Renovated Garden Beds in Riverdale

Another Toronto Shade Garden Makeover 

The garden makeover requests continue to pour in! Here's one I recently completed in the east Toronto neighbourhood of Riverdale. 

The client has a long and narrow backyard with four small garden beds which were ignored for many years so, not surprisingly, they were filled with weeds and other "undesirables". Here are some pictures of the to-be-renovated beds, before I dug out the lily of the valley, goutweed, and wild daylilies:

Riverdale New Backyard Garden Makeover Before 

Riverdale Toronto New Garden Makeover Before 

These two beds above face each other and are easily seen from the back deck.

Similarly, there are two small beds in the back corners facing each other as shown below:

Riverdale Toronto New Garden Makeover Before 

Riverdale Toronto New Garden Makeover Before 

Toronto Riverdale Backyard Garden Makeover Before 

Toronto Riverdale New Backyard Garden Makeover Before

Toronto Riverdale New Backyard Garden Makeover Before

I chose, with the client's input, a variety of native and non-native perennials and small shrubs while leaving the existing herbaceous peonies and P.G. hydrangea.

Here are some pictures of the beds after transplanting and mulching. Again, I'll start with the two front beds:

Riverdale New Backyard Garden Makeover After 

Riverdale Toronto New Garden Makeover After 

Riverdale Toronto New Garden Makeover After

Toronto Riverdale New Backyard Garden Makeover After

Toronto Riverdale New Backyard Garden Makeover After 

And finally the back beds:

Toronto Riverdale Backyard Garden Makeover After 

Riverdale Toronto New Garden Makeover After 

We're heading into another hot and humid summer in Toronto. I hope you're enjoying your gardens wherever you are!

Bye Bye Spireas! A Moore Park, Toronto Front Garden Partial Renovation

Creating a Pollinator-Friendly Patch in the Front: It's a Start

I loathe to call myself as a garden designer since the term can mean anything, at least here in Toronto. (But for those reading who are licensed and accredited as such, kudos.) I rarely create a new garden from scaled blueprints with details for hardscaping, lighting, etc. as this is much too complex for me and I'm busy as it is with more mundane tasks like weeding.

I prefer the term "plant editor" as I'm often hired to tweak an existing (small) garden, suggest plants to add and remove and move things around for better visual impact. Thus, I edited this established Moore Park, Toronto front garden and limited the scope of work to a relatively small but visually prominent area.

The client approached me and asked what could be done with this space right at the street (there is no sidewalk):

Moore Park Toronto Pollinator Friendly Garden Makeover Before

We have an older P.G. hydrangea standard to the upper left, emerging ornamental grasses in the lower right and several Spirea (a.k.a. Spiraea) shrubs. The tangled mess at ground level is made up of periwinkle (Vinca minor), which, on a positive note, is suppressing weeds from germinating.

The client asked me what we should do in this area. I thought about it, briefly, and suggested we dig out all the spirea shrubs and the periwinkle up to the hydrangea. In this cleared out space, I would plant many native species of perennials to encourage more insect and bird activity. And, yes, we may even have flowers this summer!

I didn't know if she was receptive to this idea (some homeowners can be sentimental about shrubs, even spireas) but luckily she was. Here are more "before" pictures of this small area being edited:

Moore Park Pollinator Friendly Garden Makeover Before 

Moore Park Pollinator Friendly Toronto Garden Makeover Before

Moore Park Toronto Pollinator Friendly Garden Makeover Before

Toronto Pollinator Friendly Moore Park Garden Makeover Before

And afterwards....

Moore Park Pollinator Friendly Garden Makeover After

Moore Park Pollinator Friendly Toronto Garden Makeover After

Moore Park Toronto Pollinator Friendly Garden Makeover After

Toronto Pollinator Friendly Moore Park Garden Makeover After 

Toronto Pollinator Friendly Moore Park Garden Makeover After

I doubt the client misses the spireas one bit!

 

A New Harbord Village, Toronto Pollinator-Friendly Garden

A Central Toronto Front Garden Makeover with Pollinators in Mind

I find that the catalyst to renovate or "re-invent" a garden occasionally has nothing to do with plants. In this post, for example, the homeowner planned to have new stairs and a path leading to the house's front door installed and felt having a lackluster garden would detract from the beauty (and dollars) of the new hardscaping.

I first met the client way back in March this year on a cold morning as she wanted to get the process of putting in new perennials and shrubs going. She was open to the idea of pollinator-friendly perennials planted so I came up with a list of native and non-native hybrids. 

I finally had time for her project recently so here are some "before' pictures of the front garden to give you an idea of what I mean by "lackluster". 

Perhaps "underwhelming" is a better word.

