A Beautiful Tapestry: The Garden of Heather Bradley

There are so many new followers to the blog, I thought it would be nice to repeat a favourite garden that some readers may not have had the opportunity to enjoy. 

Gardeners often focus on growing flowers, but great gardens are about more than pretty flowers in bloom.

In her lovely garden, Heather Bradley has woven together a rich tapestry using shape, color and texture. Flowers are not the focus. They are just one of the many elements. 

There is always some color throughout the summer from flowering groundcovers, perennials and varied foliage, but the primary palette is green. Does that make the garden less interesting? No, not in the slightest! If anything the carefully considered and selective palette makes the garden seem tranquil and serene. You literally find yourself slowing down to take in the interesting play of color, texture and shape.

As you will see, the garden is beautifully laid out. Moss covered paths meander throughout. Mature trees form the backdrop and allow just enough sunlight through for the evergreens and a wide range of perennials to flourish. The plantings include Japanese Maples, Brunnera, Jack-in-the-Pulpits, Clematis, Trilliums, hosta and a variety of ferns. 

Let's head right into the back garden and take a walk around.

"Without exception, people say when they walk into the backyard that it is calming and peaceful just like a retreat", says Heather Bradley.

The interesting combination of a lime-coloured hosta and a Japanese Painted Fern

Fresh lime green buds accent this Weeping Hemlock.

A moss-covered pathway leads further into the garden.

Here you see a nice mix of perennials, evergreens and groundcovers including a Dwarf Hinoki False Cypress in the foreground right, a Dwarf Nest Spruce (middle of the back row) and a Cotton Easter (in the back row on the right).

On the left: Pachysandra with European Ginger on the right-hand side. On the right: In the foreground, there are the tiny star-shaped leaves of Sweet Woodruff. On the left, there are the larger leaves of Lady's Mantel. In the background, you can see a Blue Juniper, Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star'. 

Heather's patches of Sweet Woodruff were not in bloom on the day of my visit, but this is what it looks like in bloom. The flowers have a lovely vanilla scent. Sweet Woodruff spreads quickly and so you will want to plant it in an area where its creeping expansion will not be a problem.

The interesting combination of European Ginger top left and a Euonymus 

Japonicus Aureomarginatus in the foreground.

This small mounded planting includes a varied carpet of fragrant thymes.

A dwarf campanula makes for a bright patch of purple.

The tall tree with deep burgundy leaves in the middle foreground right is a weeping Copper Beach. A lacy Japanese Maple and a Mugho Pine make add to this interesting grouping. (They can be seen just in front of the Copper Beach.)

A hosta with a long tapered leaf and a Japanese Ghost Fern.

Stonecrop covers the foreground. On the middle left there is Box, a Japanese 

Maple with a Mugho Pine just behind it. 

Playing with foliage color, shape and texture is an art that can be learned with practice and experimentation.  In these crazy times, a serene and restful place is well worth cultivating.

A Late Summer Visit to Lost Horizons Nursery

Any serious plant collector in the Greater Toronto area should be able to give you driving directions, but if you aren't watching carefully for the sign, Lost Horizons Nursery is fairly easy to miss. The nursery, which specializes in rare and unusual plants, sits back from the road and is largely hidden by dense brush. As you head out of the little town of Acton, travelling west on Highway 7, the only hint of this plant lover's paradise is the sign on your left and a glimpse of the nursery owner's home peeking out from amongst the trees.

Should you be lucky enough to visit, take a stroll through the display garden before you go shopping. To find it, wander through the rows of plants, past the hoop greenhouses and over a little wooden bridge. There you'll find yourself in a garden that feels intimate and private in comparison with the more public side of the nursery.

This isn't a "garden" in the traditional sense of the word. For the suburban homeowner, familiar with flowerbeds bordering an expanse of lawn, strolling around the property will feel more like a walk in the woods. On the surface, this planting style feels very casual and informal in comparison to the typical home garden, but make no mistake– what feels quite natural and woodsy is actually carefully edited. The selection of materials and planting combinations have all been well considered.

You may not want to replicate this relaxed style of garden, but there are lots of ideas that might inspire your own plantings at home.

As I walked down this gravel path, it was impossible to miss the solitary, rather striking peduncle of white oriental lilies, but what really captured my imagination was something much more subtle and sophisticated–the interesting mix of foliage textures and colors. The view would fall flat if it wasn't for the deep red of the Japanese maple and Barberry (on the middle left). 

Experienced gardeners know that flowers are fleeting and foliage is around for the long haul. You quickly learn to try to vary the foliage color, shape and texture. I, for one, have always relied heavily on perennials with variegation and colorful foliage to counter the dominance of the color green. This little corner of the display garden was a nice reminder that larger, more structural plants like shrubs and trees continue that interplay of colors and texture above basic ground level.  

While the cream and green of this variegated Knotweed are very attractive, I caution you that this is an aggressive perennial that can spread quickly if left unchecked. Better to try something like the Acer seen in an upcoming photo.

Why have shrubs and trees always tended to slip down my list of priorities? 

They're expensive! My budget feels like it stretches further when I buy perennials, but that's a bit shortsighted. In fact, the one thing I regret most, ten-plus years into making my garden, is not investing more in trees and shrubs back at the beginning. So I'll pass on the wisdom gleaned from my oversight.

Isn't this a lovely view? In the distance, you see a clay pot sitting in front of a wooden bench. Sometimes simple is the best way to go.

I'm not sure of the name of this specific hosta, but there are quite a number of new introductions that have a nice ruffled edge. 

While I love color, I have to say that all this green feels so serene. In parts of the garden where the palette is more restrained, texture becomes the star.

Shape is another design element that is often overlooked. Here the rounded leaves of Solomon Seal contrast so beautifully with the tall, delicate fronds of the fern behind it.

