The instant ice and snow recede, the wheels and chalk come out and sidewalks in every neighbourhood bloom with the first pastel colours of spring. Continue reading
Category Archives: Breaking Dormancy
Inuk sculptor’s connection to Toronto began in a dream
How did world-renowned Inu sculptor Abraham Anghik Ruben hook up with a Woodbridge art gallery and its Italian-Canadian owners? It started with a dream…
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A Garden as a Public Gesture
A church site is always filled with religious symbols, and it is strange to see this non-Christian anomaly on their land. But that is a part of the point – it is not their land. Embedding a Native cultural symbol in the actual land is a very concrete recognition of this state of affairs. Continue reading
Bilton Laneway: Transforming Orphan Space
Who and what does it take to protect the trees and turn a trash-strewn laneway into a tiny community garden and social space? Continue reading
Renovation imperfect
Why would anyone leave a dilapidated little hut attached to a beautifully renovated modern house in mid-town Toronto? We speculate. Continue reading
Seeding Unconventional Gardens
Experience the great references of literature in your own backyard while you grow a sunflower house. Here’s how you can do both. Continue reading
The Morning Star Who Knows No Setting
Resurrection is a wish, a religious belief, a myth as old as recorded history and as current as the latest sci-fi movie. Apropos of the vernal equinox and its attendant holidays, Robert Fisher recounts many versions of the concept. Continue reading
From Troubadours to Haiku: nine voices of spring
To celebrate the arrival of spring (it IS coming) our erudite contributor, Robert Fisher, has chosen nine poems from the ages: classical, Chinese, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Japanese, and some more recent – as in the 19th century. Read, enjoy, think warm thoughts. Continue reading
BREAKING DORMANCY
Idiosyncratic gardens, structures or street configurations are our home touchstones, our local weird or unusual expressions of untrendy taste and individual vision that exemplify the diversity and variety of our city neighbourhoods. Continue reading
A Property of Art
Topiaries are usually not expressions of abstract art or movement. They are often the result of conventional design and constrained execution. Not this one. The partnership of a ‘tree artist’ and an encouraging homeowner has resulted in an extraordinary creation. Continue reading