An informal hedge...

When Edward Scissorhands met Henry Moore

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...

Concave or convex? Depends on where you're standing

How can a shrub trigger a memory? When I first saw this:

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....

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

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.

The castor bean plants are always impressive with their foliage

Same feeling with the dark cannas!

Coleus in full sun, with the requisite irrigation system in place

Pink and yellow, pink and yellow....

Why I love lantana!

Softer pastels with the Russian sage and pink hibiscus

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+

The Sacred Way at the Ming Tombs

For the half  dozen regular readers out there who might have wondered where I was for the past 3 weeks: oh, the sacrifices I make for you!

We (better half and kids) have just returned from a 2 plus week tour of China and Hong Kong and while the usual sights (the Great Wall, Shanghai Bund, the Peak) and weather have been memorable, I haven't forgot about you, beloved reader of things horticultural and botanical. 

I'll be posting some ideas and images from our latest trip occasionally. I don't intend this to be a travelogue about the "must sees" in China (which, if you've ever been part of a tour, can take up pages of discussion about the merits of visiting yet another jade factory!) but rather some visuals about Chinese landscape and garden design that I noticed and wish to share.

How far will this take you?

At the beginning of the trip, we visited this short section or "sacred way." It's about about a 2 kilometer long path between two gates and is lined with statues, hedging and, in this section, weeping willows. It wasn't busy so I was able to take some nice shots (that is, without throngs of people in my shots!)

The willows work so perfectly. Could ginkgos or sycamores be just as effective?

It was magical setting, with the shrill buzz of cicadas enveloping us on this hot and humid day.

The scale of the path tells you that you are quite unimportant in relation to the owner of this place!

Following the silent hedges...

Silent, immutable, inscrutable

Repetition, symmetry and massing are powerful design concepts here

Shen Gong pavillion (I found the hedging and enclosed turf incongruous)

Do cacti need viagra?

Or: Why we keep plants

Limp cactus is not the name of a punk band, yet...

The garden muses took me to my dad's place today. Going near his crumbling front stoop I noticed this cactus propped up, trying to achieve horticultural turgidity.

I didn't bother asking him why he's keeping and nurturing this guy (it has to be a guy!) as I doubt dear dad sees any irony with the composition.

My father's an interesting fellow, a bit of a well-educated hoarder. Why is he keeping the cactus?  Maybe it could be as simple as not being willing to throw away something living and "perfectly fine." I see variations of this affection among my clients as well: grandma's monster forsythia overtaking the front porch, the row of bridal wreath spiraea last pruned in 1978, the decrepit juniper bought as a baby 1 gallon plant now threatening to block out the second floor windows.

I always ask my customers before pruning if there's any sentiment attached to said-to-be-pruned shrub. New  homeowners who inherit a garden are often perplexed. "Why would we be possibly attached to this overgrown green blob?" is often communicated verbatim. Older garden-owners appreciate the question.

As I get older, I'm starting to understand the reluctance of letting go of objects which have meaning and significance. I need to remind myself that it's easy enough for me to say that "it's only a plant", let's shovel prune it and put something newer and cooler in. A plant can be a symbol of better days and of family and friends no longer here.

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

A little garden TLC somewhere in Toronto

It's summertime and the weeding is easy...

I know there's a bed in there somewhere!

Readers of my modest blog may wonder what I actually do, work-wise, to feed my kids, among other noble tasks. Well, I am a proud and independent  gardener in this fine city. (This will help to explain why I've been posting infrequently since April...it's been flipping busy!) 


I took the picture above as a "before" shot recently during a client visit. I think you can make out where the lawn is supposed to end and the garden bed begins. Maybe.

Ahhh, doesn't that feel so much better? Ready for mulch!

I love it when there's a happy ending...

I hope your weeding and overall maintenance yields similar results this summer!