Spring has arrived and our gardens are springing to life. Little signs hold big promises in my garden. I know that some of you may be surprised to learn that I don’t “clean-up” all the leaves and debris on my garden beds, but I have many great reason not to touch anything until June and […]
Seedy Saturday is a great opportunity to swap seeds with other people or directly purchase from local seed suppliers. My last in-person one was two years ago at the Toronto Botanical Gardens and I even got to meet two of my instagram followers! Last year Seedy Saturday was held online and that format allowed many […]
Now that you know about the ease of seed-sitting, you may be asking yourself if there are more difficult ways to grow native plants from seed. Yes!!! and you can be sure that I love those methods too. You can replicate the same cold/moist stratification process that happens over winter in nature by keeping your […]
Well, I’ve had a chance to tally up some numbers and you may be interested to learn some interesting statistics! We are 50 members strong with the following 5 groups making up our membership: 17 members from the Underhill Neighborhood Group form the largest group 12 members from Garden Club of Toronto are growing plants […]
In the summer of 2021, with the help of two amazing teachers, Ms. Osborne and Ms. Stermasi, I led a group of students from Leaside’s eco-club in preparing and planting a native plant garden in the roundabout directly in front of the school. The garden now has 38 varieties of plants, mostly generously donated by […]
Since as members of Project Swallowtail, we want to increase urban wildlife habitat, the most effective way to do that is by planting plants native to our area. The most cost-effective way of getting our hands on those plants is by planting seeds. Seed-sitting, a term created by the Project Swallowtail team, is a really […]
Welcome to our seed-sitting group. We are part of Project Swallowtail, a collaborative effort to connect communities street by street and empower residents to restore nature in Toronto. It started in the west-end of Toronto and we are one of the groups that is trying to bring it to the east-end I was looking at […]
I am delighted to launch the Garden Fun Club Program: Gardening projects to engage children. You can access my book through the dedicated page listed on the toolbar or by clicking on the picture in this blog post.
Over the years, I have tried many things to organize my growing space. Some have worked, some have failed, and there have been those that are so good that I have to share with you. Join me to take a look at some of my best tools and tips to simplify your growing area.
Have you ever tried growing plants native to your area from seeds? Most plants native to my Toronto zone 5 garden have a built-in dormancy period that doesn’t let them wake up and grow UNLESS they go through 6 weeks of cold. Nature has built this safeguard in so seeds only grow after winter. While […]