The Stellar Journal
Notes from
Tom Cavan
Thirty years of horticulture, written down as it happened — pruning, plant selection, sustainable planting, stone, and the thinking behind the work. 34 pieces so far.
Latest · March 5, 2025
FINDING INSPIRATION
During the winter months, we love to travel, and this year's destination was Thailand. Not only for its amazing food but also for its historical significance and tropical paradise, it delivered beyond my expectations. Without exaggeration,…
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March 5, 2025 · 1 min
Whats Your Dream Landscape?
When considering landscaping your property, whether it's a new build or renovating an existing landscape, designing a Plan and…
January 29, 2025 · 4 min
DOLLAR$ + $EN$E
Landscaping has to be to scale, physically and financially, ( Am I repeating myself) so when you are ready to take the 1st step…
April 19, 2024 · 2 min
FIRE UP THE NIGHT
Since the beginning of time, homo-sapiens have been mesmerized by fire and its limitless power. Through the ages, we have…
March 18, 2024 · 3 min
WALK THIS WAY
Creating a welcoming walkway entrance to your residence or place of business or a modest pathway leading to your backyard is the…
February 21, 2024 · 2 min
STEP THIS WAY
Creating beautiful welcoming steps and staircases in our outdoor environment takes more than just one's imagination, it requires…
February 5, 2024 · 3 min
Out with Old and in with the New
Over the years I have renovated a lot of deteriorating landscapes (which is how I started landscaping-fixing other people's…
February 2, 2024 · 2 min
Sustainable Landscapes
The term Sustainable landscapes has been tossed around for many years and all the buzz and misinterpretation of this idea…
December 17, 2023 · 4 min
Teach your children well
Looking back when I first became a father to three wonderful children I was under the belief that I would allow my kids to…
December 14, 2023 · 5 min
Spacial Invaders
By definition, a weed is referred to as "a plant in the wrong or undesirable place" The war against weeds in the modern era…
August 23, 2023 · 2 min
Market Place that Rocks
Whether you are inspired by the timeless stone landscapes of the old world or seeking out the modern symmetry of the new world…
July 10, 2023 · 3 min
Marketplace Softscape
When planning a planting scheme for any design I always monitor the existing and future inventories online supplied by the…
March 20, 2023 · 3 min
STAYCATION
During my 50+ years in the industry, I have witnessed countless transformations and adaptations of the landscape and the…
February 9, 2023 · 4 min
Welcome... Entrances that Invite
When I drive around and observe the multitude and variations of architecture these days I am dumbfounded at the disconnect…
January 13, 2023 · 3 min
How to Select a Plant
The inspiration for this blog comes from a recent trip to Portugal. We stayed at a vineyard in the Douro Valley and this is the…
November 14, 2022 · 2 min
Time for change
Climate change? more like climate catastrophe and what future world will our children's children inherit? When we decided to…
March 4, 2022 · 4 min
Nature's Way
Along my horticultural journey, many plant species have crossed my path. There was a point while operating the garden centre in…
February 16, 2022 · 5 min
HANDLE WITH CARE
When I first began horticultural commerce (1979) I was like a kid in a candy store fingering through nursery and seed catalouges…
February 13, 2022 · 3 min
Lifescaping
Landscaping has taken on a whole new perspective since the start of the pandemic BC (before covid) numerous backyard landscapes…
December 3, 2021 · 5 min
The Tree of Forgiveness
If it weren't for the people... Earth would be an engineers paradise.-Kurt VonnegutAnd if it were not for the trees there would…
November 9, 2021 · 4 min
Family Tree
I recently read a great book by Dr. Suzanne Simard* called "Finding the Mother Tree" Her story begins with her family tree of…
May 28, 2021 · 3 min
Inspired by Time
In the beginning, when I first started designing and installing landscapes I was and always have been an advocate of resilient…
February 9, 2021 · 2 min
FOOD FOR THOUGHT What is fertilizer?
If you had a choice between a fresh Orange and a vitamin C capsule which would you choose? The Oxford dictionary defines…
February 6, 2021 · 7 min
Turfgrass:time to rethink the lawn
My education in turfgrass came very early in life, at the ripe age 6-1/2 yrs I was promoted from lawn rake to a push mower to…
December 20, 2020 · 3 min
2020 VISION...not so clear after all
When I reflect on the past year I transport myself back to January 2020 BC (before covid19) as 2019 had been another great year…
May 11, 2020 · 4 min
1ST SIGNS OF SPRING 2020
Last weekend on a bright sunny cool morning I went harvesting native wild leeks (some 2,000 sqft!) at the back of our wooded…
May 4, 2020 · 4 min
SPRING PRUNING
Canadian gardeners for the most part are a very resilient bunch. Couped up all winter staring at the drifts of snow and the…
April 9, 2020 · 3 min
PRUNING THE EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULES : plants reveal the truth
So as I recommended in the 1st pruning blog was remove dead wood, weak and inside crossing branches and you are done basic…
March 31, 2020 · 5 min
PRUNING PROTCOL

As I have matured and evovled as both plantsman and a Landscape Designer...........
Of all that I have learned and passed on to my clients, nothing has been more important than telling people how to prune woody…
March 6, 2020 · 3 min
TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
Biomicry: designs that mimic, replicate, mirror imagine nature with outdoor design principles and sustainable…
February 3, 2020 · 4 min
JUST ADD WATER
Is there any element you can add to your landscape more tranquil, more captivating then the element: water? ......., sound,…
January 5, 2020 · 6 min
IN THE BEGINING: A BRIEF HISTORY OF MY EDUCATION
In 1970 my father opened a garden centre beside his successful fruit market, I was 15 years old, strong and determined to be a…
January 3, 2020 · 3 min
THE NEXT CHAPTER: 2020 START OF A NEW DECADE
As I look forward to another year and the begining of a new decade I find myself looking back over the past year and the past…
December 30, 2019 · 4 min
THE ART OF ILLUSION WITH FUNCTION
All too many times I see properties with walkways and driveways having modular pavers as the surface application. And all too…