25.8.12

An informal hedge...


When Edward Scissorhands met Henry Moore

Freeform topiary hedging by garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog
Making a statement with topiary!
I pass by this house every month on the way to visit a client and simply marvel at the artist's vision/chutzpah. What's going through his mind as he clips away, transforming a fugly and ancient siberian elm hedge into...well, its hard to describe.

Free-form? Post-modern? Conceptual?

Would a wall of boxwood trimmed compulsively elicit anything close a response? Unlikely.

You bump into people like this everyday. Outwardly seemingly normal but given some sharp hedge clippers and a lot of time, fantastic ideas and forms spring forward. Perhaps not the words this guy's neighbour uses but anyway...

Freeform hedge by garden muses: a Toronto gardening  blog
Concave or convex? Depends on where you're standing
How can a shrub trigger a memory? When I first saw this:

Another view of freeform topiary hedging by garden muses: a toronto gardening  blog
It takes a steady hand...

I was reminded of  Henry Moore's commissioned work installed in 1966 in Toronto's new city hall. Officially, it's called "Three-Way Piece No.  2" but most people know it as "the Archer"  located in Nathan Phillips Square. I remember playing in and around the structure as a very small and young child, the metal hot to the touch with the sunlight drenching the square.

Funny how this association occurred....

Henry Moore's sculpture called Three Way Piece No. 2 located in Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square's Peace Garden





By Paul Jung, author of "garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog"Google Google Find us on Google+ Find us on Google+

17.8.12

Toronto's James Gardens, in Technicolor


Why do people love bedding plants so much?

Every summer visit I make to my client D.'s house in the western part of Toronto called Etobicoke, I  spend a few minutes at James Gardens nearby. Why? I can be assured that the flower beds will assault my retinas with electric blasts of yellow, pink, and orange foliage and petals. A little masochistic, I admit, but after tending a few "white and green only!" gardens, a little colour therapy is helpful to jolt the creative juices. So, if you are blessed/cursed with a ton of space, full sun and deep pockets,  follow the lead of the Gardens' planners and go Victorian with these bedding annuals I seen used (the list is not comprehensive, I'm sure I missed some): catharanthus, celosia, angelonia, zinnia, canna, salvia, gerbera daisies, gloriosa daisies, gazania, ricinus.

Catharanthus, zinnia and castor bean bedding plants at James Gardens Etobicoke by garden muses: a Toronto gardening  blog
The castor bean plants are always impressive with their foliage

Angelonia, red salvia, cannas at James Gardens Etobicoke by garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog
Same feeling with the dark cannas!

Coleus, rudbeckia and gladioli at James Gardens Etobicoke by garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog
Coleus in full sun, with the requisite irrigation system in place

Yellow gazania, phlox against miscanthus backdrop at James Gardens Etobicoke by garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog
Pink and yellow, pink and yellow....

Detail of lantana blooms at James Gardens Etobicoke by garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog
Why I love lantana!

Russian sage and luna rose hibiscus at James Gardens Etobicoke  by garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog
Softer pastels with the Russian sage and pink hibiscus

Hydrangea paniculata, Russian sage and Echinacea at James Gardens Etobicoke by garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog
Late summer means Perovskia, Hydrangea paniculata, Echinacea, Hibiscus


By Paul Jung, author of "garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog"Google Google Find us on Google+ Find us on Google+

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