Great woodland wildlife garden gift ideas
It doesn’t take too much to please a bird lover. A pair of binoculars, a coffee, a comfortable chair and most are happy campers. Here are three sophisticated gifts birders will love not just for their utility but their elegance in the woodland garden.
Is battery power better than gas in the garden?
Is it time to switch to battery-powered garden tools? Certainly there are good reasons to purchase battery-operated lawn mowers, chainsaws, trimmers and leaf blowers. Rechargeable batteries have come a long way and their electric motors have become more powerful making these tools effective choices for gardeners.
How to cut down ornamental grasses
Hedge trimmers have taken the work out of cutting back Ornamental grasses. Every garden benefits from ornamental grasses, but learning to cut back these beautiful additions to the garden makes these elegant, four-season plants an even greater joy in our gardens.
Toronto couple team up to save oriole the “snow bird”
A Baltimore Oriole that overwintered in Toronto had a couple of friends to help her. Two Toronto University professors went to great lengths to provide food and warmth to the young oriole during a long cold winter. Violet, as they aptly named her, survived the winter and is ready to celebrate spring.
Three spring wildflowers for the woodland garden
Spring is a magical time of year and nothing says spring more than the ephemeral wildflowers that emerge early and then disappear only to return the following spring. Here are three of my favourite.
Native plants help rewild his woodland garden ark
The coyote making itself at home on his back deck on his facebook page caught my eye, but the fact that Vince Fiorito brought in 50 tons of boulders and rocks into his backyard caught my attention. This guy is serious about rewilding his backyard.
Ten Money-saving tips for the weekend gardener
Ten tips to create your dream backyard on a budget with both a long- and short-term approach. One of the keys is to create a garden landscape design that can be both built and maintained in small increments on weekends.
Window boxes on a budget: 5 money-saving tips
Few garden elements create curb appeal more than colourful window boxes and containers. They can be built and planted on a budget and offer a low cost way to increase the value of your front landscape. Here are five tips to plant them on a budget.
What’s better the Kamado or the Kettle BBQ
Choosing between a Kamado-style charcoal barbecue and the traditional Kettle-style is a debate that continues to rage between traditional grillers both young and old. There are no easy answers to which is best but price might help us settle the argument. Especially when you consider my previous blog post on building a garden before filling your yard with high-end BBQs, fire tables and hot tubs.
How to help Hummingbirds during migration
Twice a year our little hummingbirds perform a minor miracle during their migration to and from Mexico and Central America. Along the way they could really use our help. Find out how you can help them survive their arduous journey by providing nectar and insects along their route and then welcoming them back home.
Keter Artisan shed review: Contemporary flair and top quality build
The days of your dad’s old garden shed kits made of tin with flimsy doors that keep falling off, are long gone. Today, homeowners can choose garden shed kits constructed of wood, resin and steel that all have a place in our yards. Why did choose a contemporary resin design over a traditional wood shed? There are several key reasons that may surprise you.
WeeBeeHouse and tips to attract native solitary bees
Native, solitary bees have a friend in Joe Prytula. His Weebeehouses have been making their lives a whole lot better and beautifying backyard gardens at the same time. Joe decided to use his outstanding carpentry skills to create extremely well-built, high performing and safe homes for our native bees.
The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat For Wildlife
Nancy Lawson’s love affair with the natural world and all its inhabitants big and small, is on display in The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat For Wildlife. It’s a book every gardener needs to have in their library and a message of respect and compassion the entire world needs to hear.
Native Plants find a home on Vancouver Island
Satinflower Nurseries Native Plants owners Kristen and James Miskelly are reshaping and rewilding the gardens and natural areas around Canada’s beautiful city of Victoria on Vancouver Island. The couple is bringing their expertise of native plants to gardeners, and large commericial clients and restoring the natural habitat of the Saanich area.
Japanese inspired garden: Six elements to success
Japanese-inspired gardens are meant to look simple but are, in fact, highly designed, nature-inspired landscapes. Stone, water and plants form the structure of a Japanese garden with Japanese Maples, small evergreens and moss adding life to the design.
Ontario Native Plants: Taking back nature one garden at a time
Reyna Matties and Ontario Native Plants is saving our natural environment one garden at a time. The Hamilton-based native plant on-line store offers more than 100 plants, shrubs and trees native to Ontario and the Carolinian Canada forest zone to shoppers on their informative on-line catalogue.
Native Eastern columbine: Growing tips for a woodland, wildlife garden
The Native Eastern Columbine is an early blooming red and yellow wildflower that is an important food source for returning hummingbirds and other pollinators. Grow them in your woodland wildlife gardens in average to poor soils in rock gardens, woodland edges or garden borders.
The Garden Bench as art, tips to placing them in the landscape
Garden art takes many forms, but nothing can have a bigger impact than a well-placed, beautifully aged garden bench. Whether it’s a traditional wooden bench or a small concrete one in the corner of the yard, they almost always form a focal point enticing visitors to explore the distant areas in the garden.
Bark butter and DIY bird feeders
The combination of a DIY feeder and WBU’s Bark Butter is an irresistible draw for more than 150 species of birds. If attracting woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees along with warblers sounds good, check out this simple and easy to make feeder and food combination.
Garden photography: Build a portable DIY reflection pond in three simple steps
How to create a reflection pond in three simple steps. It begins with purchasing a rubberized boot tray. Then add some natural materials such as moss, river rock, pea gravel, pine needles and, in the fall, colourful leaves. The last step, add a little water and you are ready to start capturing professional looking reflection images of birds and mammals.