Helen Battersby

@gardenfix

Garden writer, speaker, traveller, photographer; co-creator of the award-winning, new Canada Gardener's Journal. Not always in that order. Toronto, Canada. She/Her

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Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Jul 24

Front cover of the Canada Gardener’s Journal featuring sugar maple leaves in fall colours.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Jul 24

The new, Canada-wide version of our long-running garden diary has just earned a Silver Laurel in the GardenComm media awards! #canadagardens #gardening Get yours here: www.foodgardenlife.com/gardening-bo...

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Jul 24

Bloomscrolling with two pieces by my talented mother (flower) and father (vase), both of whom died much too young. These were drawn over 30 years ago. #bloomscrolling #flowersonfriday #canadagardens #art #gardening

Abstract black-and-white sketch of a flower in a vase.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Jul 30

A tiny new butterfly visiting a neighbour’s garden, the Brown Argus (Aricia agestis). It wouldn’t flash me the other side of its wing, but these were lovely enough. That’s a perennial sweet pea, pretty in pink. 🌱 #gardensky #canadagardens #torontogardens #butterfly

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Jul 8

Finally, I began to see the potential for an alphabet. Here’s an accidental F, L, X. All when I should have been helping do dishes. #artmaking #collage #natureisbeautiful

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Jul 8

Another thought as I played with these materials: how many elements can you remove before the design falls apart? #artmaking #lessonslearnedfromdesigners #collage #natureisbeautiful

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Jul 8

On my earlier nature collage theme, it’s fun to compare right-side-up and up-side-down. Which do you prefer, and which do you think is which, #1 or #2? #artmaking #collage #natureisbeautiful

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Jul 7

Ephemeral art using gifts from nature. Here today, scattered tomorrow. #canadagardens #canadacamps #camping #natureisbeautiful

Ephemeral collage made of small campground finds, including lichens, mosses, dried cedar scales, cones, bark, and a discarded snail shell. All arranged on a picnic table bench.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Jun 13

Because I can never get enough of this poppy. ‘Beauty of Livermere.’ #bloomscrolling #canadagardens #torontogardens #gardensky #gardens 🌱 #poppylove #flowersonfriday #photography #nofilter #iphonephotography

Deep red poppy when backlit creates a stained-glass effect.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Jun 12

The arrival of the ‘Beauty of Livermere’ poppies is always a thrill. So red! So crinkly! So look-at-me-everybody! #bloomscrolling #canadagardens #torontogardens #gardensky 🌱 #messygardens #photographingflowers #nofilter

This is the out-of-the-iphone-camera red, red, red of the ‘Beauty of Livermere’ oriental poppy. I wait for its brief yet happy-making appearance every year.

The crinkled tissue-papery petals of the freshly opened flower and the inky black markings and purpley stamens just add to my joy.

My growing patch lost two buds to (probably) marauding squirrels climbing the obelisk placed to keep the stems upright. This spring in Toronto has been particularly wet, so those stems are taller than usual. Naturally, the flowers lean into the sun, so my neighbour enjoys the best view.

That red certainly draws the eye in my messy front garden.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Jun 10

This old dog in Toronto is trying the new trick of growing figs in a cold climate. All thanks to the guidance of Steve Biggs, who literally wrote the book on it! On lemons and (soon) olives, too. Visit: foodgardenlife.com #canadagardens #gardensky 🌱 #edibleplants #growingfruit

Saplings of two of Steve’s favourite figs: ‘Niagara Black’, a purple fig, and ‘Dalmatie’, a green one. These are off-shoots from Steve’s own trees. I’m gardening in Canadian Zone 6b (USDA Zone 5b-ish). He over-winters some in a cool indoor space, and some lie down under straw bales. Fingers crossed for me!

Steve Biggs in his garden with s few of his lemon trees.

The front cover of Steve’s award-winning book, Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t. Buy it from his website foodgardenlife.com

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Jun 3

My first-ever sighting of a double redbud, possibly Cercis canadensis ‘Pink Pom Poms.’ Very showy! But I wonder how it is as a nectar source. Opinions? #bloomscrolling #nativars #gardensky 🌱 #canadagardens #torontogardens #onmywalktoday #floweringtrees

Closeup of the small, multipetalled flowers of this Eastern redbud nativar.

Redbud flowers emerge before the foliage. But when the heart-shaped leaves do begin to come out, as here, they make a handsome contrast.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· May 27

The wabi-sabi beauty of a frizzled tulip. #bloomscrolling #canadagardens #torontogardens #springgarden #bulbs #tulips #photography #photographingflowers

An aging purple tulip with blue and white markings, yellow stamens and an acid-green pistil. Sometimes I love the look of a tulip near the end of its flowering period, like this one. The petals take on fascinating sculptural shapes.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· May 15

When squirrels garden. Yes, they dig up your newly planted bulbs and plant plugs and snap heads off tulips. But sometimes they bring you a gift from someone else’s garden. And this mystery fringed tulip matches my colour scheme perfectly. 😇 #bloomscrolling #gardensky 🌱 #canadagardens #springgarden

Red tulip with spiky yellow fringes around the petal edges.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· May 9

Until the Norway maple street trees leaf out, my dry-shade front garden is a dry, sunny garden. Perfect for spring bulbs. #canadagardens #gardening 🌱 #gardensky #springgarden #bloomscrolling #flowersonfriday

Peach, yellow, and bicoloured red-yellow tulips. I keep to one colour palette, so that any tulips surviving from previous years (like the parrot tulip near the front here) coordinates perfectly. Purple flowers and foliage are complementary accents.

‘Daydream’ tulips I posted on earlier have now aged to almost completely orangey red with a yellow and black eye.

