The power of forcing (branches, that is)

Some early downiness from the downy serviceberry (Amelanchier) branches I'm forcing

As winter has thrown an I don't wanna go to bed! tantrum in Toronto, I'm extra glad I decided to trim off a couple of wayward branches from my serviceberry last weekend – and pop them in a vase for early spring bloom. In just a few short days – just enough to blanket the city with snow again – the buds are already starting to break.

Will we see flowers? Well I guess we'll have to, er, see. But even the emerging pinky green leaves would be welcome. More than welcome!

It's at this time of year when I feel most like conducting random acts of gardening to improve the form of neighbours' scruffy Forsythia shrubs (and cadge some branches for forcing). Is there anything to beat a long-lasting bouquet of golden-belled forsythia boughs when spring is looking its most bedraggled?

Forcing branches is so easy, we should all do it. A sharp pruner, clean water and a suitable vase are all you need. Plus, of course, branches, of which forsythia and serviceberry are only two possibilities. For those can't wait for spring days, this simple trick is the perfect mood lifter.

I posted a link with info on our Toronto Gardens Facebook Page. Why not check it out and give it a try?

[UPDATE:] It's two weeks later, and my branches are now sporting their delicate white flowers – and without the wind to waft it away, we can also enjoy their light fragrance. The furred flower buds were an interim attraction. Do give it a try!

Canada Blooms 2011 - Part 2

A garden gate to swing on, lean on, and peek through. 

An antique metal garden gate painted red is the image that stayed in my mind after my visit to Canada Blooms. It was the entry to a garden inspired by Sarah Harmer, in one of the Juno Rocks gardens. There was something delightfully homey about this one, with its piles of well-used tools and a garden hose coiled up on the ground. It felt like a real garden where I could stoop to pull a few weeds. It was small, human sized, and the little potting shed at the back beckoned you to walk in.

I've never seen crassula put to such good use. Stunning wall of colour. 

Landscape Ontario's entrance garden was powerfully dominant, with a massive curved wall planted solid with crassula in bloom, thousands of them, in brilliant warm colours. Landscape Ontario's garden designs tend lean towards the monumental in some way, with the use of a gigantic oak tree a couple of years ago, and last year's humungous circular wall structures that reminded me of Medieval castle turrets. Mass plantings of tulips fanned out next to the wall, and a beehive-shaped stone structure beehive stood sentry at one end.

Why NOT paint the bench to match the magnolias and tulips?

The garden for children had a pathway with art and music activities along its length, and the entrance was flanked with 2 massive 200 year old willow tree trunks, one of which hid an angry beaver.

"Are you looking at me? Well, I don't see anyone else here. Are you lookin' at me?"

There was a hollowed out tree trunk for children to crawl through and tree branches to paint to create a colourful tree. Holes are drilled in the sides of a solid wood column and branches are simply stuck in.

I can imagine bird feeders hanging on this painted faux tree. 

The sand artist had carved up a storm. The artist moulds the sand first then carves away like Michaelangelo to reveal the forest creatures hidden inside.

I think there's some sand in my shoe. And my hat. 

Landscape Ontario's suspended panels with green-roof plantings in checkerboard. 

A traditional garden with a covered arched patio was the only truly formal garden. Its pool with spheres bubbling with water was impressive, and the large crystal chandelier caught my magpie's eye. Sparkly! Glass panels made the number of spheres double with a lovely symmetry.

Can you spot the mirror double trick?

My favourite part of Canada Blooms is often the Toronto Garden Club's horticultural exhibit area, with house plants, dozens of mixed planters and flower arrangements competing for ribbons in specific themes and categories. The creativity and horticultural mastery is awe inspiring, and reading the judges snippy comments is entertaining and even educational. Yes, that container is bottom heavy, isn't it? (I don't mean this one below, it's perfect!)

Lime green and purple, can't go wrong with this scheme. 

Edibles have made their way into this collection, and lusty tomatoes and zucchini starts were going home with red ribbons. I hope the owner has a large greenhouse because it's a few weeks before this baby can go into the ground. Did you see Canada Blooms this year? What did you think? Let us know in the comments.

Canada Blooms 2011: Gardens and garden trends

A full blast of spring from the Home Depot Backyard Oasis. Orange, naturally.

Despite the full-on colour above, this year's Canada Blooms 2011 is not a Big Wow Year. However, it is a year of many Quiet Little Wows, the kind that have you thoughtfully nodding your head. Really, the kind real gardeners like you can use. That makes it worth experiencing, which I hope you will.

