A Seaton Village, Toronto No Lawn Front Garden

Stop the Insanity, Stop Trying to Grow Grass!

After three attempts to grow a lawn in their front garden, my Seaton Village, Toronto clients threw in the towel (trowel?) and called me to create a "no lawn garden." (It's telling how strong the pull is to grow grass in downtown Toronto  even if the conditions often make this exercise unlikely to be successful.)

The small front garden faces east so receives only morning direct sunlight that's filtered through a large Japanese maple. Here are some "before" pictures taken from various angles showing the poor condition of the grass:

Seaton Village Toronto Front Garden Makeover Before

Seaton Village Toronto Front Garden Makeover Before 

Seaton Village Toronto Front Garden Renovation Before

Toronto Front Garden Makeover Seaton Village Before

Toronto Front Garden Makeover Seaton Village Before

Toronto Front Garden Renovation Seaton Village Before 

It was a fairly straight-forward process: dig out the grass and weeds, transplant some new shade tolerant perennials and spread some mulch. And place the rocks somewhere (my clients didn't offer specific locations.)

Here are the "after" pictures, as "another lawn bites the dust", to paraphrase Queen's immortal lyrics:

Seaton Village Toronto Front Garden Makeover After 

Seaton Village Toronto Front Garden Makeover After

Seaton Village Toronto Front Garden Renovation After 

Seaton Village Toronto Front Shade Garden Makeover After

Toronto Front Garden Makeover Seaton Village After

Toronto Front Garden Renovation Seaton Village After

I asked my clients to buy more shade perennials and plant them in "the sea of black mulch and rock islands". They may or may not do this but at the very least, they'll never need to mow the front anymore. 

A Toronto Pollinator Garden: A Leslieville Front Garden Makeover

If I Build It, They Should Come

Who or what are "they"?  In some gardens, these would be insects, birds and other animals while in other gardens, such wildlife isn't encouraged or even actively discouraged to drop by. I prefer to build and work in gardens that are alive with activity and are visually interesting so row upon row of boxwood hedges don't do it for me.

I help create "oases" for bees, butterflies and other species which are always foraging for their daily meal among a desert of either non- or poorly-productive landscapes. ("Oases" is a grandiose word so perhaps "buffets"?)

I've received many requests this spring to plant pollinator gardens. The message seems to be getting out to more Toronto homeowners: by planting native species, both our animal friends benefit with food and habitat and garden owners don't have to continually worry about spraying for the usual ornamental plant pests and diseases.

Another enlightened client has realized these benefits by hiring me to convert their small (tiny but typical) Leslieville front garden into a functional, resilient and attractive space. The garden faces west and receives full sun all day as there are no nearby trees or west-facing buildings to cast shade.

Here's a "before" picture showing the space:

Toronto Pollinator Friendly Leslieville Front Garden Before 

The enclosed part is obviously small but, unfortunately for me, completely filled with Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica) that has travelled here and, for lack of a better word, infested the exposed soil areas from the hedge to the fence. So in order to prepare the bed for the new pollinator-friendly perennials, I had to hand dig it all out or as much as I could since some of the bulbs are tiny.

I added some composted cow manure as the soil texture was mediocre, transplanted and applied a thin layer of mulch to reduce weeding and watering needs.

Here's a similar view from the front landing looking down a few hours afterwards:

Toronto Pollinator Friendly Leslieville Front Garden After

Pollinator-attracting perennials include the usual suspects: Echinacea, Liatris, Agastache and others. Since they are getting full sun, it now is up to the homeowner to water regularly to help get these small one gallon-sized at least through the first summer.

More "before" and "after" pictures from various angles:

Leslieville Toronto Pollinator Friendly Front Garden with Native Plants Before

Leslieville Toronto Pollinator Friendly Front Garden with Native Plants After

Leslieville Toronto Pollinator Friendly Front Garden Before

Leslieville Toronto Pollinator Friendly Front Garden After 

Toronto Leslieville Pollinator Front Garden After 

Toronto Leslieville Pollinator Front Garden After

I've built it so we'll see if they come....

 

A Roncesvalles Front Raised Garden Makeover Under a Maple Tree

A New Toronto Dry Shade Garden 

Gardening under a maple tree can be a challenge as your valued perennials and shrubs will constantly fight the tree for light, moisture and nutrients and usually end up losing. And if not losing outright (dying), they'll be forever competing with the behemoth above them, look stunted and lead to disappointment.

But some maple trees are more forgiving than others and will allow you to at least dig a small hole for new transplants.

My client in the west end area of Toronto called Roncesvalles recently rebuilt his front yard's raised bed with a new retaining wall and wanted to "celebrate" by having me choose and plant a variety of shade and drought tolerant perennials. I advised him that gardening under a tree with a thick canopy and aggressive shallow roots like a maple is usually not easy and he'll notice a higher-than-normal water bill but he agreed with these caveats in mind so he hired me to choose plants and get them in the ground.

Here are some "before" and "after" pictures of the new raised bed that is about 3 to 4 feet above the sidewalk. I saved as much of the Muscari or grape hyacinths as possible which are blooming now but dug out and discarded everything else. (A surprise awaits you at the very end!)

Roncesvalles Toronto shade garden installation before 

Roncesvalles Toronto shade garden installation after

Yes, I used up two types of cedar mulch (both undyed) as the lighter coloured material was lying around and the client told me to get rid of it. Luckily, it all fades to grey in a few years.

 

Roncesvalles Toronto shade garden installation After 

Roncesvalles Toronto shade garden installation before

Roncesvalles Toronto shade garden makeover before 

Roncesvalles Toronto shade garden makeover after 

Toronto Roncesvalles shade garden installation before 

Toronto Roncesvalles shade garden installation after 

Toronto Roncesvalles shade garden installation before

Toronto Roncesvalles shade garden installation after 

The transplanting process wasn't too maddening (which can be the case trying to dig under a maple) but there were small areas of Creeping Bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides) infestation. If you've ever tried to remove this particular weed from your flower bed (my sympathies), then you know the pain of seeing roots like these:

Creeping bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides) roots