July 10 2022 - Gardens

 

A garden walk is a non-curated garden tour.  It means the gardeners self-select, volunteer, their gardens.  All kinds and variations get volunteered.  Some exquisite, and others less so.  They may be close by or farther away to reach. Each typically comes with the gardener available for conversation and questions or to relay the history of the house and garden.   A garden tour is curated - a committee decides the number of gardens, their style and size, and location is a consideration, seeking clusters of houses so that it is easy to get around. The Niagara-on-the-Lake Horticultural Society had a garden walk yesterday - over 30 gardens volunteered themselves.  I saw less than half of them.  It was the distance to get around to them all that took the time.  It would have been a full and packed day to get to all 30.  That's part of the enjoyment - to see as much as one can. It is immediately clear  how much more diverse the gardens are than on a curated garden tour.  What the public might want and expect given the've paid some money.  This  is in the forefront of the organizers' minds.  When that's not the case, we can welcome all manner of gardens -  smaller and larger houses and gardens - some starting out, others mature..  Two were on the lake-front street and one on the water with its huge boat, swimming and infinity pool.  The view across the river is wonderful as the river narrows there. So we have the contrast of  what was Niagara-on-the-Lake and what is now.  The first picture today is a picture one might have taken 75 years ago. A screen door with a view of  the stained glass transom windows.  These were the houses of Niagara-on-the-Lake back then. Seaside/lakeside cottages and homes.  It wasn't the pretty town it is now.  The next porch - this is a new house only a few years old.  It is built in the style of the grander stone cottages. It has a contemporary interior.  Its porch looks like a luxury hotel to me.  It is beautiful and elegant.  This represents the town of today - a destination location for the rich who are attracted to the restored architecture set in quaint streets meant for walking and biking.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Get the Lowdown

Is there something where you'd like to really know how it works?  You want to get the truth, facts, and most pertinent information about something.  That's what it means to 'get the lowdown'.  What about the favourite smells in the world?  The UK's top 20 include: 1. Freshly baked bread 2. Bacon 3. Freshly cut grass 4. Coffee 5. Cakes baking in the oven 6. The Seaside 7. Freshly washed clothes 9. Fish and chips 10. Fresh flowers 11. A real Christmas tree 12. Roses 13. Vanilla 14. Scented candles 15. Log fires 16. Lavender 17. Lemon 18. Chocolate 19. Barbeques 20. Cinnamon Compare that with Reader's Digest 8 favourite smells: 1. pine 2. citrus 3. sunscreen 4. fresh-cut grass 5. flowers 6. rosemary 7. peppermint 8. baby powder How about what scientists have found that smell good to nearly everyone? This comes from https://io9.gizmodo.com/scientists-discover-five-things-that-smell-good-to-near-5515453 1. lime (fruit) 2. grapefruit (fruit) 3. bergamot (similar to an orange in scent) 4. orange (fruit) 5. peppermint 6. freesia (flower) 7. amyl acetate (a molecule that smells like apples and bananas) 8. cassia (similar to cinnamon) 9. mimosa (flowering tree) 10. fir (tree) This last list comes from tests of smells on people in Israel and Ethiopia. They considered these groups culturally diverse so the results are considered general across all populations. Our picture of the day is from the garden tour - this one an invitation to appreciate a garden masterpiece.

210 John Street East NOTL

The pictures from last week's Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) garden tour have made it to the computer.  The disk reader had stopped working and now there's a new one that seems like magic it is so small. Last week's highlight was 210 John Street. This was part of the Randwood Estate owned by Trisha Romance. The history of Randwood is HERE.  I don't know the history of severing this house from the Rand property, but it now is separately owned by Barbara McArthur.   She was on hand with information and stories about the house and gardens. This is a large historical property with lots to experience - the house, gardens, even the stables were preserved. There were tree experts who take care of the trees on the property - and they pointed out the interesting native specimens. I found  a large historic account of the Town of Niagara HERE.  It is written by Joseph E. Masters who lived in the late 1800's and died in 1955.  So far, I haven't found an account of this house and its origins.   Here are some highlights of this grand estate.

Bicycling Under Glass in Niagara

Lucky us in Niagara.  Some of the commercial greenhouses had open houses in support of charity yesterday, so we got to look in on some amazing displays.  They included North America's only cut amaryllis grower, cut statice grower, COSMIC orchids, eggplant production houses, lavender and campanula pot plants, and gerbera growers. The most massive facility was the St. David's Greenhouse.  That's the one along the North side of the QEW at Martin Road in Vineland.  At that facility they grow eggplants.  They use bicycles to get around the greenhouse.  There are 70 acres in production under glass at their two locations. The sophistication of all of these growing facilities is remarkable - each one is organic with biological insects to control pests.  They feed CO2 to the plants to boost growth.  They grow in 'natural materials' raised off the ground.  There is automation to pot plants, and move plants around. The most spectacular sight was the gerbera greenhouse.  That is where 120,000 gerberas are harvested each week.  This would mean we saw millions of gerberas in bloom at the Van Geest Brothers greenhouse on Seventh Avenue in St. Catharines.

Spindletree Gardens - Frank Kershaw Tour with Toronto Botanical Gardens

Hi everyone,

I want to make sure you are aware of a special opportunity to get to see this private garden open to the public with a great tour leader.  Frank Kershaw is leading a tour to Spindletree Gardens on July 10th.  Tom Brown and Sue Meisner are the garden creators and owners and will give a tour of the gardens.  The gardens are located north of Kingston in Tamworth.  This makes it worth hopping onto a bus tour and having someone else drive.  The bus leaves TBG at 8:00am in the morning and arrives back around 6:30pm.  

This is a one-of-a-kind garden.  It is very large with 20 acres of gardens.  There are many beautiful structures - stone built walls and pretty bridges.  There are historic buildings and structures that have been moved to the site and are now garden focal points.  

This garden is open to the public for tours and there is a tea room for lunch, so it has the amenities of a public garden while being a personal creation.  

I have registered for the tour, as the last time I was there was a few years ago, and many additions have occurred since then.  I am looking forward to seeing the beautiful structures and gardens.

Here's the link at TBG:

http://torontobotanicalgarden.ca/event/day-trip-spindletree-gardens/

Please consider joining us on this tour and having some fun with us.