Simply Great Gardening

One of my tasks this summer has been the design for the second phase of the tennis court garden rejuvenation project at the Parkwood Estate in Oshawa. The Oshawa Garden Club and the Durham Master Gardeners in partnership with the Parkwood Foundation have undertaken a 5-year rejuvenation project to replant the beautiful perennial borders surrounding the original tennis court lawn. It was originally designed by Howard and Lorrie Dunington-Grubb, the founders of Sheridan Nurseri...es, in 1928 and 1929. While the original design has been lost over the years, we do know that the great British garden designer Gertrude Jekyll provided inspiration for their perennial border designs. This design pays homage to Ms. Jekyll as well as the work of the Dunington-Grubbs. With a team of volunteers and the assistance of the Parkwood grounds crew, the eastern section of the north border was cleared and planted last year and has been providing a lovely display of colour since early spring. This month we are getting ready to plant up the western section which is the design I have been working on. I'm not a trained landscape designer, but I am a plantswoman, so this has been both a labour of love and an outlet for my creative side. In two weeks, a crew of volunteers will be on hand to plant up this border and hopefully next year when it blooms the whole border should look wonderful. It will take another year or two for the perennials to really reach their bloom potential. My next step will be the bulb planting scheme for the 1200 tulip bulbs we will be planting in early October. If you are in the Oshawa area this fall or next year, do drop in to visit the beautiful grounds at the Parkwood Estate in Oshawa. See more

The magnolia scale have been particularly bad this year in southern Ontario. The mild winter is mostly responsible for this particular outbreak. If you have sooty mold on your trees or the plants underneath inspect them for the large white scales attached to twigs and smaller branches. If you can, remove them by hand but the crawlers, the newly hatched young are what you really want to focus on. August is a good time to start spraying your trees with horticultural oil to kill off the newly hatched crawlers. You may have to give your trees more than one spraying, but it is the most effective way to manage this pest. https://onnurserycrops.com//watch-our-for-hot-spots-of-ma/

Wouldn't that be amazing!

Doug Tallamy’s radical yet simple idea for reversing much of the ecosystem loss we have seen in our lifetimes. Let’s make this collective vision!

We need this same movement to take root here! Let’s all lobby our local councillors and mayors to create urban meadows across all of our communities.