Still at the botanical gardens, in this video Barbara talks about choosing plants that bloom for a long time, sometimes all summer long, like these lovely dahlias.

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Botanical or public gardens are not just lovely places to visit. In this series of videos, Barbara gives Helen some lessons based on what they saw at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario. In this first video, they consider how to choose which roses to grow.

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This plant comes by its name of ‘Gateway’ honestly.  In dry, hot years, it has grown well over 2 meters (6-1/2 feet) high and 1.5 meters wide.  This year in the constant rain, it is a respectable 1.5 meters high and wide.  This big beefy plant is more colourful than its paler Joe Pyeweed cousin:  The [...]

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I’ve got a lovely container filled with Coleus and Hibiscus that needed a little attention.  The coleus was starting to get a little leggy - and unlike the human world, leggy in the plant world is not such a good thing.  Basically, the stems were stretching out and I wanted the plants to be bushier.  [...]

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A few days ago this lush spot in Jim Dalziel’s garden didn’t look at all like this! By the way, when she’s talking about the mulch, the word Barbara is looking for is sawdust!

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Barbara’s friend and fellow Master Gardener, Jim Dalziel, has amassed over 1500 varieties of day lilies and a host of hosta in his wonderful garden. Watch the video first, and then have a look at the still photos of some of these amazing day lilies. Apparently they are quite easy to grow, so you might [...]

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Clematis tangutica is a beautiful climbing vine that blooms from mid to late summer.  While the waxy yellow bell-like flowers are small (3cm-1.25″) - they cover the vine.   The flowers are produced on the current year’s growth, so any pruning must be done early in the spring before it starts to grow.  Clematis tangutica climbs by twining.  It is a terrific [...]

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We have some great videos coming up next week, and this is just to give you a little hint about what to look for.
First, Barbara talked in one of our videos about people who collect specific types of plants. We spent some time last week in the garden of Barbara’s friend Jim Dalziel, who specializes [...]

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If you’ve been looking for a blue perennial that is bullet-proof when it comes to insect damage and disease, look no further than Echinops ritro.  Named for the Greek word for hedgehog, its spiny bracts are light blue for several weeks before the actual blossoms appear.  The flower blossoms will completely cover the round blossom [...]

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I feel safe in saying that weeding is nobody’s favourite garden chore — and yes, this one really is a chore! Nevertheless, it has to be done if we want to keep the garden looking lovely. But how do you know what is a weed and what is a plant to be kept?

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