In bloom
Last, but certainly not least, were the plants. Drawing again on their love of England and gardening, the clients wanted to create an English cottage garden. Many plants typical of these types of gardens require full sun; however, this space, under the canopy of three large shade trees, received partial to full shade in certain areas. This created a challenge when it came to plant selection.
As a foundation planting, Rhododendron P.J.M. was chosen, because of its hardiness and the beautiful lavender spring flowers it produces. Dogwood (Cornus alba), Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) and boxwood (Buxus) were also used.
The rest of the landscape comprises a variety of shade-loving perennials with a mixture of textures and colours including:
- Astilbe (Astilbe);
- Bleeding Heart (Dicentra);
- Coral Bells (Heuchera);
- Foxgloves (Digitalis);
- Foamflowers (Tiarella);
- Goat’s Beard (Aruncus dioicus);
- Hosta (Hosta);
- Ligularia/Elephant Ears (Ligularia dentata);
- Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum);
- Creeping Lamium (Lamium);
- Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra); and
- Hydrangeas.
In the dense shade area, a stepping-stone walkway was created to the side of the house with ferns and Canadian wild ginger (Asarum canadense) used as groundcover. Towards the front corner of the house, which gets a fair amount of sun, daylily (Hemerocallis) and purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) were added.
To create an English cottage garden feel, the plants were arranged in groups of three to five and ‘over-stuffed’ the garden. In just two seasons, the garden has filled in nicely with a few additions by the homeowner.
Mission accomplished
Overall, the project was a great success, taking home a Landscape Ontario Award of Excellence in the $50,000 to $100,000 category, and garnering a lot of praise from the neighbours. The landscape blends perfectly with the house, as if it’s always been there, but still makes enough of a statement to turn the heads of passersby. Most importantly, the clients were thrilled to get the English wall and garden they originally wanted.
Heather Neal is a co-owner and landscape designer for Toronto-based Beyond Landscaping. She can be reached via email at heather@beyondlandscaping.ca or via www.beyondlandscaping.ca.
