Lyndon Penner's Somewhat Premature but Enthusiastic Book Fan Club

Here's Lyndon, standing next to the Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' in my garden--a plant he is poignantly envious of, since maiden grasses don't flourish in short-season gardens east of the Rockies.

I, along with an unknown number of Lyndon's garden/nature/wild kindred spirits west of the Rockies are eagerly awaiting the forthcoming publish-ment (I made up that word) of his BOOK in 2014 entitled something pious like The Short-Season Yard but promising to be oozing with his irreverent, way funny, at times scalding, borderline restricted--yet thoroughly educational--scribings on Horticultural Matters of Import.

I have to say I'm simply astonished at the dimensions of Lyndon's knowledge and enthusiasm for the Green World and secretly wish I had a 'Lyndon App' to fill in my gaps with fascinating facts.

Lyndon has been a New Friend highlight in this past year, as he gypsies his way to and fro, teaching horticultural courses from Alberta to Saskatchewan, leading nature interpretive walks in Waterton National Park, and roving to the West Coast when the rainforests call.

This is his first book contract and he wrote it so fast the publisher's head is spinning.

I'm starting the book fan club now.

The link to the Amazon order-your-book-here page: Short Season Yard

His Jadecypress blog link: One Voice Calling Out From the Garden

This Dec/Jan  :)

Liz & Len's non-profit Made-in-Nepal Jackets!!

Here's the link to friends Liz n' Len's website for their fundraising business. They met a family during a trek in Nepal in 2011 and have, with tremendous effort, organized the import of these super-colour-fragilistic jackets, which are selling like hotcakes here in North Vancouver. All the proceeds will fund the education of the two little kids in Nepal..

Check out their new website and line up for Christmas!      Jackets for Jasper

Last Days of Hammock Season...

The sun is setting on the Hammock-able days of 2013.

Napping was never as much fun, don't you agree, Pooey? Stop staring at me.













The Japanese maple has shaken off its facade of green and now matches Hammock's crimson stripes...
...bare feet have retreated into gray wool socks...
...the magnolia canopy is becoming a golden lacework rather than a dense green...
...Daylight Savings Time ends next week...

...So now's the time to gaze skyward/toe-ward in a sea of colour., cram your homies (or as many as will fit) into Hammock for a photoshoot.














My ca-tree-dral....

Outdoor Art, Printed on Aluminum Panels by Diana Zoe Coop

Diana is one of my clients. One of her other distinguishing features is that she creates these glorious works of art. If you can imagine, her garden has much the same colour palette--so close in fact, that you can hardly tell where the real plants end and the painted backdrops begin.

She has recently had a couple outdoor soirees to showcase the pieces that she has had printed on aluminum panels so that they can be installed on outdoor surfaces. This is an AMAZING idea for our dreary winters! Imagine having year-round colour when you look out your window in November...December...January...February...March...

I also love the idea of gardening around the painted panels...so the Real and Imagined blend together.

The backdrop for the show in these pictures is the spectacular private Japanese garden of Diana's friends, over on Richelieu Ave. in Vancouver. If you are rich, famous, or lucky (1 out of 3 ain't bad, like me) you too can visit this piece de resistance on the Vancouver garden scene. On this particular day, the rain rained non-stop, which did in fact serve to showcase the purpose of a permanant poly-pigmented panel in your panorama.

Ideally, one would install the panels on an upright surface, like a fence panel, the wall in an outdoor alcove, or any 'garden room.' Art pieces are essential for the contemporary modern style. Don't we all aspire?

Sooo many mushrooms!

Mushrooms everywhere!!
The picture to the right was the last straw: mushrooms at the beach. I can't go anywhere these days without noticing mushrooms, never the same variety twice it seems, in multitudes of colours shapes sizes and habitats.


(Me and visiting mom at said beach, moments before finding Beach Mushrooms. WTF what-the-fungus)

Something to do with the weather...a hot  dry summer punctuated with just the right amount of rainy deluges...a wet September...a dry October...and voila: Fungi Fiesta.

Mushroom pickers must be delirious--I don't know much beyond the basic life cycle myself, and the general precaution not to eat any unless they have been approved by a seasoned mushroom-ologist (mycologist). But I can feel their joy.

There's something wonderful, anyways, how mushrooms erupt from the forest floor..or the beach..like little people in big hats, oblivious to their vulnerability.

In fact, what we notice as mushrooms are the fruiting/spore-producing bodies for the root structures or mycelium that form networks in the soil. A year like this reveals how much lies hidden most of the time--there are varieties emerging this year that mycologists haven't seen for 15 years!


I've also noted that the mushroom patches on my clients' properties--usually just over the bank on the green belts or under trees in low-traffic areas--have generally exploded in size...probably indicating the true size of the underlying mycelium.


I just like photographing them because they appeal to my gnome-like sensibilities.











Friend Brenda, Amanita,Puff the Magic Dragon, and me.
I somehow missed the shroom stage of my life. Brenda thinks that's funny, and a little sad.