Gardening Life articles from May 2003

Gardening Life archives from May 2003

Shop talk (Kate's Garden).
May 1, 2003... After 18 years in the corporate world, Kate Seaver "allowed the gardening in my blood to take over" five years ago--and hasn't looked back. KATE'S GARDEN, the Markham, Ont. gardening decor emporium that she opened in 1998, has become a mecca...

Low-maintenance garden: a complete guide to designs, plants and techniques for easy-care gardens.
May 1, 2003... For the beginning gardener, few guides offer as much good advice per page as The Low-Maintenance Garden: A Complete Guide to Designs, Plants and Techniques for Easy-Care Gardens (Firefly Books, $19.95). Compiled by Susan Berry and Steve...

Hot stuff (fiberglass garden accessories).
May 1, 2003... Tired of hauling those beautiful but impossibly heavy cast-iron containers around your garden? Give your back a break with Duracraft's all-season fibreglass garden accessories. At one-eighth the weight of iron or concrete containers, the...

How to plant a fresh spring container.
May 1, 2003... As Annette McCoubrey and Nancy Greco of Toronto's Via Verde demonstrated recently, "H" stands for Spring when it comes to a seasonal planter lush with HYACINTHS, HOSTAS, HELLEBORES and HELICHRYSUM. Fragrant, colourful and richly textured, an...

Lily leaf beetle.
May 1, 2003... LILY LEAF BEETLE (Lilioceris lilii)) PROFILE These small (nine mm), bright red beetles with black heads and legs are now found from Nova Scotia to Manitoba. Larvae are fat and slug-like, greenish or brownish with black heads; they carry a...

Ask Marjorie.
May 1, 2003... DIRE STRAITS Q WE HAVE JUST FINISHED RENOVATIONS at our cottage, which faces Prince Edward Island's Northumberland Strait--very windy with severely cold, salty winters. Do you have any suggestions for seaside gardens in that kind of...

Spring into action: Thomas Hobbs challenges gardeners to tune in, dig up, dream on.
May 1, 2003... NOBODY LIKES TO BE TOLD that they have an ugly baby. The same goes for being told that your garden is "disappointing" or "blah." Still, the truth is there's always room for improvement in a garden; I know that mine could stand some....

Nesting instinct: it pays to keep your feathered tenants' lodging spic and span.
May 1, 2003... BEING A LANDLORD isn't easy, even when tenants are of the feathered variety. Speaking from experience, it takes more than a little planning, time and energy to get birdhouses ready for move-in. But the investment can offer large returns, as...

Off the wall: Jen Reynolds uses salvage-shop finds to spruce up a boring brick wall.
May 1, 2003... The ubiquitous, garden-variety brick wall--it's large, it's bare and it's invariably boring. But it doesn't have to be. Whether enlisted for fun, structure or storage, your wall is a rare blank canvas waiting to be filled. Here are three easy...

Power planting (window boxes, rain barrels, plant labels and knee pads).
May 1, 2003... WINDOW BOXES $40 Wrought-iron balcony planterin elegant Victorian design. 35" I. At Canadian Tire. $80 Flatbar Window Box. Unique, sturdy handmade design. 31" I. At Walsh Mountain Ironworks. $104 Deluxe wrought-iron window box...

Cross-country checklist.
May 1, 2003... WEST WEST Coast garden stores are at their most seductive in May, with rhododendrons in bloom, displays of intriguing perennials and plenty of exotic annuals for the adventurous gardener. Before you rush into costly purchases, make sure...

Greener thumb: tips from Mark Cullen on growing lilacs.
May 1, 2003... TOUR AROUND just about any abandoned farm site in Canada and you'll likely find one of two living remnants from generations gone by--a peony or a lilac. Prairie settlers planted lilacs close to their doorsteps as a fragrant reminder of their...

Here comes the sun: add a burst of spring colour to your home with fresh cut forsythia.
May 1, 2003... A QUICK-GROWING deciduous shrub and fine informal hedge, forsythia is a common feature in many Canadian gardens, where the emergence of its tiny yellow blossoms each year is a surefire sign that spring has come. When clipping branches off the...

Exterior decorating: ... step-by-step guide for the novice gardener who has a plot but no clear plan.
May 1, 2003... SO YOU'VE JUST BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE. If it's in a new subdivision, your backyard is most likely a rectangle of builder's turf surrounded by a stark wooden fence, and your focal point thus far is probably the kids' swing set. But you adore...

Frame work: transform a standard prefabricated wardrobe frame into a handsome one-of-a-kind potting bench.
May 1, 2003... WHILE THE RANGE of potting benches may be vast these days, it's the rare one that combines enough style with function to warrant a move from the shed or patio to a more visible and convenient spot inside. The solution? Create your own...

All decked out: a Toronto filmmaker (Larry Peloso) recasts a drab concrete terrace as a chic oasis.
May 1, 2003... WHEN TORONTO-BASED documentarian Larry Peloso completed the refurbishment of his new midtown condo three years ago, he developed what he calls "renovation fatigue." As a result, he didn't attempt a re-do of his patio, which is separated from...

Truly, steeply, madly: designer Martha Sturdy's hillside garden in Vancouver dramatically mixes mature plantings with minimalist architecture.
May 1, 2003... anyone familiar with Vancouver-based Martha Sturdy's internationally famous designs might expect her garden to display the same precise, linear look that characterizes her furniture or jewellery. But a woman's garden is very often like her...

Paradise found: overflowing with exotic plants and everyday wildlife, Terry LeBlanc's peaceable Victoria kingdom marks her odyssey from gardening know-nothing to eager plantaholic.
May 1, 2003... "Normally, for me, spring is work," says Victoria's Terry LeBlanc, owner of a quite exceptional garden in a city of exceptional gardens. "Usually I'm out there frantically cleaning up leaves. I'm saying, `Oh, my God, the bulbs are up already...

Lady of the lac: Quebecer Claire Molson follows her instincts to create a distinctly Canadian garden on the northern shore of Lac Saint-Louise.
May 1, 2003... CLAIRE MOLSON AND HER HUSBAND, DAVID, bought their New France-era farmhouse in Baie d'Urfe, a pretty lakeside suburb of Montreal, in August 1957. Though much of the building was destroyed by a fire in 1927, its original fieldstone walls,...

Double the pleasure: taking over a neighbouring property gave a Toronto couple twice the space to realize their dazzling, eclectic garden.
May 1, 2003... a parking lot might not seem like an ideal spot for a garden, but when Judith and Peter Adam moved into their new home, a pretty 1880s cottage in Toronto's Riverdale area, that's what faced them: a dead, flat space that had been used for...

Strawberries: 'tis the season to renew a berry sweet love affair.
May 1, 2003... As little girls, my best friend and I used to sneak into her mother's garden to gather sweet summer strawberries in the fronts of our T-shirts. Back in the kitchen, we would mash the smuggled booty, spread it on white bread and butter,...

Leonard G. Lee.
May 1, 2003... For more than 25 years, Leonard Lee has been a household name among Canadian gardeners. As the founder and former president of Lee Valley Tools, which he established in 1978 after a successful career as a diplomat and civil servant, the...