Storey Publishing LLC
This new title by best-selling author Niki Jabbour releases on December 22.
The Prairie Garden
The Prairie Garden, published in Winnipeg since 1937, is Western Canada’s only gardening annual.
Clive Nichols
This handsome edition is an armchair getaway into fifty private European gardens.
Hearts and Roots
Wool in sheep’s clothing: the yarn from Hearts and Roots Icelandic sheep is perfect for slippers, mitts, and socks.
Do you have big plans for next year? You are in good company. All of us have high hopes for a better and brighter 2021. What gardens will we visit? How will we design our gardens or outdoor spaces and what kinds of plants will we buy and grow? This holiday season give the gift of anticipation.
Let’s start with a few great books that offer fresh new insights into garden making.
Adventures in Eden: An Intimate Tour of the Private Gardens of Europe by Carolyn Mullet (Timber Press, 2020) is an exclusive armchair getaway into fifty private, plant-rich European gardens made in the 21st century. Mullet is a professional garden designer as well as the owner and host at CarexTours. The sensuous imagery of Adventures in Eden combined with the author’s vivid descriptions of private gardens in Belgium, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Scotland, Spain, and Wales is deeply satisfying. Travel quiet country lanes and visit secret hideaways, terraced retreats, and sumptuous garden rooms. Explore traditional, contemporary, and naturalistic gardens. Mullet also highlights the fascinating stories behind stunning restorations of neglected landscapes, some with fearsome terrain challenges or daunting climates.
Enjoy Adventures in Eden for pure escapism but this wonderful new release also offers attainable inspiration for creating or reimagining your own private garden space. Inquire at McNally Robinson for availability.
The 2021 Prairie Garden: The theme for the 82nd annual edition of Prairie Garden is flowering shrubs with a special feature on roses. Published annually by a Winnipeg-based volunteer committee since 1937, The Prairie Garden is a time-honoured tradition that has influenced generations of cold-climate gardeners both in their gardening practices as well as their selection of hardy plants for the landscape.
Editor Linda Dietrick and guest editor Philip Ronald give a personal introduction to this beautifully crafted, colour-illustrated edition. From plant profiles to creative ideas for structure in your garden and information about new breeding, the 2021 Prairie Garden will fire your imagination. The section on roses is an essential and illuminating guide for growing roses successfully. The Prairie Garden is widely available at local bookstores and select garden centres but hurry as copies sell out quickly.
Gardening your Front Yard: Projects and Ideas for Big & Small Spaces by Tara Nolan (Cool Springs Press, 2020). Nolan, who is the author of Raised Bed Revolution (Cool Springs Press, 2016), specializes in do-it-yourself step-by-step projects for the home garden. Gardening your Front Yard offers innovative ideas for reimagining underutilized but valuable front yard space for a whole new take on curb appeal. Illustrated with full colour photos on virtually every page, Nolan’s suggestions range from digging up sod and planting edible-themed gardens to adding privacy patios and embellishments such as hedges, pergolas, and arbors, as well as tips for capturing rainwater on a hell strip. Available online and instore at McNally Robinson and Chapters.
Growing Under Cover: Techniques for a More Productive, Weather-Resistant, Pest-Free Vegetable Garden by Niki Jabbour (Storey Publishing LLC, 2020). This latest book by Jabbour, best selling author and veggie gardener extraordinaire, is hot off the presses. Growing Under Cover releases on December 22 but is available to pre-order online at McNally Robinson and Chapters bookstores. Jabbour has written a timely book filled with firsthand knowledge and inventive techniques that will assist today’s vegetable gardeners who face increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and pest infestations. Photographed in Jabbour’s bountiful Nova Scotia garden, Growing Under Cover illustrates a range of protective structures to help gardeners extend the growing season.
Special stocking stuffer ideas
Pre-order a curated victory garden from Hearts and Roots, a certified organic farm in Elie. The victory gardens or food gardens come in three sizes: container, raised bed and backyard. Britt Embry and Justin Girard, owners of Hearts and Roots, have selected tried and true ready-to-grow edible varieties for you to transplant into your garden next spring. A container victory garden, $35.00, includes tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, mixed greens, basil, parsley, and green onions. Plants will be available for pickup in Winnipeg on May 20 or at Hearts and Roots May 21 and May 22. Every purchase comes with a complimentary workshop which will be held at the farm or online depending on health guidelines. Visit heartsandroots.shop.
Wool in sheep’s clothing: Embry and Girard also raise Shetland and Icelandic sheep at Hearts and Roots. In spring, after shearing their sheep, they send their fleeces to Longway Homestead wool mill to be made into yarn. Why not put your stay-at-home time to good use with knitting, spinning, or weaving projects? The Shetland yarn is worsted and soft, while the chunky and coarser Icelandic yarn is perfect for slippers, mitts, and socks. Now available at Hearts and Roots online store.
In addition, Hearts and Roots offers larger items to choose from as well as lamb meat and pasture-raised chicken. If you place your order without delay, you may be able to pick it up today starting at 1:30 p.m. at 1370 Grosvenor Ave.
T&T Seeds holiday gift collections are available for curbside pickup at its retail location, 7724 Roblin Blvd. T&T Seeds ships all over Canada. Choose from a seed starting kit, a picklers package, a container plants food kit, or a kit for growing big tomatoes. Shoppers can also pre-order a rose garden collection and a mixed bulb collection that will be shipped at planting time. The rose garden collection consists of three roses, Morden Centennial, Love & Peace, Chrysler Imperial, and a jar of Growers Eagle rose fertilizer. The bulb garden collection is a generous mix of dahlias, gladiolus, and lilies. The dahlia mix includes Crème de Cassis which has a double bloom of lilac with burgundy-wine colouring on the undersides of each petal. Details of all the holiday gift collections can be found on page three of T&T’s online catalogue.
Nature Manitoba 2021 Gardens of Distinction garden tour and plant sale: Tickets are $15.00 and are available for purchase now at naturemanitoba.ca. The garden tour and plant sale will be held on July 10. Visit twelve beautiful local gardens in North Main and East Kildonan neighbourhoods. This annual fundraiser is in support of Nature Manitoba which marks its 100th anniversary this year.
Manitoba Opera’s Opera in the Garden series: At the height of summer this year, filming took place in three show-stopping Winnipeg gardens, each one featuring performances by three talented Winnipeg singers. A three-pack video garden series is available for $25.00. Once purchased you can watch as often as you wish. Visit mbopera.ca.
This next item may not arrive in time for the holidays but it’s worth adding to your list. Watson Gloves, a Canadian glove maker since 1918, makes eco-conscious gardening gloves for the whole family. The glove shell is made of WasteNot polyester yarn, an innovative material made from recycled plastic water bottles. The plastic bottles are broken into small pellets, then spun into yarn. The WasteNot collection includes You Grow Girl gloves with water resistant full-grain goatskin leather, hooded fingertips, knuckle bar and pulse protector, and a snug-fitting shirred elastic wrist with slip-on style cuff. Available online at Home Depot.
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