The huge Landscape Ontario Green For Life entry garden showcases green roof technology.

There are some eye-poppers. The Landscape Ontario entry garden is the largest single exhibit to be at Canada Blooms in ten years. The 9,000-square-foot space includes an immense green roof and floral wall. After having my expectations inflated by the orientation for the early-morning tours, however, I was a little underwhelmed. Nevertheless, while some of the solutions used for the show were not the innovative technologies I was expecting to see (they're more theatrical than practical), they are right on theme with one of this year's overall trends: Thinking green.

Often a showcase for beautiful hardscaping, Parklane's Earth Tones garden had barely a limestone paver in sight

Strongly representative of the green trend is regular exhibitor Parklane Nurseries, with one of those quiet nod gardens. Their objective: when it rains, what falls on the garden, stays in the garden – or percolates into the ground water.

Permeable paving is used extensively and imaginatively. On the main paths, honeycomb turf pavers are overlaid with a fragrant mulch of pine needles. Paving includes a basketweave of prefab wooden deck panels. The patio backdrop is made by stacking a concrete and wood fibre cinderblock usually buried in building foundations, but showing off its interesting texture here.

Much of the materials have a salvaged beauty: reclaimed telephone poles become pillars, rusty rods top the pergola, tree trunk slab are steps and reclaimed subway grates bridge a rivulet connecting two ponds. Edging the garden on one side are a train of wooden crates; on the other are large tree limbs in their natural state. Sand and gravel are unadorned surface treatments. It's earthy yet urban. I liked it a lot.

An educational collaboration between the Toronto Botanical Garden and the Royal Ontario Museum

The environmental times, they are a-changin', and the TBG's and ROM's Nurture Urban Nature is showin' us how, with info on native plants, edible gardens, pollinators and water conservation. (By the way, order that rain barrel you've been meaning to get! Earth Day will be here soon.) Natural log edging appears here, too, and I love the clever use of PVC piping and a recycled electrical spool to great the archway. But, the TBG being the TBG, there are pretties such as a lust-afterable, double hellebore 'Golden Lotus' to keep things from getting too, too serious. The City of Toronto Parks, Seneca College and the Chirp-Pollinator Project are other gardens with an educational focus.

In fact, education isn't the only reason to bring the kids to Canada Blooms this March Break. Another is the Bienenstock Natural Playground, with massive, 200-year-old reclaimed black willow stumps marking the way in. Bienenstock has won awards for an innovative approach that turns natural materials into playgrounds, such as a brand new one in Toronto's McLeary Park. Their exhibit has fun stuff to see and actually do, and Karen Fralich is making her nifty sand art right next door.

Canada Blooms ties in with the Juno Awards 40th Anniversary with its theme of Rhythms…  and even the music-related gardens get into the go-green spirit.

Sarah Harmer's garden by Oriole Landscaping reflects her farm-girl heritage. As the Juno-winning musician is also an active campaigner against quarrying in her Niagara Escarpment home area, the design uses responsibly harvested stone.

Judith Wright created this Parsifal-themed garden for friend and client, operatic tenor Ben Heppner. The multi-limbed tree was salvaged from a park removal, divided into numbered parts and reassembled at the show. 

There's still time to take an early morning tour to get more inside stories like these – and avoid the line-ups for two whole hours before the doors open, at which time you're ready to hit the Marketplace, completely unjostled. Really, it's the stress-free way to see Canada Blooms, and I'm not saying it just because I'm a tour guide tomorrow. Buy online, show up. We'll talk.

Canada Blooms – Daffodils heard around the world

In Spring, cancer societies in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., Ireland and Canada sell daffodils to raise money for cancer research. But here's something I'll bet you didn't know: It all started here in Canada back in 1957, when a single volunteer for the Canadian Cancer Society had a great idea… that grew. That's the difference one person can make.

In Sarah's 2010 wrap-up for Canada Blooms, she cites the strongly conceptual Canadian Cancer Society exhibit as one of her highlights. The CCS is at the show again in 2011 – this year, with what we might more traditionally call a garden. (If you buy your Canada Blooms tickets through this link, $2 from every ticket will go to cancer research.)

The Zenlike, contemplative space spills over with golden trumpets; tall Narcissus 'Dutch Master' and more miniature, multi-bloomed N. 'Tête-à-Tête'. Foliage from low-growing blue juniper to airy Japanese maple complement these early spring bulbs. The construction materials are simple black-stained beams, brown wooden slats and grey limestone.

