Monday, May 6, 2013

A Garden Over Twenty Years in the Making (Part 2)




We will pick up our tour of Liz Maliki's wonderful garden on the curving path 
leading into the back garden.


The plantings along the pathway include (starting along the top row on the left) a spirea, a Pieris Japonica, and a Japanese Maple. In the lower row there is also a hosta with spear-shaped foliage and two white Foam Flowers, Tiarella cordifolia.


Foam Flower, Tiarella cordifolia


Along the length of the back fence are a series of hanging baskets filled with colorful annuals.


Looking back down the pathway.


A closeup of the Golden Japanese Forest Grass, Hakonechloa macra and Jacob's Ladder, Polemonium caeruleum which you can see in the lower left corner of the last shot.


Another close-up of Jacob's Ladder, Polemonium caeruleum




The flowerbeds continue on from the back of the garden shed and run the length of the property.




I want to pause in our tour to show you something which I think was an act of brilliance on Liz's part.  I wish I had thought of this for my own garden!

Running wide flowerbeds parallel to the backyard fence is a very typical thing for many homeowners to do. The problem with this kind of layout is that weeding beds which are several feet deep can be tricky once the garden fills in by mid-summer. The plants block easy access from the front and the fence blocks access from the back.

What Liz did was to run a walkway behind the flowerbeds, right next to the fence using some recycled concrete pavers. When the garden leafs out, you barely see the hidden walkway and yet it gives her an easy way to weed the back of the garden. When we spoke on the phone, Liz also pointed out that this design trick also improves air circulation and helps with problems like powdery mildew.



One of the many things that impressed me about Liz's garden was her talent for growing rhododendrons; a shrub I have had little success with. I have always thought of rhododendrons as fussy shrubs that did not like the dry summers and the harsh Ontario winters. 

When we chatted, Liz advised me that understanding the root systems would make me more successful with growing rhododendrons. These shrubs are surface feeders and they can be damaged by planting them to deeply. 

Plant the top of the root ball at the surface of the soil and then mulch. Rhododendrons like light, sandy acidic soils which is high in organic matter.






We will end our tour in this pretty little corner of the garden.

As I wrote in my last post, Liz Maliki's garden was one of the terrific stops featured on last year's Annual Canadian Cancer Society's Garden Tour in Mississauaga, Ontario. 

This year's tour will again offer a unique opportunity to visit gardens in the Lorne Park neighbourhood of Mississauga and enjoy live instrumental music in select locations. Featured guest, Paul Zammit, director of horticulture at the Toronto Botanical Garden, will offer tips and garden advice.

For tour details and ticket information:




38 comments:

  1. Such a wonderful garden, full of great ideas and so many fascinating plants ~ this is a real treat to see!

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  2. Liz's garden is nothing short of Scrumptious!! Wow! So neat and tidy and yet so full of fabulous plant combinations. Your photos did it great credit, Jennifer, but to have seen it in person must have been amazing. One of the loveliest gardens I think I have ever seen.

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  3. Wow, everything is so beautiful and well thought out. I love the idea of the pathway going behind the garden bed ~ it makes sense that it would help prevent powdery mildew. And her rhododendrons are gorgeous. I wish I had thought of them prior to replanting my yard. They are in full bloom in our area and I have forgotten just how beautiful they are. I love visiting your blog and always seeing a new photo pop up with the title :)

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  4. I keep repeating myself - but beautiful flowers as always! :-)

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  5. What a wonderful garden, I would love to visit it. But helas the distance!
    Wonderful photo's you have taken Jennifer.
    Have a wonderful evening.

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  6. Oh how I enjoyed this garden. I also loved Liz's advice re the rhodo. They have a surprisingly small root ball and move easily btw.

    This garden really stuck the envy gene in me ))). The hanging baskets bring another dimension to the wall and the reclaimed cement walk through the long bed..brilliant!!! After a full day weeding my long wall bed resulting in aches and groans...this truly appealed to me.

    So pleased the garden and your resulting blog is supporting the Canadian Cancer Society. High five.

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  7. What a treat, glad to see she packs her garden very full. I always think this a shock to beginning gardeners that you can actually have all of the plants touching and overlapping.

    Eileen

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  8. Son muy bellos todos los detalles de este jardĂ­n! Hermosa entrada, como siempre.
    Un abrazo grande.

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  9. What a great garden, I love all the paths, both grassy and hardscaped. The rhododendrons are luscious, and I love the Tiarella and jacobs ladder.

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  10. That weeding strip in front of the fence is so smart! Wish I had thought of that with some of my beds. I also like the way she decorated the fence with hanging baskets. Her garden is lovely.

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  11. Just as lovely in the back as the front. I always like a meandering path to follow and the concrete walkway was a clever idea.
    Judith

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  12. That is brilliant to put the path along the fence line!!! Wish I would have thought of that! Brilliant and beautiful!!! Thank you for taking us along on this awesome tour!!!

