Gardener for Hire

Looking to plant a shrub that pollinators love? Hydrangea arborescens. Native to areas south and east of us. Look at how much the bees are loving this!!!

This peony never fails to take my breath away.

Lots of people are planning to grow food this summer. If you're in Oakville and looking for veggie seedlings Cudmores has an online shop with curbside pick up. https://cudmores.ca/

Sending you a little spring happiness from our garden.

Someone just posted this in another group I’m in. Don’t know who took this picture of me!!!

Regardless of what’s going on in the world, spring is still here.

Spring is NOT CANCELLED. As my kids say, ‘thank gawd.’ Getting outside, doing a bit of spring investigation in the garden, doing the tiniest bit of preliminary clean up, these are the things we can do.

My incredibly thoughtful husband bought this hydroponic growing system for me for Christmas. Pictured here (on the right), are 3 types of greens; and, (on the left), basil, thyme and mint. I've already harvested lots of greens. The herbs were slower to get started. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying this. After our kitty, it's the first thing I check on every morning. I look at it multiple times a day. To have this on my kitchen counter in the winter is absolutely fabulous.

These lucky 13 black swallowtail caterpillars have stolen my heart. I check in on them multiple times a day and am fascinated even by the increasing size of their poops as they grow. Love being host to them (the caterpillars, not necessarily the poops. ).

Seven black swallowtail caterpillars munching on our dill. The larger caterpillars have moved down the stems and are now eating the parsley. We have more than a dozen in total! #plantitandtheywillcome #oakville

Last Saturday I watched as a black swallowtail butterfly very quickly deposited about a half dozen eggs on our dill. The caterpillars have now hatched! This is the largest one. The others are so small they still look like dollops of bug poop. Excited to have them, and looking forward to watching them grow!!! #plantitandtheywillcome #Oakville #swallowtail

Wish I could post the scent of this astilbe ‘Visions in Red.’ Smells like grape candy...like SweeTARTS...smells so good, I just can’t get enough!

Plant it and they will come. Absolutely magical having these monarchs around. #milkweed #monarchs #Oakville

This is the kind of magic that puts a big smile on my face. The little guy visited with me for two days as I dug up worms while I worked.

Never have luck with crocuses, but these little beauties came up for me this year! ‘Blue Pearl’ Makes me so happy to see them!

Happy Spring Equinox! Looking forward to the gardening season to come!!! For now we'll hope for double digit temperatures and enjoy the bright sunny days we've been having.

May I present Mr. Toad of the Mint.

A little video here of an experiment I've been wanting to do for ages. I've suspected for a while now that black mulch does nothing to keep plant roots cool in hot, sunny conditions. In fact, I've often wondered if black even increases soil temperatures. So I put some triple mix in 3 pots; added black cedar mulch to one, brown cedar mulch to another, and left the triple mix bare in the third. Watered the pots well and left them in the sun for a few days. Today I measured the temperature in each pot. Watch the video for the results! #noplantswereharmed