A Toronto garden clean up in the Victoria Village neighbourhood

Victoria Village, Toronto backyard and side yard garden clean up

Here are some before and after pictures of a garden clean up near the Lawrence and Victoria Park Ave. area. The back and side garden areas were infested with creeping bellflower, thistles, quack grass and lawn seedlings.

I dug out all the weeds to re-establish some new areas for new perennials and/or mulch. (I suggested to the client to remove the black plastic edging and trench edge for a cleaner look as well.)

Scarborough back yard 
garden clean up before

Scarborough back yard 
garden clean up after

Scarborough back yard 
garden clean up before

Scarborough back yard 
garden clean up after

Here's looking down the side of the house. A thick layer of cedar mulch would really reduce the amount of weeding in this unseen and unused area.

Scarborough Toronto side yard
garden clean up before 

Scarborough Toronto side yard
 garden clean up after

The Naples Botanical Garden: Some Like It Hot!

A Toronto gardener's visit to a Florida botanical garden (in the summer!)

My family and I recently spent a much-deserved week's vacation in Bonita Springs, Florida which is located on the Gulf Coast side of Florida between Fort Myers to the north and Naples to the south. We did the silly touristy things like outlet mall shopping, getting used to larger restaurant portions and collecting shells on the beach. 

(By the way, "Happy Fourth" seems to be the way of wishing someone a Happy Fourth of July around here. Something tells me that if I wished a fellow Canadian a "Happy First" on Canada Day, I'd likely get a blank look.)

Anyway, back to gardening...

Of course, being on vacation, I didn't do any but I managed to find a few hours to visit a near botanical garden in Naples called, well, the Naples Botanical Garden. 

Here are some pictures on the way from the parking lot and outside the admissions office to give you a taste of things to come:

What "houseplants" do you recognize?

From the parking lot, love this colour combination!

Linda and I got there right at opening time (8 a.m.) because we knew how darn hot and humid the weather would get later. Thunderstorms were also predicted the same day so on this muggy and buggy morning, we started first at the Brazilian Garden which pays tribute to that country's renowned plantsman and landscape architect, Roberto Burle Marx.

Looking towards the Roberto Burle Marx Plaza. That's a ceramic mural showcased behind the waterfall.

Massing using Neoregelia, Aechmea, Porta and Caladium

Early morning dew on these seedheads (or flower buds?)

The magic of massing using what I consider "tropical" plants.

The infinity pool/waterfall with huge water lily pads.

Detail of  Nymphae "Panama Pacific" tropical  waterlily

Another closeup of a tropical waterlily, forgot to note the cultivar but so beautiful!

A grouping of Red Button Ginger (Costus woodsonii)

More massing of silver-leaved Caladium and pineapple

Detail of Pink Powder Puff bloom (Calliandra surinamensis "Pink")

We then ambled over to the Caribbean Garden and took these photos among many others:

Bridal bouquet plumeria (Plumeria pudica)

Reminds me so much of our trip to the Turks and Caicos

Stone pillars and wood beams covered by Queen's Wreath (Petrea volubilis)

Onwards to the Asian Garden, with few pesky visitors to disrupt our photo opportunities but many pesky mosquitoes and gnats to torment those who didn't bring bug repellent.

Pale cream coloured lotus flowers and seedhead

Balinese Shrine at the Lea Asian Garden

Thai Riverside Pavillion surrounded by lotus

Statue detail from the Garden's Candi Suka Ruins (well, not from the real ruins)

Good job replicating  Candi Suka Javanese Ruins

We also visited the four other gardens: the Childrens', Florida  and Water Gardens and "The Preserve." By the two hour mark we were getting hungry and getting bitten and decided to call it a morning. All in all, it was an enjoyable and educational outing for this zone 5 gardener. We saw many plants we consider houseplants and annuals growing very vigorously in situ like cannas, taro, bromeliads, and bananas.

I don't know if many of the plants on exhibit experience any dormancy and/or change the colour of their leaves so, off the top of my head, I guess the plants look the same all year round (?). 

It was a nice, short diversion away from the endless shopping and eating we endured over the week!

By Paul Jung, author of "garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog"

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My beloved children

Father's Day in the garden: reflections

I always grumble and mumble that Father's Day is given short shrift compared to Mother's Day. Now, before you mothers (mine included) send me a gift of variegated goutweed, this thought disappears quickly when my kids give me their annual recognition of the work and effort I've expended in raising them to be good responsible Canadian citizens: the proverbial hand-crafted Father's Day card made in school.

I do love them! (Kids and cards.)

They are at such a wonderful age (10 and 13), expressing beauty and attitude...which, naturally, brings me to our garden.

