A unique looking bulb...

If you are into the spring bulb scene and are looking for something a bit more in the wow factor than planting various colors of tulips in your garden...try the Crown Imperial Lily! otherwise known as the Fritillaria imperalis Aurora.

I fist stumbled upon this stately looking plant while visiting someone's home last spring. In my years of gardening I had never seen this one before and wanted to find out more about it.

They will grow in climate zones 5 to 8 and reach a height of about 36" to 39" (inches). The bloom time is in spring just before everything leafs out...about the same time as the tulips come up. I have also seen this flower in a yellow color as well. So if you are looking for something to make people stop and enjoy your garden with a sense of wonder... try popping a few of these bulbs in the garden.

Yikes!!! My Tomatoes!

If any of you out there are avid gardeners and enjoy fresh home grown tomatoes like I do... watch out for these pesky buggers!



This is a picture of the Tomato Horn Worm which later turns into the Five-spotted Hawkmoth. It can make a meal of your tomato plants in a hurry... leaving you nothing to enjoy for the rest of the gardening season. If you find this silent invader in your garden plot try a quick and green solution of hand picking them and disposing of them from the garden area.

I have heard of cornmeal being used... the worms eat the corn meal and are not able to digest, which results in their death. Other hopeful solutions is to let nature deal with them as they make wonderful meals for birds and they can also be attacked by wasps.

In my many years of being around Tomato gardens, I have only seen the worm once... they are hard to see from a distance but easy to recognize (4 inches long) when you find your tomato leaves being eaten.

What were they thinking? part 1

Well it has been a while... been a busy summer season for me as well, so I have not had the time to sit and write any blog updates.

Anyway, today I decided to write about something I drive by on a regular basis. The North-west corner of Islington Road and Eglington Road has been a bother to me ever since the City Of Toronto did what they did.One of the first things I learned while studying trees and shrubs of Ontario was that the Norway Maple is an invasive tree species in Canada. It was introduced to Toronto some time ago because of its ability to leaf out early in Spring and drop leaves later in fall. The idea was to bring this tree over from Europe to the North-Eastern part of North America so that urban landscapes could look a little greener for just a bit longer then what our Native trees could provide.

A good friend of mine, Peter Heyblom (fellow Landscape Designer) wrote an extensive article on the Norway Maple in Canada. His article elaborates on some of the concerns mentioned here in my post.

As time moves forward in our cities and populated places, the Norway Maple is now considered a very invasive tree to our natural ravine & forested areas. It is a very hardy and aggressive tree... so dominant in a forested environment that it would completely shade out, overtake and replace any native species of tree or shrub. There are countless ravine areas in Toronto that have about 80% Norway Maple growth versus a fading 20% native to Ontario plant species growth.

So what is on the corner of Islington and Eglington?

A tree advocacy program created by the city of Toronto...sponsored by the names displayed in the picture. Why is it an issue for me?..why would I possibly balk at a project that introduces native and natural vegetation to a once empty field???
If you look closely at the photo above... you will see Norway Maples!!!(outlined below)



So... what is the problem with this setup? If you plant a Norway maple in the middle of a grass field...and year after year, continually mow the area around the tree, the chance for seeds to spread is very minimal. The chance for this aggressive and dominating tree to do damage to natural areas is very minor.

Yet here we see a planting program that is destined to fail in a few years. Eventually as the native plant material grows and flourishes... it will pave the way for seedlings of the Norway Maple to spread and grow. Soon the trees will become larger, dominant trees and eventually crowd out the glorious efforts put forth to naturalize the field on the corner of Islington and Eglington.

Garden Fresh Tomatoes

For those of us that know the difference between a garden fresh tomato and a store bought gas ripened tomato, we all crave the day that we can pluck one off our nurtured vines!


Through the years of digging deep into my Italian roots, I have learnt a thing or two in vegetable gardening. I find it relaxing and satisfying to work at a garden, tend to it, weed it and nurture until you can finally harvest its rewards. I believe that for any Landscape Designer or Landscape Architect, it is a must to be an avid gardener! It will increase your understanding of site soil conditions for various clients.

Anyway, I figured I'd share some tips I have learnt along the way... but not all the secrets!!!

Soil: The Key ingredient to healthy soil is organic matter. Potassium, Nitrogen and Phosphorus must all be present in a good balance...followed by a well drained soil structure and good sunlight exposure.

