Open Garden April 25th

-

Just a reminder to anyone in the Toronto area on Sunday April 25th, that my garden is open to the public as part of Open Gardens Toronto.
Check the link or email me for details.

Comments

gardener said…
Wow, just missed visiting you by a week, just got back from a trip down east. Those three containers are great, really tough finding great pots like those in Calgary.
April 17, 2010 at 12:40 PM
Is the Wiz said…
Good luck with the Open Day.
A propos of animation, I can recall seeing wonderful abstract animations made by scratching exposed film, which bore the legend, Film Board of Canada. It's a terrific medium and very powerful.
April 17, 2010 at 3:50 PM
Anonymous said…
Good luck with your open garden.
April 17, 2010 at 6:20 PM
Barry Parker said…
Hi Gardener,
Too bad you can't make it on the 25th. However please contact me if you're in Toronto in the future, I'd be happy to show you around the garden.
April 17, 2010 at 8:06 PM
Barry Parker said…
Thanks Is,
Interesting that you should mention the NFB. Did you know that the first commisioner and champion of the Board was John Grierson and that the genius behind the scratched on film animation was Norman Mclaren, both Scotsmen!
April 17, 2010 at 8:11 PM
Barry Parker said…
Hi Mothernature,
Thanks for the good wishes. Just checked out your site, and see we grow some of the same plants ( except that you are a few weeks ahead of me). I also have Trillium, Dogwood and white Dodecatheon.
April 17, 2010 at 8:15 PM
Is the Wiz said…
John Grierson hosted a TV programme when I was a tot, showing these and other short films, including many political cartoons from behind the iron curtain. He seemed a very wise old chap to me.
Hope you're now tired but happy after your Open Day.
April 18, 2010 at 1:42 PM
Barry Parker said…
Actually, my Open day is next Sunday. This ffrom Wikipedia:
"In 1945 Grierson was dismissed from his post as Commissioner of the NFB after allegations of communist sympathy regarding several of the films the Board had produced during the war. Following his dismissal, and the dismissal of three of his coworkers Grierson returned to Scotland.
From 1957 to 1967 Grierson hosted a successful weekly television program on Scottish television, This Wonderful World, which showed excerpts from outstanding documentaries. In 1957 he received a special Canadian Film Award."
[edit]
April 18, 2010 at 5:38 PM
Helen said…
Barry, Hoping to see you on Sunday. Happy Earth Day!
April 22, 2010 at 6:00 PM
Barry Parker said…
Hi Helen,

I'll look forward to that.
April 22, 2010 at 8:58 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sidewalks of San Francisco

-
Image
For a person visiting San Francisco from "The Great White North", one is struck not only the weather but also by the plant life that flourishes in this ideal mediterranean climate. I've just returned from a week in this lovely city, and again I was impressed by the quality, variety and creativity of gardening that I found there. In this post I am paying particular attention to the gardens I found in the front gardens which often  overflowed onto the sidewalks and boulevards. Many of the plants that I saw there are the same that I grow outdoors and have to move indoors from November to April. And since the San Francisco plants are grown in the ground they are huge compared to my container grown collection.
Read more

Rescue Plants

-
Image
It is so satisfying to liberate plants from the imprisonment of an uncaring Big Box store. This I did last Fall when I found three Agave desmettiana, a mature plant with two large offsets crammed into a two gallon pot. I managed to winter them over under lights in my basement and was further satisfied last week when on a mild day I was able to take them out onto the balcony where, with a little surgery, I was able to separate them and give them their own root space in new pots. I can't wait for the warmer weather when I can get them out of doors.  Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' and two offspring, crammed into a 2 gallon pot. Divided and repotted.
Read more
-
Image
Many succulents have bloomed for me this year, perhaps this is not so remarkable in more temperate climates, but here in Montréal these plants have to be wintered over indoors and live a life with considerable human intervention. This I believe might discourage their normal flowering cycle. So for whatever reason, this has been a bumper year for flowers on plants that I grow mainly for their foliage. The most recent to bloom is  Crassula rupestris sap. marnieriana, it has curiously beautiful foliage that forms chains of compact succulent leaves that take on the apperience of a bucket of worms as they snake out of their pot.
Read more