About
Talk about a split personality-a good thing my sign is Gemini!
Do I want to be all flowery and own every plant in the universe (yes!) or do I want to go minimal with green architecture (also yes!).
What’s a poor girl to do?
I am a floral designer/gardener who lives in Toronto, but insisted on buying a house in Owen Sound with a large garden. Married a city boy, so it has to be a big lot in town. So we bought 3/4 of an acre and I notice every square foot when I am cutting the grass (part of the deal).
Follow my adventures as I design my garden from the existing blank page.
This will be its story.
Update: For those of you, just tuning in, we were transferred to Barbados, for a three year work assignment, arriving December, 2010. Now, I am really a long distance gardener, going back and forth between properties, seems I like a challenge!
I am a floral designer living in a tiny condo in downtown Toronto, Canada's largest city. But on the weekend, I am a gardener/frustrated architect trying to keep up with a 3/4 acre garden in Owen Sound, Ontario, a warm (to Canadians, Zone 5b, and a cold (to Americans, Zone 4b) garden.
Green Theatre 
teza said,
September 9, 2009 @ 7:42 PM
Deborah:
I couldn’t find you listed in Blotanical so thought I would contact you here – hope you don’t mind!
Thanks for visiting and the comments you have left. It is nice to have another gardener within travelling distance from me. Blotanical is great but usually it means provinces or countries in between!
Here is my email. Perhaps we can communicate this way as I usually take up too much space in comments sections on blogs…LOL! Get him talking about plants and look out!
tezalizard@gmail.com
Hope to hear from you soon
Teza
sequoiagardens said,
September 30, 2009 @ 5:03 PM
Hi again Deborah!
I sort of lost track of you, till your comment today on my blog (thanks for that: yes, Harold and Vita are probably my greatest single source of inspiration, although sixteen years after the relationship started I am aware that my scale tends to be much larger and my bounderies more transparant. My best moments are where the rooms are divided by translucent screens rather than solid walls.)
I’ve been on your blog before but not explored it. I LIKE the design, and the integration and simplicity of it. And I love your description of the garden as only YOU can see it because it is all still in your head. How often I have to say that to my guests! I will be in touch, and back to visit your site. Keep up the great work!
Jack
kilbournegrove said,
September 30, 2009 @ 11:07 PM
Jack, thank you so much for your kind comments. I do hope you will come back and please make some comments, I really admire your garden and I am hoping that I can learn alot from you. Harold and Vita were my first source of inspiration, however they now have been joined by David Hicks, Roy Strong, Frank Cabot, Paul Bangay and many, many more. I want to achieve that perfect combination of formality, and a little whimsy as well.
Deborah
debra phillips said,
October 19, 2009 @ 3:39 PM
deborah;
thanks for commenting on my blog………………yes! what is it about men in kilts?!
we have much in common, like your blog
my best
debra
kilbournegrove said,
October 19, 2009 @ 10:10 PM
Thanks Debra, we also have our name in common, LOL.
debra phillips said,
October 25, 2009 @ 6:18 PM
and now pumpkin martini;s! try them yet?
kilbournegrove said,
October 25, 2009 @ 6:41 PM
I am saving them for Hallowe’en. Although, I looked at your recipe again, I have not seen pumpkin liquer before, what was the brand?
Michelle said,
October 30, 2009 @ 3:20 PM
Thank you Deborah for welcoming me to the Botanical and for your kind comment on my blog – I look forward to meeting new folks here. Should be fun. I enjoy taking pictures of our surrounding beauty – trees, plants, flowers, etc etc. It is fun and I feel so blessed to have lovely nature around me. Thanks again. Michelle
kilbournegrove said,
October 30, 2009 @ 9:10 PM
Michelle, I have met so many very nice gardeners and I have only been on Blotanical for one month, actually a month today. Looking forward to reading about your garden.
Gilly in Ariege said,
March 15, 2010 @ 2:27 PM
Great to see someone else starting a garden from scratch like me. Exciting, isn’t it? I will be back to read all your old posts soon. Thank you for the comment on my new blog.
kilbournegrove said,
March 15, 2010 @ 3:49 PM
It is very exciting, Gilly, and a little nerveracking as well. NO one else to blame any bad design decisions on, lol.
Good luck with your blog, I look forward to reading about your adventures.
anna van maris said,
March 25, 2010 @ 8:44 PM
hi there
as designer and one of the creators of the cob house at canada bloom i have to tell you that it is indeed a building method that is hardy in canada.
check out the st thomas church in shanty bay. it was built in 1840
still standing with an active congregation.
also a house in weston toronto.
150 yrs old.
we did our research and we need to do more but oh boy there are great possiblities.
This method of construction is one of the most sustainable building products i have ever seen. it uses up subsoil clay.
all of us should be considering further research into its applications.
anna. president parklane nurseries ltd.
kilbournegrove said,
March 26, 2010 @ 9:24 PM
Anna, thank you for visiting my blog and leaving this comment. I found your garden at Canada Blooms fascinating, especially the cob house. Amazing to know that there are such old cob houses, still in Canada, but it makes sense, bricks are made of clay. What a great use this would be of sub-soil clay, certainly no end to the supply, lol. I hope the day will come when this kind of building is as common as wood or brick.
Bluebell Garden Services said,
April 1, 2010 @ 11:45 AM
Hey I lived in Hamilton, Ontario when I was a little girl – my mom had my sister there in 1980!
Your pictures are amazing!
Rhonda
kilbournegrove said,
April 6, 2010 @ 9:25 AM
Rhonda, Scotland and Canada have always had a very close relationship, my mum came here from Glasgow when she was a child, many of her aunts and uncles came as well.
I am glad that you have enjoyed my pictures, and thank you for visiting and leaving a comment. I hope to see you back again soon.
Paul said,
September 16, 2010 @ 6:08 PM
Ah, so it’s a Gemini thing. Now my garden is starting to make sense!
kilbournegrove said,
September 17, 2010 @ 8:41 AM
It is good to have ‘something’ to blame it on, eh Paul. Thank you for visiting my blog and making a comment, I hope to see you back again soon.
Sandria Leveille said,
September 14, 2012 @ 9:58 AM
Hi there,
I was reading your blog about being in Barbados and gardening.
We spend 6 weeks in Barbados away from the Winter in Canada. I look forward to Spring awakings here in Canada in my own garden, hoping that the hot weather has followed me to my other home.
Barbados and Canada are my homes away from home.
kilbournegrove said,
October 16, 2012 @ 9:12 AM
They are mine as well now Sandra, both beautiful countries, we are lucky girls. Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a comment, I hope to see you again soon.
wendy said,
April 9, 2013 @ 3:58 PM
do you know where I can buy the acer shirasawanum “full moon maple”?
Alice Smart said,
April 15, 2013 @ 4:22 PM
You have a very beautiful and well co-ordinated site! I am a friend of Janus Belanger and found her name on your site – she does fabulous work with her green thumb! Could you pass along my email address to her so we can reconnect? Thank you so much … Alice & Ted Smart – asmartdressmaker@hotmail.com … thank you …
zackosborne said,
October 25, 2013 @ 11:12 AM
Hi there! I love your site. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to feature your blog in the Winter 2014 issue of Trellis Magazine, the Toronto Botanical Garden’s quarterly publication. Please let me know if you would prefer not to be mentioned. Thanks! librarian[at]torontobotanicalgarden[dot]ca.