My friend Sheila's garden

Once upon a time (in the 80's), Marg, Sheila and I used to all work at the library together. We became great friends and have stayed that way over the years.
Marg and I went to visit Sheila today. Her home and gardens are situated on a property that spans more than an acre and extends down to the Grand River.
Almost as soon as we arrived, we went on a garden tour. Please join me as I show you the magnificent job Sheila and her husband have done with this huge yard.

One of Sheila's urn designs was featured in Fine Gardening a few years ago. This is a variation of the original: Kong coleus, sweet potato vine and corkscrew hazel branches in an "extremely heavy" heirloom urn from the 1800's.
Boxwood neatly borders the entrance gardens.

This section is filled with "goodies": a White Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginicus) that smells heavenly in the spring, Holly, Heuchera, Hosta and a clematis that spills over the wall.

Climbing hydrangea, clematis and Rose Glow Barberry share the front bed with a solemn golden Lady.

Sweet potato vine, a thin leaf variation of potato vine called "Illusion Emerald Lace"and dark red coleus make a wonderful "spiller" composition in an unusual container: an antique baby bathtub!

Beside the driveway is a bed that features, among many other things, ferns: Ostrich ferns, Ghost fern, Japanese Painted Fern and …..

…....Maidenhair Fern.

Over the years, Sheila has dug up and replanted into the front and the back many, many 'February' or 'Winter Daphne (Daphne mezereum) from an area near the river. These magnificent shrubs have highly scented lilac blooms in late April or early May and later have bright red berries. They seem to do well regardless where she transplants them!

These Heron are my favourite statues in the garden!

Sheila searches out and buys many Japanese Maples. Two recent purchases include Acer campestre 'Carnival', a beautiful variegated type and Acer palmetum 'Ukigumo' or 'Floating Cloud'.

I am always gushing about my Oakleaf Hydrangea, so I was very interested to see a dwarf one in this section of the garden. A small one like this would have been better suited to the location where I have my big overgrown one - sometime I lose sight of my front door!! Oh well - too late now…

Oooops! Bad Hair Day!!

Hosta 'Praying Hands' is definitely a collector's item. Its upright, narrow, tightly folded leaves resemble hands that are praying.

In the one large bed beside the driveway, Sheila has incorporated a Canna Lily (in a container), a purple smokebush and Sweet Autumn Clematis

Here's Sweet Autumn Clematis close up.

This is the Sun Border neatly bordered by boxwood and with a cedar hedge backdrop.

The corner of the property features a lime smokebush, a barberry bush that must be cut down every spring, hydrangea paniculata, a Gingko tree and an Eastern Redbud.

These are very special: a Tiger Eye Sumac…..

…….and Hydrangea 'Pinky Winky'.

And now we go to the "backyard", heading down towards the river.

Sheila describes the garden being in tiers, rather than rooms. Here, though is a "room" with an excellent spot to sit and view the river.

The idea was to create neat, orderly beds among the existing trees. But it had to look as if it had just "happened" that way. Sheila has been highly successful in achieving this.

Even the river bank has been planted with water loving plants.

Thanks so much for having us over, Sheila! The place looks even more magnificent than last year :)

Combining Plant Textures in the Garden

When people think of designing their garden, they usually think of size and colour first: how big is the plant going to become? What colour will it be in summer? in autumn?
Then they attempt to place the different plants into beds using the design concepts of proportion, order and repetition.
It's easy to forget about or ignore texture but this element is also very important.

Texture refers to the surface quality of a plant. Plant textures range from fine to medium to coarse. Most plants have a medium texture so it's a great idea to combine medium with fine and coarse. This adds interest as well as achieves an atmosphere of calm relaxation or of drama.

Feather Reed grass 'Karl Foerster" has 2 types of texture: the sharp, vertical stalk and the fluffy soft plumes.

An article from Landscape Ontario http://landscapeontario.com/ says that "…the easiest way to assess the amount of contrast in the texture of the garden is to imagine a black and white photo of the area. The removal of colour helps to focus attention on the size and shape of the foliage and woody components beyond the appeal of their overall form and colour."

I tried this and it works!! Compare above and below. Look how the sharp needles of the mugo pine contrast with the thick, rounded leaves of the Sedum and the long, thin foliage of the Miscanthus grass and the Pennisetum.

Below is a good example of varying textures: the droopy Miscanthus foliage, the curvy crunchy leaves of Kale, the delicate small leaves of periwinkle and lamium. Sedum 'Autumn Joy' peeks out from the back.

Here's another shot of the same area, when the Sedum flowers have turned pink and the Pennisitum has feathery plumes.

This is a close-up of Sedum 'Autumn Joy'….

…and Sedum with grasses and Mugo Pine.

Above is a good example of combined textures: a sleek purple Siberian Iris on a long thin stalk is directly in front of a sharp needled Weeping Norway Spruce. And beside it is a coarse-leaved blue Hosta.

The Queen of textures is probably a cactus!!

When I was on this garden tour, the home owner had combined large heart-shaped Hosta leaves with smaller triangular ones. A tiny tiny spiky Hosta, the miniature 'Pandora's Box' is the focal point. The blue geranium alongside provides another type of texture as well as colour.

Many textures are to be found in the photo above: coarse (Hosta) fine (Euonymus) and very fine (evergreen).

Viburnum 'Mariesii', with its drooping horizontal branches and flowers runs right into fine, grass-like daylily leaves.

 Coarse plus 2 types of fine texture: thick leaved blue Hosta with a geranium and Painted Japanese Fern.

Indoor plant Caladium does just fine in containers in northern climates. Its colourful leaves are its own source of texture.

Feathery white Astilbe 'Deutchland' flowers beside smooth, velvety begonia blossoms.

Add a bit of hardscaping (cement pot and statue) to frothy ferns, Japanese Golden grass and soft leaf Helichrysum and you create a dramatic but harmonious area in the garden.