Thursday, 28 February 2013

This turkey vulture must have been very young or confused or maybe hurt,  I have only seen them up and close this one time. The window is very large and birds sometimes get confused and can spend a long time trying to figure out, if they have seen a mate in the reflection or why they cannot fly through. There was once a robin that spent two days trying to figure it out   In the end I taped paper on the window to help it out

Monday, 18 February 2013

When you walk on the Bruce Peninsula along the Lake Huron  you will find scenes like this everywhere  usually with more ferns . I chose this one so the wall-effect could be seen.   Living walls are very trendy.   Green walls feel very lush, luxurious, tropical, we just do not want too much of it.  Moss growing on our inside walls is not luxurious  it is a health hazard
 

Friday, 15 February 2013

This is a garden I visited a couple of years ago. 
 It was lovely and the photograph does not do it justice.
The owners took very good care of their garden and spend most of their time there.
When they had visitor they tried to encourage visitors to work with them.   
 The tall plant is an Eremerus   a white one that we do not see  often.  The yellow one is more common  It probably loves the gravelly soil   Eremerus has fleshy roots that easily rots

Thursday, 14 February 2013

Flying out from Copenhagen airport   looking out the airplane window

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

This sunflower has a very heavy head and when it bends down in the summer water will puddle on the "backside"  of the flowerhead and it might rot.   But it can also be cut and kept for the winter and they can be hung out for the birds if they did not get them while they were growing.   It is nice to have these big heads  full of seeds for the winter

Monday, 11 February 2013

This is a steel gate I had at the end of my driveway.   It had been there since I came 16 years ago and I have never used it--but it is a good fence--I could use it---it is too good to throw away--it marks where my place starts --maybe it protects me?--if I used it.     I visited a friend who has horses, she makes her own fenceposts and is of course  always in need of gates,   so she came and took it and I got a couple of bottles of wine and some condiments.   Just like the HC Andersen story about
 " What Father does is always right"

Friday, 8 February 2013



I seeded a large area with cosmos  I used a lot of seeds and I thought they would selfseed,  They grew very tall and the flowers were mostly upfacing so I seldom got the effect of the first picture  it mostly looked like the second one   the weeds grew where the cosmos did not sprout.  The feathery foliage was nice    Next time I will grow a shorter plant

Thursday, 7 February 2013

My friend harvested 16 lemons from this lemon bush,  it has given her pleasure all year,  first the smell of the flowers and then the slowly developing fruit.   I have tried it myself and had so many scales and white flies that I gave up.   But after seeing this I will try again

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

I am so happy about my fastigiate copper beeches  ( fastigiate meaning narrow )
              I have grown them from small grafts and I would not have been ablet to have trees like that
if I had not grown them from small.  I go to Vineland or Whistling Gardens in Southern Ontario
in the spring to buy small grafts.   Some years later I will suddenly notice how large they have grown
 

Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Sempervivums at the Toronto Botanical Gardens
I think they intend this to be a living wall   At the moment the plants compete with the plastic, they have a lot in common they look shiny and "squishi" and are almost indestructible.
They are all behind bars " barring them from escaping"

Friday, 1 February 2013

This is taken at TBG Toronto Botanical Gardens.   I like the use of space.   Very low groundcover that looks soft and luxurious.    Tree trunk is clear up to 1.5m . The tree bark is ornamental.   The opaque background shields the space from the walkway behind, but does not take away light. The horsetail is so rigid  almost industrial.   Would you use this in your own backyard?      I get inspired by looking at it