A Cabbagetown Garden

 Garden Exuberance design and installation 2011

The garden makes it a home.

Without the plants, 

it would be just bricks and mortar. 

The Vertical Garden

 Money cannot buy a well-established vine.

In the summer, walls of lumber are camouflaged with 

lush green foliage, blooms and perfume.

In the winter, the vertical element takes on a sculptural quality.

Narcissus

Narcissus
(Botanical Embroidery on beige linen, cotton floss 5" x 4")

Planting spring bulbs

  is an act of optimism, defiance and denial.

 Nothing rivals a field of narcissus 

pushing through the Earth in early March,

It is a sure fire way to push back the winter.

Flurries in the forecast.

Bah! Humbug!

Hell-OH!

Just when everything else in the garden is curling up, drying up 

and going brown, the helleborus is stealthily gaining in vigour.  

 This evergreen blooms anywhere from late winter to late spring.

The sawtooth edge of the leaf hints at its bold nature.

 

Don't believe everything you read.

Go out and get one.

 See for yourself.

The Spring Thing!

Thoughts circling around juicy spring bulbs today...

a blast of colour pushing through the soil 

is the best way to bring in a new

gardening season!

Carpe Diem!

Secure future pleasure dividends today

and plant trees, shrubs and spring bulbs.

Recent adoptions include:

 

Delphinium 'Summer Morning'

Heart Tongue Fern (Phyllitis Scolopenddrium)

 Heuchera Sugar Plum

Rose 'All the Rage'

Tamarix Ramosissima Pink Cascade

Dwarf fothergilla (Fothergilla gardinii)

Deutzia x Rosea carminea

and something tropical-a calathea.

This is just the beginning...

Privacy is the new Black

Clematis virginiana

A vertical carpet of white flowers 
successfully hides a banal iron fence. 

Stylish discretion.

Grow your Privacy

Urban dwellers all over the city

are coming up with new strategies to create private spaces.

Morning glories (Ipomoea violacea) spontaneously weave into 

a flourishing silver lace vine (Fallopia baldschuanica)

to make a green curtain.

The vines conceal a telephone pole, a chain link fence
and a wall of lumber.

IF the devil is in the detail....

Ozark Sundrops (oenothera macrocarpa/Missouriensis)

IF the devil is in the detail-
red stems pop against the glossy foliage on this low-growing 
sprawling North American wildflower.

And...it also offers up spectacular bright yellow goblet shaped 
flowers from June to September.

Winning.

See the flower at

http://gardenexuberance.com/2012/06/after-storm.html

Succulent-Rich in desirable qualities

Stonecrop (Sedum)

Just when you think it is time to pack up the garden,

this succulent perks up.  A late-blooming perennial, this sedum shows off the 

prettiest little lavender flowerlets and stands tall when others are 

starting to look tired. 

Having it ALL and Have it ALL

Nasturtium (Tropaeolum)

The flowers and the leaves of this cheerful and attractive plant 

are edible. The nasturtium can also embellish a 

dowdy looking guacamole AND give it a peppery tang.

Sweet Cherry Tomatoes

Sweet 100 Cherry

Nothing beats home-grown tomatoes.

Hope to harvest these before 

the local rogues...a.k.a. rodents (racoons and squirrels) 
feast on the bounty!

Eat Your Greens...or not

Lettuce Lactuca sativa 'Red Sails'

This is what happens to lettuce 
when it is left alone. Not only nutritional-
it has ornamental possibilities too!

Peace on Earth

 Weekends spent up north with cherished friends...

The landscape is lush after the rainfall and the bubbling brook

is music to my ears.

Baby Black Bear

Close encounter with a local-

Bancroft, Ontario.

She must have smelled the stinky old cheddar we had in the cooler.

Her teeth went right through the handles!

She came to visit every morning during the 3-day weekend 

and it was hard not to bond with her-really exciting and scary.

If Momma Bear shows up, she can be vicious.

A Tree on a Rock

Trees are fierce-they will accomplish the virtually impossible

to root and to exist. Truly inspiring.

Salade Composee-luxe

My idea of luxe is the flesh of lamb's ear (stachys byzantina)

juxtaposed with lavender and a low-growing yew (not shown).

The combination of velvet bolstered by a fragrant bouquet 

and evergreen works well as an anchor and
is a pretty vignette of textures.

ohhhhh Glory!

Morning Glory (Ipomoea)

Mid-Season Pick-Me-UP

Planted this little beauty late last year and forgot all about it...

but here it is today! Grateful for small miracles.

Cosmos

This self-seeding annual is always welcome 

in my rambling garden. Its cheerful disposition is one reason 

but it also has a long slender silhouette that  

adds rhythm and movement.

Almost Tropical

Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus Syriacus)

Turn your back for a minute, (escaped the city for the weekend!) and the

Rose of Sharon explodes in an abundance of lush flower blossoms.

It comes as a bit of surprise every season.

The transformation is dramatic.

Landini Lily

Underwhelmed by the first bloom of this lily...

was hoping for the black-red colour as promised.

Unscented.

One Tree at a Time

Re-forestation initiative with 

white pine and spruce seedlings and small shrubs.

Slug-eye view

Does this look like an All-You-Can-Eat buffet to those soft-bellied critters?
 

Salade Composee

 

Always looking for interesting textures to combine...

lavender, stachys (lamb's ear), a yew that is hidden in this shot

 and a thorny rose that is enjoying its second bloom.

 

 

Aromatic Mint

Mojito recipe to follow-stay tuned.

 

The Bee Hive

A bee hive fell from the sky.

Today, it is nested in my garden...back to Earth.

Two Ladies

llustration of Alchemilla vulgaris from 1917–1926

Lady's Mantle

Botanical illustration is so rich. 

The watercolour captures the plant anatomy in an idealized light

showing  the bloom, the petals, front and back and the roots.

Something to explore further...

Red Sails

Lettuce Lactuca sativa 'Red Sails'

Does this look like an appetizing tasty lunch to a slug?

Hope to harvest before they get to it.

This leaf salad is said to have a "piquant, buttery flavour"...

taste test to follow.

Whirly Wonders

Clematis

Baaahhhhhhh....

Lamb's Ear (Stachys)

The tactile appeal of this fuzzy groundcover is undeniable.

Salade Composee

 

Plants start to weave and thread together mid-season

in my tiny urban garden.

The unexpected and surprising textures, shapes and contrasts

 are inspiring.

The blue spruce in the centre is a bonsai experiment.

Plenty

Lots and lots and lots of flowerets 

make up the big pom-pom mopheads.

A sure signal that summer is here...

Delayed Gratification

Rodgersia

On April 30, this was labelled ULF (Unidentified Life Form)

Rodgersia is distinctive with its deeply veined,
almost leather-y, foliage.

Do not be misled by the profuse undergrowth of mint...
it will come in handy for mojitos!