Watering: Watering tomatoes can be tricky, too much water and the tomatoes can actually swell up and split before ripening. Here's the trick, water only with warm water (let water sit in a pail over night) and make sure the water reaches deep in the soil! Cold tap water can actually hinder the growth of tomatoes for up to 8 hours....they love heat and warm soil but never let the soil dry out.

Spacing: Ensure your tomatoes have proper spacing between vines. (about 18" to 24" inches between each plant should do) This spacing will allow proper light to reach all aspects of the plant, keep the soil warm by allowing sunlight to hit the ground and keep good air circulation around the plants...helping to prevent mold and fungus from developing.




Staking: There are a variety of ways to stake a tomato plant. A straight stick or a tomato cage seem to be the popular choice. My Grandfather taught me to use welded-wire-mesh... welded in about a 6 inch grid pattern, available at most building supply stores. (See picture on right for example)

What is shown in the pictures above and on the left is the stakes tied back at an angle and resting against each other. This allows for a greater walking space between the rows as the plants grow and expand. It also allows for sunlight to keep penetrating the lower reaches of the vines... yes those are the same plants on the left as the ones above. About 3 months later the tomato vines are over 6 feet tall.

Pruning: As the plant goes from a seedling to about 3 feet in height, it is important to prune the suckers that come up between the leaf shoots. The new leader that sprouts in those spaces will divide the plant's focus and cause it to put more development in it's growth rather then in fruit production. A shorter growing season demands more focus on fruit production!

The "crude" sketch shows the areas that the suckers tend to come out from and the red lines indicate where to cut them...leaving the leaf in place. Pruning should take place until the plant reaches about 2.5 to 3 feet or begins to produce multiple blossom stems. Careful not to mistake blossom shoots for leader shoots!

Enjoying the mild winter?

I am sure that most of us appreciate the lack of slip & slide snow days in Southern Ontario. The plus side... less fender benders, less slip and fall law suits, municipal budgets save a large amount of money from not having to provide snow clearing... and the environment benefits from having less salt dumped on it.

I received an email yesterday asking, "Is there a downside to all this?"

(Picture: Last year's easy winter produced massive amounts of blooms on the Hydrangea shrubs I planted in 2004)

Trees and shrubs are the unseen victims that suffer the effects of a mild winter. Nature has a built in response to the usual season flow. In early fall, when the days get shorter and nights get cooler, the plants are signalled to begin winter dormancy. Nutrient production in most trees and shrubs slow and eventually stop all together. Leaves fall off and the plants go to sleep.

On a micro-scale, the cells that normally carry water & nutrients stop their function so that when the freezing weather hits, the cells do not freeze and become damaged (like water pipes at the cottage). Deep-freeze and frosts that would normally harm plants have very little effect because of this dormancy protection.

So what happens in a mild winter situation?

The plants begin normal shutdown in fall for winter dormancy, but warm spouts in the middle of winter can cause a reversing of the dormancy. Suddenly sugars and nutrients start to flow which sends growth signals to the buds. Then a frost happens, or worse, a deep freeze occurs!

What began to wake and grow in the plant is now killed off and will be revealed in the start of Spring. You may notice the previous season's growth will die back and the plant starts it's new growth from further in along the branch structure. Some of the more marginal plants that are growing in the limit of their hardiness zone may fold and perish all together.

It's a gamble... Toronto rides a turbulent hardiness zone 6, a deep freeze arctic low can bring zone 5 conditions, a mild winter can raise it to zone 7 conditions.

Winters like this may cause a hit or miss situation where some plants will flourish and double in size during the next growing season, some may die back (as mentioned), some may not produce many blooms or fruits for the next season and yet.... some may bloom like crazy!

Hanging Baskets

The Hanging Basket Garden in High Park was just one of my areas of care during my days as a gardener for the City of Toronto. The baskets were grown in the City Greenhouses first, then my colleagues and I would spend a day arranging them outside when there was no risk of frost.

About 100 or so baskets of mixed annual flowers were on display in this area. Periodically, I'd spend about 2 days going through them all, cleaning out dead growth, dead-heading flowers to stimulate more blooms or checking to see if the drip lines were working properly. Each basket was connected to several drip lines set up on a timer for a water feed.

Even though the automatic watering system existed, during the dry periods of our Toronto summers the baskets had to be watered manually. With hanging baskets and most potted annual displays, the roots are tightly packed into their pots and are actively competing for water. As it flows in the basket or pot, the water soaks the outer surface of the soil and works it's way down the sides of the container.

