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.

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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.

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Triple Dutch Feature: Deep, Deeper, Deepest

Ah. Welcome to the New Perennialist Theatre. Your seat is waiting. We have three remarkable art films ready for viewing – two short and the third is feature length.

Admission is free. Popcorn is strictly optional. Leave your secateurs at the door.

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The Gardener’s Speech: Bringing the High Line Home

This past Monday, the Parkdale Toronto Horticultural Society invited me to speak on a highly prescient theme: Bringing the High Line Home. It was a stellar opportunity to talk about the New Perennial planting style and my recent design workshop experience in the Netherlands. I presented a photographic odyssey of Piet Oudolf’s work intertwined with

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