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Reposted by Helen Battersby

Titania @titaniasrealm.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

The magical mice of Lily Seika Jones

Four watercolour illustrations of mice in cloaks, pointy hats and with walking sticks and wizard's staves.

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Reposted by Helen Battersby

womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Sandra Victorino, Native American ceramic artist of the Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico #WomensArt

Four ceramic vases grouped in different shapes all with individual black and white geometric patterns

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

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...

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

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.

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Sounds great! I hope someone snaps this up! Break a leg.

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

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

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

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

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

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

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

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

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

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.

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Come over soon. We can compare petals. 😄

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Plain old ones are more orangey-red than yours, I think. Are you sure you don’t have the same as me?

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Everyone needs ‘Beauty of Livermere’!

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Adding #canadagardens — to try to link Canadian plant people together on BlueSky.

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

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.

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

#canadagardens is the tag to bring all of us Canuck gardeners and plant people together. Please spread the word.

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

#canadagardens is the tag to bring all of us Canuck gardeners together. Please spread the word.

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

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

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

You know, I almost used that no-such-word but changed my mind at the last minute. Perhaps for your very reason.

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Reposted by Helen Battersby

Cheryl in Nova Scotia 🇨🇦🍁🍁 @minibubbly.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

A seed company in the Sudbury, Ont., community of Lively is helping with Canada's national re-greening efforts by working to expand national seed production. Northern Wildflowers produces flower, grass, shrub, and tree seeds for home gardening #Ontario #Canada www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

cbc.ca

Sudbury, Ont., seed producer helping expand national seed production through new partnership | CBC News

Northern Wildflowers in the Sudbury, Ont., community of Lively is helping with Canada's national re-greening efforts by working to expand national seed production. The company is one of 13 recipients ...

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

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.

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

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.

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

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.

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

I figured that, but it’s fun to pretend. 😇

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Hey, you named it after me? 😉

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Thanks for the introduction! I love learning about a new-to-me series with enough titles that I can binge read.

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

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

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Yes, so a photo is a joy forever.

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

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

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

I’ll keep my eye out for ‘Shirley’

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Helen Battersby @gardenfix.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Yes, my Hydrangea ‘Quick Fire’ has been a fixture in my garden for years. It blooms/changes earlier than most paniculatas which is a plus for a small garden. I’ve been pruning it into a tree form, because on its own it can become quite plump! Wish I had the space to let it do its thing, though.

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