Latest news with #CasaBlanca
Toronto Sun
01-08-2025
- Lifestyle
- Toronto Sun
The City Gardener: Luscious lilies
'Casa Blanca' Oriental lily, one of the most beautiful flowers in the August garden, and surprisingly easy to grow. Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Midsummer is when the true royalty of the garden make their entrance, as the Oriental lilies raise their haughty, regal heads above the other plants This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Like all gardeners, I have my particular favourites among the plants in my garden, and this time of year, I find myself waiting like a little kid for the lilies to bloom. It still amazes me that such impossibly beautiful flowers are so easy to grow. Just meet a few very basic needs, and they'll return year after year. Some of them, like other flowering bulbs, will even multiply. True lilies (lilium spp., not to be confused with daylilies, peace lilies, or any other plants that happen to have 'lily' in their name) are available in just about any colour you can think of except purple or blue, and range in height from dwarf varieties barely a foot high to towering giants, well over six feet tall. Most lily varieties can be organized into three categories. Asiatics are the first to bloom in early to mid-June, with their sturdy stems, firm petals and wide choice of colours, markings and sizes. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. They're closely followed by trumpet lilies, with their long, trumpet-shaped flowers and tall (up to five-foot) stalks. Ultimately, by late July out come the stars of the show – when the Orientals unfurl their huge, bright blooms, often two or three (or more) buds to a stem. Along with these, there are also countless hybrids and oddballs; hybridizing lilies is big business, and every year stronger and more exotic-looking types appear on the market. Some of the more familiar ones include species hybrids, descended from wild plants such as turk's cap and wood lilies; tiger lilies, with their curled-back petals and tiny spots; and impressive Franken-flowers such as 'Orienpets' and lily trees that tower nearly ten feet tall. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Plant lily bulbs in early spring or fall, no later than about four weeks before the first frost. Dig a hole two to three times the height of the bulb (or about four to eight inches deep), and throw a handful of bone meal, bulb food, or compost into the hole before snuggling in the bulb, pointy end up. Choose your planting spot carefully: like most flowers with big showy blooms, they need lots of full sun – at least four hours a day and preferably more. Make sure the spot you choose has rich, well-drained soil – standing water, even in spring and fall, will rot them. Generally, they're not as tasty to squirrels as tulips and crocuses, but if you're concerned, you can place chicken wire or a thick blanket of mulch over them once planted. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Taller varieties should be staked as they grow, to prevent them toppling over – once the stems reach full size, they have a distressing tendency to pitch face-forward into the mud. And, as with all bulbs, resist the urge to cut down the stalks once flowering is over; let them yellow naturally, so they can replenish the bulb for next year's show. Lilies are generally free from diseases and pests, with two notable exceptions. Check your lilies every day from the time they first emerge in spring for aphids (which you can dispatch with a stiff spray of water from the hose, a blast of Safer's soap, or a detergent-water mix in a spray bottle); and especially, for the dreaded Japanese red lily beetle. Lily beetles are an invasive pest that first appeared about 20 years ago, and to any lily lover, it's a nasty little beast. You can't mistake them – they're about half an inch long and bright red. As soon as you see one on your lily foliage (check the undersides of leaves as well as the top), pick it off by hand and squish it or drop it into a bucket of soapy water. I have found Safer's soap works on them too if they're hit directly. In the spring, they sometimes lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves or in the soil below. Remove and throw away any infested leaves, and keep a sharp eye out for them next spring. Please feel free to write in with questions, to comment or to share your own city gardening adventures with Martha. Write to her at marthasgarden07@ World Sunshine Girls Canada Toronto & GTA Columnists
Forbes
04-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- Forbes
Playing Casa Blanca Again At A Reinvented Riad-Style Retreat In Arizona
Playing to the Casa Blanca development's original Moroccan-inspired design, the Paradise Valley townhome's current incarnation could have been uplifted from North Africa. A decades-old, black-and-white print advertisement, complete with a vintage-scrolly font reads 'Casa Blanca, Near Majestic Camelback Mountain – A Desert Paradise Where Summer Spends the Winter'. The Casa Blanca in question—an iconic Moroccan-inspired construction in Arizona's Paradise Valley —pre-dates the Oscar-winning, Morocco-set Casablanca (1944) by some stretch. Built in the 1920s by architect R.T. (Bob) Evans, the script for this Casa Blanca meanders through a fascinating past and present. Paradise Valley sits in the shadow of Camelback Mountain—a fitting landmark for Casa Blanca. Originally a private home, it was converted in the 1940s into a corporate retreat, mainly used by the Borg-Warner automotive company. The 1950s ushered in a new guise—as a hotel for stylish guests to see and be seen in for the next few decades. Eventually the entire property was divided up into private residences designed by Arizona architect George Christensen, with phased renovations starting in the 1980s. Thoughtful, not theme-y. The home's natural color palette is a cool mix of sand, sesame and unbleached linen. Even a crumb of traditional Moroccan tea biscuit. Two years ago, Phoenix-based Haute House Design and Interior's Jessica Ellingford and Jasmine Gray purchased one of the enclave's townhomes with full intention to renovate, remodel and sell. This 2,125 square foot fully redesigned home is now on the market and creating quite a stir, listed for $3.25 million by agents Jennifer Burgess and Siena Koppelman of RETSY. 