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.)