Gardening in Toronto

Pleasance Crawford, a Canadian landscape and garden history researcher
and writer, is the editor of Landscape Architectural Review.

Bookstores and libraries offer many excellent books on the basics of
home gardening. Any new book on the subject should therefore provide
updated information, present routine information in a more accessible
form, or take a unique approach to the topic.

Gardening in Toronto is the first in a series that, according to the
introduction and back cover, will soon extend to “Halifax, Vancouver,
Calgary and other major Canadian centres” and provide information
“tailored to local climate and soil conditions.” Given the growth of
Canada’s urban centres, their significant geographic and climatic
differences, and the continued rise of interest in gardening, such a
series could provide uniquely region- and site-specific information.

Although its author has more than 30 years’ Ontario experience in
grounds management and horticulture, this first book in the series is
disappointing. Its back-cover claim—“a must for beginning and
intermediate home gardeners”—seems considerably overblown,
especially its claim to have special relevance to Toronto gardeners.
Some random examples: Squirrels eat their share, or more, of the tulips
and crocuses planted in Toronto each fall, yet they are mentioned
neither in the bulbs section nor in the index. The Civic Garden Centre
of Metropolitan Toronto and the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington
offer Toronto gardeners expert free gardening advice by telephone, plus
exceptional horticultural libraries, yet neither they nor any other
resources are listed in the book. According to p. 13, Toronto is in Zone
6, with some areas falling in 6a, others in 6b, and “areas with their
own microclimates may occur anywhere.” Surely a book on gardening in
Toronto might attempt a more detailed analysis of its microclimates.
Shade—about which whole books for urban gardeners have been
written—receives a single paragraph. Balconies and containers—which
are the very basis of many Toronto gardens—also receive only brief
mentions.

Looking again at the back cover’s claim to this book being
“tailored to local climate and soil conditions,” I fear that other
books in the series will be similarly “tailored”: with a snip here,
a cut there, an insertion or an embellishment here and there—but with
the same one-size-fits-all for a pattern.