If the water is not fed for a long enough period, the very center of the root clump will tend to dry out resulting in the death of your flowers! Water as often as needed (every 2 to 3 days), but at least once a week during drought periods, give that container a great soaking by filling a bucket with water and submersing the container in the bucket. Letting it sit until no bubbles come out from the soil is the best way to ensure even water distribution throughout the root clump.

If you are watering with a wand connected to the hose (recommended for delicate annual plantings), water until you see it flowing out the drip holes of the container, stop for a minute or so, then repeat 1 or 2 more times. The Japanese have a rule of thumb for bonsai plants (annuals are no different), water 3 times, once for the pot, once for the soil and finally once for the roots (plus the occasional dunk in the bucket).

Follow those simple suggestions and your baskets/pots should last till the first frost in fall. Anticipate that frost!!!... trim all the growth back before it hits, store the plants indoors in a cool place keeping soil moist and you can have that same planting arrangement for next spring! (feed with a bit of slow-release fertilizer in spring)

Got Milk?....End Powdery Mildew!

One of the most common problems this last growing season was Powdery Mildew! We had quite the wet growing season in 2006 making it difficult for many of our favourite plants to thrive.

Throughout the latter part of the season I watched as one by one my vegetable plants withered away due to either powdery mildew or some other fungus.

The main cause:

One of the main causes of powdery mildew is over-watering. Leaves on either trees, shrubs or perennials remain wet for long periods of time. Usually plants that exhibit powdery mildew the most will have poor air circulation around their branch structure. There is a tendency for the leaves to trap humidity in the air and cause the perfect growing environment for the airborne fungi spores to fester and spread. Suddenly the leaves develop this white haze look to them.... you've got powdery mildew!

The Solution:

Earlier this fall, my Uncle down in Florida asked me what to do for powdery mildew growing on his Zucchini plants. He is into organic gardening...in one of the toughest environments to avoid chemicals...Florida! As he calls it, the land of pestilence! Everything is fair game in the garden.... Anyway, in my researching, I found someone that discovered spraying milk on plants killed powdery mildew!

He also described using powdered milk (15 grams) to 1 liter of water... the powdered milk kept the smell of old sour milk down once you applied it as a foilar spray. Get Milk info !!!

So if powdery mildew has had it's way with your garden, consider an organic solution rather then a chemical attack. It's the enzymes in milk that attack the powdery mildew and break it down so that it does not function.

Some of the most common plants that exhibit powdery mildew in Ontario; Phlox, Tomato vines, Zucchini plants, Roses, Azaleas, Dogwoods and most popular....the ever invasive Norway Maples. (and yes, Poplar trees as well in case your wondering if I made a spelling error....though they are not popular landscape trees)

The Falling Leaves...

In my many travels centered around my career, I often get asked, what do I put in my soil to make my plants grow better????

Hmmmm…??? Each year around this time of year, I see so many folks gathering up the leaves, using leaf blowers or strenuous raking work… and then bagging the collection in big brown paper bags. You go by the curb side and see names like Home Depot, Rona, Canadian Tire, President’s Choice, Costco…and so on… People buy these bags because the city requires you to paper bag your organic garden waste…they spend money to advertise the big corporate logos and throw out the very stuff that makes soil healthy! Then they spend even more money the next spring buying compost rich soils from the same stores that sold the paper bags?...

Yes…organic garden waste….compost friendly materials…think of it this way, a tree spends it’s time growing and searching for nutrients in the ground. It sends out roots looking for water to help dissolve the solid nutrients in the soil…way below the surface. Then it takes those nutrients + water up through the trunk and through some miracle of nature…forms leaves! Yes it also forms more branches and adds layers to it’s trunk, but for the most part….a lot of what lays deep below in the soil, gets brought up to the surface through the leaves each and every year!

Now, what is the most common practice of the urban city dweller??? Rake up the mess!!! Why is it a mess? It is unsightly and looks as if the landscape is not swept clean! No tucking the dust under the carpets! Bag all the organic waste and put it on the curb…. Nature worked so hard to create that “waste”…why throw it out???? Compost it!!!

Leaf matter adds so much nutrients to the soil…sometimes even more then adding well rotted manure. A simple process of running your lawnmower over the leaf pile can shred the leaves into small clippings, easily devoured by soil insects and organisms once it is mixed into the surface of your garden’s soil. The end result?…Black gold…add to it your collection of spent coffee grounds (a source of nitrogen) for a natural slow release fertilizer along with eggshells (a source of calcium) and banana peels (a source of potassium)…and you have the makings of good growing soil from what most people view as garbage.