Cloud pruning boxwoods and yews in a Toronto garden

A way to introduce structure and winter interest in a formal garden

I'm a little grumpy at the moment: stuck in the dead of  a harsh Toronto winter with terrible windchill temperatures making it unpleasant to go outside. Anything resembling spring seems far, far away.  The term "winter interest" keeps popping up in my mind: ornamental grass stalks and seedheads, desiccated rosehips  and crabapples, how the snow lies on my Cornus alternifolia (Pagoda dogwood). I also thought of a project underway for one of my clients that maybe could inspire you.

When I first came across this part of her garden (at the rear of a rectangular yard, more or less), I immediately thought of a "teatro verde" or "(open air) green theatre" which, I admit, doesn't make make a whole lot of sense. The small area is really just a raised bed with a flagstone patio. The neighbour's 20' tall cedar hedge (Thuja occidentalis) makes up the backdrop or curtain of this "theatre." There were an assortment of shrubs (red-twig dogwoods, rhododendrons, a rose of sharon) and hostas in the bed, nothing too exciting and a bit busy. Flanking both sides of the curved retaining wall were two large yews (likely Taxus baccata) in the shape of, well, big lightbulbs.

For some reason only known to the "design muse," I recalled the "cloud pruned" hedges and topiaries of Belgian designer Jacques Wirtz and the Japanese tree pruning tradition called niwaki. I wanted to create an atmosphere of serenity and calmness with a bit of drama and tension. 

Oxymoronic? Contradictory? Incongruous? I knew I was on the right track....

The beginning of a cloud hedge with yews and boxwoods 

(I couldn't move the umbrella base!)

The client bought three large (5 gallon container) yews (Taxus x media "Densiformis") and a few "Green Velvet" boxwoods (Buxus) that, luckily, were on sale as larger specimens are pricey. The other boxwoods were  "repurposed" and transplanted from other parts of the garden.

Looking at one corner of the curved raised bed...

now at the other corner. The lighter green balls are boxwoods,
 the darker green are yews

Looking down the curved bed, the neighbour's
white cedar hedge poking through
the chain link fence on the right 

You're right! All I see too are a bunch of little meatballs scattered throughout the bed. Of course, this is a multi-year project before the shrubs start "knitting" together to form the much desired cloud effect.

I'll update this post over time with pictures of my attempt at niwaki with the two large yews on opposite sides of the curved wall and the newly planted boxwood and yew spheres.

With time, luck and sharp pruners, we'll get cloud formations that will look heavenly when laden (not too heavily) with snow.

Did I give you some ideas for "winter interest" or maybe even saving an ancient juniper or yew? These could be useful for those of us who don't have pretty flowers to look at for a third of the year!

Landscape Ontario Congress 2014

My visit to "Canada's Premier Green Industry Trade Show and Conference" 

I emerged from two days of hibernation due to the atrociously low temperatures gripping most of North America earlier this week and made the trek to this year's version of "Congress" or, as the title states, "Canada's Premier....." (This description is taken from their website locongress.com)

This trade show's audience is comprised mainly of landscape construction and maintenance contractors, or to be more accurate, the owners of such businesses. Now, you might be asking what exactly this post has to do with gardening in Toronto? Fair question. Well, for many who don't want to actually get their hands dirty and have the means of paying others to do such noble work like mowing grass or cutting interlocking pavers, this is what gardening is: reliance on heavy, expensive, gas-guzzling and exhaust-spewing equipment to manufacture and cultivate their gardens and landscapes. So what if it's gardening by cheque-book? 

Looks like a pizza oven using pre-cast concrete retaining wall blocks.
Nothing old world about this!

Large and well-known concrete paving manufacturers and heavy landscaping machinery companies took up much of the prime real estate on the trade show floor.

Coming to your neighbour's front and/or backyard very soon!

More stonework leading to a raised seating area.

I won't comment on the aesthetics of this fountain.
But there's no excuse for the red-painted trees!

Warning! Lots of shiny metal landscaping toys coming up (I'll cue the "Bob the Builder" music right now):

Landscape Ontario 2014 Congress Kubota tractor 

Landscape Ontario 2014 Congress mini dumper 500 

Landscape Ontario 2014 Congress Toro lawn mower 

Landscape Ontario 2014 Congress trailer 

Landscape Ontario 2014 Congress Kioti tractor 

Landscape Ontario 2014 Congress aerator 

Landscape Ontario 2014 Congress Bobcat skid steer 

Several big local nurseries had booths as well. Maybe you'll see similar mass plantings of yuccas and junipers this year in your neighbourhood (hopefully, not.)

Landscape Ontario 2014 Congress yuccas junipers 

I thought I would be lucky enough not to see any euonymus but no dice. Seems this genus is required on all planting plans in Toronto this year.

Landscape Ontario 2014 Congress perennials

I'll see the flowering witch hazel outside in Toronto likely next month. This one is Hamamelis x intermedia "Pallida" according to the tag. Alas, beautiful spidery flowers with no scent.

Landscape Ontario 2014 Congress Hamamelis intermedia Pallida witch hazel 

Being a bit of a contrarian, I'm usually more interested in the booths at the outside edges of the trade show floor. You know, those tables in the "low rent" districts which typically sell brooms and veggie peelers. These are the businesses or organizations with smaller budgets, I assume. Tucked away in one backwater area, I saw booths for the local Ontario horticultural colleges.

I guess the idea with this poster is to have someone take your picture while you stand behind it, just like the clown or busty lady cutouts one sees at arcades and amusement parks. Would a soon-to-be graduate take a picture and attaches it to her resume?

Ok, I took the bait.

Partly to see if I forgot everything from my plant identification courses at Humber College, I completed the challenge to see if I was "certifiable" (You know darn well that I'm certifiably....)

Here are my results:

My clients will be relieved to see these results.

I'll blame the 3 mistakes (not identfiying correctly the Larix, Metasequoia and Prunus) on being rushed by those pesky hort. college students milling around me. (And to think, I was one of them!)

At this point (2 hours into the visit), I had enough of being surrounded by tons of pre-cast concrete products and Bob the Builder equipment and decided it was time for lunch. No way I was paying for over-priced trade show food so I humped it back to downtown to get a bowl of pho (Vietnamese noodles.)

It's always good to be reminded occasionally of what gardening as an occupation and personal interest really means.