A Storybook Shade Garden

Regular readers might wonder how I select the gardens that appear on this blog. A tempting assumption would be that I like everything I show, but strictly speaking, that's not the case. It's a little less personal than that.

For every eight gardens I visit, I feel lucky to walk away with one that I feel readers might really enjoy. It's not that the other seven gardens weren't nice, they usually are, but somehow they lack that extra bit of magic that makes them special.

This brings me to today's garden. Storybook characters aren't my cup of tea, but my own personal tastes aren't relevant in this case. This garden is quite unique. It speaks to the personality and imagination of the woman that created it. You know a little something about her by the time you wonder the pathways and stop at all the little vignettes. And I think that's great.

Storybook figures may not be your thing either or just maybe you think that Snow White and her seven diminutive friends are absolutely adorable, either way, take a moment to look past them to the garden as a whole.  The plantings are quite nicely done. I don't know about you, but I have never seen a wisteria vine used in such an interesting and novel way.

Just look at this little guy with his round belly, laughing smile and eyes wide open in wonder. It is impossible to think that a gardener who'd chosen such a jolly figure as a garden ornament could be mean-spirited or unkind.

In fact, when I spoke with Eva Martini on the phone to learn a little more about her garden, she was lovely and warm. She was happy to answer all of my questions and seemed genuinely touched that her garden might be featured.

Being solid concrete the figures are heavy. It took no less than two men to load the largest statue, that of the of a storybook princess, into Eva's car.

Eva's fantasy garden began with Dopey. A local nursery was planning a move and the owner was looking to clear his inventory of concrete figures. He had Snow White and all seven of the dwarfs.

For Eva, the classic story had been a childhood favourite. She might have liked to have all eight characters, but being frugal, she bought just one.

Eva brought Dopey home, hand painted the concrete and settled him into her garden. But poor Dopey seemed a little lonely without his buddies. So Eva went back to the nursery. Eventually, over the course of several months, she bought all seven of the dwarfs and the fair Snow White.

The sign reads, "No wabbits allowed!"

The garden itself is a little over twenty years old. Eva laid out the paths and did most of the work herself as a surprise for her husband who was away in Italy for a time nursing his ailing mother.

Wisteria can be a very aggressive vine, but Eva keeps it in check by pruning it hard three times a year. To train the wisteria up and then across, she's used sturdy metal poles that she purchased at the Home Depot (wisteria has been known to snap pieces of wood in two).

One of the nicest things about wisteria are the long, dangling flowers each spring. Getting a wisteria to bloom can however be a challenge.  The vine must be pruned at the right time of year and you really need to know exactly what you're doing. 

Eva has succeeded in getting her wisteria to flower most springs, but the weather has been so unpredictable in the last couple of years she's had trouble coaxing her vines to produce the fragrant flowers.

The garden's color palette is largely a quiet mix of greens, but Eva's used variegation and different shades of the same color to great effect.

At the very back of the yard, there is a vegetable patch and cutting garden. Eva grows asparagus, kale, tomatoes and many other vegetables. One of her favourite crops is chicory which Eva picks, mixes with a bit of water, and blends into a juice. Eva tells me that she loves chicory's bitter taste.

Another prized crop is a rare banana-shaped tomato that Eva grows every year from seed she saves herself. This heirloom tomato comes originally from Poland and seeds are next to impossible to find. Eva says the yellow tomatoes are deliciously sweet and meaty.

As well as vegetables, there are bearded iris, some roses and tall, purply-blue Larkspur in this part of the backyard. The larkspur reseeds itself every year.

One the final leg of our tour, we'll pay Snow White a visit. As you can see in the picture below, Eva has created a fantasy setting worthy of her beloved storybook heroine.

Elizabeth Gilbert writes in Big Magic, her new book about creativity, "Do whatever brings you to life...Follow your own fascinations, obsessions and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart."

I think that's exactly what Eva Martini has managed to do so superbly in creating her storybook shade garden.

Eva sent me this picture of her tomatoes. Look at the size of them!