Prologue: I read an interesting article about reading Companion Books. Written by a teacher, she suggested that fiction and non-fiction texts can compliment each other. The author recommends that pairing books can deepen our understanding of a topic by engaging our minds and hearts. In preparation for this article, I read the main book The
I was curious to find more about this book after it was mentioned by a speaker at the Toronto MG Technical Update in January of this year. The author, Ken Thompson is a plant ecologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield (UK) in the Dept of Animal and Plant Sciences. I found it
New Naturalism, by Kelly D. Norris Some books are just a joy to read- this is one such book. Norris has an engaging writing style, the book is replete with stunning photographs of naturalized gardens and there are a plethora witty and engaging engaging quotes. The book encourages gardeners to re-think their approach to gardens
Lady beetles or ladybird beetles are very familiar and widely recognized predators of garden pests. Their phylum is Arthropoda, Class: Insecta; Order: Coleoptera; and Family: Coccinellidae. True bugs have sucking mouth parts, to extract juices from plants, but lady beetles, being predators, have chewing apparatus, so are not classified as bugs. They feed on soft-bodied
Yellow Flag Iris Iris pseudacorus- Example of invasive species, imported as a water garden plant. It has escaped from gardens and now infests the shores of the
Avon River in Stratford.