As we anxiously await Spring, are you dreaming of new garden centres and locations for gardening inspiration?  Well, we have a location for you on this episode of Down the Garden Path. Whistling Gardens is a Garden Center and Botanical Gardens, in Wilsonville, Ontario. Owner and creator, Darren Heimbecker joins us to tell us all that is happening at Whistling Gardens. They have something for everyone. A unique Garden centre with carefully sourced speciality plants like unique and rare Japanese Maples and Dwarf Conifers. The Botanical Gardens that Darren has created is now home to North America's largest public Peony Collection, thanks to an extensive donation of a private collection.  It is also home to a large Conifer Collection of over 2000 specimens displayed throughout the extensive gardens. An all stone open-air amphitheatre surrounded by over 90 fountains. These fountains are featured in a daily musical performance as the fountains dance to the music several times a day. A perfect place to go for garden inspiration, they also book wedding and other events and private tours are available. Whistling Gardens has received national and municipal award recognition as the recipient of Canada's Best New Garden Experience Award presented at the Canadian and International Garden Tourism Awards. Listen in to hear more about it.   

Whistling Gardens

On Down the Garden Path Podcast, landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes. She believes it is important and possible to have great gardens that are low maintenance. On Down the Garden Path, she speaks with industry experts and garden authors to educate listeners on how to seasonally manage their gardens and landscapes.

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This week on Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw welcomes Garden Media's Katie Dubow back to the podcast to discuss new plants and products for 2024. About Katie Dubow Katie Dubow is the president of Garden Media Group, a women-owned and run public relations firm specializing in the home and garden industry and celebrating its 31st year in business. Author of the annual Garden Trends Report, Dubow travels the world scouting and presenting garden trends to audiences from Italy to Chicago. Some of the questions and topics covered:  The spring runways shows are in full swing Foraging brings the beauty of nature indoors  What is foraging? Are there tools for foraging that make it easy to do?   Knock Out roses are easy-care year-round blooming roses  What’s new this spring?   Azaleas are beautiful shrubs, but gardeners should know about new Autumn azaleas: what are they? What is a combo that will attract bees, birds, and butterflies?  What have you found works for a succulent garden and provides resources for night pollinators? Spring is the season for migration and having food as they travel back north: what do you suggest for our yards?   What are other organic products that support a healthy environment? Tomatoes are one of the most popular vegetables to grow in the garden or containers, especially cherry tomatoes  What is your favourite this year?   Where can listeners learn more about these new garden Superstar flowers and products?  Follow Katie Dubow online: Facebook: KatieGardenGirl Instagram: KatieGMG Find Garden Media Group online: Website: www.gardenmediagroup.com Facebook: Garden Media Group Instagram: GardenMedia Pinterest: GardenMedia LinkedIn: Garden Media Group Twitter: GardenMedia Find Down the Garden Path online: Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast. You can also email your questions and comments to downthegardenpathpodcast@hotmail.com, or connect with Joanne via her website: down2earth.ca  Down the Garden Path Podcast On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes. As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.  In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing distill their horticultural and design expertise and combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. Get your copy today on Amazon. Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

New Plants and Products for 2024 with Katie Dubow

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses hellebores with returning guest Dawn Golloher from Gardens Plus. Dawn Golloher is the owner-operator of Gardens Plus, an independent garden centre in Peterborough, Ontario, specializing in easy-care perennials.  Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:  Can you give us a bit of a history on hellebores? There are several classifications of hellebores.  Helleborus niger and Helleborus orientalis are the most common.   Helleborus niger also called Christmas Rose.  Native to the mountains of southern and central Europe. Christmas Rose can bloom around Christmas time in warmer regions. It is an early blooming perennial for part-shade to shade conditions. They have rose-like petals, some single and some double. The foliage often comes up after the flowers are evergreen. They are a low-maintenance, slow-growing plant and long living in your garden. Because they are slow growing, they are often quite expensive.   Helleborus orientalis is slightly larger than Helleborus niger and is also called Lenten Rose.  It is native to Asia Minor, Eurasia, Greece and Turkey. Also blooms late winter into spring. The foliage is dark glossy green, evergreen and palmately divided. They require shady to part-shade conditions, but it is important to note that they need well-drained moist soil. Not recommended for dry shade. The flowers are distinctive and a lovely palette of colours is available, so it is hard to have only one in the garden. Thanks to their early blooming, they do make a good pollinators. They are disease-resistant, toxic to cats and dogs (so bitter tasting that they really never get eaten) and deer-resistant, as well.   Some of the favourites that Dawn highlighted were:  Ivory Prince (hardy for lower zones) The Wedding Party series of double-flowering hellebores, including Blushing Bride, Confetti Cake The Honeymoon series of single-petaled flowers New York Night and Carnival   Dawn provided some other easy-care perennial recommendations for this year. How is Gardens Plus different from larger nurseries? They add a personal touch to everything that they do. Gardens Plus is opening May 9th this year and will be open Thursday to Sunday until June 30th, 2024.  Find Gardens Plus online:  www.GardensPlus.ca Facebook: @gardensplus Instagram: @gardensplus YouTube: @gardensplus Pinterest: @gardensplus Twitter: @gardensplus  Find Down the Garden Path online: Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast. You can also email your questions and comments to downthegardenpathpodcast@hotmail.com, or connect with Joanne via her website: down2earth.ca  Down the Garden Path Podcast On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes. As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.  Her book Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden is available on Amazon. Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

