Subscribe to The New Perennialist

×

On the Roadside: A Great North American Field Trip

I’m packing my bags, setting the water-timer on my perennial holding bed, updating my passport, and getting the oil checked on my trusty yellow Subaru.

There’s travel in the works.

Next week, I set off for my first Perennial Plant Association (PPA) Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland – said to be a mega-flock of plant nerds. Shortly upon my return, I’m heading east to Québec on a pilgrimage to visit the much fabled Les Quatre Vents gardens in Charlevoix.

I plan to see a lot of roadside on the way. All the better to see the wildflowers of the moment… and maybe even some spaceships like the one pictured above.

Continue reading

The New Perennialist: A Moment in the Sun

Two weeks back, I met up with 70 of my peers coming to Toronto from all over North America for the annual Garden Bloggers Fling.

It’s a gathering of the tribe to meet up in a different host city each year, visit gardens, talk plants, eat some great food, and grab some amazing swag.

The next week by pure coincidence, I was stunned to learn that The New Perennialist had received a 2015 Garden Writers Association Silver Award of Achievement for ‘Best Overall Blog’.

It’s also eligible to win Gold at the 67th GWA Annual Symposium in Pasadena, California this September.

Continue reading

Shady Chic: A Montréal Rendezvous

Montréal! Ooh la la. Cultured, sophisticated, and yes, a little bit seedy. With a history of bootlegging, speakeasies, jazz clubs, hockey dynasties, and organized crime.

But also seedy in a good way as the home to the Montréal Botanical Garden.

Truth be told, Le Jardin Botanique Montréal is my horticultural mistress par excellence.

Continue reading

The New Perennialism: Open Source Planting Design

This is a movement which belongs to no one.

In truth, because the New Perennial movement can belong to anyone and everyone.

First and foremost, it’s about seeing plants in all their four-dimensional splendour and experiencing the slow-motion fireworks, which ensue as they flow and interact.

You don’t need a garden to do that. Just the pupils in your eyes.

Continue reading

Gone to Seed: 2015

Already, there’s been a flurry of activity about all things New Perennialistic for 2015. From my vantage point in subzero Toronto, I can spy everything from a local lecture series to greater stories being released in the form of magazines, books, and a film (more on that later).

It’s safe to say that the zeitgeist of this design movement continues to spread its frost-tipped wings.

Continue reading