A butterfly on Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata.

Here the tall yellow spires of a Ligularia make the perfect backdrop for the pale lavender trumpets of a number of different hostas. In the lower-left corner, there is a Sedum about to bloom.  On the right, the big, silvery-green leaves of a Brunnera stand out next to the fine, lime-green foliage of the hosta just behind it (on the middle right). 

All the foliage has a different shape, color and texture. Together they make a pretty picture.

Read more about Brunnera here.

Ligularia 'The Rocket' has toothed leaves and dark, erect stems bearing yellow flowers. This plant needs moist, rich soil to be happy. Clumps may be divided every three to four years in the spring. Slugs can be an issue. Full sun to part-shade. Height: 120-180 (47-70 inches), Spread: 80-90 cm (31-15 inches). USDA zones: 4-9. (If you are looking for a smaller plant consider 'Bottle Rocket' or 'Little Rocket'.  

I love the way the Ligularia flower finds a color echo in the foliage of a Japanese Maple.

Carnival Hedge Maple, Acer campestre 'Carnival'

Carnival Hedge Maple, Acer campestre 'Carnival' is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a nice rounded shape. In the spring the leaves emerge with a blush of pink. As the summer progresses, the leaves mature to be green with cream variegation. This is a slow-growing cultivar. Height: 10 ft., Spread: 10 ft. Hardy to USDA zones 5.

 

Yellow Wax Bells, Kirengeshoma palmata is a great foliage plant for moist, part-shade. It has pendulous butter-yellow flowers and medium green foliage that is shaped like a maple leaf. Height: 90-120 cm (35-47 inches), Spread: 75-90 cm (29-35 inches). USDA zones: 5-8.

You may be too far away to ever visit Lost Horizons Nursery, but I would encourage you to visit local public or private gardens on organized tours this spring. There is no greater inspiration than seeing a garden firsthand.

The Lost Garden

The first time I visited this garden, the rain was falling by the bucket load. One whole section of the yard was under several inches of water and walking on the lawn was like slogging across a sponge saturated with cold water.

Imagine struggling to focus a camera while juggling an umbrella. I thought that I dressed for the weather, but even with my umbrella, I was quickly soaked through. 

The formal pond and some beautifully trellised fencing.

An overview of the garden in late May 2017. The layout is quite formal and the plantings are largely green. The combination of these two design elements creates an overall feeling of elegance.

The garden was so pretty, I resolved to battle city traffic to make a second attempt at taking pictures.

On my second visit, the sun was blazing in a cloudless sky and the heat had been cranked up to high–a fresh set of challenges making it less than ideal for great photos, but hey, I did my best.

June 2017

Usually, I download my pictures as soon as I get home, but I was busy that day, so I put it off. Then I somehow managed to misplace the camera's memory card. I searched my camera bag, all my pockets and tore apart my desk looking for that darn memory card! Eventually, I gave up searching and resolved never to be so careless again.

Not too long ago, I was rifling through some plant tags when a memory card dropped onto the desk in front of me. I couldn't believe it! The missing card had been stuck to the back of one of my tags.

So finally, almost two years later, I will now show you the garden I photographed back in June 2017.

"The house was built in 1914," the homeowner tells me. "It's an Edwardian house and we've tried to mirror that in the garden. The period of the house is reflected in the wire planters, the Alice in Wonderland figures in the round garden behind the garage, the gazebo made from an early elevator cage and some old-fashioned plants; peonies, daisies, delphinium, columbines, roses, lavender, iris, violets and ivy topiaries."

"We have lived here for more than 30 years, and our two children grew up here. The playhouse had been moved and converted into a potting shed; the swings came down years ago; now even the basketball hoop is gone, so there is more room to garden."

The entrance to the Alice in Wonderland garden is flanked by two tall metal obelisks. 

Shade Planting: 1. Solomon Seal 2. Brunnera 'Jack Frost' 3. Hellebore 4. Heuchera 5. Lamb's Ear, Stachys byzantina ( a non-flowering form of Lamb's Ears) 6. Coral Bells, Heuchera

The flower-filled birdbath in the Alice in Wonderland shade garden.

The vintage elevator cage.

Looking for something you can plant under a tree with a high canopy (i.e. part-shade)? Here's what this homeowner has planted: 1. Yew 2. Hydrangea arborescens (Unknown cultivar) 3. Solomon's Seal, Polygonatum 4. Hosta 5. Boxwood 6. Hydrangea paniculata standard 

"We share the garden with lots of birds, squirrels, chipmunks and racoons. We feed and house the birds with pleasure; we tolerate and are amused by the antics of the squirrels and we are annoyed by the numerous racoons that live between the garages that abut the property, " the homeowner muses. 

Siberian Iris

"Most of the garden. is in partial shade, so you'll find various shade-loving plants. Many of them have come from a nursery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, including a selection of mini-hostas along the walkway to the potting shed", explains the homeowner.

Here the trellis adds an extra measure of privacy over and

 above the fence at the back of the property.

A Deutzia shrub in part-shade.

You'll have noticed that the color palette of this garden is quite restrained.

"We try to keep the colors to green, white and blue, but you'll also find the occasional pink and mauve, and we planted a Forsythia for color in the spring. Most of the plants are perennials, but the pots contain annuals, as does the bed alongside the garage," says the homeowner.

One of the new varieties of patio clematis in a decorative pot. I think this was added as a quick pop of color. Clematis generally require full sun. Eventually, this Clematis would need to be moved to a sunnier spot.

An exquisite metal plant stand filled to the brim with clay pots, herbs, strawberries 

and annual flowers.

I think you'll agree that this Edwardian garden is understated and quite elegant. Hopefully, it has been worth the two-year wait just to see it.