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A garden of natural beauty A garden of natural beauty
A garden of natural beauty ofIn the beginning As with so many things in life, often the best ideas are the ones in plain sight. And that's pretty much the approach Sally Webster took when she and her husband, Alan, first bought their nine-acre property just outside the village of Knowlton, Quebec, seven years ago. What fascinated Sally was the rocky terrain blanketed by moss and the incredible view of Brome Lake backed by Shefford Mountain. The site did not scream out for lawn and perennials, as had her previous cultivated garden, but it did need something to help "turn up the volume." That "something" was André Boisvert, a local gardener with whom Sally had collaborated on past projects. They worked well together and were on the same page when it came to design—though there were never any actual pages involved. "There were no sketches or plans," says Sally. "We both agreed the existing elements of the natural landscape should just carry through the property; I've seen André's results and trusted him completely."A gardener for close to 50 years, Sally was unfazed by the initial steps needed to begin the project, which entailed clearing the young birch trees and weeds covering the property. An existing man-made pond just to the south of the house was a great feature to work with (there are also two smaller ones connected by a stream that were added later). And work with it they did. With the help of Mario Paris at Canadian Pond Products in Knowlton, the one-acre pond had to be emptied because the construction workers needed to drive through it to build the retired couple's house. They also partially lined the pond with felt and heavy plastic at one end, as they were unsure if it was still structurally sound after the disruptions. "We knew if the integrity of the bank had been compromised—especially because of its elevation-it could have done a lot of damage," says Sally. Garden facts:SIZE - 9 acresORIENTATION - north and southCONDITIONS - rocky terrain, rich compost addedGROWING SEASON - April to OctoberGARDEN FOCUS - natural-looking landscaping and native plants; 1-acre pondZONE 5 Enhancing a natural landscape Working with the soul of the property rather than against it, Sally has chosen a variety of mostly "natural-looking," if not native, plants to enhance the pond. "The lady's mantle along its edge looks spectacular in and out of bloom, and of course the maples we planted are just fantastic in the fall," she adds.Sneezeweed, ox-eye daisies and black-eyed Susans were also added throughout the garden because they blended with the wild flora. And the cutleaf stephanandra on the lakeside bank is wonderful for erosion control; it also blooms profusely but is not showy, and mixes in well with the rocks and moss. There are some wonderful grasses, too, on the property, such as Japanese ribbon grass. Although it looks attractive in autumn, Sally always chuckles when she reads how people in other parts of Canada love leaving seed heads for "winter interest.""The seed heads look awful in the winter here because the snow breaks them down; they lie flat on the ground, then blow all over the place—it's not interesting at all!"There is, however, an opportunity to really play with a broad selection of plant material, since one side of the house is in brilliant sunshine, while the other side is in complete shade. "We have pots with begonias, geraniums and ivy, but only close to the house," says Sally, almost in a finger-wagging tone that makes you think she has to consciously stop herself from going beyond her self-imposed borders. "There are some perennials beyond the terrace on the south side, but they look natural-like it just happened, while the north side beyond the terrace is all green." A lawn-free garden The lawn-free garden has one very important quality for Sally and Alan: lack of noise. There are no lawn mowers to disturb the pristine quiet on this hillside property. "We spend our whole life out there in the summer-every meal is eaten on our screened porch, and we love the stillness," says Sally. However, the dearth of grass does not necessarily mean no maintenance. An organic care program often brings Sally to her knees—literally. "The weeds love growing in all the moss; it's the perfect environment," she says resignedly, adding that the river rock on the driveway seems to attract the unwelcome vegetation as much as the moss. Thankfully, she can enlist the help of her friend Wayne, who weeds, deadheads and generally helps maintain the property.As for irrigation, the one-acre pond is a convenient source of water, as is the water collected from the roof in a rain barrel. To keep the pond clean, the Websters add Bacta-Pur, a product containing bacteria that eat the algae along the bottom, a result of leaves and other vegetation accompanying the water flow. Favourite plants Anna, their German shepherd, is also part of the organic plan: deer never come around to munch on plants when she roams the property. Planting masses of daffodils, which deer and squirrels steer clear of, is also a simple solution, as