Garden Muses: A Small Toronto Gardening Services Company Blog: Forest Hill

Still Weeding in October....

My fall cleanups are steadily being booked for the end of this month and all of November but I'm still getting requests to pull weeds! This post covers my latest job in the swanky Toronto neighbourhood of South Forest Hill and shows that weeds don't discriminate over their location.

Forest Hill front yard fall cleanup before

Here's the small path leading from the street into the driveway. My crack weeder (yes, that's the real name of this tool) is indispensable in getting into the paver cracks but it's still a tough and tedious task prying out these weeds. An alternative for us in Ontario (since the government allows homeowners only a limited number of herbicides) is to spray with a commercial brand of horticultural vinegar. I suggested this to the client but he didn't want to wait a week before seeing the dead weeds.

Forest Hill front yard fall clean up before

This view above shows (hopefully) the weeds completely growing under, through and on top of the old landscaper favourite technique of laying down black landscape fabric and a yard of river rock. Over time, as you can see, this method fails unless you regularly weed and blow out the million tree seeds falling in between the crevices. I had to move almost every single rock in order to pull out the weeds by their roots. To be honest, it's very calming as my mind blanks out, moving one rock, pull, turn over another rock, pull....

Forest Hill Toronto front yard fall clean up before

I think I also pulled out several dozen Siberian Elm seedlings and saplings during the cleanup. (You can see a few healthy specimens behind the Japanese Forest Grass.)

Forest Hill front yard fall clean up before

This section above is actually a Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) nursery. Just kidding but you can see the infestation occurring especially near the back fence and gate. Luckily, these weeds were still small enough that I could dig out their tap roots easily. Next year, not so easy...

Forest Hill Toronto front garden fall clean up before

Even an eight of an inch between the base of the retaining wall and asphalt driveway allows weeds to thrive. Nature really does hate a vacuum.

Forest Hill garden fall cleanup before

Looking from the driveway, weeds at the base of the Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus) include more Queen Anne's Lace and Canadian Thistle (Cirsium arvense), the latter being a prickly customer. This location needs a few more Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra) as that singleton at the right looks very lonely....

Forest Hill garden cleanup before

And finally, we see the weeds that especially love to lodge themselves in the cracks at the base of the retaining wall!

And about five hours later....

Forest Hill front yard fall cleanup after

Forest Hill front yard fall clean up after

Forest Hill Toronto front yard fall clean up after

Forest Hill front yard fall clean up after

Forest Hill Toronto front garden fall clean up after

Forest Hill garden fall cleanup after

Forest Hill garden cleanup after

A small slope yields much potential in Forest Hill

At first glance, it doesn't look promising: a weedy patch of soil on a small slope facing a shared driveway between two rental properties. My client was so desperate (maybe a slight exaggeration) to garden that she was willing to pay for my time and materials, even though she is a tenant. So it was on a whim and a lark that we met way back in March to see what could be done with the space below:

Forest Hill Toronto new rock garden before

I like these small projects and haven't put in a rock garden for ages so I decided to take on the challenge. My client is also very nice so that sealed the deal!

It's not a very large area, maybe 20 feet across and 5 feet high. The good news is that it faces south and gets full sun until afternoon and the soil isn't too bad. The rocks were already there so someone in the past made this into a rock garden of sorts. But time and negligence have taken their toll and the soil was choked with many types of weeds with the main culprit being creeping bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides) Anyone who's worked with this perennial weed that spreads vigorously by underground rhizomes knows intimately how difficult it is to eradicate it. Leaving just a bit of the fleshy pinkie-finger like roots is enough for it to regenerate.

I prefer not to use a non-selective herbicide so this entire face was hand-dug in order to remove as much of the roots and stems of this bad boy of a weed in preparation for the new alpine/rock garden perennials.

That was in April and when I returned a month later (after the client bought the plants), a few Creeping Bellflower shoots were still emerging. They were easy enough to dig out but vigilance is the key here to really get rid of the weed for good (even then...)

Here's the list of the rock garden perennials we chose which are hardy to zone 5 Toronto and lower: (Click on the links for more information.)

The "finished" garden below looks sparse but many of these rock garden perennials grow quickly so the bare spots should fill in over a few years. Of course, the challenge is to keep these pockets weed-free until then!

Forest Hill Toronto rock garden makeover

I used the same "boulders" (small rocks really) that were there already but I suggest that if you were to attempt this, get bigger and nicer looking rocks and plenty of them. (I'd have more rockery than plants.) The perennials are, of course, tiny at the beginning but will definitely fill in over a couple of years. I expect to see a blaze of white, pink, yellow and blue spring flowers every April-May. Weeding on a slight slope can be a little tougher but other than the occasional watering to get these small plants established plus the weeding (we didn't use mulch like pea gravel), this small rock garden is very low-maintenance.

More "before" and "after" pictures for this small Forest Hill rock garden: