My first attempt to use ornamental grasses was in a section of the garden I call the yin yang. An old resort hotel once stood on the property (to my amazement, I find I haven’t written about that… must do so soon. ) In front of the hotel was a low circular stone wall. Horse-drawn…
This post comes with a link to Rain, a music video filmed at Glen Villa and in and around North Hatley, Quebec where I live. The video features Canadian folk singer-songwriter David Francey. As you will hear from his accent, David was born in Scotland and immigrated to Canada as a boy. For some years he…
I’ve been using ornamental grasses for about ten years now, and I’ve used them in various parts of the garden, including at the aqueduct, which I wrote about last week. One of the first places I put them was on the hill that slopes down to the lake. The plants, ordinary miscanthus sinensis, were a…
I don’t know when ornamental grasses began to gain popularity but I’d say that 20-25 years ago, few gardeners used them regularly. Thanks among others to designers like Piet Oudolf from Holland and James van Sweden and Wolfgang Oehme in the U.S., perennial grasses have become popular staples in many gardens. Their fluidity suits a looser, more…
Travelling is wonderful, but nothing beats being at Glen Villa on a perfect autumn day, when the air is clear, the sky is blue and nothing in particular has to be done. This morning I walked around the garden, my first walk-about in three weeks. A few flowers are still blooming, like the never-say-die sedum…
Gardeners in temperate climes may wonder why I love Jeffersonia diphylla. For them it grows easily, spreads nicely and offers a touch of light in a shaded border. A nice plant, but nothing special. Jeffersonia doesn’t grow easily for me. I have to coddle it, and it is one of the few plants at Glen…
We all know that weeding is a chore, right? We also know that a weed for one person is a flower for someone else. Or, as often expressed, it’s any plant growing where it isn’t wanted. Some people don’t like ajuga in the lawn. I do. Ralph Waldo Emerson said it better, describing a…
Last week I was in Quebec City for the annual symposium of the Garden Writers’ Association. I met many interesting people from across North America (and one or two from England and elsewhere) and saw some private gardens that had much to offer. I visited some public gardens, some I hadn’t seen for years, and…
I like the idea of living with the land. Or rather, with the wildlife on it. Last week’s post about defeating the deer made me think about how many animals I live with at Glen Villa, either occasionally or on a regular basis. I’m happy to share real estate with the ducks who nest annually at the…
How hard can it be to build a fence around some shrubs in a field? Not very, you’d think. You’d be wrong. Or you would be if you did it the way I have. Which definitely isn’t the way to go. In 2008, I planted a few flowering shrubs along the fence that separates the…