You can sit beneath a pergola here and hear the trickle of water from a nearby railing fountain – in which piping, drilled with holes and attached beneath a hand-rail, drops narrow ribbons of water at short intervals into a trough below; a gentle, splashing sound.

A surprise awaits around the corner in an enclosed reflecting pool, with a simple mirror at the end, putting you literally into the frame. Votive candles float in the water.

This small garden matches the mood of the show this year. The gardens seem more personal, and more accessible. You'll find fewer what I call Adventures in Hardscaping. It's a refreshing change.

Another change I noticed was the new Daffodil Days pin, which volunteers like Drew at right are selling in the Marketplace, along with the traditional bunches of fresh daffs. A neat idea is the cap for the end of the pin to keep it in place. You know how those Remembrance Day poppies tend to leap off your chest! The pins are cheerful reminders of hope and resilience. Hope to see you wearing one.

(Excuse the quality of my photos in this post, as I used my iPhone... more Canada Blooms pictures, of better quality, along with more 2011 highlights to come.)

[Update:] Want to read more about the lovely daffy-down-dillo, then zip over to Daffodil Blogorama 2011 on the Daffodil Planter blog to read posts on everything from heirloom varieties to propagation. Thanks, Charlotte, for including us!

Canada Blooms: 2010 Highs & Lows

Canada Blooms 2010: Reford Gardens always has an individual, witty display. 

Some in the online garden community are talking about Garden Show Letdown. I've got to admit that, of late, the magical effect of our annual show, Canada Blooms has waned. I never miss it though, as it's a desperately needed green shot in the arm, and there is always something worth seeing. Below is an overview of last year and what to expect for this year.

Last Years Lows:

1. "Feature Gardens" don't feel as "Feature-y" as they used to. 

Previous years of Canada Blooms showcased gardens that invited you into a distinct space, like walking into a movie set. Some rooms you wanted to stake out your space and never leave, they were that good. Now, in its new location at Exhibition Place, Direct Energy Centre, the garden exhibits are fewer, and less are designed as completely enveloping garden spaces. 

In years past, exhibits were often so enchanting that you didn't mind (that much) lining up to walk through. That was in Canada Blooms heyday— I call it The Golden Age of earth inc—the landscaping company whose feature gardens at Canada Blooms were breathtakingly creative, whimsical, and unforgettable. They knew how to create a magical garden space. Earth Inc stopped exhibiting several years ago, and their unique presence has been sorely missed.

Sadly many so-called "feature gardens", while still well designed, are there to showcase products: garden furniture, barbeques, stonework, gazebos. Beautiful stuff, but the display is more of an outdoor-room home show than a garden show.

Landscape Ontario's jazzy outdoor room featured what looked like giant Pixy Stix.

2. New Location has Flat, Generic Feel

Last year's show was the first in the new location—Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place—and didn't inspire me to run to the computer to get my thoughts down. A good reason for that was the new location. It felt almost like an exhibit at the CNE. Was this really Canada Blooms? 

The old location at the architecturally varied and dramatic Convention Centre enjoyed the benefits of that particular building's layout. The preamble of the long escalator ride allowed you descend into the space, with garden displays all around, tempting and exciting you about what was to come. At the base of the escalator was the low-ceilinged entry room, which always served as an official gateway to the show. Every year this entry space was designed to have a feel of its own, with floral displays, fountains, theatrical darkness, or some kind of special flourish, making the "reveal" of the show more thrilling.  

The marketplace. Note cavernous ceiling.

Now you walk in from the glass corridor into the double doors and you are into an airplane hangar scaled rectangular space,making the effect less human sized, a bit alienating.

4. Marketplace and Lecture Halls Location is Problematic

The market place last year shared the same area as the Lecture Halls. Conference rooms in the old location were on a separate floor, large and well equipped. It was a pleasant break to get away from the hurly burly of the show crowds and go to a lecture. Now Lecture Halls are stuffed alongside the marketplace area, they're hard to find, and make you run the gauntlet of sales booths and customers to find the room you want. Some rooms can't be darkened for slide shows, and a slideshow-lecture by Frank Kershaw on tropical gardens in Grenada suffered for this. Will it be the same this year?

In the past it was clear that you were leaving the show when you entered the marketplace. Now it rather blurs together, butting right up to the edge of the exhibits, making each less unique. 

Twists of coloured fibre inside upside down glass vases.

