The Duchess of Northumberland’s controversial poison garden has been officially opened. Cannabis, opium poppies, magic mushrooms and coca – the source of cocaine – all feature at the centuries-old Alnwick Garden. The Home Office granted the Alnwick Garden Trust permission to grow the plants late last year. Poisonous foxglove, tobacco and wild lettuce, which can […]
Archives for September 2005
Fall colour
If your beds are looking a little forelorn right now, it’s time to reassess your fall garden. Plant some fall-blooming perennials, grasses, or cool-season annuals. Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan) is one of my fall favourites, as is Colchicum:
Poo!
Van Dusen Botanical Garden is having their annual manure sale (or, as they call it, “Tree-mendous Compost Sale”) on Saturday, September 24 from 10-3 in the parking lot. Good stuff.
I love grass no. 2
I love the simple drama of this Crescent Beach garden; there’s only, as far as I can tell, three types of plants used here. I could never be that restrained. Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’ (Maiden grass) is in the background, Pennisetum villosum (Feathertop) is in the mid-ground, and there’s another grass in the foreground that I […]
Natural lawn care
I don’t believe in lawns. At least in principle. Or is it just that I don’t like the over-manicured, green-even-in-summer, weed-free lawns we gardeners are supposed to aspire to? It just seems so… wasteful. But it doesn’t have to be. And, let’s face it: lawns serve their purpose: they (can be) easy care; they provide […]
Adventure: UBC Botanical Garden
One of Vancouver’s garden treasures is the UBC Botanical Garden, which makes for a fabulous day of adventure. Originally created as a research centre focused on the native flora of British Columbia, the mission of UBC Botanical Garden has broadened to include research, conservation, teaching and public display of temperate plants from around the world, […]
Communities in Bloom
Vancouver’s boulevards and traffic circles, in recent years, have just exploded with greenery and blossoms. Ever wonder who plants and maintains these public gardens? It’s people like you and me. Gardeners who’ve recently divided perennials. Who see a bare patch of dirt and think, “I have just the plant for that spot!” It doesn’t take […]
Cobrahead weeder
I received a Cobrahead weeder probably a year ago and have been meaning to blog it ever since. It’s the perfect multi-purpose hand tool – or, as the website describes it: “The Cobra Head precision weeder and cultivator is the closest thing to a universal garden tool. Its blade is a steel fingernail™ that becomes […]