'Buyers' agents have consistently told us that in all their years of selling homes in the Casa Blanca development, no one has taken a remodel to the level of this listing,' says Burgess. The complete remodeling of 5101 N Casa Blanca Drive 223 has been "taken to another level" by Haute House Design and Interior's Jessica Ellingford and Jasmine Gray. Quite the compliment, considering some of the area's most discriminating designers and prestige realtors have chosen to call the community home, she says. 'This is a real credit to Haute's thoughtfully planned design,' Burgess adds. 'Jasmine and Jessica really pay attention to existing structure when they incorporate their own design elements-they make it a passion project to honor the architecture.' That results in what she describes as 'a finished project that doesn't have what we call in the real estate business an identity crisis.' The property's designer-owners worked with Phoenix-based Lab Design Collaborative to transform what had been an outdated galley kitchen while honoring the home's existing internal architecture. The design duo hired architect Lab Design Collaborative to gut outdated areas like the galley kitchen, open up closed-off spaces and maintain the integrity of the Moroccan-Mediterranean style as created by the gated community's original architect. The residences of Casa Blanca remain whitewashed desert beacons, true to the original landmark. In the case of Casa Blanca, the original gate, with its "White City" whitewashed walls and domes, is somewhat of a landmark in Paradise Valley, proudly marking the entry into this storied property. Approaching the grounds, you notice rose and cactus gardens lovingly tended by professional landscapers, three heated swimming pools, plus tennis and pickleball courts—amenities you'd expect at a resort. All set against the dramatic tableau of Camelback Mountain. Highly textured lime-washed walls were achieved with a long-bristled brush application. "The imperfection is perfection." Throughout the townhome, or riad as these types of homes are referred to in Marrakesh, the Moroccan-style décor is thoughtful without being theme-y. A Mediterranean color palette mixes tones of unbleached linen, warm sand, sun-weathered terracotta, sesame and a Moroccan tea biscuit known as ghriba. A lime wash on ceilings and textured walls creates a soft, relaxing cocoon. 'The trick is finding a true artist to do the application,' says Gray. 'The paint can't be rolled on, it must be applied by a long bristle brush. It's like a painting—the imperfection is perfection.' Material selection for the refurbishment was meticulous. In the bath and shower areas, hand-cut Zellige shimmer with texture and patina. Materials were discerningly sourced—hand-selected limestone from Moroccan quarries for the bathrooms, Taj Mahal quartzite counter tops for the kitchen and laundry, and traditional Zellige hand-cut mosaic tiles in the showers. Then there are the striking creamy wooden elements. 'We love white oak and used that in the floors, cabinets, handrails and closets—it has such a warm texture,' notes Ellingford. Palecek lighting fixtures add texture in natural materials like seagrass and rattan—fitting for the atmospheric intentions of the designers. Outdoor living, lounging and eating beckons under the vibrant bougainvillea. Each flagstone tile was hand-selected and placed. Outside in the private courtyard, save for the exterior walls, the entire space was reimagined. A whitewashed built-in seating nook and outdoor kitchen with its cascading Bougainvillea inspires curling up with a verre beldi of mint tea. A flagstone pathway involved Gray and Ellingford going through 'crate by crate to choose every stone we were happy with, and where to place each one. It was a process.' Still, cool, quiet. But for the gentle sound of the fountain, a converted antique watering trough imported from Indonesia. And the fountain, essential to any Moroccan riad and often considered the center of the home, 'is our favorite piece in the house—it's a 100-year-old antique from a company in California that brings them in from Indonesia. They are watering troughs converted into fountains.' Another imported detail that feels right at home in this 'Desert Paradise' ready to turn the page into its next fascinating vignette. 5101 N Casa Blanca Drive #223—a turnkey property in Paradise Valley, Arizona—is on the market for $3.25 million with RETSY's Siena Koppelman and Jennifer Burgess. RETSY is a member of Forbes Global Properties, an invitation-only network of top-tier brokerages and the exclusive real estate partner of Forbes.
Wall Street Journal
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
A $24,000 Sculpture Inspires an $8.9 Million South Carolina Home
In a clifftop South Carolina home, a sculpture of a man appears to gaze at a wooden carving with a small house at its center. Sarah and John Garvey built their house around the piece, 'Casa Blanca,' by Argentine artist Raul Diaz. They relate to the sculpture as they look back on their lives, said Sarah, a retired Boeing executive and board member at the Art Institute of Chicago. The couple spent years focused on work, she said, but the piece is a reminder that 'the real meaning of what life is, it's really home and the family.'
