29.4.21

A New Toronto Native Pollinator-Friendly Garden in Rosedale (!)

An Oasis in a Desert of Euonymus, Cedars and Boxwoods


Look around your neighbourhood and you may notice many of the same perennials, shrubs and trees repeated in one front yard after another. I've always wondered why this is the case. Is it due to peer pressure, lack of horticultural knowledge, keeping up (or down) with the Joneses? 

From my experience in working around central Toronto neighbourhoods, there is often little diversity in front-facing public plantings. We get very similar plant groupings (or what I call "templates") regardless of where you are in the city. Not too often (or not often enough) do I see a garden that's a little different from its neighbours. 

And heaven forbid you try to grow vegetables in the front yard! 

I met this client who lives in a "nicer" area of Toronto called Rosedale ("nicer" just meaning the houses are a little more expensive than in other areas although these days a million Canadian dollars doesn't necessarily buy much in the real estate bubble we're experiencing) who was open to the idea of attracting pollinators to his front garden bed. 

A breakthrough in his area, to be honest, and this encouraged us to complete this garden makeover.

The small raised front bed as shown below isn't large in area but did have one large tree in the past (the stump still remains which I used as a "stepping stone") and, more significantly to me, contained a very old and mature red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea) shrub. 



Toronto Pollinator Garden in Rosedale Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardening Services Company
Toronto Pollinator Garden in Rosedale Before 




Eventually, I managed to excavate the shrub stump (barely) and opened up the bed for the new pollinator-friendly perennials. The area faces east and gets full sun until mid-afternoon so the new purple coneflowers, black eye Susans and other bee and other butterfly-attracting perennials should have no issues getting established (as long as the client waters regularly for the first year or so).


Here are more "before" pictures of the garden makeover from various angles:



Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Gardening Services Company
Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden Before 



Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardening Services Company
Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden Before



Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Gardening Services Company
Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden Before 



Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardener
Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden Before 



Toronto Pollinator Garden in Rosedale Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Gardening Services Company
Toronto Pollinator Garden in Rosedale Before 



And the "after" pictures:



Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Gardening Services Company
Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden After 



Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardening Services Company
Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden After



Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Gardening Services Company
Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden After 



Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardener
Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden After 



Toronto Pollinator Garden in Rosedale After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Gardening Services Company
Toronto Pollinator Garden in Rosedale After 



Toronto Pollinator Garden in Rosedale After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardening Services Company
Toronto Pollinator Garden in Rosedale After 



Odds are high that insects and perhaps birds will visit this oasis this summer and future years. (You just have to give them reasons to actually do so.)

The neighbours may not be ready for such a change!







28.4.21

A Little Portugal, Toronto Spring Cleanup in the Front and Backyards

Small Property, Lots of Leaves


On the map, this property in Toronto's Little Portugal neighbourhood has a small footprint so I thought the spring cleanup would take less time than usual. Wrong! When several mature trees had shed their leaves last autumn and no one removed them from the gardens for over 5 months, there was a lot of heavy lifting involved with all these matted leaves.

Here are some "before" and "after" pictures of this spring cleanup. These work requests are coming in strong and fast and it's not even May yet. Major tasks involved in this particular cleanup involved raking up the thick mat of old autumn 2020 maple leaves and weeding in order to get the gardens ready for newly ordered perennials.



Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Little Portugal Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardener
Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Little Portugal Before



Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Little Portugal After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardener
Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Little Portugal After 




Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Little Portugal Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardening Company
Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Little Portugal Before 




Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Little Portugal After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardening Company
Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Little Portugal After 




Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services
Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup Before 



Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup After by Paul Jung Gardening Services
Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup After 



And in the backyard...



Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Little Portugal Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Small Toronto Gardening Services Company
Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Little Portugal Before



Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Little Portugal After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Small Toronto Gardening Services Company
Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Little Portugal After 



Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardener
Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup Before 



Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardener
Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup After 



Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardening Company
Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup Before 



Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardening Company
Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup After 



Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Gardening Services Company
Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup Before 




Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Gardening Services Company
Little Portugal Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup After








22.4.21

A Chaplin Estates, Midtown Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup

Spring 2021 Has Finally Begun!

Enduring a pandemic winter was challenging but another April finally emerges and this Toronto gardener is getting busy again. I hope, dear reader, you and your family have remained safe and healthy during these tumultuous times.

I don't believe I've profiled this midtown Toronto garden before. I visit the client twice a year to "open" and "close" the garden, in her words. It's interesting that she (and many others) use the analogy of a garden being a store that requires to be opened for business from spring to fall and closed for the winter break. 

My "opening" process here mainly means raking out last fall's leaves, removing old stems and flower heads and spreading some composted manure on the beds. I'll duplicate these tasks many times in May so get ready!

Here are some "before" and "after" pictures of the the "U" shaped beds around the central lawn which are enclosed with a 20 foot white cedar hedge:




Chaplin Estates Toronto Spring Cleanup Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Small Toronto Gardening Company
Chaplin Estates Toronto Spring Cleanup Before



Chaplin Estates Toronto Spring Cleanup After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Small Toronto Gardening Company
Chaplin Estates Toronto Spring Cleanup After 



Chaplin Estates Toronto Spring Cleanup Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Small Toronto Organic Gardening Company
Chaplin Estates Toronto Spring Cleanup Before



Chaplin Estates Toronto Spring Cleanup After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Small Toronto Organic Gardening Company
Chaplin Estates Toronto Spring Cleanup After 



Toronto Spring Cleanup in Chaplin Estates Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardener
Toronto Spring Cleanup in Chaplin Estates Before 



Toronto Spring Cleanup in Chaplin Estates After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardener
Toronto Spring Cleanup in Chaplin Estates After 



Toronto Spring  Garden Cleanup in Chaplin Estates Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardener
Toronto Spring  Garden Cleanup in Chaplin Estates Before 



Toronto Spring  Garden Cleanup in Chaplin Estates After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardener
Toronto Spring  Garden Cleanup in Chaplin Estates After 



Chaplin Estates Toronto Spring Cleanup Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardener
Chaplin Estates Toronto Spring Cleanup Before 



Chaplin Estates Toronto Spring Cleanup After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Organic Gardener
Chaplin Estates Toronto Spring Cleanup After 



Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Chaplin Estates Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Gardening Services Company
Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Chaplin Estates Before 




Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Chaplin Estates After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Toronto Gardening Services Company
Toronto Spring Garden Cleanup in Chaplin Estates After 



Chaplin Estates Midtown Toronto Spring Cleanup Before by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Small Toronto Gardening Company
Chaplin Estates Midtown Toronto Spring Cleanup Before



Chaplin Estates Midtown Toronto Spring Cleanup After by Paul Jung Gardening Services--a Small Toronto Gardening Company
Chaplin Estates Midtown Toronto Spring Cleanup After 



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