3. Lack of funky. idiosyncratic touches

In past shows I'd take away ideas, very often from some of the smaller, low-budget gardens where the designers had used recycled or unusual objects in new ways. Designs where you'd be saying, "Wow, what a great idea! I'm stealing that. " Small-scale gardens that amused, appeared hand made, with usable garden ideas are getting scarcer and scarcer at Canada Blooms. 

The Highs

1. The Cancer Society Garden

Two years ago, I actually complained about their garden, saying it was too much public service announcement and not enough garden. In 2010, the Cancer Society garden blew me away with its brilliantly poignant concept and artfully simple execution.

The rectangular block of daffodils planted in stripes contained an inner memorial hallway with slate walls where visitors were encouraged to write personal messages about their loved one's struggles with cancer. It brought tears to my eyes. As a matter of fact, I'm going to save a whole post for this garden, which you can read soon. 

Disney Garden had animal faux-piary like this goofy moose. 2010 Canada Blooms

2. Convenience of one floor

The outdoor parking lot directly across from the building is easy to navigate. Washrooms are more convenient, and easy to find. People with strollers or wheelchairs will find the show on all one floor helpful. Snack/restaurant areas were easy to get to, if a little unimaginatively presented last year. Maybe this year it will be a bit peppier.

Dramatic green archway planted with exotics. Landscape Ontario

What will it be like this year 2011? 
This year's theme is Rhythms. The show is helping to celebrate Canada's Music awards, The Junos, with Juno Rocks feature gardens based on songs, operas, or tunesmith's garden inspirations. One is a tribute to jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. A curious concept and it's making me go hmmmm.

 There appears to be a bit of a back to nature feel going on with many of this year's feature gardens, according to the website blurbs, with focuses on green roofs, water conservation and urban forests. Add a little bit of "slowing down", a couple of  Zen gardens and for a dash of arty fun, the always creative Reford Gardens. Plus, the amazing sand sculptor is back in the children's garden. I'm looking forward to the show. If nothing else, the Garden Club's horticultural exhibits and wildly colourful floral design is always captivating. The speakers and talks are often a highlight. And plus you can't beat that divine smell of growing things.

Signs of Spring 2011: There be snowdrops!

The evidence is in: there's Spring in them thar hills! Or, at least, there are snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) blooming in the east end of Toronto.

These fellas aren't the 60 or so I planted last fall. They're part of the happily multiplying family that has been hardily pushing through snow and leaves for years. One year, as early as January. Most years, though, at around about this time. Next year, I hope with many more newly planted cousins beside them.

Just in time for Canada Blooms. I'll be at the show as an early-morning tour guide on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Will you be going to Canada Blooms this year?

Warning: Eastern Filbert Blight

The rather gross-looking cankers of Eastern filbert blight, a fungus that's not a fun-guy!

Run out right now and inspect your corkscrew hazel shrub (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') for bumps like these. If you see semi-regular, black cankers along the stems (like I did), your hazel has Eastern filbert blight (Anisogramma anomala). If left to its own devices, this will kill the branch, spread, and eventually kill the hazel tree or shrub.

Pruning out infected wood well below the cankers, before leaf buds break (now!), is about the only way to treat this unsightly mess. Here are more details from Oregon State University and from Cornell.

Filbert blight is now a major problem for North American hazelnut growers who also grow C. avellana, the European branch of the hazelnut family. It's a stronger producer but more susceptible to blight than our native American hazel. For nut growers, filbert blight is an economic catastrophe. For ornamental gardeners like us, it's just a sorry pain in the neck. I suspect the blighty conditions that took their toll on our tomatoes for the last couple of seasons may have been just right for this fungus, too.

Once the leaves unfurl, it'll be next to impossible to see anything amiss on the branches. So look closely now and prune out and destroy any affected branches before the blight can spread further.

[UPDATE: Thanks for this great info to Dr. Thomas Molnar, Department of Plant Biology & Pathology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick (emphasis, mine):]

The contorted hazel is highly susceptible, so even though you pruned it, I would bet that it pops up again. You will see the stromata developing in July and August.  It can not reinfect other hazelnuts until the next spring though as the EFB cankers take a while to mature.  

There is a EFB-resistant contorted hazelnut with purple leaves now available.  It is called 'Red Dragon'.  It is a great plant. 'Red Majestic' is another purple contorted variety available, although it is highly susceptible to EFB like the original contorta. Red Dragon is available from a couple Oregon nurseries, but it is very expensive since it was just released last year and few plants are available.