A Garden in Sun and Shade

Pink flowers litter the path like confetti. It's been raining this June morning and the everything is wet and glossy. 

Wow! Does green every get more vivid than this, I wonder?  

You never know what you'll find when you enter a backyard garden. 

That element of surprise is always exciting...even when the weather is a bit damp and miserable.

The garden I am about to show has a wide, but shallow backyard. Mature trees blur the boundaries of the garden however, making it feel much larger than it is. 

The heavily laden Beauty Bush, with its arching branches of pale pink flowers, is one of the first things that catches your eye. This large shrub takes full advantage of a small break in the tree cover and resides happily in a small pocket of sunshine.

Beauty Bush, Kolkwitzia has a fountain shape with branches that hang in long, sweeping arcs. Plant a Beauty Bush in full sun in average garden soil. This shrub blooms on old wood, so prune it in spring after it flowers. Periodically cut old canes to the ground to renew the shrub. Height: 8-10', Spread: 8-10' USDA Zones: 5-9.

A few of the shade perennials identified:

I haven't noted the hosta, but suffice it to say, they form the foundation of this shady planting.

1. Bloodroot, Sanguinaria 2. Yellow Fumitory or Yellow Corydalis (a long blooming self-seeder) 3. Bleeding heart, Dicentra 4. Goat's Beard, Aruncus dioicus (a young plant, as it is quite small) 5. Violet 6. Heuchera 7. Pulmonaria 8. Lady's Mantle, Alchemilla

A nearby dogwood tree is also covered with small, star-shaped blossoms.

Goat's Beard, Aruncus dioicus is a great, large-sized perennial for any shade garden:

Goat's Beard, Aruncus dioicus has feathery white plumes mid-summer. It has green, ferny foliage, which are quite attractive in its own right.  Full sun or part shade.  Height: 120-180 cm (47-70 inches), Spread: 90-150 cm (35-59 inches.) USDA Zones: 2-9.

A path crosses the length of the backyard and then leads back around to the front of the property. When you reach the front corner of the house, a wooden bench greets your arrival. 

A tree lends privacy to this little courtyard, while a small fountain provides the pleasant ambience of splashing water.

Often when homeowners dispense with the grass at the front of their home, they replace it with a cottage style or natural meadow garden that can seem out of step with the other properties in a suburban neighbourhood. I thought that this more restrained approach to a front garden was a nice alternative.

It's hard to capture a large front yard in a single shot, but what the homeowners have done is terrace the area just in front of the house. A set of steps takes you from the upper terrace down to a garden at street level. 

What I think makes this design approach work:

• This front yard is not a jungle of plants. The garden looks neat enough to fit in with the other front yards and their tidy green lawns. 

• There is great use of open space. Never think that you need to fill every square inch of your garden with plants! Some open space is restful to the eye.  Here a thick layer of mulch creates a path that leads you through the garden.

• Color, texture, shape and height have all been carefully considered. For instance, the soft, grey foliage of a Dianthus sits nicely in front of the spear-shaped foliage of a Bearded Iris. Grey, variegated and burgundy leaves break-up all the green. Low growing plants hide the less-than-attractive feet of the taller plants behind them.

• Imagine the same area without the bench and the metal obelisk. The garden just wouldn't be the same! These two objects really compliment the planting. In contrast with the perennials, the bench is chunky and solid. The obelisk, on the other hand, adds a linear element to the heart of the garden.

• The boxwood hedge that runs down the side and part way across the front of the yard contains the garden like a frame. It also presents a neat and orderly face to the street. 

A closer view of the steps that lead down from the terrace.

Groundcovers and diminutive perennials like perennial geraniums (white flowers) are the perfect choice to fill out the area adjacent to the steps. 

These perennials are so densely packed weeds would have a challenge getting established!

A few of the full sun perennials identified:

1. Ornamental Grass (possibly Northern Sea Oats) 2. Shasta Daisy 3. Penstemon 'Husker Red' 4. Bearded Iris 5. A small daylily like Daylily, 'Happy Returns' 6. Basket of Gold, Aurinia saxatilis  7. Pinks, Dianthus 'Essex Witch'

The rain is really starting to come down as I head back to the shelter and comfort of the warm car. 

A garden that was a pleasant surprise indeed... even on a wet morning in early June!

Ideas for Small Outdoor Spaces that can be used in any Garden

The Niagara-on-the-Lake Horticultural Society's annual garden tour was the perfect excuse to take a weekend off. Not that we really needed much of an excuse to visit Niagara-on-the-Lake! It has to be one of the prettiest towns in all of southern Ontario. No wonder tourist's flock to its quaint, but pricy shops, restaurants and hotels.

Grandiflora rose 'Gold Metal'

The weather on the weekend was absolutely perfect: not a cloud in the bluest of skies, sunny and hot, but not humid, with the most refreshing of breezes blowing off Lake Ontario. 

The first of the tour gardens were all tiny courtyard style spaces in the same townhouse complex. 

These were a group of gardeners, who offered by way of example, an abundance of great ideas for making the most of every square inch of outdoor space. 

Technically this first garden wasn't on the tour, but I got permission to photograph it anyway.

The "Bay Street" sign clearly demonstrates these homeowners, leading a quiet life in Niagara-on-the-Lake, have a sense of humour. (Bay Street is the Canadian equivalent of  "Wall Street" and is the location of the stock exchange in downtown Toronto.)

This version of "Bay Street" has comfortable seating and a cozy cabin atmosphere. 

Tip: Hanging baskets don't eat up precious space at ground level in a small garden. 

And there are lots of great ways to hang flowers:

A metal bracket holds a standard wrought iron hook in place on this fence.

This next townhouse garden was the tiniest one we saw, but managed to be just marvellous. Creating a dramatic entrance to the garden was this red Rosa 'Amadeus'.

Rosa 'Amadeus': a good modern climber with trusses of deep red flowers that have a light, spicy scent. Height 8' to 10'. Disease resistant and a repeat bloomer.

Design Tip: Think about how you want to use your outdoor space. 

Most of the townhouse gardens in Niagara-on-the-Lake had a table with chairs for outdoor meals as well as a separate seating area for entertaining and unwinding.

Idea: Create a pleasant ambience using sound. 

The gentle sound of water and the sing-song of a set of chimes is not only relaxing, it helps to mask street noises and the chatter of your neighbours just a fence away.

Idea: When you run out of space at ground level, grow upwards with vines like clematis, ivy or climbing roses. 

Not only do vines offer a nice backdrop of greenery and flowers, they hide fencing and blur the boundaries of a garden making it feel larger.

Idea: Installing a light by the garage door means there is less fumbling with keys in the dark.

In the next townhouse garden, there were muted shades of mauve, pink and grey in a large seating area.

Plantings along the shady side of the garage.

In a small place where you will see the same plants everyday and at close quarters, choose perennials and shrubs that will look neat and attractive through as many seasons as possible. 

This euonymus shrub (on the right) will look great 365 days a year.

Tip: Annuals provide the best continuous color in the least amount of space.

 It is nice to know that any type of garden can be scaled down and adapted to a small outdoor space. The final garden for today is a rose garden.

There was a beautiful wrought iron gate at the entrance to this garden. 

Rosa 'Lady of Shallot': A coral colored David Austin rose that reaches a height of 3' to 6'. This is a repeat bloomer that is disease resistant.

Rosa 'Jasmina': A climbing rose with long-lasting pastel pink roses that deepen to mauve in the centre.  This rose has disease resistant foliage and can reach a height of around 8'.

Idea: Again, climbing roses make use of vertical space.

Just off the back door was a small table set for tea.

More small space ideas coming up soon!

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