That really was snow last Friday, a couple of days after a heatwave. But even with those extreme conditions, our gardens are bursting with lush green leaves and abundant blossoms.
This message starts with advice on small spaces, reading recs by Kate Hamilton, a seminar on native plants, and a note about a national pollinator organization. Also a question and a couple of offers of seeds and plants.
Most of the space is for photos showing the gusto of late May, along with descriptive comments. Just to bring us back to earth (as it were), two photos and notes highlight destructive plants, and two mention theft of precious plants.
Five Edible Plants for Small Spaces: Sensible Advice
Seasonal Reading: Japanese Garden Concepts, Relaxing with Bees
Kate Hamilton recommends two pieces in The Guardian:
Short article: "To rethink your garden, learn Japanese." Miegakure, ochitsubaki, ma, nebari: putting names to these design concepts brought a wave of unexpected ideas. Now I'm wondering about their role in literature ... & music? If we ever get back to garden walks, it could be fun to look for examples -- this spring we've already had a parallel for ochitsubaki in maple keys. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/may/30/james-wong-on-gardening-to-rethink-your-garden-learn-japanese
Ecological Gardening Principles: Designing with Native Plant communities
Cliffcrest Butterflyway is excited to offer a free webinar on June 10, 2021 at 7pm EST featuring Master Gardener, Joyce Hostyn. Plants are social beings who prefer to live in community, not just with other plants, but with pollinators, ants, and other wild creatures (including humans!). Learn about design principles for creating resilient, wildlife-friendly, layered ecological plant communitie—whether a small sunny pocket meadow, the roof of a shed, a pollinator hedgerow, or a large front yard forest—inspired by meadows, alvars, shrublands, and forests. Start small. Begin a conversation with your land.
Amy Furness suggests we look at the website of the national organization, Pollinator Partnership Canada, https://www.pollinatorpartnership.ca/. Researcher Lydia Wong told us in 2019 that Toronto was the first city designated by this organization as a Bee City, and we have already heard about our neighbouring areas to the west who have created "corridors" of pollinator-friendly plants. They're part of the Swallowtail Project (https://pollinatorpartnership.ca/en/project-swallowtail), and it turns out that's sponsored by the Pollinator Partnership.
That's getting close to home. Use the links on the Swallowtail Project page to get information, and consider volunteering as a Block Coordinator to help connect local gardens as stretches of pollinator-friendly plants. With enough Block Coordinators enrolled, Harbord Village Gardeners might eventually be able to sign on as an organization. Let others know at gardeners@harbordvillage.com if you want to talk further about this worthy project!
And meanwhile, let’s keep celebrating our pollinators. Did you know that June 21-27 is Pollinator Week in Canada and the US? See what that involves on the map at https://pollinatorpartnership.ca/en/pollinator-week-canada, and watch the CN Tower at sunset on June 22 – it will radiate yellow and orange in honour of pollinators.
A Question
Sheila Gilbert asks a specific question that may apply to other perennials: “Perennial Geraniums -- How do I keep mine blooming all summer?” Answer Sheila at sg32@sympatico.ca. Please cc your responses to gardeners@harbordvillage.com for our collection of garden lore.
Coming/Going: Seed and Plant Exchange
Janice Dembo has put out pots of Lemon Balm on the front walk of 156 Major near the house. See if there are some left! Her email adds: “Gave a lot to Josh at Cider Bar to put in drinks. Gave him some asters as well that multiplied after I got them from another HV Gardener last year. Josh is filling his giant apple boxes with flowers.”
Margaret Procter found the blue morning-glory seeds she wanted, and now has a dozen or so left over. She also has nasturtium seeds gathered last year, mostly "Peach Melba" type with light yellow-orange flowers. This is the right time to plant both types in the ground. She can also dig up yet more small chamomile (pre-bloom) and Canadian columbine (blooming). Please write 69procter@gmail.com with requests.
Photos and Photo Stories
Revel in great photos of glorious flowers and trees, all from our neighbourhood. Some celebrate our own gardens, and others come from walks where we lingered to admire others' gardens. The comments and captions below give some context, and express feelings ranging from excitement to dismay and outrage.
Here's a good start! Jeannie Hastie was delighted to see young neighbours planting flowers in a homely container outside Lord Lansdowne School on Robert Street. Ordinarily, students at Da Vinci School in the same building create and care for this type of garden, but they haven't been on site during the planting season. Thanks to these public-spirited local kids (and their supportive parents) for enlivening the neighbourhood!
