Welcome to the GVAG Blog

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Open Garden Days, New Talks and Garden Tours

  For a year or more I’ve been thinking about opening the garden to the public. Last week I bit the bullet and announced  that on August 4, I’ll be holding an Open Garden Day. The Open Garden Day is a fundraiser for Fondation Massawippi Foundation, a community organization that supports land conservation and special projects in the communities…

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Triliums go by many common names: Wake Robin and Stinking Benjamin are two.

Wild Names Flavoured with Wild Garlic

  NOTE: Several readers have let me know that this blog post only had photos without any words so I’m posting it again.   A walk in the woods at this time of year is a journey of discovery. So many things are there in miniature, waiting to be spotted if you take the time…

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Border art

Much Ado about Nothing

My friend, the film-maker Tony Girardin, sent me a photo he took a few days ago when crossing the border between Vancouver and Seattle. He thought I might like it. And I do. A lot. At first I couldn’t figure it out. Was it a drawing? A painting? No, a sculpture, Tony said. A quick…

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Cornelian cherries are not very photogenic. Getting a photo even this good wasn

Cornus Mas: A Shrub with a Golden Glow

Not much is blooming in my garden now. The snowdrops are almost gone, the grape hyacinths are just beginning to open and the pulmonaria by the front door are slowly showing their spots. There is a star in the garden, though, although that star isn’t a show-off. My bashful star is Cornus mas, a shrub…

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Group photos are few and far between but I did manage to lasso them for a photo at Villa Lante in Italy.

Visiting Gardens: Nine Do’s and a Don’t

Visiting gardens is one the joys of my life. For the last four years, I’ve been hosting small group tours to gardens in Britain and Italy, working alongside an outstanding professional travel agent based in Vancouver. Julia Guest at Travel Concepts does the detailed planning that is essential to ensure a good garden tour. Without her…

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