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  13. Both posts on this garden were an interesting tour of a lovely, mature garden. It is such a treat to see a well developed garden that has matured with purpose and grown with a real design in mind. Beautiful!

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  14. Thanks for giving us the rest of the tour, Jennifer--such a beautiful garden! The walkway idea next to the fence is a terrific idea. I didn't plan ahead when I started my small shade garden, and I'm always tripping over plants trying to get to weeds or to prune something. We often forget that those small plants are going to eventually spread out.

    Liz definitely knows how to grow rhododendrons--gorgeous!

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  15. Jennifer there is sheer delight around every corner filled with surprises and lots of ideas...I have no luck with rhododendrons either but now maybe I can figure it out.

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  16. That is the garden of my dreams! I love the dense planting. So much awesome foliage.

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  17. Oh what can I say, everywhere you look is packed with interest and beauty. I simply loved this and agree the path is a superb idea.

    I especially loved the little angel and Jacob's Ladder.xxxx

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  18. My mind is literally blown...how in the world does one person do this? Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful garden

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  19. Jennifer, the Liz Maliki's garden is awesome! Nice design, color composition, interesting plants. I love the low tiny maple, I think this is one of the Japaneses varieties.

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  20. You have given me so much inspiration for my 18 month old garden! Love the shed x

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  21. Liz's garden is just breathtaking! I'm so glad you took us along on this tour. I really enjoyed seeing this garden!

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  22. The path along a house or fence serves many purposes. Maintenance, air circulation, drainage, avoids the alkaline foundation by a few feet, keeps snow and rain from roof runoff from killing plants, and avoids mud splash on built surfaces. My own home/garden is designed this way and so is most of my client's homes that allow the extra expense. It is important if using gravel to keep it contained. Wood mulch is more forgiving. I use pavers and natural stone for permanence at my house because I get them free, but there are so many materials to use, even sliced logs make good stepping surfaces. This garden is beautiful and has many good ideas. The gardener makes every path and experience.

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  23. Gorgeous, lovely, inspiring - love the path along the fence, love the use of forget-me-nots as fillers (something I do), and the rhodos are gorgeous (especially the light pink).

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  24. I want a ticket!! My dog run functions quite the same way as her path. It does make weeding so much easier. Beautiful!

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  25. lordy that brickwork is beautiful, what I wouldn't give for some of that. and the concrete pavers are brilliant. even with the plants not fully grown in looking straight at the bed from the yard you probably wouldn't notice that path.

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  26. One can tell that a lot of love has gone into this gorgeous garden! There are wonderful plant combinations, and I really like the idea of the hidden back walk!

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  27. Such a fabulous tour of a beautiful garden. Tiarella, a good reminder for me to reintroduce this great perennial. I need to copy the idea of a walkway at the back of the borders, help me no end with hedge trimming.

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  28. What a lovely garden Liz has. Love the soft shaded walkways.

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  29. Beautiful garden, nice, neat orderly and no weeds.

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  30. A lovely garden - no doubt about it - I wonder how much trial and error went on before she finally got the right combinations in the flower beds.

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  31. Wonderful garden, thanks for sharing :)

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  32. lovely garden Jennifer, and so photogenic. That is a brilliant idea of putting a little walkway at the back of the garden - I wish I had thought of it earlier too.

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  33. I've been looking for garden landscaping ideas and am very happy to have come across this post. When I first saw that hidden walkway, I thought it was a simple design idea and liked it. After finding out that it's for the weeding beds, to improve air circulation and lessen mildew, I wanted to do this for my own garden. Thanks for sharing, Jennifer!

    -Jeremy

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  34. Jennifer, this was my favourite from last year's tour. Would you have Liz's e-mail? I would love to have a 'chat' with her about her wonderful garden.

    S
    xo

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    1. I can't give out private contact information, but I can perhaps do one better. Liz mentioned to me when we spoke on the phone that her garden is on another tour this spring. I will see if I can find out the details. Perhaps you can attend and make your own arrangements to speak with her.

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  35. Beautiful, What kind of trees are planted by the walkway behind the Hosta's

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    1. Sorry Hollybelle2015! I even looked back through the rest of my images to see if I could answer your question, but none of my shots include the top part of the tree with its foliage.

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  36. Jennifer: Thank you for portraying my garden so vividly with your wonderful images. It is now several years later and plants have matured. More shade has challenged me. Many plants needed transplanting. How did I deal with this problem? Invested in good tools and learned to prune with no hesitation. And....moved out into the boulevard for my sun. My garden will again be featured in the Canadian Cancer Society (Mississauga) tour in the Spring of 2020.
    Wonderful blog - intelligent design, excellent images, interesting places, and good write-ups. Congratulations.

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