Colourful spring gardens: two masses of colourful flowers (white and blue columbine, pink geraniums) set off by white tulips, a river of creeping phlox in Diane Roblin's back garden, amazing perennial cornflowers captured by Janice Dembo on a walk around the block, and deep purple irises that Nicole Schulman got at the 2019 Plant Fair.
Nicole Schulman's patches of shade garden do well in conditions typical of the neighbourhood. Nicole says the first one here is more kempt than usual, with dogwoods in the back, ferns in the middle, variegated hosta, brunneria and impatiens in the front.
She also comments that the second shady patch "is looking rather lush with white bleeding hearts and some other plant (that has the purplish upright stalks with flowers)." Do you know what it is?
And can you see the small birch tree in the third photo? That was Nicole's choice from the Tree Fair we held in June 2019.
The wisteria on Brunswick just north of Ulster stops people in their tracks every spring, and this year it's better than ever. Janice Dembo's photos show how the flowers tie in with the purple irises and contrast beautifully with the light green foliage.
Merrill Swain's photos of her May garden show a shapely rhododendron flowerbud, and then the elaborately frilly flower that opened from it. The third shot is of the bright red flowerbuds on a Japanese maple, more prominent than the delicate small leaves at this stage.
Peonies are the next big thing for our gardens (just ahead of most roses). Nicole Schulman comments that if we're not careful, the big heavy flowerbuds will droop or even fall down if they're not propped up early. But if that happens, the solution is easy: cut them for display in a vase, and let their fragrance waft through the house.
Tree peonies come out early and make spectacular displays. The dark red bushy one is on Ulster. Janice Dembo photographed it and the lovely white one from her own garden. On May 21, Diane Roblin of upper Lippincott was bubbling with excitement about the first blooms on her new Japanese tree peony, and sent the photo of the bright pink flower. On May 25, she sent the fourth photo here: someone had opened the gate during the night and stolen her plant. As you can imagine, she is devastated.
Maria Pasquino and Richard Longley of Brunswick have been finding and pulling out garlic mustard around the neighbourhood, including lots of it in parks and laneways. Maria sends a link to a BlogTO story about this invasive plant, inviting people to forage for it as a delicious green: https://www.blogto.com/city/2021/05/theres-invasive-weed-taking-over-toronto-right-now-s-actually-delicious/. Just eat it rather than letting it take over gardens and green spaces!
Angela Miles has been struggling to eradicate two spectacularly invasive plants from her front garden. One of them is wintercreeper, a form of euonymus which she at first thought was periwinkle and now realizes is a real threat to other plants. This article gives a vivid description and warning about what happens when wintercreeper isn't eradicated: https://theoec.org/blog/invasive-wintercreeper-euonymus-fortunei/.
Do you recognize these leaves? Look at the short article to see if your plant is wintercreeper.
Remember our celebration last year of the box gardens created by Susan Purvis and her Workplace-Bound students at Central Tech (seen above from the HV Gardeners' webpage and described in a sidebar story)? The boxes were also part of a Pollinator Project sponsored by the Palmerston Area Residents' Association. Everybody was happy with them as an encouraging sight during a difficult year.
This year, the school program isn't there any more and care is all up to Susan. She appreciates the donations of perennials from local Gardeners, and hopes to make the boxes into a mostly self-sustaining garden. But she asks us for two more more contributions:
Our attention to repeated plant thefts. Allium buds and irises have both been taken. "I hope that neighbourhood people will keep a watch, as this kind of thing is very discouraging. I am keeping my fingers crossed that few of the buds are broken, so everyone can enjoy the blooms."
Our attention to the sad state of areas affected by recent construction. A huge bin blocks the Liberation tulips along the west side of the school. And the soil near the south garden boxes is muddy and compacted. Please send photos and comments so we can ask the principal Lisa Edwards (recently given an HVRA Community Builder Award) and the TDSB to ensure that landscaping is restored around these valuable boxes.
Thanks to all the contributors to this eblast. Please keep sending photos, links, and ideas to gardeners@harbordvillage.com.
Messages prepared by Margaret Procter for the Harbord Village Gardeners
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Angela Miles has been struggling to eradicate two spectacularly invasive plants from her front garden. One of them is wintercreeper, a form of euonymus which she at first thought was periwinkle and now realizes is a real threat to other plants. This article gives a vivid description and warning about what happens when wintercreeper isn't eradicated: 
