People often ask if we do design, over the years we have done a lot of installations for other designers balanced with design for our own clients. I always answer, yes we do design, from plants lists, complete landscape plans and job specifications. Here are some pictures showing the process.
Last summer a new client had requested a garden cleanup and during the course of our conversation it came up that the tree pictured here had been a mystery to the homeowner for years. The client had gone so far as taking cuttings to the local nursery and they too were unable to identify it. After doing some research it was positively identified as Celtis occidentalis or common hackberry. According to Dirr (1975), this tree is native to North America and grows from Manitoba to Quebec and south to North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma. One might wonder why a native tree with such a large range would stump local gardeners and nurseries. Although this is not always the case, many native trees are not widely cultivated, this would explain why nursery staff were unfamiliar with it. What got me was the timing of my visit in early spring gave only three clues as to the mystery tree's identity: the unusual corky bark, the fact that the flowers emerge before the leaf and the alternate arrangement of the buds (see below for what I had to go on initially). In addition its large size makes it somewhat unsuitable for the small urban downtown Toronto gardens we usually spend time in, so in 10 years of gardening I had not come across it. I have to admit a certain degree of satisfaction identifying the tree and successfully ending the mystery for a new client. Score one for Ecoman!
Over the years we have donated our plastic pots of all sizes to Lara Lucretia for non-profit balcony planting projects. Lara has recently completed her hand illustrated Guide To Growing Food On Your Balcony. Her first printed run has sold out and she is currently looking for funding for her second run using Kickstarter (small pledges from the public are used to fund independent projects of all kinds). Although we missed seedy sunday, Lara promised she would grab some great seeds for the Ecoman postage stamp sized garden. Here is a link to Cubit's Organic Living: Seedy Sunday Toronto Recap. For those of you also missed out and are looking for the perfect heirloom tomato, special variety of basil or just want to schmooze with like minded gardener types there are two more seedy events March 12th and 27th.
Some of you may have heard of the new restaurant/bar/music venue called Parts & Labour. What you may not know is that the owner of the building is a landscape architect (hint see testimonials). We had many discussions this spring regarding plans for a rooftop garden using a container system pictured here. This rooftop garden provided veggies for the restaurant all summer, featuring heirloom veggies capably grown by Katie Mathieu. According to Katie "The radishes were nice and chubby in the spring". Our involvement was to facilitate the installation of access, supplying labour for installation of soil, container placement and winterizing at the end of the season. Apparently the engineers had a change of heart regarding large amounts of soil sitting on the middle of the roof over winter.
This past spring Ecoman supplied the herbs and veggies for the Samba Kids rooftop garden at Drum Artz. We planted basil, rosemary, cherry tomatoes and much more. You can also see the Xeroflor green roof that we help maintain.
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