Do Christmas trees qualify as topiary? We never think of them as such but they fit the definition — the Oxford dictionary calls topiary the « art or practice of clipping shrubs or trees into ornamental shapes. » And surely Christmas trees don’t grow naturally into the perfect cones commonly seen but have been pruned and clipped to shape them. As…
Paintings on rock made by indigenous people many years ago give us insights into their daily life and the events and objects they valued. (I wrote about rock paintings here.) Monuments and memorials serve a similar purpose. So what do they show about what we value today? Traditionally monuments were erected to great men and generals who led…
Cave paintings on the island of Borneo showing animals and human hands have recently been dated back some 40,000 years, making them the oldest known example of figurative rock art in the world. (Details of the story can be found in various articles, including one here from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.) Think for a moment about how long ago that…
We are living in strange times. Walking through the woods yesterday, I came across an odd scene. A creature made of stone was rising up from the leaves. First came a head, shoulders and arms…. then a leg. First one leg … then another. The legs stretched out longer and longer.…
Gardening in Canada can be frustrating. The range of plants available through nurseries or garden centres is minuscule compared with the number available in England. And seeing so many wonderful cultivars that won’t survive in my Quebec garden makes me envious of England’s more temperate climate. Still, for anyone who loves plants, a visit to…
Many people have asked when we will be opening the garden to the public this year. The sad news is, we won’t. This summer we are working on various garden projects that need time to settle in. But I hope that in 2019 we will have one — or maybe two — open garden days. …
A few weeks ago I posted the photo below on Facebook and asked for ideas about what to do with the trunk of an enormous pine tree that had pined away. Many people responded: make it into a table, or benches, a totem, planters, bird houses or toothpicks (hard to imagine how many…
It’s that super sweet time of the year, when sap is transformed into maple syrup. We’ve been making maple syrup at Glen Villa for many years now. My father-in-law tapped trees and the site of his old sugar camp is now an art installation in the woods. Making maple syrup takes time, particularly…
What’s Easter without an egg or two? With 18 family members around on the weekend, the eggs disappeared almost as quickly as they were found. This most beautiful of eggs was a special treat… before, during, and after. Thanks, Sandra!
Recently I visited the International Garden Festival at Metis, Quebec. I’ve attended the Festival many times since it first opened in 2000, but in previous years I’ve gone with adults. This year was special — I went with two teenage granddaughters. Playsages, the theme for this year’s Festival, was a good fit for…