Private garden using natives.
Ask a Garden Flinger what turns his or her crank in the garden and you’d best be prepared for a wide variety of responses. Some like it sculpted, many like it native, there are tree lovers, beekeepers, edible erudites, professional landscapers with an eye for the truly unique, and garden hobbyists, to name a few. This palette for plants presents a pretty planning problem for the event planner. Or does it? Apparently not if you’re Helen Battersby and crew who put on a non-stop, can’t-get-enough-of-every-type-of-garden-out-there event in Toronto last weekend. Many thanks to Helen, Sarah Battersby, Lorraine Flanigan and Veronica Sliva for hosting the Fling.
As a first-time Flinger and increasingly devout garden hobbyist, the selection of tour gardens and conversation with other bloggers got my wheels turning about what a garden is and why we garden and I’m looking at my garden endeavor with fresh eyes. Gardening friends, what is your raison d’etre for digging in the dirt? Is your garden energizing? Or does it offer a respite from the day? Are you gardening on a balcony, backyard or football-sized scale? Are you inspired (or inspiring others) through plants, design or art? Is your garden an ecosystem? Does its bounty replenish? Is it up high?
Enjoy this sampling from the 2015 Garden Bloggers Fling.
Garden at the Aga Khan Museum and Ismaili Center.
Private garden.
A plant-loving bed in Ontario gardener Marion Jarvie’s garden.
Rooftop garden at the Hugh Garner Coop.
Container edibles.
Asparagus piled high at the St. Lawrence Farmers Market.
Starting flowers at Sarah’s Nixon’s backyard organic flower farm My Luscious Backyard.
Side yard of private garden.
Private garden.
Garden on Ward’s Island.
Black oak savannah at High Park.
The restored quarry at Evergreen Brick Works.
Hugh Garner Coop rooftop provides all-day views of the city.
Container gardens at Evergreen Brick Works.
Private garden.
Private garden.
Private garden.
The Arch City Gardener 
June 12, 2015 at 2:05 am
Great pix! Looks like it was a fabulous trip.
June 12, 2015 at 10:48 pm
It was amazing!
June 12, 2015 at 2:14 am
Mimi, it was so nice to meet you at the Fling. You’ve put together a wonderfully illustrative sampling of the kinds of gardens we saw. So much variety among both gardens and bloggers, right?
June 12, 2015 at 12:05 pm
Mimi, your photos are so different from mine. How wonderful! I’m in the midst of rethinking my garden and this trip couldn’t have come at a better time – and now having the opportunity to see the gardens through others eyes is a tremendous help as I puzzle what my garden will be for me in the years ahead. B.
June 12, 2015 at 10:46 pm
Barbara, I always enjoy the bird’s eye view of others and look forward to seeing your point of view (lens?). Newer as I am to gardening, I do realize the garden is never finished. Cheers.
June 13, 2015 at 2:05 am
Great selection of photos from the fling – I hope you’ll be posting more. As for me, I like gardens that have a sense of life and abundance. I have a sunny front garden which seeks to excite with hot colors, and a tranquil shade garden in the back. It was great to meet you and talking in Toronto.
June 13, 2015 at 2:16 am
Hi Jason. I enjoyed meeting you and Judy. I like gardens filled with natives and that are relaxed. But of course I am attracted to what I don’t have such as modern contemporary design. But I know that in the long term I would become bored with that and crave more variety. I will be posting more from the Fling and always enjoy your blog.
June 14, 2015 at 10:52 am
You have such a variety of fun images. You covered our fling through the different places visited so well and took photos in places I failed to do. I loved that fun art too, so unexpected. It was a great fling.
June 14, 2015 at 4:30 pm
How on earth did you manage so many pics without a hoard of Flingers milling about? haha! Great overview! ~Julie