Featured

After a splendid last night in Prague when we went to Reduta, a famous jazz club, for a night of Billie Holiday music, we headed out of the city for Vienna. But first, we stopped at the Dancing House (Fred and Ginger), the famous Frank Gehry architectural landmark, to take a few pictures. Lednich Castle on the way to Vienna On the...

We travelled in a luxury double-decker coach from Berlin to Prague, stopping on the way in Dresden where we had a splendid lunch and time to shop and look around.Dresden was tragically bombed during the Second World War and much of its heritage downtown was turned into rumble.  Dresden area next to the Church of Our Lady Over the past 20...

Our last few days in Berlin were spent visiting Museum Island in the centre of the city.We also took the train to Charlottenburg Palace on the outskirts of Berlin and also enjoyed an open-top boat ride on the Spree River.On Museum Island, we visited the Pergamon Panorama, a 360-degree multi-media presentation designed to take you back 1,900 years to...

The Beautiful Cities Tour got off to a great start this week with all of us arriving in Berlin for the start of a fabulous trip that will take us to Prague and Vienna and Bratislava.In Berlin, we toured all the top sites from the Brandenburg Gate to the Reichstag and the Berlin Wall as well as key war...

Today, I am delighted to announced the official launch of my 15-day Ireland Grand Circle Tour.It will start in Dublin on Oct. 1 and circle around the picturesque south coast and along the sensational west coast and up to Northern Ireland, Derry, Belfast and out to the Giant’s Causeway before returning to Dublin. We will be staying in excellent hotels including a...

In 2017, I visited Ireland with friends, after being in England’s Lake District and North Wales.From Dublin, we went down the east coast to Wexford and Waterford, seeing some fabulous gardens on the way.It was a glorious adventure. The gardens of Ireland are simply fantastic, far better than I ever imagined. I am still talking today about how wonderful...

My next garden tour-adventure will be a 13-day Beautiful Cities Tour from May 17-29, starting in Berlin, then moving on to Prague and concluding in Vienna with a side trip to Bratislava in Slovakia.(AS OF JAN. 4, THIS TOUR IS NOW SOLD OUT)This tour will be a fabulous trip to some of Europe’s most beautiful, historic and culturally delightful...

My dear friend and travel companion Larry Wick, one of North Vancouver’s most well-known gardeners, has died at the age of 99. Larry in Hong Kong on his way with us to Myanmar Larry travelled with us to South Africa, Spain, Morocco and Myanmar. Larry with me in cactus garden in South Africa Everyone loved Larry. He was a wonderful, gentle, kind-hearted guy,...

My garden tour to Southern England and the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey and Sark began in London on May 14. It was my 30th garden tour and the seventh one to England.  Enjoying a pint in the Churchill Arms in Kensington after just arriving in London In the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, I had no concerns about travelling mask-free...

Our next garden tour adventure will be to Southern England and the Channel Islands from May 14 to 27, 2023.Many people have already booked a spot on this tour but there is still time for you to sign on if you'd like to join us. The hotels have agreed to save space for extra guests, but there is, naturally, a...

Today, I’m pleased to announce two unique international garden tours - a 15-day one to Sicily and Malta in September, and a 14-day trip to Southern England and the Channel Islands in May, 2023.  They are both fabulous. You may like one more than the other, although some people have told me they intend to do both. Yes, the Sicily-Malta tour...

We’ve just got back from a 16-day trip to Spain and England. So how hard was it, travelling in these Covid-scary times?Well, the first issue we had to deal with was literally making sure we could get on the flight out of Vancouver. On the London Tube with masks in place.It's the safest way. We were going to Barcelona via Munich,...

Some years ago, I was invited to see the Beaty Museum of Biodiversity on the University of B.C. campus.  I never got there, but I always regretted not making more of an effort. This week, Spring Break, I decided to remedy that and visit the museum with my grandchildren, Maya and Banks.

Laskett, the garden of Sir Roy Strong The decision to visit a garden is an important one. It's a commitment that starts deep in the soul, I believe, and it's a decision that is then manifested by the eventual physical walk to the garden. The process of getting...

The recent devastating dam disaster in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil, made me think back to our visit to the region in 2013 to see Inhotim, the fabulous garden/art complex, located in the same area as the dam, just a short distance from Belo Horizonte. Dam disaster in Minas Gervais, Brazi

In May, I will be in London with a tour group, visiting the Chelsea Flower Show, which this year runs from May 21 to 25 in its usual spot on the grounds of the Chelsea Hospital by the Thames. This is always an exciting event. Chelsea is the world’s premier show. There...

It’s not at all unusual for gardeners to grow old and discover they are unable to take care of their garden as well as they would like. It’s a sad but common eventuality. And what often happens is that such gardens - even very beautiful ones that have taken years and years...

INDIA IN FEBRUARY Palace garden, New DelhiGarden tomb of HumayunClaridges, New DelhiChandigarh Taj MahalUdaipurTea pickers in MunnarSunset in Kerala Kingfisher on Arabian SeaOn Lake Pichola in Udaipur. ITALY IN MAY Pretty view on ProcidaCaserta Garden, NaplesPizza at Piz, MilanOn Isola BellaHappy hour in BellagioBosco...

I have walked through Leicester Square in London many times over the years. I lived in London for a time in the 1970s when I worked as a reporter for the Evening News and I’ve been a frequent visitor to London since I came to live in Canada. 

I love my garden tools. But there is one I love more than all the rest - my beautiful, multi-functional, never tarnishing, never deteriorating, never diminishing six-in-one hand-trowel. I love, love, love it.  And I’ve had it for years and years and years. So you’ll understand my alarm, my despair, my devastation when I stepped out into the garden...