A new East Danforth garden in Toronto's Coxwell and Danforth area
Elizabeth hired me last spring to revamp her small backyard garden in east-end Toronto. The site is in full sun although the north-facing part, of course, receives less intensive light and heat during the day. We decided to keep the small redbud tree, smokebush and lilac shrub and move many of the existing perennials. I felt that there were actually two gardens here: a shade garden facing north and a pollinator garden facing south. Another interesting feature is that there are two berms on either side of the path shown below. (I guess that was done by the previous owner/gardener when faced with the problem of having to deal with the excess fill.)
The "before" shot below shows two Feather Reed grasses flanking the gravel path. There's also a very mature "Annabelle" smooth hydrangea on the right side which fills in quickly and blocks much of the view of the garden from the patio. I removed the grasses and hydrangea to improve the sight lines from the patio and house.
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| Coxwell East Danforth backyard renovation before |
There was a lack of flower colour in the current garden and Elizabeth was interested in attracting pollinators and having blooms throughout the summer. Her mother also loved peonies so we came up with a plant list that included "Honorine Jobert" Japanese Anemone, Japanese Forest Grass, "Beni-kaze" Japanese Forest Grass, "Paul's Glory" Hosta, Anise Hyssop, "Jacob Cline" beebalm, Butterfly weed, "First Arrival" Itoh hybrid (tree) peony and "Bartzella" Itoh hybrid (tree) peony.
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| Coxwell East Danforth backyard renovation after |
Below is another "before" picture, looking east.
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| Coxwell Danforth backyard renovation before |
I kept the Creeping Jenny groundcover and extended the chartreuse/yellow colour around the curve by lining Japanese Forest Grass all the way to the back left (north-east) corner. I also dug out and divided all the Solomon Seal under the background redbud tree and placed them in groups in the shadier bed to the right (north facing) bed.
Along the back fence, we chose to plant two Japanese climbing hydrangeas to hide (or at least minimize) the look of the the board on board fencing that surrounds the garden.
The space where the smooth hydrangea used to be (bottom right triangular space) is now occupied by an existing herbaceous peony.
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| Coxwell Danforth backyard renovation after |
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| Coxwell Danforth backyard garden renovation before |
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| Coxwell Danforth backyard renovation after |
The black mulch does really stand out against the yellow perennials. (I'd just be as happy laying down a natural cedar mulch that's not dyed.)
It should take a few years before the perennials get established but this should be a full and colourful garden compared to what existed before.
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| Toronto Danforth Coxwell backyard renovation after |
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