Canada Blooms Theme

This year Canada Blooms theme is City Culture, we are installing a feature garden with the title Concrete Blooms Burst. I was so happy about the choice of theme this year. I think a great place to observe this theme in action is the interaction between plants and urban spaces. Consider the pictures above. Street tree growing out of concrete sidewalk, plant growing in the humus buildup of an abandoned boat, tree roots lifting a concrete step, full size tree growing behind a concrete retaining wall, and of course the grass eking out an existence in the crack of a wall. More progress posts to follow.

Field Trip

Here are some shots from a recent field trip to Connon NVK in preparation for our feature garden at Canada Blooms. Its amazing that even in the dead of winter you can see so much great colour. More updates to follow. 

Sourcing plants

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The Aquilegia chrysantha (Colorodo columbine) pictured above was planted at David Archer Coop last year. After trying all my regular suppliers (and failing), I purchased every single last one that Humber Nurseries had grown. I believe it was 51! Unlike 2x4's sourcing plants can be time consuming as you need to know the quality, size, quantity availability and price.

Exterior Property Inspection: Episode 3

Another garden inspection for your viewing pleasure.

Introducing the exterior property and garden inspection

Interested in having an inspection for your garden? Book you appointment today!

The Cloisters

I reluctantly agreed to accompany my wife to new york last weekend. I was nervous to leave Toronto so close to opening day, so you can imagine my delight when 8" of snow fell the day before we left. In any case we had a great time and I came back with a new blog post. Pictured above is the scene on March 23rd 2011.

 The park leading to the cloisters in new york begins with a wonderful sea of purple heather interspersed with lime juniper.

 Then large granite rocks have been planted with sedum and juniper. The contrast between the white bloom of the juniper berries and the red orange of the sedum was particularly striking.

 The stonework leading to the cloisters was equally impressive. pictured here is the natural stone arch built at least 40 feet above street level.

Large drifts of hellabores were planted all over the park leading up to the cloisters, we might have missed this entirely had we come any later in April. In addition the crocus interspersed with Stachys was a great contrast. All in all a great trip and there was still snow on the ground when we got back.

Lynwood Residence

Here is a great example of how plants can evoke a feeling in a garden. This space is owned by one of our gardening clients. These shots are of the back garden complete with koy pond and waterfall. We have been gardening here for several years and are slowly adding/editing the plant composition to enhance the space. There are existing beeches, Japanese maples and sumac. We planted a carpet of lime creeping jenny interspersed with Heuchera in the grass area. We have also been training the massive wisteria (not pictured here). Sometimes the bones of a garden are in great shape and our job is to help with plant selection and care.

Mystery Plant ID

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!
Dirr, Michael A. 1975 Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Stipes Publishing. Champaign, Illinois. Fifth Edition.

Local wow mystery pruning

Walking back from a brunch with friends, I happened upon this garden with these incredible geometric shapes. It would take many years of painstaking work, an architectural eye combined with masterful skill with a pruner to achieve this look. Whether you like this aesthetic or not you have to credit this mystery gardener for their skill and technique. The time did not seem right to knock randomly at their door in order to shed some light on the story behind this garden. Wouldn't it be interesting to meet the person responsible for this work?
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Wholesale Nursery

One of my favourite parts of working in this business is going to the wholesale nurseries. Pictured here are shots of the perennial greenhouse at Connon NVK. Working with Mark (head of perennials) and the rest of the team at Connon is great because they value our business and are setup to work with landscape contractors. Typically a list is sent ahead so the nursery can start picking your order, however, in spring we often are purchasing small quantities for multiple clients. Therefore it is not unusual to show up with a partial list and hand pick some special items for a last minute project.

Brigid is better

A very dear client had asked us to do some garden work in the back garden. Upon our arrival we learned that Brigid had a stroke. We completed our work as best we could under the circumstances. I remember feeling sad that she would miss the beautiful fall colour of her Cercis canadensis tree. On a whim I selected a few nice ones and made a platter. Cheers Brigid to your health!
PS As usual inspiration provided by David Leeman

Fall colour at the Lewis Residence

Busy season = no posts! Now I can start posting some of the great shots from this season. Stay tuned.
This garden was installed back in 2006. It is great to see the boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) completely hiding the fence.

Late March with Barry

Disclaimer: This is not an ecoman garden, in fact the closest we have come to working in this garden is to deliver composted duck manure on the driveway!
Hamamellis x intermedia 'Jelena'
Cyclamen coum
Hellabores galore and much more