Two Gardening BFF's Speak at Canada Blooms

There is fresh snow on the ground that like a meringue has a thin crust with a soft, pillowy interior. 

But if you look beyond the new snow, there are slight hints that winter is finally coming to an end. The temperature has warmed slightly, if you can call a temperature that is still in minus digits "warm", and there is more sunlight at the beginning and end of each day.

Now is the perfect time to start thinking about what you want to do in the garden this spring. If you are planning on growing some vegetables for the first time this year, you're not alone. Sales of vegetable seeds now outsell that of flower seeds.

Niki Jabbour, author of the book Ground Breaking Food Gardens, has become one of Canada's most popular gardening celebrities. Along with friend and garden writer Tara Nolan, Niki will be speaking next week on the inaugural day of Canada Blooms on the topic: Garden BFF's: How Edibles and Ornamentals Can Play Nicely Together.

Niki has lots great advice for novice veggie gardeners:

Pick the right site. The best place is a spot that receives plenty of sunshine- at least eight hours each day.

Consider your soil. If your soil is less-than-ideal, don't panic! Instead, build a raised bed to grow your vegetables, filling it with quality garden soil and compost.

Start small. I always tell novice veggie gardeners to keep it small! A manageable 4-by-8 foot raised bed or even a few pots of edibles will be much easier to care for than a large garden. Start with a handful of your favourite crops and once you've got a handle on planting, tending and harvesting, you can always decide to go bigger the following year.

Plant your menu. Grow what you like to eat.

Illustration courtesy of Storey Publishing © 2014 by Niki Jabbour, Groundbreaking Food Gardens, Storey Publishing

In her book Groundbreaking Food Gardens, Niki collected 73 themed garden designs from a diverse and varied group of gardening experts. Each of the book's plans includes a profile of the contributor, the concept behind their design, a beautiful illustration and a plant list. 

I am really looking forward to Canada Blooms next week. Touring the show floor and listening to Niki and Tara's talk on combining edibles and ornamentals promises to be perfect way to usher in a little spring.

Niki Jabbour and Tara Nolan will be speaking together at the Active Life Garden Solutions Theatre, Presentation Room, Hall B at 12 pm on March 13th. Their topic again is: Garden BFF's: How Edibles and Ornamentals Can Play Nicely Together.

Niki will also be speaking on the topic of her book Groundbreaking Food Gardens on the Unilock Celebrity Stage at 3pm on March 13th.

Niki is a garden writer and radio host from Halifax, Nova Scotia. In her first book, The Year Round Vegetable Gardener (Storey Publishing) Niki showed us it was possible to have homegrown, organic produce 365 days a year. Groundbreaking Food Gardens (also Storey Publishing) her second book, hopes to inspire the way you grow your garden.

Niki's radio show the Weekend Gardener airs live on news957.com and is also available in podcast form. Niki's work can also be found in Gardens East, Garden Making, Fine Gardening and Canadian Gardening magazines. Niki's blog is http://yearroundveggiegardener.blogspot.co

Tara Nolan is a freelance writer, editor and digital consultant. For over six years, Tara was web editor of Canadian Gardening.com. She is a member of the Canadian Garden Writers Association and is co-founder of the blog Savvy Gardening. Tara has written for many publications including the Toronto Star, Glow magazine, Elle Canada and Canadian Living. Presently, Tara working on her first gardening book.

Take a Seat! 10 Great Garden Benches

Private garden Mississauga, ON

What could be better than sitting under an arbor covered in Wisteria blossoms? An arbor style bench is the first on my list of 10 great garden benches. 

Private Garden, Brampton, ON

1. An Arbor Style Bench

The Garnet Garden, Oakville Ontario.

2. A classic: The Park Bench

Private Garden, Mississauga, ON

3. A Swinging Bench

Private Garden, Toronto, ON

4. Classic English Style with a Rolled Arm

Private Garden, Brampton, ON

5.  Simple, Rustic Wooden Bench

Larkwhistle Garden

 Hayfield Daylily Nursery

6. Wrap Around Bench

Private Garden Ward Island, Ontario

7. Japanese Style Bench

Merlin's Hollow, Aurora ON

8. Metal Bench

Patricia and Loren's Garden, Mississauga, ON

Private Garden, Toronto, ON

9. A Kissing Bench

Private Garden, Toronto, ON

10. Concrete Bench

Private Garden, Toronto, ON

Private Garden, Toronto, ON

I hope you are inspired to find the perfect bench for your garden.