View from my bedroom window shows tulips in situ, surrounding a mass of alliums in bud. Yes, I’ll regret all that soon-to-be yellowing foliage right up front as it ripens. But for now I’m a happy gardener with a conveniently short memory.

Daffodils with a peachy split trumpet (name forgotten at the moment) chosen to match the ‘Orange Queen’ epimediums, with with cool-toned hyacinths to perfume the approach to our front door.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· May 6

Sunset on storm clouds, filtered through our slightly dirty car window. #clouds #cloudappreciationsociety #photography #cloudsky #sunset

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· May 5

An aide memoire for gardeners: when adding a new plant, photograph the tag (both sides, if appropriate) with a clue to the location. The date will likely be added, especially if a phone camera. Instant, easy record-keeping. #gardening 🌱 #gardensky #canadagardens #torontogardens #gardentips

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· May 4

Tulipa ‘Daydream’ gradually changes, becoming more and more orange as it ages. But not every one at the same time. #bloomscrolling #canadagardens #torontogardens #gardening 🌱 #gardensky #springgarden #springbulbs #tulips

‘Daydream’ tulip as it first appears, mostly yellow petals lightly edged in reddish orange

The orange edges widen and deepen in colour after a day or two

A few days more and the petals appear mostly a deep orange, with soft stripes of yellow in the centre and at the base of each petal

A patch of ‘Daydream’ planted at the same time but showing several different stages of colour

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· May 2

It’s cherry blossom time! No crowds. I only needed to keep my eyes open in my neighborhood to be awed by this beauty. #bloomscrolling #canadagardens #gardening 🌱 #gardensky #photography #cherryblossoms #torontogardens

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Apr 30

So much depends on a white tulip. On the wane but lit by sunlight, it almost looks like an etching. #bloomscrolling #canadagardens #gardening #gardensky 🌱 #flowersinavase #photographingflowers #photography #blackandwhitephotography

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Apr 28

Canadian friends: Vote as if your country depended on it. #canada #federalelection2025 #vote

Sign says, “Elections Canada. Vote.” People are lined up to do so.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Apr 19

Thrilled to have bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) clumping up so sweetly in my native plant garden. #canadagardens #gardensky 🌱 #gardening #northamericannativeplants #inmygardentoday #springflowers #springephemerals

The single white flowers and bright yellow stamens of bloodroot, an early-spring ephemeral native to Canada.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Apr 16

A handful of dollar-store marbles add just enough lift so tulips can fan out, not scrunch together, in this narrow glass vase. Must get more! #canadagardens #flowersinavase #bloomscrolling 🌱 #gardensky #gardening #torontogardens #tuliptime

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Apr 13

Self-sown hellebore seedling blooms for 1st time, and I’m delighted to see it’s…delightful. Bright white with faint red star, prominent stamens and nectaries; as a bonus, it’s somewhat upward facing. #bloomscrolling #canadagardens #gardening #gardensky 🌱 #selfseedingperennials

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Apr 11

First blooms of the Helleborus ‘Sandy Shores’ I planted last year live up to their name. Lovely! #canadagardens #gardensky #gardening 🌱 #bloomscrolling #flowersonfriday #fridayflowers #perennials #springgarden #torontogardens

Helleborus ‘Sandy Shores’ is a single hellebore (so has nectaries for early-foraging pollinators). Colour is a creamy pale yellow with purple-red shading and a deep red-purple star around yellow stamens.

The outside of the tepals is a rosy red, shaded with creamy yellow.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Apr 10

Sharing this from IG. Would love to see you there if you live near Creemore, Ontario. #canadagardens #ontariogardens #gardening 🌱 #gardensky #gardentalks #ediblegardens

Garden presentation by Helen Battersby on April 16, 2025 at 7 pm. Station on the Green, Creemore, Ontario, Canada. Designing with Edible Plants for ornamental and edible gardens.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Mar 27

‘Joseph’s Coat’ amaranth is one of the plants in my Designing with Edible Plants presentation. It’s about edible ornamentals and ornamental edibles — and how to use them to make your garden both beautiful and bountiful. 🌱 #gardensky #canadagardens #kitchengardens #flowergardens #gardendesign

Red, yellow, and green variegated foliage rosette closeup of the edible as well as decorative annual amaranth called ‘Joseph’s Coat.’

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Mar 26

Four of my botanically themed favourites in the Competitors Exhibit at the 2025 Spring One-of-a-Kind Show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Details in Alt. 🌱 #gardensky #canadagardens #oneofakindshow #toronto #spring #artisans oneofakindshow.com/home/

Carved wave-form light depicts the ripples and movement of water in natural wood, from Jorge Izaza Wood Art and Lamps at the 2025 Spring One-of-a-Kind Show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Shown horizontally on a tabletop, it might also work as a wall sconce.

An assortment of bottled honeys from Heritage Bee Co. at the 2025 Spring One-of-a-Kind Show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Besides typical wildflower honey, there’s a charcuterie collection and a tempting fig and orange creamed honey.

Fooling the eye with felt versions of camembert cheese, cherry tomates, olives, and crackers. From Akuku at the 2025 Spring One-of-a-Kind Show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Ceramic vase by Mac Ceramics shows aquatic wildlife on three levels. A blue-and-white landscape with evergreens and bald eagle above. A pastel-coloured water world of algae and shellfish below. At the base, a rich bed of mud. At the 2025 Spring One-of-a-Kind Show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Mar 26

“Beach Please” is the theme for the Competitor’s Exhibit at Toronto’s 2025 Spring One-of-a-Kind Show. A few botanically inspired highlights in next post. 🌱 #gardensky #toronto #canadagardens #oneofakindshow oneofakindshow.com/home/

Helen Battersby@gardenfix· Mar 18

Here’s how they looked in February. 😂