Art's garden runs to a little-used ravine in central Toronto. This is a view in autumn just a year ago. The pink flowers in the foreground are actually window box plants (primarily Nemesia denticulata 'Confetti') on a second floor balcony, and the tree canopy going down into the ravine is mainly oaks (Quercus). To the right, the scarlet is from a neighbour's stag's horn sumach (Rhus typhina) trees, and the blue evergreens at the far right are actually part of a hedge of Wichita blue junipers (Juniperus scopulorum 'Wichita blue') down the north side of the garden.

The other outdoor shot is of the front of my house, where I also have a garden--in lieu of a lawn (and have had a garden with no lawn at two different houses since 1983). I believe if you are going to have a garden instead of a lawn, it should include a large percentage of plants that will provide colour and interest throughout the winter, and NOT just herbaceous perennials which provide little or no interest in the winter months. The deciduous shrub in the foreground slightly left of centre is Japanese beautyberry (Callicarpa japonica) which is hardy to zone 6b. A hard pruning in early spring usually results in a good show of bright mauve/purple small fruit which contrast with the yellowing foliage here. Up against the house, beneath the window is a blue Michaemas daisy (Aster novi-belgii) 'Professor Kippenburg'.

The third photo here is an older one of my greenhouse before I installed the nice clay tile floor! The white and red flowers are camellias (Camellia sp.) which spend their summers outside on my deck (they make up part of the background green on the front cover shot of my book Gardening Off The Ground) and begin to flower in the greenhouse usually in February. There is also a tangerine tree and several cacti and other succulents.

In the two newer shots above, on the left is another taken of my back garden from about the same place but three years later (fall 2000) wherein the window boxes along the balcony railing were planted with Nemesia fruticans ‘Blue Bird’, interspersed with yellow Unwin’s dwarf hybrid dahlias. Taken from a slightly different angle, the red at the back of the garden, slightly right of centre, is from two Japanese maples (Acer japonicum and Acer japonicum ‘Rubrum’) grown together, as one, for a contrast in foliage colours all season long, but when this was taken the predominant colour is, of course, red. The shot on the right shows the back garden in December 2000 with the garden lights on. The “sticks” appearing through the snow right of the centre are the old stems of a hardy grass that grows in the pond, and remains there (at the bottom) over winter. The brighter light just beyond that is actually a plastic globe that floats on the pond all year and in winter shines through the snow, until it deepens sufficiently.