Published in the Toronto Star – March 10, 2018   If you go down to the Festival today beware of a big surprise.  Canada Blooms that is.  Be prepared be inspired.  You will find yourself thinking, “When the gardening season gets here I am going to really get into it!” Well, guess what. The gardening season…

Published in the Toronto Star – February 17, 2018 The herbs in your herb rack may be fraudulent. “Food Fraud” happens when the food in the package is not what it says on the label. The UK Food Standards Agency estimates that roughly 10% of the food on supermarket shelves is adulterated and estimated costs to…

Published in the Toronto Star – January 27, 2018   Do you enjoy saving money?  Want to pursue a healthier lifestyle? We have an answer to both questions: sow seeds of your favourite food plants. Before you lay down a single carrot seed, you should start with a plan.   We are working on ours right now….

Published in the Toronto Star – January 6, 2018 When does a house become a home? When fresh baked cookies come out of the oven, when a new baby is brought ‘home’, and when the place in which we live becomes larger than life. Recently we were privileged to attend the Toronto Garden Awards Ceremony at…

Published in the Toronto Star – December 23, 2017   This close to Christmas is the perfect time to pick up a last-minute gift for the gardeners on your list.   People who enjoy a hobby are often easy to buy for, when you know something about their past time.  We have come up with some easy,…

Published in the Toronto Star – December 9, 2017 Christmas is a couple of weeks away and it is highly likely that you are decorating out of doors for the season. If you like the natural look, versus icicle lights or blown up Santa’s and reindeer, we have some advice for you that will look great…

Published in the Toronto Star – October 7, 2017 We get a lot of gardening questions.  Most of them are specific references to a plant, bug or design challenge.  Just yesterday we were asked what those leafy perennial plants are… “You know the ones?” he said.  We looked at each other, “You mean hosta?”  Bingo! We…

Published in the Toronto Star – September 30, 2017 With apologies to my friends Marc and Craig Kielburger [https://www.metowe.com/], I will no longer be writing this weekly column exclusively as my son Ben has joined me ‘in the business’: it has evolved from me to we.  I am delighted. Now you will hear a new,…

Published in the Toronto Star – September 2, 2017 You made it.  After a summer of juggling schedules around a variety of kids’ (grand kids?) activities and, perhaps, your own work schedule, the summer is ‘over’.  The kids head back to school this Tuesday.  Don’t you think you deserve a reward?  I think that you do. Many…

Published in the Toronto Star – July 15, 2017 Now that we are in the heat of our growing season, many of us head for the shade.  If this is you and you happen to notice that the shady parts of your garden are a little thin on plant population, I am here to help. People…

Published in the Toronto Star – May 27, 2017   Plants that are inexpensive but provide great mileage. The months of May and June create quite a flurry of activity in the garden and at garden retailers.  There is a temptation to just buy everything that looks good right now.  Well, hold on for a moment….

Published in the Toronto Star – May 6, 2017   It’s finally May, which means you are ready to storm the seed racks with your planting schedule in hand. I have seen some gardeners who were so organized they could feed their plans into a computer and let a robot do the work for them! The…

Published in the Toronto Star – March 25, 2017   What is the perfect flowering plant for your garden? If I were to list the attributes of the ‘perfect’ flowering plants in our gardens the list might look something like this: They would be truly perennial. Wrought iron winter hardy. They would attract honey bees and…

Published in the Toronto Star – February 18, 2017 Standing in front of an extensive rack of seeds at the hardware store, I reached for the cosmos.  Cosmos is different from ‘The cosmos’ you may be thinking of.  While you may reach for the stars, I will be very happy just reaching for a packet of…

Published in the Toronto Star October 29, 2016 “The tweet that I love best comes from a beak.”  Mark Cullen Time was, birding season was in the winter, when there was pretty much nothing else to do while standing at the kitchen window.  My, how times have changed!  I have this on good authority: bird…

Published in the Toronto Star, June 4, 2016 Everyone loves to see colourful blossoms in the garden, but we forget why Nature created flowers in the first place: to attract pollinators.  Most of the activity in your garden, associated with the web of nature, hinges on sex and reproduction.  Keep that in mind this summer…

Published in the Toronto Star, May 21, 2016 Twenty years ago, 60% of all annual flowers sold in Canada were impatiens.  Now they are near 0% (the ‘walleriana’ type).  My, how things have changed in the gardening landscape.  We have witnessed a huge shift in the flowering plant market, due in part to the downy…

Published in the Toronto Star, April 23, 2016 It’s time to get growing. As you contemplate your options in the yard, allow me to help you get organised.  It is always more effective to approach a project with a plan. This is one of my now famous ‘fridge’ stories.  Read it, post it.  Reading electronically?…

Published in the Toronto Star, April 9, 2016    The United Nations have deemed this the Year of Pulses.  For most readers the idea of focusing on an obscure agricultural crop like this is likely of little interest. I am here to change that.  Fact is, pulses are huge right now and you do know…