Grounded Resources
Making Gardens
The Gentle Rebellion at the Heart of Natural Gardens
How “orderly frames” help us engage with the landscape and “messy middles” make it truly beautiful.
Design Your Cottage Landscape with the Mystery of a Savanna
How to use native plants to enhance the view between your cottage and the lake.
Try These Native Plants to Solve Those Thorny Problems
Some plants are useful. But they can also do more harm than good. Here are some native alternatives.
How to Make a Beautiful Landscape in the Shade
Shade doesn’t have to be about hostas and ferns. Instead, how about a sedge meadow?
Why Natural Gardens are (by Nature) Lower Maintenance
How we follow nature to create landscapes that mostly look after themselves.
How to combine ‘rewilding’ with landscape design
When we work on our designs, we identify their inherent patterns and then amplify them to create landscapes that are inherently pleasing.
Is that Plant Easy-Going or Is It Super-Fussy?
Here are three useful ways to make sure we choose plants that will thrive with little management.
18 Natural Garden Laws for Cottage Country
Here’s what we know about how to garden naturally – in 18 short paragraphs.
How It’s a Win-Win When We Follow Nature’s Calendar
Working with the seasons helps us create landscapes that are as beautiful to nature as they are to us.
How Plant Sociability Is Critical in Natural Gardens and Shorelines
Understanding sociability could be the difference between a self-sustaining plant community and a landscape that fights its own nature.
Growing a Green Renaissance
When the landscape you inherit isn’t yours
Sometimes the gap between mowed lawn and thick forest becomes unbearable.
When the trees fell
Trees mean something to us. They also mean something to those who come after us.
Yes, weeding can be a pleasure
What if taking care of your landscape was like visiting an old friend?
What I learned from a song sparrow one summer
Or why noticing is the beginning of a journey that leads to action.
The less you control, the better it feels
Why our landscapes make weekends stressful and how a different kind of care fixes that.
Nature is good. Let’s have more of it
If you live in the Highlands, it’s likely you love nature. So let’s have more of it… and here’s what happens when we do.
Biggest Haliburton Natural Garden Questions Answered
I was interviewed by Canoe FM for a new show that will be launched in January 2026. Here are my answers.
Bringing Back Biodiversity
Filling a hole in the forest
Imposing our will on nature results in struggle at best, disaster at worst.
Doing it for me, benefiting us all
Beavers change landscapes and create biodiversity. Can we be more like beavers?
Fitting in or forcing out?
Invasive plants are just doing what invasive plants do. But is that what we want?
Can’t live, if living is without you
How plants and animals are here for each other, even if they don’t realize it.
The landscape where everyone’s a winner
No plant is an island. Together, they make a community where every individual benefits every other.
A new go-to book if you love Haliburton’s nature
If you like Haliburton Highlands nature and want to discover more of it, I highly recommend this book.
Your land isn’t messy, it’s getting going
Ecological gardens don’t look perfect right away. But what looks messy to some is a successful landscape establishing.
How much of a pond is beaver?
When does a tree end and the forest begin? How much of a pond is beaver? What percentage of me is me? Big questions… and important for landscaping ecologically.
Why cottage landscapes are all about edges
What if the defining feature of a Highlands landscape is the edge? We sit here in the Land Between, that biodiverse strip at the very south of the Canadian Shield. It’s one big edge where rock meets lowlands. Zoom in on our homes and cottages, and you see more edges. There’s the edge between the…
Newsletters
Natural Garden News from Grounded – October 3, 2026
Inside this edition of Natural Garden News Ways of seeing If you want a Grounded garden… Less Brampton, more Haliburton 18 natural garden lawns for cottage country Why I turned down a job with great soil New book – The Unfinished Cottage Landscape Fall at Lucas House The Grounded native plants ideas generator! My Haliburton Native Plant Database Aster la vista! Today’s recommended reading Today’s VIP (Very Important Plant) I hope you enjoy the newsletter! If you have any questions or…
Natural Garden News from Grounded – September 4, 2026
Inside this edition of Natural Garden News Feeling fall, thinking of spring If you want a Grounded garden… When the land you inherit isn’t yours Why some of the weeds are staying Filling a hole in the forest Making it feel more like ‘here’ New book – The Unfinished Cottage Landscape Late summer at Lucas House The Grounded native plants ideas generator! My Haliburton Native Plant Database A woodland garden’s first year Haliburton native plants explained Today’s recommended reading Today’s…
Natural Garden News from Grounded – August 1, 2026
Inside this edition of Natural Garden News Hurry up and stop If you want a Grounded garden… A time for planting, a time for singing Land heals but it doesn’t go back Doing it for me, benefiting us all When the trees fell New book – The Unfinished Cottage Landscape What’s going on at Lucas House The Grounded native plants ideas generator! My Haliburton Native Plant Database English Haliburton cottage garden The dirty secret about poor soils Today’s recommended reading Today’s VIP (Very…
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