You Grow Girl

The Fentastic Voyage: Part 2 Oliphant Fen

Gayla — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:17:49 +0000

The following is part 2 in a series on a trip I took up north to Ontario, Canada’s Bruce Peninsula to see carnivorous plants growing in the wild. We left the beach area, and doubled back to the Oliphant Fen, which we had passed on the way in (see map here). Note that there is no real parking area for the fen, just a little divot in the road alongside with space for 2 cars. If you’re looking for a public bathroom, there is a porta-potty at the beach. That’s about it for amenities so I suggest packing water and a picnic lunch and/or snacks. I was barely out of the car before I spotted them dotting the ditch just… More

Edible “Weeds”: Lamb’s Quarters and Orach

Gayla — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:37:25 +0000

Left to Right: Lamb’s Quarter (Chenopodium album) and Garden Orach (Atriplex hortensis). It was overcast and warm this morning, so I took advantage of the mild conditions to harvest and wash greens for salad. A combination of rain and warmth has the greens going gangbusters over the last few days and I am starting to really reap the benefits of several, generous sowings that I did early in the season. In among the greens that I harvested were two nutritious greens that I did not need to sow. The first (shown on the left in the above photo), lamb’s quarter aka goosefoot (Chenopodium album) is a common North American and European “weed.” It comes up abundantly in my garden regardless… More

The Fentastic Voyage: Part 1 Oliphant Coastal Wetland

Gayla — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:46:20 +0000

This journey began with a mystery. More than a decade ago, on a long weekend cottage trip with friends, I was told that there was a place, somewhere north of our destination on the Lake Huron shoreline — no one seemed to know where it was for sure — where there were carnivorous plants growing wild. The thought of seeing some of my favourite plants growing wild sparked a desperate need to find this elusive place. It stayed on my mind for quite some time until, on another visit to the area, I asked Davin’s dad about it. A few hours later I was standing on a boardwalk looking out across the fen, a peat-based wetland ecosystem, at northern pitcher… More

Tiny Vases

Gayla — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:00:33 +0000

This is what passes for a flower bouquet at my house. As a small space gardener I can’t grow the volume required to create large and frothy bouquets. I need to work with what I’ve got since we’re not growing cut flowers in Oprah quantities around here (I followed her Instagram account for a few weeks and could not believe the buckets upon buckets of roses that are harvested from her gardens). There wouldn’t be a whole lot left to enjoy in the garden were I to pilfer from it regularly. Instead, I harvest little bits of this and that and display them in tiny vases comprised of old perfume and medicine bottles, bud vases, and tiny bowls. I found… More

Growing Summer Bulbs in Containers with Dugald Cameron

Gayla — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:27:04 +0000

I believe it started with a small pot of Albuca shawii, a diminutive yellow flower that dances on thin stems in the breeze. It’s delicate leaves and stems are slightly rough to the touch and they have an unexpectedly nice, somewhat herbal scent. As a garden plant, it serves no real purpose except that it looks good and makes me happy, a fact that is neither here nor there now, but one that mattered a lot then. I’m still a small space gardener, but back then I was an even smaller space gardener and my primary garden space was a roof. There was no ramshackle shed or basement in which to hide the mess or store dormant plants. Every inch… More

Herbaria (May 15, 2013): One Year Later

Gayla — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:44:03 +0000

Before I talk about the project I wanted to mention the awkward image sizes that are appearing on the site. We are in the process of a redesign and will be using larger photos in the future. I plan to post at a larger size from here on out, but it will be a bit awkward until the new site design is functioning. Tomorrow marks exactly one year since I started the Herbaria. I knew the anniversary was approaching, but did not realize the date until I set up to take this week’s photo. There it is: one year complete. I wish this were coming at a batter time. Instead of feeling accomplished, I’m feeling frustrated, uncertain, and a bit… More

My Reward for a Job Not Well Done

Gayla — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:59:19 +0000

I have written several times both on this site and elsewhere about taking a chance with forced or forgotten bulbs. My advice has always been to just try. Forced bulbs are often exhausted and will not produce flowers the following year. But sometimes they do. And sometimes they do the year after that. And the sale bulbs that you bought too late in the season or the packet that you tossed in a drawer and forgot to plant: those might just come back, too. Or maybe they won’t. But you can’t know unless you try, and how much effort does it take to pop a few bulbs into the soil anyways? [Says she who almost didn't do it.] Even if… More

Grow Write Guild #5: Listen

Gayla — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:05:04 +0000

One rainy Saturday morning six years ago I was kicked out of my apartment while a camera crew was there filming an interview with Davin. With nothing to do and no real direction, I found myself headed towards my community garden plot, which was then just a few blocks away. The garden was (and still is) an almost secret place tucked between an alley, the railroads tracks, and a beer store. The documentary crew had been following me around for a few days and I was feeling contemplative and grateful for an hour of solitude to be alone with my thoughts. I didn’t have any work to do at the garden (a rarity) so I strolled around slowly, looking at… More

Desert Road Trip

Gayla — Fri, 10 May 2013 14:51:55 +0000

Davin and I recently celebrated our 20th anniversary together and to REALLY celebrate we are going on a road trip through the Mojave and Sonoran deserts! !!!!! !!!!!! [Infinite exclamation points here.] We both have an interest in desert landscapes and have talked about doing a trip like this for about as long as we’ve been together, but were always impeded by the fact that neither of us had a license to drive. We did not plan to be drivers. As city dwellers we felt contented with a life riding bikes and public transportation with the occasional cab ride. But then came a horrible bus experience in Florida, and then later, what can only be described as a 13 hour… More

Tall Autumn Grasses

Gayla — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:05:44 +0000

It was a fall evening some years ago, just before the golden hour (my favourite time of the day). My friend Laura was headed out to Humber Nurseries to take some photos in their private garden and offered to take me along. Not one to forgo a chance to get out of the city or into private gardens, I went along and took with me my digital and one film camera. And then the film sat around for 4 years. These are a few of the images I took that day. Grasses have a magical way of capturing the light and holding it inside them. Especially at the end of the day when the sky is warm and golden, and… More