Return to Merlin's Hollow

When it comes to weather, there is no magic in the timing of my visits to Merlin's Hollow. On my first visit to David and Deirdre Tomlinson's garden in Aurora, Ontario, it was not only raining, it was pouring!

The weather forecast for my second planned visit called for showers in the afternoon. As I grabbed my camera and hopped into the car that morning, I crossed my fingers and decided to hope for the best. 

Luck did not travel with me! 

I swear that it commenced to rain the very moment I steered the car onto the exit ramp for Aurora. Then, as I stepped out of the car and opened my umbrella, light rain turned into a heavy downpour. 

Seconds later the lightening and thunder began.

Have you ever tried to take pictures with a camera while holding an umbrella? There is a lot of juggling involved. For this reason, many of my pictures are slightly out of focus.

For those of you who may have missed my first post on Merlin's Hollow, the garden was designed by David to be a series of 4 themed gardens surrounded by a tall cedar hedge. At the entrance to each of the 4 gardens is an arched garden gate. 

There is a Perennial Flower Garden, a Fragrant Garden (with a thyme lawn), a Rock and Water Garden (with a stream and pond), and a Winter Garden (that is a formal knot garden that looks great even in winter). 

What prompted me to brave the weather and make this second visit was plain and simple curiosity. 

I don't know about you, but I find that after the tulips and daffodils have faded, there is a bit of a lull in my garden where there is little or no color. 

Sure there are the alliums take over where the other bulbs have left off, but overall, there is a lot of green and not much else until the summer perennials and roses really kick in.

Merlin's Hollow was spectacular in early May, but I wondered how David and Deirdre manage to carry that early spring color through those last few weeks in May and first week in June?

The answer in good part? Columbines! Lots of them. And in every pretty shade imaginable.

But what else did Merlin's Hollow have to offer by way of color in those early days of June? 

Let's take a look around and see. First, we will look at the Perennial Flower Garden (Lower left on the garden plan).

In this front part of the garden, there were irises of all colors. 

(Sorry, David was unsure of the names of the particular varieties.)

Cushion Spruge, Euphorbia Polychroma

Centaurea hypoleuca 'John Coutts' (For some reason, the flower here has photographed to be much more purple than it really appears. 'John Coutts' is actually more of a magenta color.)

Centaurea montana

Spiderwort

While at the front of the garden, we will take a quick one-picture-look at the formal knot garden by the house (the Winter Garden in the lower right corner on the garden plan).

Now let's head into the top lefthand side of the garden, where there is a thyme lawn and a gazebo ( The 'Fragrant Garden' on the garden plan above).

The secret to the success of this thyme lawn? David says it is as simple as poor, gravely soil.

Finally, (sorry this post is getting hopelessly long!) we will head out of the Fragrant Garden and enter the Rock and Water Garden (see top right on the plan).

Here there is a small pond, bridge and waterfall.

A Thalictrum that appears almost as wet as I was at this point in my garden tour! 

But before we go, let's take a very brief look at some of the beautiful irises in this part of the garden.

Have a great weekend and happy gardening!

More Information and Links: 

This Saturday will be the first Merlin's Hollow Open Garden for this year. The dates for the 2012 open gardens are: 

Saturday, May 12th

Saturday, June 9th 

Saturday, July 7th 

Sunday, July 15th

Here is a good general information link on Merlin's Hollow with address and contact information: Merlin's Hollow.

Merlin's Hollow, Aurora Ontario

When David Tomlinson first married, he promised his new bride he would create a beautiful garden for her. It was not until some years later, when they immigrated to Canada, and bought a house in Aurora, Ontario that he was able to fulfil his promise to her.

On their 3/4 of an acre, David set out to design series of gardens within a garden. First, he enclosed the property within a high cedar hedge. Then, he used more cedar hedges and a series of arched garden gates to partition the property into four distinct garden rooms: a Perennial Flower Garden, a Fragrant Garden (with a thyme lawn), a Rock and Water Garden (with a stream and pond), and a Winter Garden (with a formal knot garden). He named the garden he had created Merlin's Hollow.

1. Cedar Hedges   2. Sculpture   3. Long Arch   4. Herbs   5. Thyme Lawn   6. Gazebo   7. Fern Walk  8. Butterfly log pile   9. Dry bed   10. Compost   11. Acid Bed   12. Bog bed   13. Alpine bed   14. Frog pond  15. Stream   16. Snake Hibernacleum   17. Future aviaries   18. Woodland bed   19. Cold frames   20. Bat box   21. Bird house   22. Bird feeder   23. Deck vegetable garden   24. Mason bee box   25. Snag tree   26. Butterfly box   27. Lady bug box   28. Robin shelf

A landscape architect by trade, David designed each garden so that it would have its own distinct character. He included bog and woodland beds, a fern walk, an alpine garden, heritage shrub roses, and raised beds with stone walls. David also incorporated features that would encourage wildlife and insects to take up residence in the garden. He added a stream and pond, birdhouses and feeders, a bat box, Mason bee box and a snake hibernacleum ( provides garden snakes with a cool, dry place to shelter from weather extremes).

An avid collector, David Tomlinson's garden includes over 1500 different varieties of plants, many of them rare and unusual. Most impressive is the fact that he grew most of these plants himself from seed.

On the day of our visit, I took so many pictures that I am likely to try your patience by asking you to look at them all. So in this post, I have decided to concentrate on two of the gardens: the Perennial Garden, which is to the front and right of the house, and the Rock and Water Garden, which is at the back of the house.

A gravel path leads past the house and through a wooden arch into the Perennial Garden. The path sweeps around the perimeter of the garden and leads you past the expansive perennial borders. Tulips and daffodils were planted throughout.

Magnolia

The Perennial Garden also had a lovely assortment of different Primula.

Now, we are going to turn to the right and enter the Rock and Water Garden.

Primula polyantha

Spring Pea, 'Lathyrus vernus'

Spring Pea, 'Lathyrus vernus'

Double Bloodroot, 'Sanguinaria canadensis "Multiplex'

Checkered Lily, 'Fritillaria affinis'

Above left: Water cascades down a waterfall into the pond. Above right: a yellow-colored Asian Marsh Marigold dips down into the water of the pond. Above: The bridge over the little stream that runs into the pond.

The vivid, blue wooden bench by the pond. You can see white Iris Bucharica in the lower left foreground and patches of blue Brunnera macrophylla and pink lungwort to the right of the bench.

Iris Bucharica

Trout Lily  Dogtooth Viloet Pagoda (Erthronium americanum)

Grape Hyacinth 'Muscari armeniacum'

Corydalis nobilis

Trillium

White Marsh Marigold (left) and a plum-colored Hellebore (right), which took seven years to bring from seed to flower.

Primula denticulata

Each year, Merlin's Hollow is open to the public, free of charge, on the 2nd Saturday in May, the 2nd Saturday in June, the1st Saturday in July and 2nd Sunday in July. If you would like the address and driving directions, please feel free to email me.