Hellebores with Dawn Golloher from Gardens Plus

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw welcomes author Margot Anne Kelley to discuss her new book, A Gardener at the End of the World. A gardener’s pandemic journal that combines memoir with an exploration of the natural world both inside and outside the garden, it explores questions of what we can preserve - of history, genetic biodiversity, culture, language and what we cannot. It is ideal for any reader curious about the overlap of nature, science and history. Here are some of the topics covered in this episode:  Margot’s pandemic journal and interest in seeds became the raw material out of which the book evolved. The book is a gardener's pandemic journal with a lovely overview of her garden throughout the season, complemented with a timely history of previous world pandemics and how they related to the current one as a way to understand what was going on. An overview of seeds and plants and their origins, and how they travelled the world and impacted how and what we eat now. How researching past plagues and pandemics was therapeutic: the human race survived many horrible things before and it gave her hope that we would prevail again We can all relate to Margot's solace in her evolving garden, as many of us turned to gardening during that time and even still see the importance of growing our food or at least supporting those who do.  A Gardener at the End of the World is available on Amazon. Find more information about Margot Anne Kelley:  Website: www.margotannekelley.com Social Media: @margotannekelley  Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast. You can also email your questions and comments to downthegardenpathpodcast@hotmail.com, or connect with Joanne via her website: down2earth.ca  Down the Garden Path Podcast On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes. As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.  Her book Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden is available on Amazon. Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

A Gardener at the End of the World with Margot Anne Kelley

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw welcomes Tom Watson from BOLD to discuss landscape lightning. Tom Watson is a Senior Business Development Manager with BOLD (Best Outdoor Living Design), focusing on his territory in Central Ontario. After working in business operations for over nine years, leveraging cutting-edge technologies for strategic growth and process improvement, Tom entered the outdoor lighting industry. Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:  Tell us more about BOLD, the new industry-leading landscape lighting company Landscape lighting is so important, why do you think it can sometimes be forgotten?  We forget about evenings at times during the landscape planning process.   Now that many want to use their outdoor spaces, people are realizing the importance of lighting the space.  New landscape lighting can be added to existing landscapes.   The impact is immediate when homeowners can now use their outdoor spaces in the evening and entertain longer on the weekends.  Mature plants and gardens look beautiful when highlighted with proper low-voltage lighting. Tom refers to this as painting with light!   BOLD lights are CRI 90 or above. Sunlight is 100.  They come with a 7-year warranty.   Are you seeing new trends in landscape lighting?  Black is still the most popular fixture colour. New shape is a reflection of some new shapes in the interlocking industry Smart technology is also popular. Products can be set up and managed through Google Home, Alexa etc.   Where can contractors' homeowners see BOLD products?  Products are available at landscaping dealers. oDisplays will be there for people wh want to see them in person.   BOLD is currently offering Mini Acadamy training to landscapers and designers.  Find more information about BOLD:  Website: www.boldpros.com Instagram: @boldpros @boldpros_tom Facebook: @boldpros  Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast. You can also email your questions and comments to downthegardenpathpodcast@hotmail.com, or connect with Joanne via her website: down2earth.ca  Down the Garden Path Podcast On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes. As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible. In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing distill their horticultural and design expertise and combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. Get your copy today on Amazon. Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

Landscape Lighting with Best Outdoor Living Design (BOLD)

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw welcomes Nick and Hilary VanderHeide of Creekside Growers to discuss their dahlia farm in Delhi, Ontario.  Nick and Hilary VanderHeide started Creekside Growers in 2009 on a farm in a little-known Ontario Hamlet called Hartford, about 45 minutes outside Hamilton toward Lake Erie. Since the start of Creekside Growers in 2009, Nick and Hilary have grown the business into many different sectors. Creekside Growers started as a field-grown wholesale cut peony producer and has since diversified into field-grown wholesale cut dahlias, greenhouse-grown wholesale cut dahlias, and greenhouse-grown dahlia plugs produced from cuttings. Dahlia tubers produced from divisions and cuttings are sold to both wholesale and retail customers. In 2017, Creekside Growers moved to a new farm outside Delhi, Ontario in Norfolk County and has expanded every year since. They farm on 14 acres and 1 acre of greenhouse. Nick and Hilary raise their four children right on the farm where they are homeschooled and have tons of opportunities to be part of the business, learning everything from growing to marketing and even farming finances. Hilary also has a thriving onsite store, The Flower Shack, and the largest u-cut dahlia field in Canada that caters to cash-and-carry customers as well as providing services for weddings, funerals, events, etc. It is a full-service flower shop catering to the Norfolk County area. They also sell a Bloom Box which contains recommended dahlia varieties, fertilizer, quality plant tags and quality clippers. Nicks parting tip: A little bleach in the water helps cut dahlias last longer! Creekside Growers sells all their dahlia tubers through their online store at CreeksideGrowers.ca.  Find more information about Creekside Growers:  Website: www.creeksidegrowers.ca Instagram: creeksidegrow Facebook: @creeksidegrow  Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast. You can also email your questions and comments to downthegardenpathpodcast@hotmail.com, or connect with Joanne via her website: down2earth.ca  Down the Garden Path Podcast On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes. As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.  In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing distill their horticultural and design expertise and combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. Get your copy today on Amazon. Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.

Whistling Gardens

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