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:

Part 2 Gardens with an Uneven Terrain

Today, I am going to show you two properties where each of the designers had the challenge of creating a beautiful garden on two steeply sloping ravines. In the first garden, the ravine literally cuts the property in two on the diagonal. 

As you can see from this first image, the property falls off dramatically just off the back deck. The task was then to link the back garden with the other side of the ravine. 

This is a very quick, not-to-scale plan of the garden just to give you a clearer 

idea of the problem the designer faced.

A pathway leads you to the edge of the ravine.  From this angle, the native Ostrich ferns in the middle foreground somewhat conceal the significant slope of the land. 

In the far distance, you can see the other half of the property. The plantings here include a Japanese Maple, euonymus, heuchera, Siberian iris, and rhododendrons.

As we round the corner, a bridge presents itself. 

Looking back the way we came.

This view best shows the bridge crossing the ravine.

A set of curved steps leads you up to level ground again and over to an inground pool.

Garden #2

In this second property, I will show you both the front and back garden, which again was designed around a steeply sloping ravine. Neil Turnbull did the design work for this lovely garden.

The artful front garden is sunken and almost invisible from the street. A set of steps lead you past a water feature and down into a beautiful courtyard garden.

Vines including hydrangea and kiwi envelope the walls of this sunken garden.

The sound of water nicely masks any street noise. On the right is one of the three still pools.  

The front garden is lush and yet restrained. How do you imagine the back garden must look? For me, it was a wonderful surprise. 

I am showing you this shot, not because it is a great picture, but because it best illustrates the dramatic slope of the back garden. The set of stone steps leads you down the steepest part of the ravine. From there, a series of paths wind the rest of the way down the slope.

Red pine needles add a note of colour to the plantings which include native trees and plants, ferns, azaleas, rhododendrons, hosta and hellebore.

At the bottom of the garden, there is a seating area and two ponds connected by a stream. Unlike the front garden, this area feels wild and unrestrained, but make no mistake, it is thoughtfully considered and executed.

A hosta with blue-grey leaves breaks up all the green. The white flower in the left image is Goat's Beard, Aruncus dioicus. There were also a number of lovely Japanese ferns (right).

The little stone bridge crosses the stream connecting the two ponds.

Adding color were these big, purple alliums.

What do I suggest you take away from these two gardens? 

If your property presents unique challenges, don't fight them, embrace them. A problem feature is just an opportunity to get creative.

Ideas for Gardens with an Uneven Terrain

Not everyone has a yard that is flat as a pancake. 

For fun, I thought I would show you a series of back gardens where the home owners had to contend with the challenges like hillside slopes and deep ravines. Most of these beautiful gardens were designed and installed by professionals. We'll look for lessons from the designers and affordable alternatives to hiring a crane and a crew of burly landscapers.

Garden #1: Hillside back garden. In this first backyard, the land slopes steeply up and away from the foundations of the house. The professional designer's solution? Add a series of curved terraces into the hillside. 

A stone pathway and staircase leads you around the side of house and down into the garden. This first picture is the view from the stop of that stairway. 

More affordable Alternative: I actually think this may even be a little bit of a case of boulder overkill. I personally would have gone with fewer big stones and more plantings in the nooks and crannies. Sometimes not having tons of money and a crew of professional landscapers can actually make you more creative. Imagine instead an old fashioned rock garden set into the slope here.

A curved hillside of boulders in that last shot, leads your eye around to another set of steps that take you up to first level on the hillside terrace.

Note that the grid lines of the large flat stones in the foreground draw your eye in the direction of the stone steps. Affordable Aternative: Concrete pavers instead of cut stone.

This has got to be one of the most tasteful presentations of a hot tub I have ever seen. There is even a space heater incase things gets chilly. What luxury!

If the hot tube doesn't take the edge off a long day off the office, the soothing sounds 

of the splashing water probably would.

Did yo notice that the designer has cleverly placed the botanical equivalent of a waterfall 

beside the real waterfall?

The designer has also done a really nice job of mixing foliage shapes, colors and textures.

This garden has another nice feature we must admire while we are here. It is just behind the cedars that you can see in the near-distance on the right.

What a great space for relaxing around a campfire! Imagine sitting fireside and toasting marshmallows on a cool, late summer evening. Bliss!

More affordable alternative: What is the most important design feature of this part of the garden? 

Did you answer the elaborate stonework? It is certainly statement making, but I don't think it is the most important element. 

What is more crucial are the shrubs and evergreens which surround and enclose the area, sheltering it from the noises of the busy city surrounding it. The greenery functions like a cocoon, enclosing the space and making it an intimate gathering place.

Once you release this design secret, recreating this area becomes doable. Create a semi-cirlce of shrubs and evergreens. Lay down a flagstone or pea gravel patio area in the center. Then, place some adirondack chairs in a semi-cicle around a store-bought fire pit.

Garden #2: Steeply sloping property. Next, we are going to look at second garden at the side of a house, where the land slopes toward the back of the property. There are two ways to get down the slope. 

You can take the more direct route and go down a set of stone steps. Here we are looking back the way we came.

Or you can meander down a snaking path of grass and walk in among the plantings. Here, we are looking back on the grass path we have taken down the slope from the front garden.

But before we go further, let's take second and go back to that first view down the slope. I want to make a point about the design function of the arbor.

The arbor is a destination; a Pandora's box if you will. I beacons to the visitor and invites you to come further. Let's test the theory by looking at the view with and without the arbor.

Suddenly there is nothing encouraging you to go any further. The doorway says, "Come in."

And what a shame not to visit the lower more woodsy section of the garden!

The rhododendron is beautiful and there are lots of woodland plants to admire as well.

Before we go, let's take a second, and admire the skill of the gardener who managed to grow something this pretty and exotic in a northern garden, where the late summer is often dry.

Part 2 will be up next. 

I also promise to post the winner of the Free-Range Chicken Gardens book draw as well.