I was chatting with my world-travelling sister today, and gardens came up, naturally. My parents are going to Paris to visit her in a week or so, and she’s been researching gardens for them to tour (yes, it’s a family love affair!). Anyway, she mentioned that the French word caduque has the dual meanings of […]
Archives for April 2006
Garden photography
Photography. It seems to go hand-in-hand with being a gardener: this desire to capture the most fleeting of blooms, to record the brilliance that we have wrought from the earth. But we can’t all have expertise in both gardening and photography. We can, however, afford the work of someone who does. Alicia Bock describes herself […]
Gone batty
Got bats in your belfry? Lucky you. The much-maligned bat is critical to the health of the environment and our gardens. The Canadian Wildlife Federation says: Bats are the primary predator of night-flying insects such as moths, beetles, and mosquitoes. A single bat can catch hundreds of insects in just one hour, consuming from 30 […]
Card-carrying guerilla gardener
Check out guerillagardening.org, a site dedicated to – you guessed it – guerilla gardening. Run by an English bloke named Richard who seems to do a lot of getting up to no good, the site has a goal of recording 100 acts of guerilla gardening across four continents by September 2006. Good reading and resources; […]
Schnoopette plunges into spring
Warning! Gratuitous, only-vaguely-related-to-gardening (and only then because the photos were taken in my garden) photos follow. But it’s about time you met Schnoopette, my six-year-old calico. And, I couldn’t help myself! She’s totally cuteoverloading. Look: *Hmm… what have we here?* *Let’s give it a try…* *Crrronche!* Schnoopette, I love you. Even if you are going […]
New Category! WTF?
I’ve read somewhere that in designing a Japanese garden a newbie should start with a field of gravel and slowly place rocks, plants and water; this is supposed to remind one that less is more, that everything hangs in an elegant balance that can be destroyed when one tries to fill space. I’m really hoping […]
Organic weed killers?
My WBF (that’s Work Best Friend — I just made that up but I kinda like it) recently bought a house. And it seems my garden obsession is rubbing off on her! I’m so proud. Anyway. The garden needs a complete overhaul, which I’ll be helping with when I have a second. Until then, WBF […]
Ikea alert!
I snapped up a few of these earthenware containers on sale at Ikea yesterday for only CDN$6.99 (USD$5.99) including a matching saucer. They’re only frost-resistant but I figure if I keep them from drowning in Vancouver’s winter rains they should be fine. Check your local Ikea – they’ll be selling out quickly.