This is where my split personality comes in. As much as I love my friends garden and I wish it could be mine, then I see a new plant that I just have to have, and it throws the whole design out the window.
When I visited this Toronto garden with my friend Barry in the spring, I made a huge list of plants that I wanted. And it was long. And then got longer.
The design of this garden is a typical one, long borders running along the side for the whole length. of the garden But it is the plant material that makes it extraordinary. And certainly the use of colour. While the photos were taken at the same time of year as my friends garden, you can tell these photos were taken in the spring, while in the Rosedale garden, it could have been almost any time of year.
However this garden does have a lovely little topiary feature near the end of the garden, enticing you to go and take a closer look at it.
It also has the good fortune to back onto a ravine, who living in a city would not want this. Look no neighbours, only a lovely sylvan view.
I love this sculpture, perhaps I could DIY something with a similar feel.
A closer look at the topiary feature, but look at the glorious beauty of the Cornus behind it.
This glorious Cercis canadensis ‘Appalachian Red’ had me wanting to dig up Old Stumpy.
This Prunus came from Marion Jarvies garden and is a new variety named after her. Lovely colour.
Every where you looked there was colour. And it was not all from flowers, look at how many coloured foliages there are in this garden.
I shall certainly have to search out this trillium, isn’t she a beauty.
This Erythronium was given to the home owner by Keith Wiley, it is certainly a lot larger then my ‘White Beauty’.
When I saw Hosta ‘Fire Island’ I was blown away, made sure I purchased my own this spring.
And I wished I had asked for the variety of this Helleborus, what great foliage.
And I was happy when she told me this Arum seeds all over her garden. I purchased one a couple of years ago, and I would be a very happy girl if it did the same for me.
So what do you think of my last two garden visits? Do you perfer a calm, serene, low maintenance garden with lovely formal structure? Or a collectors garden, where every day is different? I want them both!
I am a floral designer living in a tiny condo in downtown Toronto, Canada's largest city. But on the weekend, I am a gardener/frustrated architect trying to keep up with a 3/4 acre garden in Owen Sound, Ontario, a warm (to Canadians, Zone 5b, and a cold (to Americans, Zone 4b) garden.
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