is using niger (a type of thistle) seed in the finch feeders—unpalatable to these unintended diners.Sally's bond with this property is evident not only in her respect for its natural beauty, but also in her focus and determination as its steward. A storm last fall, for instance, created havoc, with fallen trees and debris strewn across the property. "I hired five people and we worked from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. for three weeks to clear it up. Everything just goes by the board during these times and my friends wonder where I am. I feel badly about that, but I love the land and love working it." Favourite plants:• Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis)• Hay-Scented Fern ( Dennstaedtia punctiloba)• Sneezeweed ( Helenium autumnale)• Ox-Eye Daisy ( Leucanthemum vulgare syn. Chrysanthemum leucanthemum)• Canada Mayflower ( Maianthemum canadense)• Black-eyed Susan ( Rudbeckia spp.)• Cutleaf Stephanandra ( Stephanandra incisa 'Crispa')• Starflower ( Trientalis borealis )Five for fighting:Here are a few more plants that help control erosion, as recommended by Canadian Gardening's horticultural editor, Anne Marie Van Nest.• Downy Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea), Zone 4• Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea), Zone 2• Daylilies (Hemerocallis spp.), Zone 3• Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa pratensis), Zone 3• Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra), Zone 3- Credit
- Carol-Ann Granatstein
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Suburban sanctuary Suburban sanctuary
Suburban sanctuary ofUnexpected profusion and range of plants Entering Maureen Hannaford's garden through the silver lace vine-enveloped gazebo is a little like discovering C.S. Lewis's Narnia through the wardrobe-so unexpected is the profusion and range of plants. Maureen has transformed an ordinary suburban lot in St. John's into an enchanting sanctuary for both body and soul. Maureen and her sister Margaret purchased the property, part of a new subdivision, in 1984. The site was an uninspired plot that provided little privacy and was complicated by a steep slope in the back. The slope was unstable (posing a threat to Margaret when she mowed it), and the sisters were continually losing more of the yard to erosion. As well, the property was not level with their neighbours' on either side. At the time, however, Maureen, a physician, was too busy to think about gardening. But by the early 1990s, she was ready to take action. Although she knew something had to be done, Maureen, mindful of her neighbours, decided against erecting a single, high retaining wall and opted instead to hire a landscaper to develop two terraces, each buttressed by a small wall. A lily pond was also installed and planting beds were created.What started as a means of dealing with a landscaping challenge evolved into a form of healing. "As is often the case, something happened that made me more contemplative, and brought me into gardening in a big way," muses Maureen. That "something" was her mother's illness. She had lived with her daughters but became ill in 1990 and died two years later. As a way to cope, family members, including Maureen's younger sister, Helen, and her brother, Edward, pitched in with an intensive gardening effort, hauling in soil and planting new beds. "The garden seemed to give us a focus outside the loss," says Maureen. "Physical work with a creative goal was a way to fill in the void we felt."She adds, laughing: "I planted so intensely those first few years – I could have run my own nursery business." Maureen found places for all her initial wants: an English oak as an anchor tree, magnolias, creeping vines and old-fashioned roses. She bought large plants that immediately gave the garden a more mature look and removed a little more lawn each year to expand the width of the beds. Margaret's gardening duties, meanwhile, gradually switched from mowing the lawn to pruning.They had grown up in a rural area, and Maureen always liked gardens. "My mother introduced us to flower gardens when we were children," she says. "Sweet peas were the first flowers I remember, probably because of their scent." Combining the elegant with the hardy Rediscovering her passion, Maureen researched plant selections and experimented with hardiness, wanting to test the limits of what she could grow in their Zone 5a garden. Searching beyond local nurseries, she combed through mail-order catalogues, purchasing 'Constance Spry' roses, native plants such as Jack-in-the-pulpit and heritage varieties, including the dainty fair maids of France (Ranunculus aconitifolius 'Flore Pleno').Over time, Maureen's gardening philosophy has evolved from the rigid requirements of a formal garden (a pair of curving boxwood hedges shouldering a path of Japanese stepping stones are a remnant of that phase) into something more relaxed, even allowing for the occasional misfortunes visited on the flower beds by their three inquisitive dogs: Chumi, a Tibetan terrier; Rudy, a West Highland white terrier; and Lily, a bichon frise. She also admits to not being a "waterer," and