Countdown to Christmas

We had Black Friday for two days, and now we're into Cyber Monday.  These two pictures are motion blur images of scenery along the route to Longwood a few years ago.  For me they match the hyper-reality of the retail bombardment that launches Christmas for us now.

Once at Longwood, there's a splendour of Christmas that is magical and makes us want to savour its spirit for as long as we can.

Here are two of the weird and whacky, splendid and entertaining creations.  This first one is made of parsley!

This second one is made of Spanish moss and tropical succulent hens and chicks draping its long branches.  

Longwood knows how to create Christmas - and there sill be more to see this month.

'Symmetry in the Grasses' Gets Feature Today!!

What a great start to the week!  The weather is so warm it's like April, and I find one of my images is featured on the homepage of redbubble, the site where my work can be purchased.  I'm at the bottom right with 'Symmetry in the Grasses'.

Here it is as it would appear framed for your wall.

The Houtby Farm

The Lilycrest Garden field where my brother, Dr. Brian Bergman grows and hybridizes thousands of lilies is owned by the Houtby family.  They've been market gardeners in St. Catharines for a long time.  There are rows of zucchinis, lettuce, beans, tomatoes, sweet peas, currants, raspberries, spinach, swiss chard, and so on.  

In terms of flower production, they start early with pussy willows, and have a lot of peonies, which they store throughout the summer in the big cooler room. Their biggest flower production is gladiolas - there are as many rows of glads as there are of Brian's lilies. Each week, they are cut for the surrounding markets. The glads come into their own as the lilies move on, so I've had a lot of opportunity this summer to photograph them while Brian hybridizes in the field. 

The red tractor (1953) is still used regularly, and Mark Houtby says it's never needed any major work.  I caught him on it a few weeks ago.

Here are a few scenes from the farm, then 2 lily hybridizing vignettes, and finally the gladiola field and a Gladiola abstract flower image.

TBG Garden Tour June 25th

I can report that the June 25th TBG fundraiser garden tour was outstanding. It was hosted by Frank Kershaw and sponsored by the Toronto Botanical Gardens.  My friend, Sue and I got on the big bus and were happily transported from garden to garden.  Frank had hand-chosen the gardens for variety and breadth of landscape design, plantings, plantsmanship and general style.  There were private gardens that have not been accessible to the public or part of other garden events.  There was so much to take in that day.  One of the highlights was the one-of-a-kind collection at the end.  A marvel of knowledge and skill!  

We started in the west end of Toronto in my neighbourhood and made our way through towards the Old Mill, where we had lunch.  The afternoon was spent in the central/east part of the city, with a return top TBG at the end of the day.  TBG's gardens are a delight to see right now as well.

Garden Days

The Open Gardens Toronto 2009 (opengardenstoronto.com) is a program in Toronto that opens private gardens to the public over the months of May, June and July and then again in September and October.  It raises funds for the Canadian Women's Foundation (CWF), and is modeled on the National Gardens Scheme in Britain which raises money for worthwhile causes by opening private gardens to the public.  This year there are 24 gardens grouped in different areas of the city.  Very happily, there are many in the west end where I live.  

I'll be highlighting the gardens over the next while, and will start with a photo of one of the gardens on the June 17th tour - Shari Ezyk's.  I hope you enjoy this serene view of her back shade garden.  

Fringe Tree

I live in Toronto near Royal York and Bloor Street.  Just south on Royal York at Meadowcrest is a magnificent Fringe Tree in bloom - it looks like it is more than 50 years old.  In the Sweet Olive family, the flowers are distinctively scented.  It is worth a drive by to see this lovely small tree in bloom - it's just 2 doors in from Royal York on the south side of the street.