Garden Muses: A Small Toronto Gardening Services Company Blog: Another Leslieville front garden makeover

27.7.15

Another Leslieville front garden makeover

Leslieville front garden renovation with pollinators in mind

As summer rolls on, I've recently completed another front garden makeover for this Leslieville client. The front garden actually is shared between the two owners with most of the area owned by one (who hired me.) The area is a narrow strip that's about 4' wide by 20' long, in full sun during the day and watered by an irrigation system.

The owner wanted more flowers (besides the Shasta daisy, there are none) and didn't like how the ornamental grasses "spilled" over onto the neighbour's path. I didn't find the Miscanthus (Maiden grass) offensive but scratched my head as to why the original designer or gardener planted a now large juniper in a 4' wide bed. This poor thing had been pruned into a ball over the years and, frankly, ugly.

Oh, yes, weeds took over the front of the bed as well!

Here's a before picture looking towards the house. The neighbour's walkway is to the left while the client's driveway is on the right.

Leslieville front garden renovation before

After consulting with the client, we decided to remove everything except the Shasta daisy and one Blue Rug Juniper and chose perennials that tolerated/preferred full sun, flowered and attracted pollinators. She did like ornamental grasses so I replaced the Miscanthus with Calamagrostis (Feather Reed Grass) which is more upright.

Other new perennials include "Zagreb" threadleaf coreopsis, English lavender and "Scarlet View" beebalm.

The final outcome is a little more colourful!