Late Winter Colour inside the Allan Gardens Conservatory

Come on, Spring 2017!

This post, like all the others I've put up in the previous late winters, is more for my relief in dealing with another long Toronto winter than anything else. There's no theme or message today, just some pictures of colourful flowers and leafy things. (The only real outdoor colour I'm seeing is the yellow from my "Arnold Promise" witch hazel that's blooming his (?) head off right now, just like clockwork.)

I visited the nearby Allan Gardens Conservatory the other day to see what was blooming indoors. The staff is preparing for the Spring Flower Show scheduled to start on March 1 so the show beds still had remnants from the Christmas Flower Show like ornamental kale and cyclamen. I'll return in about a month when the Spring Show is in full "bloom" as it were and post pictures of tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths, etc. I did manage to take, however, some nice shots of orchids, amaryllises, and some unrelated tropical things below for your enjoyment.

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
white and purple Phalaenopsis orchid 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
white and purple Phalaenopsis orchids 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
white and purple veined 
Phalaenopsis orchids 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
white pale purple Phalaenopsis orchid 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
white Phalaenopsis orchid 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
yellow and purple Phalaenopsis orchids 

White and purple Cattleya 
at Allan Gardens Conservatory 

White and purple speckled orchid 
at Allan Gardens Conservatory 

White and purple veined 
Phalaenopsis orchid at 
Allan Gardens Conservatory 

White Phalaenopsis orchid 
at Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Allan Gardens Conservatory "Clown" amaryllis/Hippeastrum 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
"Red Lion" amaryllis/ Hippeastrum 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
"Snow White" amaryllis/ Hippeastrum 

I tried to get "artsy" by photographing the underside of these huge Philodrendon leaves. Was I successful?

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
Philodendron leaf under side 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
Philodendron leaf underside backlit 

Philodendron leaf underside 
Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 
Philodendron leaf underside 

Philodendron leaf underside 
at Allan Gardens Conservatory 

The camera's flash went off below, unintentionally, due to my fat fingers.

Philodendron leaf underside 
with flash Allan Gardens Conservatory 

Fern fronds when they unfurl resemble cobras so I see five baby snakes emerging from the centre of this Brazilian Tree Fern. I really do like the pale red new fronds (with some pink) contrasting against the mature green leaves!

Brazilian Tree Fern (Blechnum brasiliense) 
opening fronds at Allan Gardens Conservatory 

These witch hazels were in full bloom outside the Conservatory in the public park,  With no labels to depend on, I'm guessing the name of this late winter flowering shrub is Hamamelis x intermedia "Diane". The flowers' scent, to me, is a combination of orange peels and burnt rubber but, as the saying goes, "your mileage may vary."

At Allan Gardens Hamamelis x intermedia "Diane" 
witch hazel late winter blooms 

Hamamelis x intermedia "Diane" 
witch hazel late winter blooms at Allan Gardens 

Formal Hedges Have Straight Edges (or Should Anyway)

A Cabbagetown, Toronto Front Garden Makeover

What comes to mind when you think of a hedge (the horticultural and not financial type)? Likely a "living fence" that separates two functional spaces like this one along the Sacred Way near Beijing. 

Hedges, willows and paving along 
the Sacred Way near Beijing, China

The hedges on both sides of the path are ramrod straight. level, plumb and run for hundreds of metres. They direct visitors onward without creating mystery or curiosity. That's the message our lazy reptilian tourist brains want: stay on the path and you should be rewarded. Rectangular hedges (especially made up of broad-leaved evergreens) are usually boring and utilitarian because that's their job.

A hedge could also serve as "living backdrop" like this clipped yew hedge found below at the Royal Botanical Gardens located nearby in Burlington, Ontario. It's an opaque curtain (or wall, if you prefer) and since you can't see through it, you're forced to see the green Hershey Kisses plopped in the Knot Garden in front of it. By enclosing the small space, you're eyes are directed to the topiary instead. The hedge could have been a rendered concrete wall (green-coloured of course) and the latter would still have performed the same function.

The Laking Knot Garden at the Royal Botanical Garden 

A client in Toronto's downtown Cabbagetown neighbourhood recently asked me to transplant some boxwoods which didn't survive the previous winter. The Buxus hedge is "U" shaped with a backdrop of hortensia (Hydrangea macrophylla) and, together, they loosely frame this very typical postage-sized inner city front garden that's about 15' x 20', With most formal picture frames, though, you expect to and should see clearly right angled corners. That's what our lazy brains expect and if they (corners) are absent or obscured, a mystery is created when one shouldn't have occurred. And, to me, green rectangular blocks are not about mystery.

Toronto Cabbagetown front 
garden makeover before

Toronto Cabbagetown front 
garden makeover before

Toronto Cabbagetown 
garden makeover before 

Ignore the mundane hosta that's collapsing and entering into dormancy (the "before" pictures were taken in late autumn) and try to find the outline of the short boxwood hedge running down the front path, along the sidewalk and up the neighbours path. It's hard to see, right?  Where's the strong sense of enclosure?

Toronto Cabbagetown
garden makeover before 

Cabbagetown Toronto front 
garden makeover before 

Cabbagetown Toronto 
front garden makeover 

The new design:

The two mature and beautiful clumps of ornamental grass (to be specific, Japanese Forest Grass or Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola') are preventing us seeing the hedge's corners. For the sake of the formal garden design requested by the client, I:

• uprooted and transplanted the grasses elsewhere
• chose new perennials with light blue, white and pink flowers like Amsonia "Blue Ice", "David" summer phlox, and "Ivoty Prince" hellebores planted in groups
• replaced 3 dead boxwoods to re-stablish the hedge

Cabbagetown Toronto front garden makeover after 

Cabbagetown Toronto front garden makeover after 

It will take a few years to re-establish the hedge but the "bones" have re-surfaced, as it were.

Are you sick of formal hedges?

It's hard for me to write about hedges without recalling this collection of plants below:

Unusual Toronto concave hedge

Many years ago, I worked for a client in a different Toronto neighbourhood and nearby would see, basically, "garbage" trees lovingly pruned and whimsically sculpted (see the fine attributes of Siberian Elm here).

If there's an iron law I've discovered over the years when it comes to plant care, it's this: the way a plant is pruned by or on behalf of the owner always reflects his or her personality and values.

I won't speculate on what drives such behaviour with garden shears (this would be a great story) but merely want to show you a hedge with no/few discernible straight edges.

Unusual Toronto Siberian Elm hedge 

Freeform Toronto hedge

Now, this is a hedge that's mysterious!