therefore chooses plants that will thrive without needing to be constantly irrigated.Although the garden looks its best in spring, Maureen has added plants that provide colour throughout the growing season. But while her earlier choices centred on bloom, she now focuses on the other senses. "If it's a choice between flower or fragrance, I choose fragrance." Aromatic examples range from magnolias and butterfly bush to French tarragon, lavender and sweet woodruff. Maureen also selects and arranges plants to maximize diversity in texture and size. By the pond, for instance, the spiny, dark leaves of holly contrast with the taller, light shoots of bamboo, while dwarf, oval-leafed Rhododendron impeditum cascades over rocks next to the rounded leaves of marsh marigold (Caltha palustris).Gardening has taught Maureen to turn challenges into opportunities. Rather than bemoaning the removal of a weeping flowering crabapple in the back garden that was taking up too much room, for instance, she talks about the potential to make new plans and try new plants. And when adding an entryway and sunroom to the house a few years ago meant tearing up the front garden, Maureen redesigned the space by replacing the scrawny lawn and central maple tree with a curving berm, high enough and densely planted to provide privacy from the street. "The biggest challenge in the garden now is pruning," says Maureen. But, characteristically, that opens up the potential for a future project. "I'm going to get my own mulching/chipper machine," she says with a smile.Garden factsSize: front: 56 square metres; back: 21 x 9 metresOrientation: front: northwest; back: southeast Conditions: steeply sloped, amended soilGrowing: season April to OctoberGarden focus: dense plantings, terraces, secret sitting areasZone: 5aRepeat performanceCombining the elegant with the old-fashioned and the exotic with the hardy, Maureen Hannaford takes a mix-and-match approach to gardening. But she also enjoys using several varieties of the same plant in different arrangements. For example, Japanese maples, her favourite plant, provide graceful focal points throughout the garden: a tall ‘Bloodgood' guards a trellis in the southeast corner of the yard, rubbing shoulders with a fragrant saucer magnolia; a cascading Acer palmatum var. dissectum shares a bed with hydrangeas, variegated elder and gooseneck loosestrife in the front berm garden; and a 'Dissectum Atropurpureum' (with a backdrop of a climbing rose and clematis) is flanked by field poppies along the edge of the sun porch.- Credit
- Alison Dyer
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Tips for enhancing a winter garden Tips for enhancing a winter garden
Tips for enhancing a winter garden ofLet the garden meet your needs Well-made landscapes are founded on sound design principles, solid construction techniques and appropriate plant selections. This carries it through the four seasons. But well-loved gardens must also reflect the needs and interests of the gardener. That approach has guided Neil Pike for 30 successful years as a landscape architect and contractor, and was the inspiration for his own garden renovation a few years ago.Here are Pike's tips for extending the interest of your garden throughout the winter.• Emphasize garden lines by edging beds and borders in autumn before the ground freezes.• Plant evergreen hedges (at least 60 centimetres tall to stand above snow) such as yew, boxwood and cedar to define boundaries.• Select tall, coniferous shrubs (pyramidal cedar, dwarf Alberta spruce, upright junipers) to frame views and anchor corners.• Include ornamental woody plants with attractive form, bark and fruit to provide winter interest: weeping cherry, star magnolia, birch, red- and yellow-bark dogwoods, PeeGee and climbing hydrangeas, dwarf European cranberry, roses with hips, crabapple.• Leave some upright perennials standing through the winter: showy stonecrop, coneflower, clematis seed heads and ornamental grasses.• Add enhancing hard-scape elements such as fence finials, arbours, trellises, obelisks, large stepping stones.• Create a seating arrangement-a bench or table and chairs-made from all-weather materials.• Install outdoor lighting.• Use large accent features-landscape boulders, bird baths, fountains, statuary and stone containers filled with winter boughs and branches.- Credit
- Judith Adam
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Beds and Boarders Beds and Boarders