One Simple Change

Today I want to share with you a garden where a simple change has been used to really switch things up. Rather than relying on annual flowers for summer long colour, Coleus, a plant valued typically for its colorful foliage, has been used instead.

Coleus is one plant that I find is a bit ploarizing. You either like it or think it's hideous.

Its crazy colors are not exactly for the faint of heart: burnt orange, vivid magenta, lime green, deep burgundy and chartreuse to name, but a few. Even more outrageous is the fact that these wild colors are often splashed across a single leaf.

Personally I like coleus, but it never occurred to me to use them in a mass planting as you would annual flowers.

The originality of this simple switch-out impressed me.

In this garden, coleus has been used in many of the flower beds, and also in a more typical fashion in the container plantings.

Coleus with Sweet Potato Vine, Ipomoea batatas at its feet.

The backyard is also nicely designed. We enter through a side gate that you can see on the right. The land is sloped towards the back of the property and so the back garden has been terraced. 

Here is a very rough layout:

Here we are just inside the back gate and to the right of the dining area.

Coleus combined with a dwarf variety of Weigela.

A set of steps lead to the upper level of the garden where a couple of chairs are waiting. In the background, there are a pair of "black sheep" grazing. 

Opposite the two chairs, there is a small stream fed pond.

At the top of the stream, there is a little waterfall.

The Japanese Maple adds a wonderful note of color to a largely green planting.

At the foot of a mature tree, the plantings in this part of the yard are part shade to full shade. 

They include small daylilies, hosta, Heuchera, Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum), and Ostrich ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris). I especially like the way an evergreen, Creeping Jenny, and ivy have been used to soften the edges of the stream and pond.

Wether you like Coleus or not, the idea you can take away from this garden is that interesting things happen when you think outside the box.

More Information and Links:

Growing Coleus: Coleus is a tender perennial that can be grown indoors or outdoors after all danger of frost has passed. I have often read that it is a shade plant, but I have never had them prosper in full shade. I find they much prefer half-shade or afternoon shade.

Pinching is necessary to prevent leggy growth. Here is a quick little video guide from Fine Gardening on the subject of pinching coleus to get a bushier plant: Pinching a coleus plant 

Last fall I took cuttings from all my coleus plants and brought them indoors for the winter. They are sitting happily in a window that gets lots of morning sunshine. I have pinched them back once or twice and added a liquid fertilizer whenever I water them. They are happy enough, but are looking forward to moving outdoors again in late May.

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A Romantic Country Garden

Today I have a romantic country garden to share with you.

This is a very rough plan of the garden. There are two quite spectacular views and a little courtyard garden at the front of the house I that I want to highlight in this post. 

A few of the pictures you may have seen before. Today I place them back in the context of the overall garden.

The back of the house looks out past two large topiaries to an open field and the valley beyond (as you can see in the next image).

And to the left of the house a series of pathways and steps take you to a terrace that overlooks a wooded ravine.

This would be a nice spot for a summer meal don't you think?

At the front of the house there is a flagstone courtyard filled with romantic pink roses. A set of stone steps leads you down and into the little courtyard.

At the top of the stone staircase there is a large bunch of Spotted Bellflower, Campanula punctata (Be warned: Clumps can spread vigorously!) and soft, feathery wands of blue Catmint, Nepeta.

Campanula punctata shining in the late afternoon sun. (Be warned: Clumps can spread vigorously!)

This image of the garden is a personal favourite.

The courtyard looking in the direction of the ravine.

Looking back the other way toward the large shed.

A little path leads you past the shed to the little glade that you may remember as part of my post on object placement.

The Fairy Rose, Polyantha, 'The Fairy'. Height: 60-90 cm. Spread 60-120 cm.  

Sadly it has no fragrance.

White Asiatic Lilies

I am going to make an educated guess that these are two varieties of Campanula carpatica, a short lived perennial that forms low, cushion shaped mounds of lavender or white flowers. Full sun. Height: 20-25 cm, Spread 20-30 cm.  Zones 2-9.

Special pieces of artwork can be found throughout the garden.

And so ends our tour.