I got sooo many ideas from the art installations at Keppel Croft, I hope you do too.
I especially like the stone balls. I remember reading Frances post on making them, perhaps this summer I will finally get to it, now I have even more inspiration. If you missed the first part of my story about Keppel Croft, you can read about it here.
I realized after I published the post on Keppel Croft I forgot to give you the link to their website. Please do go visit, they have lots of interesting stories.
Now the really yummy (for me) part.
I am sure that anyone who reads my blog knows that while I love plants, I am a huge, huge fan of decorative objects in the garden. If money was no object, I would have a few of these…
urns,
statues,
I have a spot all picked out at Kilbourne Grove for this,
Anthony Hunte also has a lovely nursery as well, if I only had a garden, I am sure that I would have spent quite a few dollars,
I would love to be able to bring back a couple of these as a souvenir of my time in Barbados, hopefully they don’t weigh too much, ha ha.
If you missed part 1, you can read it here.
Anyone who lives within driving distance of Toronto, could be in for a real treat on Sunday, April 25th. That is the day that Barry Parker, plantsman extraordinaire, opens his garden for Gardens Open Toronto 2010. Barry has the first garden (and the last) open for this organization, he wants to show people that gardening does not start on Victoria day and end Labour Day, and he really knows how to extend the season.
He has an amazing garden, full of botanical treasures. Yet it is not a jumble like some plant collectors end up with. He has the eye of an artist, and understands how important strong structure is in a garden.
At the entrance, you walk past a circle of brick,
surrounded by a garden full of horticultural treasures. Your attention drawn to a lovely gate,you walk past a fabulous bamboo,
and enter a world of fragrance and charm.
The greenhouse,full of amazing species that he grew from seed, is a lovely hideaway in the winter, but you move past it and are astounded by the number of troughs and pots on his back porch. A carefully edited collection allows for a cohesive look, this is not a jumble, more like a magazine shoot.
A circular table by the back door is a carefully edited vignette.
Just past the gravel terrace, a circular lawn is bordered by curving box hedges.
A number of pollarded trees live in these borders, underplanted with a large selection of bulbs. I almost fainted when I saw the huge quantity of frittalaria meliagris, they self seed for him.
Through the giant beech obelisks, lies another garden room.
Earlier Witch Hazel “Diane” had been flowering, now under her a lovely primrose yellow Corylopsis has stolen her spotlight.
At the back, a lovely gate tempts you else where, but this is just for show, adding an air of mystery to Barry’s garden. There is a small fee collection at all the gardens involved in the Open Gardens Toronto program, this money is collected for the Canadian Women’s Foundation. So come on out, visit Barry’s garden and help support a good cause at the same time.
Am I the only one who has song lyrics go through their head when they are trying to think of a title for their post?
Last weekend when we are up at Kilbourne Grove we bought two sentries for our home. Ian wanted them placed at the front door, where they are quite in the way. I gave in (temporarily, of course) it makes him feel like he has a say in the garden. LOL
These were heavy, I mean very heavy! They had been at the nursery for so long that the price tag had faded and no one could remember how much they were. We got them for $50 each, which I was quite pleased about. They are starting to get a bit mossy and I hope that one day they well look like a valuable antique!
Forgive out front steps, I know they need repainting. They actually need rebuilding first. And I am thinking of changing the design, so it could be a while. You can see that they have been many colours over the years.
I noticed when I was writing this that the doormat is still there. This is one of those items, that you do not notice after a while. I keep meaning to pick it up and throw it away, but keep forgetting. It has been there since we bought, May 2006, and is growing a lovely coat of moss. Maybe I can call it Garden Art!
I like his shield, no burglar is going to get past him. I do worry a bit leaving the house empty so often. There is nothing there to steal, it is vandalism that is my biggest fear. But the neighbours are really nice about keeping an eye on it, and, knock wood, nothing has happened yet. And now we have our guards!
But, I do think that they look a bit like the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz. Hopefully no burglar (or salesman) will get close enough to realize that they are just a big pussycat!
OK., Maybe not architectural, but definitely salvage.
When my dad bought his new house there was a tv tower high up in the sky. there was also a satellite dish and no one had bothered to take down the tower. I looked at the x’s on the side and thought that they were quite pretty. Then I had my brainwave (and let me tell you, that thing hurt!).
My dad and brother took it down, it was bolted together in 8 foot section, so there were four of them. My dad thinks that I am pretty brilliant (what parent doesn’t) after he heard my idea, and if I was going to do it, he was going to as well, so he kept two.
We took the other two home to Kilbourne Grove and Ian painted them and the grass as well) a bright blue with Tremclad paint.
One we made the centre of the Kitchen Garden, this one has a variegated porcelain vine planted on it. I love it when the berries have coloured up in the fall, some are almost the same colour as the tower. However it is lovely in the summer as well, the green and white leaves and pink stems really stand out against the blue.
Centrepiece of the Kitchen Garden
Please ignore the grass, I really hate to edge these wooden beds, that is why I am planning on getting rid of the grass. I also feel it is a waste of valuable gardening time cutting the grass every weekend, when I could be accomplishing so much more.
The other we put up in the Flora Glade. It is basically a roundabout in the Glade, with paths going off in three directions. At the moment the roundabout is looking very open and spacious, but I am hoping that over the years as the trees and shrubs fill in, it will look more mysterious. You can also see how much grass I still have to remove. This has a hot pink Felix LeClerc rose that my friends at work gave me for my birthday.
and here is a close up
