danger garden

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Miscellany from the Toronto Fling

Well here we are - three and a half months after our visit to Toronto I'm finally finishing up writing about it. Today a few left-overs that were too good not to share...

The official Fling festivities kicked off on Thursday evening, that morning Andrew and I were out and about seeing the city when we discovered this shop quite near the hotel.

A vibrant artwork on the wall provides a great backdrop to the bouquets.

A study in white, mostly.

Normally I'm not a fan of those grafted colorful cacti oddities. Here though, I liked it. A lot. No, it's not sold to me...I'd have had no way to get it home.

I'm picturing cut wrapping paper rolls secured to the wall and stuffed with botanical collections. I wonder how my husband would feel about that?

This home/garden was one of the stops on the Fling. I didn't find a lot to photograph in the garden but was intrigued by the roof. Please don't make me ever have to live somewhere that needs snow/ice cleats on the roof!

Love this.

And this! Walking from garden to garden I spied this arrangement on a front porch. I want to replicate the bamboo poles but grow a (well tempered) vine in the container that will twist up and around them.

When we were searching for fence ideas I was warned against a metal fence. Too bright and reflective. This seems like a great compromise.

Another of our stops, the Aga Khan Museum.

I love a contemporary planting - geometric, bold - but sadly here most of the plants looked tortured.

I chose to focus on the hardscape.

And the architecture.

See what I mean? This is not a happy tree.

The outdoor dining space looked welcoming.

Another stop...

The Peonies were a big hit with bloggers who can't grow them in their own part of the world. Much photographing commenced.

When in Rome...(what the heck, I joined in the appreciation)...

This was my favorite.

Laurin, of Ravenscourt Gardens, was the first to point out the DANGER name all over town.

Thanks Toronto, you made me feel at home! Next up for any Garden Blogger who wants to experience the fun of a Fling...Minneapolis/St. Paul in July of 2016!

Monday, September 21, 2015

In a Vase on Monday: "I can't just throw them away" edition...

The foliage of Crocosmia 'Orangeade' had long been brown and crispy, however when I finally got around to cutting it back there were still many branches with those long, curvy, sexy seed pods on them. I couldn't just throw them away!

At first I just tossed them in a vase, but then I realized...I can take this up a notch or two!

Hence the Canna leaf rolled and tucked into the vase.

And since the weather has taken a turn and I'm not out on the patio as often, why not cut an Abutilion stem?

Why not indeed!

They look pretty darn good together, don't you think? I love to have cut stems on the bathroom shelf and these are especially welcome since they remind me of all those long, hot, days of summer spent out on the patio...

Be sure to click on over to Rambling in the Garden, where you'll see what other vase creations are being shared today...

Friday, September 18, 2015

Not the Toronto Botanical Garden

Yesterday we toured the Toronto Botanical Garden. I mentioned a couple of times how small the garden is, but when you're there you might not realize it. Why? Because the garden sits adjacent to Edwards Gardens, a former estate garden now part of the parks system. You can't really tell where one ends and the other begins. On the left of the lady with the blue vest (that's Julie Hill I believe) is Edwards Gardens. On the right, where the man in the blue plaid shirt is, TBG.

So that means the green house is not part of the botanical garden...

Nor is this lovely planting.

Looking at the leaves I would have called this a Sansevieria, but in my limited experience the bloom doesn't look right. Anybody?

I loved that all my Garden Blogging friends checked in with me to make sure I'd spotted this bit of Agave goodness. They seemed to know I was suffering from Agave-withdrawal, on this - our 4th day in Toronto.

I'd forgotten all about this stunning combination of blue Agave and purple Tradescantia until I started editing my photos earlier this week. Perhaps it had a stronger influence on me than I realized though, since I repeated the combination in my garden this summer.

There was much discussion in our group about whether or not these plants were freshly planted out or had spent time in place. The pups around the base of this Agave americana 'Variegata' seem to say "I've been here awhile" - but there is no way it would have survived the Toronto winter without a heat source. Me thinks the greenhouse we saw earlier came into play.