My Sanctuary Garden - The Flowers

I designed this garden primarily with the foliage in mind. I didn't want strong contrasts, because the garden was for relaxing. To that end, I didn't use any plants with burgundy foliage. I did, however, include a number of shrubs and perennials that have gorgeous blossoms in a wide range of colours.

'Tiny Rubies' Dianthus

Oriental Poppy

'Buckley's Quill' Mockorange

'Flame' Peony

Fernleaf Bleeding Heart

'Strutter's Ball' Daylily

'Rozanne' Geranium

'Going Places' Daylily

'Rosy Lights' Azalea

'Comtesse de Bouchaud' Clematis

I can see this garden from my kitchen window. Fledgling robins eat the ripened Serviceberries, the sound of the water droplets from the dragonfly fountain splash into the blue water garden jar, and my Golden Retriever Lily lays on the outdoor carpet watching squirrels run past her. It's a wonderful place to just be.

My Sanctuary Garden - Progress

By the end of last summer I was able to complete the planting. You can see my "keyhole" design where the path narrows before entering the circular patio. I designed the patio diameter to accommodate a shade structure, plus a little extra space along the sides to access the plants. The largest granite rocks were placed so some are level to sit on. I gathered more small rocks in my SUV from a spot not too far away to complete the rest of the circle's edge, and you can see that in the next photo. I also mulched the entire garden with landscape cloth and newspaper, and shredded cedar mulch (with the help of my friend Karen and my Sid).

Sid also removed the barn-style shed, which was too awful. The remaining shed will be painted a stoney taupe colour if it ever stops raining!

Sanctuary Garden view from our deck

Keyhole path
The Serviceberry trees have a 15' crown spread when mature, so they will eventually form a leafy canopy over the patio. They're covered in white blossoms in the spring, turn a gorgeous fire red orange in the fall, and the birds love their berries.

Shade side of the garden
There are solar lights in the garden, as well as an LED light up inside the shade cover. An electrical outlet provides power for the water garden in the large cobalt blue ceramic pot.

An intimate little patio for reading, stitching,
snoozing and cocktail hour!

I had planned on installing flagstone within the patio circle, but that will have to wait for another summer. The shed has to be painted, and the lawn needs repair where the other shed was located. Otherwise, we're pretty much done.

The next post will show photos of the shrubs and perennials.

My Sanctuary Garden - The Beginning

We moved into our house in August of 2007, and by last summer I was ready to do something in our backyard. I've designed many gardens, and I knew exactly what I wanted for this property.

First, though, I needed a little help from my favorite contractor. There were 3 huge old poplar trees that leaned over our neighbor's garage, so we had them cut down. The back hoe came in to take out the enormous stumps.

The work begins.

Roots everywhere. Ugly sheds.

I outlined the patio and garden edges with orange spray paint. Landscape cloth went down on the 16' diameter patio area, and garden mix soil was spread in the doughnut around the patio.
THEN it started to rain. And rain, and rain. Nothing but clay and mud.

The guys put the 5 'Autumn Brilliance' Serviceberry trees in for me (the root balls weighed about 600 lbs each), and dumped a load of gravel on the patio area. They placed the largest granite rocks around part of the patio perimeter, and my 3 focal point rocks. And then they had to leave. The rain continued. I tore ligaments in my ankle stumbling over the clay. Things didn't look good.

Sid and I began to lay out landscape cloth in the pathway areas and fill in with gravel. Well, mostly Sid did the work and I limped around pointing my finger.

A mess - the pathway to the patio.

Beginning to look less awful. We've delineated the pathway to the patio. I installed black edging and Sid is continuing to fill in the gravel.

I'm using spikes to hold the edging straight while I fill in soil on one side and gravel on the other. The work began in mid-June, and it's July by now.

My focal point rocks. I'm trimming the excess landscape cloth while I level the gravel. I'm actually quite good at creating level surfaces with a shovel and rake. This is extremely unfortunate, since it would be way easier to let someone else do it!

The next post will show the planted garden. There is still work to do, but we're getting there!

Blooming Today

A pair that I planted together:

'Comtesse de Bouchaud' Clematis
She'll eventually cover this shrub with blooms:

'Buckley's Quill' Mockorange
Blooms at the same time as the Comtesse, with fragrant, frilly white blossoms. I planted both late last summer so they're still small, however they'll reach about 6' high eventually.

'Rozanne' Geranium
This hardy perennial is a blooming fool;
covered in pale purple flowers until October.

We've been eating strawberries from my new garden
for over 2 weeks now.

CBC Radio One Sudbury Gardening Phone-in

I'm doing a gardening phone-in this afternoon between 4:30 pm and 5 pm for my favorite radio station: CBC Northeastern Ontario on 99.9 FM!

I did these for 2 summers previously, until I got too busy with other commitments.

Spring has sprung, lawns are lumpy, hedges are shaggy. Time to spruce things up...

Serenity Garden

The following photos are of a serenity garden that I designed for clients in Sudbury, which was installed in 2007.

The clients wanted a quiet private space to relax in. The keywords I was given for reference were: simple, traditional, serene, clean, neat, tidy, low-maintenance, full season interest, simple elegance. Hardscaping elements had to include a water feature as well as rocks, rocks and more rocks. A gazebo was on the wish list.

Space was limited and the grade sloping away from the house was extreme (8' drop over 23'). The house was built by the clients in a new subdivision, so privacy and lack of trees were issues.

Side (before)

Side Path (after)

The side path leads to these steps.

Future deck/patio area.

Patio and Serenity Garden

Gazebo

Tsukubai water basin provided in Japanese Buddhist temples for visitors to purify themselves by the ritual washing of hands. The client (a knowledgeable plantswoman with excellent design sense!) installed this lovely little grouping beside the gazebo.

Small-space garden design is challenging. Every element has to fit together like a puzzle, as there is no room for fudging. It helped that my clients believed in good design. Once again, I had Steve Elliott of Acer Land Developments install the project. It required massive below-grade timber framing and an 8' retaining wall to hold up the gazebo. The result was worth the effort. My clients love to spend summer days in the gazebo, and I've enjoyed a nice glass of wine there myself.