Beds and Boarders ofAn inkeeper in the morning, a gardener in the afternoon It's interesting that Madeleine Côté Lussier views her garden as a private place. While that may be true of the borders behind her St-Hyacinthe, Quebec, home, the exuberant plantings in front are on show to all who drive by this bucolic setting.And these plants often beckon to guests who stay at Motel Le Boisé du Baronet next door, which Madeleine owns and runs. “Sometimes, the guests in the motel ask if they can tour the garden,” says Madeleine, who spends her mornings working as an innkeeper and her afternoons tending her eclectic plant collection.The garden has been a work in progress since Madeleine and her husband, Noël, built their home in 1989. Noël, a former construction company owner, had built dream homes for clients and yearned to create one for his own family. So the couple bought the motel, built in 1949, and 12 acres of land surrounding it with the intention of living next door. But Noël was so busy with his company, it took him five years to get around to completing his own dream home while the family continued to live in a smaller house elsewhere in St-Hyacinthe.Wanting a garden at their new home, Madeleine was dismayed to discover the low-lying land was flooded in the spring by the Delorme River, which bisects it. “It took rocky landfill and 100 truckloads of topsoil to raise the land by two metres,” she recalls. Once the family was settled, she turned her attention to creating a garden.“I had been gardening since I was six years old, when my grandparents, who had vegetable and flower gardens, gave me seeds. Every year, I would plant more flowers than vegetables.”That may have been the genesis of Madeleine's passion for accumulating plants. “I'm a real collector,” she says. “When I choose a plant, I look for rare cultivars, plants that I'm not familiar with. I also look for colour and texture. And one of the key criteria is that the plants I choose have to be hardy enough to survive here in Zone 4.” Plant combinations to catch a visitor's eye Madeleine has used about four of the 12 acres she and Noël own to cultivate an assortment of beds and borders. Fifteen years ago, she began by building a rockery in front of the house, which curls around the walkway leading to the front door. Here she planted several spireas, which soon outgrew the space and had to be moved to the backyard. The rockery has evolved and now plays host to such plants as variegated euonymus, several varieties of lilies and Japanese anemones, yellow meadow rue (Thalictrum flavum) and corydalis.Directly in front of the rockery is an overflowing border that flanks a low stone wall, which runs along the width of the front lawn to a wooden fence separating the house from the motel. Here, delphiniums and Queen Anne's lace keep company with wild anemones. In another corner of the front yard, Madeleine is fighting a losing battle against Mother Nature.“This was my rose border,” she laments. “I've lost almost every rose except two [Explorers] in the past couple of winters.”Superb plant combinations are also on display in front of the house between the driveway and the Delorme River. Divided in two by a lattice fence, this outstanding border boasts a collection of daylilies on one side and a swath of blue, white and pink blooms on the other. A few elders (Sambucus canadensis) anchor the border along with a Rosa glauca, while clematis such as ‘Belle of Woking', ‘Victoria', ‘Prince Philip' and ‘Carnaby' ramp up the lattice. Flowers that bloom at their feet include pink musk mallow (Malva moschata), a collection of speedwell (Veronica spp.) and marguerites, rose campion (Lychnis coronaria) and feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium syn. Chrysanthemum parthenium).The property boasts a broad selection of trees-spruces, maples and oaks-many of which Madeleine has planted throughout the years with the help of her children, Roxane, 29, Michaël, 27, Evelyne, 23, and Marie-Eve, 21. And each time a grandchild is born, she plants a tree in the child's honour. The arrival of 10-month-old Maéva was celebrated with a sugar maple (Acer saccharum), while a maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba) was planted for Jayson, 2. There's a horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) for Vincent, 2, and a black walnut (Juglans nigra) for Antoine, 4. Flowerbeds full of memories Various trees on the property were severely damaged or lost during the ice storm that ravaged Quebec in 1998. “There were branches everywhere,” Madeleine says. But many remain, creating dense or dappled shade, so she's underplanted them with shade-tolerant perennials.On the southwest side, a long border that's home to obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana), Jupiter's beard (Centranthus ruber), various bee balms (Monarda spp.) in red, pink, lavender and white, bladder campion (Silene vulgaris), yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia) and scabious (Scabiosa caucasica) hugs the wooden fence dividing the two properties. There's also a collection of hibiscus that spends the winter in the house. Because most of them were gifts, Madeleine has not been able to identify the cultivars. She says her next project will be to determine the names of all the plants she owns and tag them. “I really don't know what cultivars I have unless they still have the tags they came with,” she says.- Credit
- Stephanie Whittaker
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Winter 2009
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Gardens by design
From sleek, modern pro styles to you-can-do-it makeovers; 19 eco-inspired gifts by Canadian artisans; Piet Oudolf's natural planting style; Hellebores; Easy indoor terrariums; How to prune Japanese maples and more! more -
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