Just a little Bit More from Landscape Ontario Expo

I'm volunteering for the Oakville Horticultural Society as their newsletter editor and was spending any available time last week, writing (have to get to work on finding more writers), and editing - and replacement hole filling.  Thank goodness for photographs and a loose-ish publishing deadline.  I was very happy to put the November issue to bed and receive the words from the printer - "your job is ready."  Hooray.  Will post a link later for anyone who might want to read it and hopefully join us at the society if you're close by - you don't have to live in Oakville to be a member....

This is near my Aunt Carolyn's house in Scarborough - it's a group home and the workers do a fabulous job every year of decorating for their residents.

This was the fog before the storm on our morning walk.  Fortunately for us Sandy was just heavy rain and high winds.  Over the last couple of years, most of unstable old trees have come down, so there were a few branches here and there - nothing major.

And, now back to Landscape Ontario Expo.  One of the things we learned about at our Garden Writers Association meeting was that Canada is going to host one of the largest floral exhibitions ever, timed to coincide with our Sesquicentennial in 2017.  Flora Niagara will be a 69 acre site - right next to Niagara Falls - and two further satellite sites at Vineland and the Royal Botanical Gardens.  Bigger in size than Floriade 2012 in Venlo, it is an ambitious event that should draw people from around the world to help us celebrate our 150th birthday.  The organizers have said to us - spread the word to our American friends - "Get Your Passports!  You're not going to want to miss this."  

Rodger Tschantz - everyones favourite flower professor at the University of Guelph gave us a presentation on the standouts at the trial gardens - more on this later when I can get his notes and my photos organized.  Nothing worse than banging on about a flower and how pretty it is if I can't show you.

Down on the floor of the exhibition, looking for trends, it would seem that the decorating world is oozing outdoors like one of those Blob movies.  Plastic isn't just for grass these days, it would appear that if you have any space that looks like wood, rock or soil, you can now cover it in woven plastic.  Because it is recycled polypropylene it is considered a green product.  Not my idea of green, but I guess those yogurt containers have to go somewhere.  You can see how the trend in decorating, making your home look like a graphic novel, continues onto the deck.  Bring on the fake ficus and rubber-rubber plant.

Well, isn't this pretty.  I've never seen such a wonderfully illustrated container of fertilizer.

Poor photo, but here are the pots to go with the carpets.  Blues, some yellows, lots and lots of neutrals, and just one colour per pot.  My aunt was looking for a decorative pot for her new living room and wanted something more in a Chinese goldfish style pot.  You know, the pretty painted pots that don't look like they've come from the sturdy blue pot factory.

Another interesting trend & I was given some to try, is the category of 'bullet-proof grass'.  New to our market is a variety called CuttingEdge Grass Seed www.cutttingedgegrass.com.  They claim there is virtually no cutting, no watering, no fertilizing.  Heck, if this stuff works, and I was in the plastic grass business I'd be really worried.

It is a blend of Kentucky Blue and other cultivars, but the roots grow 48".  To get the deep roots, you curtail your watering after the 45 day establishing period, which sends those magical roots deep into the ground to look for water.  I'll be trying my sample out next year.....stay tuned.

 So it's goodbye for now to L.O. Expo - really an excellent show - and out to the garden for me for more fall chores.