Fellow southern Ontario garden blogger, Barry, always talks about his cherished plants as his "kids" and you can really tell how proud a papa he is, detailing their strengths and accomplishments, never their weaknesses and failures (all our kids are special, no?)

I suppose it would be bad parenting to favour one child over the other/s (although my mother never learned about this!) but human nature being what it is, it's tempting and sometimes inevitable. I don't consider the perennials, shrubs and trees in our backyard as "kids" but I do have a strong emotional bond with certain "members" of the family.

(I do understand why it's so very hard for some of my elderly clients to accept my recommendation that it's time to prune their prized Bridal Wreath spiraea. You know, the one that hasn't been touched in over 20 years and is threatening to hide the house?) 

Sure, we're anthropomorphisizing  (big word) these silly garden plants but as far as erratic human behaviours go, it's normally harmless.

I freely admit that I have some favourites in the garden. Some have been profiled before, like my beloved "Arnold Promise" witch hazel and my "Popcorn" doublefile viburnum. 

Let me introduce you to my other favourite garden child (now a teen) showing her (always a her!) beauty. 

Say hello to my Chinese Dogwood or Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa var. chinensis): 

My kousa dogwood absolutely loaded with bracts

If you have the space for a mid-sized tree, please consider  me!

After a few years of growing moderately (but with no/few flowers), the kousa has taken off and giving my neighbours a spectacular show. I'm seeing plain old kousa blooming gloriously right now in nicer gardens over the city, along with pink hybrids like "Satomi" used as standards. C. kousa does get to be a mid-sized tree or multi-stemmed shrub but is pest free with beautiful fall colour and can be loaded with fruit.

Another of my favourite garden children you should consider growing in dappled shade is Acer palmatum "Ukigumo" or Floating Cloud Japanese maple. 

You can see, hopefully, why this cultivar is called Floating  Cloud.

If I was to plant this specimen again, I would site it in front of a very dark backdrop like painted/stained black fence or maybe a yew hedge to really make the leaves stand out. But this baby ain't moving! 

Underneath a big Japanese Tree lilac, my Ukigumo seems to be thriving.

I think dappled shade in a protected zone 5 (better with 6) site is ideal for Ukigumo. Growing it in an exposed site in full sun, with these variegated leaves, likely wouldn't work, unless you're aiming for Acer palmatum "Crispy".

Summer foliage of "Ukigumo", turning a creamy yellow in the fall

So if you have "kids" in your gardens, it's ok to have favourites.

 I hope you celebrate Father's Day in your own way.

By Paul Jung, author of "garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog"

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A non-gardening Lake Muskoka weekend

What does this post have to do with Toronto gardening? 

Not much but this gardener needed some serious rest and relaxation after working almost non-stop this spring. Now, many of you readers would likely prefer sticking a hot poker in your eye over the finer sport of angling. That's ok, we all have different interests besides plants and gardens. My wife is a golf PHREAK and knows better to ask me to join her over 18 holes. Not that I hate golf but inevitably I would hold up play by trying to identify this tree or that shrub.

So it was with great anticipation that we left Toronto this past weekend to my sister and brother-in-law's cottage near Gravenhurst, ON for a few days. Here are some pictures taken at dawn (you can enjoy them without being tormented by the mosquitoes!):

A typical beautiful Muskoka summer morning

My favourite fishing spot just to the right, shh!

You can compare the summer pictures near the dock to the autumn colours here in a previous post titled "Down by the Muskoka lakeside"


I caught a few smallmouth bass (all catch and release until the end of the month for this area) but the bite wasn't really on since they (the fish) are in spawning mode and not interested in feeding.

Here's a small...smallmouth bass fooled somehow by a plastic worm:

Don't worry, he/she was released immediately afterwards!

Thanks for indulging me by reading this non-gardening post. I've been so busy since April that the last thing I want to post about is a garden!

Just kidding.....







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

A small garden renovation in North York, ON

A recent garden rescue in North York, Toronto

Maybe "rescue" is too dramatic but this small front yard garden bed definitely needed a "rehab"! It was completely infested with garlic mustard and Siberian squill with some decrepit old tulips here and there.

Here's a before picture:

Before picture of the garden bed
 infested with garlic mustard and Siberian squill, 
with a few tulips thrown in!

The client wanted a fresh start with very low maintenance requirements. Here's the after picture showing the new plantings which should fill in over 2-3 years.

After picture of the new low maintenance garden 
in full sun with a lavender border, 
a "Limelight" Pee Gee hydrangea standard, 
"Autumn Joy" sedum 
and "Hens and Chicks" Sempervivum

By Paul Jung, owner of Paul Jung Gardening Services Inc. of Toronto

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