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.
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| 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:
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| Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden Before |
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| Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden Before |
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| Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden Before |
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| Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden Before |
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| Toronto Pollinator Garden in Rosedale Before |
And the "after" pictures:
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| Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden After |
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| Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden After |
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| Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden After |
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| Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden After |
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| Toronto Pollinator Garden in Rosedale After |
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| 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!
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