Gardening in planters

By Andrew Wagner-Chazalon Can’t contain your enthusiasm for gardening? Planters and pots are perfect for Muskoka cottage landscapes Containers and planters aren’t just an option for most Muskoka gardens: they’re essential. Lush planters filled with flowers at the end of the dock, window boxes overflowing with vibrant annuals, and creative containers artfully placed around the […]

Wildlife by camera

Trail cameras let you see what the bears, wolves, moose, and more are up to Every cottager wonders what goes on when you’re not there. Security systems can help deter human intruders, but the real fun comes when you set up a game camera to see which animals saunter through the property. Suddenly you can […]

Let your garden bring you joy

Need a boost to your mental health? A garden full of lush plants can help By Andrew Wagner-Chazalon When our spirits need a lift, we seek comfort in all kinds of places and things. But above all, we seek joy in our gardens. Whether it’s a sweeping landscape at a cottage in Muskoka or some […]

The migrating birds of spring

According to the birds, spring in Muskoka begins sometime in February and lasts well into the warm days of late May A lot of us think of bird migration as a single event, something that nature organizes as soon as the snow and ice are gone. It’s as spring begins the moment the first robin […]

Canoe or kayak Muskoka this spring

Spring paddling is a great way to get out on the lakes and see all that nature has to offer Spring is in the air, and boaters are starting to get enthusiastic. Keen anglers will already be getting their power boats out of winter storage, bundling up and heading out on the lake in pursuit […]

Blooms for nature in your flower garden

Annuals and perennials bring garden joy to the Muskoka cottage. And the natural world delights in flowers just as much as we do. All winter, our world was a sea of white. In spring, it turned to muddy brown with increasing splashes of green. But by late spring and early summer we want to see […]

Spring at the lake

Muskoka cottages have a front row view as the lake makes its annual spring flip If you’re at the cottage in Muskoka in spring, you can see all kinds of changes happening in the natural world. Migrating birds arrive, leaves and flowers emerge, frogs start to peep… and the lake flips. That last one may […]

Gardening in planters

Hanging planters, planter boxes and other container gardens are perfect for growing flowers in Muskoka Any landscaping project at your Muskoka cottage must cope with two unalterable realities: the season is short, and the soil is shallow. We can’t do much about the length of our summers, but we certainly have options when it comes […]

Stargazing at the cottage

Muskoka is an amateur astronomers’ delight. To make the most of it, try stargazing with binoculars By Andrew Wagner-Chazalon Stargazing is one of the great delights of spending time at the Muskoka cottage. In fact, it’s so good that an area just west of Lake Muskoka is Canada’s first dedicated Dark Sky Reserve. But you […]

The delights of a fragrant garden

Scented blooms, aromatic shrubs, fragrant flowers and more can help you take your gardening to the next level. So much of our garden planning revolves around visuals. Gardeners tend to select plants for their colour, their shape, and the pattern of their leaves. This year, why not rediscover one of the oldest attractants known? Plant […]