A Cultivated Garden: summer dreaming in Vancouver

I don’t normally like to do this but I felt as though I needed to breathe again.

That is, show you pictures of ‘God’s country’, aka Vancouver while we are having the winter that won’t quit.

This is my friend Laurel’s home garden in the city.  She studied horticulture with me at Algonquin College what seems like a lifetime ago and is now gardening and designing beautiful garden spaces for lucky homeowners on the west coast.

Oh British Columbia.  The home of millions of varieties of Japanese maple; all of them hardy!

You can always spot a plant-person’s garden.  Look for the subtle leaf associations — how the purple veining on the gorgeous coral bells cultivar mimic the lacy leaves of the filagreed Japanese maple.

The broad puckered hosta leaves being tickled by a hemlock, and the bonus of blooms on a grassy Siberian iris.

The edging rocks and fine gravel path provides not only a relaxing visual foil for the leafy perennials but its texture and colour mimics the silvery pattern on the Japanese painted fern.

Now she told me what this tumbling blue perennial is but I can’t remember; Laurel?  No doubt it is not hardy for us in Ottawa though.  A Veronica, Phlox or even Nepeta would all be a good substitute.  Or if you’re in a shady garden, try Lobelia – but only if it is shielded from the heat of the afternoon sun!

And don’t forget the value of grasses, especially Hakonechloa (Japanese forest grass) for its movement and texture.

If you’re lucky enough to live in Vancouver and need help with your garden, give Laurel a call.  She’ll transform your garden into paradise :c)

Find her at:  www.acultivatedgarden.com

All the photos above were provided courtesy of Laurel Polkosnik.  Thanks Laurel!

Who dumped the sugar?

There has been copious amounts of snow lately.

So much that I had to shake my Amur maple to get up our front path.  Because if I hadn’t, this kind of thing would surely happen.

The snow is wet and heavy due to the near zero temperatures.  It is sticking to everything.

And it isn’t stopping for a while yet.  The skies remain grey for miles and miles.

It is slow slogging where foot paths have yet to compress the new snow.

But it is so beautiful I have to keep stopping and taking it all in…

The evergreens are shrouded and weighted down.  Why do I think of this image?

 

By the end of our walk, my jacket is open and my mitts are off.  It looks like winter but it feels like spring.