Harbord Village Toronto pollinator garden makeover before

Harbord Village Toronto pollinator garden renovation before 

Harbord Village Toronto pollinator-friendly garden makeover before 

Harbord Village Toronto pollinator-friendly garden renovation before 

Toronto Harbord Village pollinator garden makeover before

Toronto Harbord Village pollinator garden renovation before 

I dug out all the old shrubs, weed tree saplings and perennials but, of course, left the healthy and thriving "Bloodgood" Japanese maple. With a new blank slate, I transplanted many pollinator-friendly perennials like Echinace, Liatris and Rudbeckia. The client wanted some new shrubs so she also bought a shrub rose and rhododendron.

A few hours later, here are the results of the new front garden, freshly transplanted and mulched!

Harbord Village Toronto pollinator garden makeover after

Harbord Village Toronto pollinator garden renovation after 

Harbord Village Toronto pollinator-friendly garden makeover after

Harbord Village Toronto pollinator-friendly garden renovation after 

Toronto Harbord Village pollinator garden makeover after

Toronto Harbord Village pollinator garden renovation after 

The homeowner should see, for the first time in many years, signs of insect and bird activity in this front garden. We're both very hopeful!

A Toronto Pollinator Garden Creation in Lambton-Baby Point

Renovating an Abandoned Raised Bed to Attract Pollinators

I think the word "renovating" doesn't reflect the work I put into implementing a new pollinator-friendly garden profiled in this post. "Resurrection" is more accurate, as the raised bed was not used as a garden for many years. It was full of wild daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva) and Lamiastrum with a Bridal Wreath spirea that needed pruning about five years ago.

The client wanted a new garden space to admire as she sat nearby and, not surprisingly, didn't want to see this all summer:

Toronto Lambton Baby Point New Pollinator Garden Before 

I came up with a plant list with mainly native species to blend in the naturalistic style in the backyard. The property has many mature trees around but the canopies were so high that some direct sunlight fell to the ground level.

But first, I had to deal with digging out all the "ditch" daylilies and Lamiastrum groundcover and prune back the spirea.

Here are some more before and after pictures of the transformation:

Lambton Baby Point Toronto New Pollinator Garden After 

Toronto Lambton Baby Point New Pollinator Garden Before 

Toronto Lambton Baby Point New Pollinator Garden After 

Toronto Lambton Baby Point New Pollinator Garden Before 

Toronto Lambton Baby Point New Pollinator Garden After 

It feels like I've been saving one garden after another all spring!

Creating New Perennial Beds in Toronto's Mount Pleasant East Neighbourhood

When in Doubt, Overplant

Buying and moving into a new house also means you inherited whatever the old owners defined as a garden. You likely won't be happy with the garden you paid for but it does give you the opportunity to plant whatever you want, more or less (mature and healthy trees are almost impossible to remove for "aesthetic" reasons here in Toronto.)

The owners of the backyard garden profiled in this post wanted colour, and lots of it. Some of the existing trees and shrubs were kept but I was hired to come up with a list of perennials that could handle the part sun, part shade and offered flowers.

The garden is quite deep as property lots in the neigbourhood are typically much longer than wider. This gave me various sections to fill and fill them I did to the point where the client asked me "is it necessary to buy all these plants?" I guess the sticker shock was surprising to her and for most new garden owners, plants can seem expensive. I gently reminded her that we had a lot of space to consider and if you want a gorgeous perennial garden (which the clients obstensibly wanted), filling it with hostas isn't going to do the job. 

(Cue the hosta lovers demanding my head!)

In the end, my original plant choices prevailed, aside from more than few substitutions by the garden centre, so you can tell me if there are too many new plants (as a theoretical exercise, they are in the ground and aren't coming out.)

Here are some pictures of the various garden sections before and after transplanting.

There should be a "great show" in this garden in a few years once the perennials become established and fill in.

Mount Pleasant East Toronto Garden Makeover Before 

Mount Pleasant East Toronto Garden Makeover After 

I re-used lots of black eye Susans (Rudbeckia) which were planted in the section right of the path above.

Mount Pleasant East Toronto Garden Makeover Before 

Mount Pleasant East Toronto Garden Makeover After 

Mount Pleasant East Toronto Garden Renovation Before 

Mount Pleasant East Toronto Garden Renovation After 

Toronto Garden Makeover Before in Mount Pleasant East 

Toronto Garden Makeover After in Mount Pleasant East 

Toronto Garden Makeover Before in Mount Pleasant East 

Toronto Garden Makeover After in Mount Pleasant East 

Toronto Garden Makeover Before in Mount Pleasant East

Toronto Garden Makeover After in Mount Pleasant East 

The clients intend to install a flagstone path in the section to the right above.

 

Mount Pleasant East Toronto Shade Garden Makeover Before 

Mount Pleasant East Toronto Shade Garden Makeover After 

Mount Pleasant East Toronto Garden Renovation Before 

Mount Pleasant East Toronto Garden Renovation After 

I can't take credit for removing the ancient Euonymus vine/shrub above as the clients decided to tackle this big job. The space was now free for me to transplant three Serviceberries (Amelanchier spp.)