her little gallery to see her paintings for sale.

I have one such painting in my living room.

This past weekend pretty much marks the end of the apple season here. We bought a big bag of Empire apples from Marie.

Apple crisp and vanilla ice cream topped with toasted pecans and a drizzle of carmel sauce.

When we got home, I made some apple crisp.

The orchard in the late day sun.

If I have the good fortune to live to a ripe old age of 90, I hope that I will still be painting like Marie!

Please join me in wishing Marie a belated, happy 90th birthday.

*Statistic from the New Britain Museum of Art

* Statistic from an interview with CBC's Jian Ghomeshi, speaking with artist Judy Chicago. Hear the interview by clicking the link.

* Statistic also from an interview with CBC's Jian Ghomeshi, speaking with artist Judy Chicago. Hear the interview by clicking the link.

I am also going to link to Lisa Gordon's Creative Exchange. There are always amazing photographs to be found on Lisa's blog, so check them out by clicking the link.

I am also going to link to Tina's Tuesday's Around the World. To take a glimpse into other blogger's Tuesday's, please click the link.