Spring Theories: Ghost Deer in the Garden of the Mind

It’s now full-on spring in the sheltered woodland of my northern un-cottage garden.

The crabapple tree is weeping shell-pink blossoms as the red lady ferns unfurl from beneath its dappled shadow. Spiky filaments of Camassia and Allium light up the sunnier beds in a wandering halo of purple and blue.

If spring is about new life, it’s also about unearthing fresh ideas. With that in mind, here are my ‘spring theories’ – designed to either stir the imagination or stir the pot, as you will.

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Garden Design Goes Native

A new movement of native planting advocates is showing us how we can help sustain the matrix of biodiversity upon which all life depends – including our own.

To delve deeper, I spoke with Toronto ecological designer and former wild plant nursery owner Charles Kinsley to learn how urban gardeners can create and sustain a native garden.

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Home Ground: The Uncottage Garden

I’m raising the curtain on something of a secret world.

It’s where for the past decade and more, I’ve immersed myself from early spring until late fall in the making of a different kind of garden. Mine is a naturalistic garden – designed to emulate something of the spirit and feeling of nature itself. And in many ways, the plantings look as if they have simply materialized over time.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

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