Home renovations are now a multi-billion-dollar industry in Canada, with a domino economic impact for various related businesses.

The health of Calgary's commercial real estate market is often defined by what's happening with the city's downtown office space, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

My friend Liz had a yellow house once, but as a gardener and a homeowner, she won't live in another yellow house ever again.

When it comes to homeowner preference these days, one thing is clear: bigger is definitely better.

The size of the average Canadian home today is about twice as large as it was back in the 1960s. Our living spaces have been expanding rapidly, and not because of necessity.

If your garden party is usually over after the irises, peonies, plums and lilacs fade, add late-blooming flowers to really stretch your summer this season. Making way for late bloomers means the joy of summer continues past your escape to the lake and well into back-to-school season.

I arrived home one day in November to find my irrigation system was spraying my snowy lawn.

Throughout the past 39 years living in Calgary, I've always been fascinated by one roadway in the city: Elbow Drive.

It very well might be my favourite road to travel by vehicle, with its picturesque views of the river, parks, commercial development and interesting homes.

With housing affordability continuing to be a major concern these days, particularly due to the mortgage stress test, you would think that the lower-priced options in the condo segment would benefit. However, that has not been the case in the Calgary resale housing market, where sales numbers and prices continue to suffer.

The reason for this is simple – an oversupply of properties for sale.

A dove flies into our water feature and starts flapping its wings – it's 7 p.m. and it's bath time.

We'd love to live on a lake, but we don't. Luckily, the sound of water attracts wildlife to the 60-centimetre-wide, recirculating bird bath on our tiny back patio. Under a tree, next to our sitting area and in plain view of our indoor dining table, our water feature has become the virtual reality show of our garden.

I've lived in this fine city now for close to four decades, but what I've discovered is despite all that time, I still haven't experienced everything Calgary has to offer.

To change that, my goal in recent years has been to take in some of the top attractions in the city and surrounding areas that are popular among tourists who visit Calgary.