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 New Toronto Native Pollinator-Friendly Garden in Rosedale (!)

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. 

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:

Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden Before 

Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden Before

Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden Before 

Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden Before 

Toronto Pollinator Garden in Rosedale Before 

And the "after" pictures:

Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden After 

Rosedale Toronto Native Pollinator Garden After

Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden After 

Rosedale Toronto Pollinator Garden After 

Toronto Pollinator Garden in Rosedale After 

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!

A New Pollinator-Friendly Raised Bed Garden in Toronto, Part One

We Won't Be Missing Yew(s)

It's almost half way through my winter hiatus or hibernation and while "spring thoughts" shouldn't be in our minds yet, I am being inspired by some gardening books I'm reading now. I haven't posted anything in over a month and wonder why you, dear reader, even stick around this ghost town of a blog. But someone is reading so...onwards and upwards in 2020! 

Combing through my 2019 pictures, I realized I never wrote about a few design proposals for a courtyard complex I "maintain" (well, visit in the spring and fall only). I've posted some "before" and "after" pictures of the cleanups I've done for this condo board before. For example, here's a post titled Weeding Raised Beds in a Central Toronto Courtyard: Getting Gritty in Downtown Toronto that shows the beds before and after I work my magic!

There are about a dozen raised beds inside the private courtyard of various sizes and shapes. They all have yews (Taxus sp.), pruned into balls, ovals, alien spacecraft, etc. and most have hostas, that overused workhorse among perennials. That's more or less it. Lots of green.

Automatic irrigation is in place but no one looks after the plants' maintenance (i.e., no weeding or pruning occurs in the summer).

Some of the condo board members expressed an interest to modernize some of the beds as the feeling in the courtyard is definitely circa 1983. They asked me to come up with three drawings for three small beds as a start. In this post (and two future ones), I'll show the existing bed and my rendered sketch showing new perennial possibilities.

Here's "Bed A", for lack of a more scintillating description:

A New Toronto Pollinator Garden Design Before 

It faces west but will be shaded by early afternoon due to a large tree located nearby. For this and the other raised beds,the clients wanted more plants that offer seasonal interest and encourage more wildlife (pollinators and birds especially) to visit.

My proposal...

A New Toronto Pollinator Garden Design After 

The yews, I suggest, would be removed but the existing native serviceberry kept. Four types of shade tolerant native species would fill in the small bed:

• Cinnamon Fern
• Turtlehead
• Eastern Red Columbine
• Canadian Wild Ginger

What do you think of my plant selection?

A New Toronto Pollinator Garden near Wychwood Barns

Giving Plenty of Reasons for Bees and Butterflies to Come Over

I wouldn't say removing front lawns and replacing turf with wildlife-friendly plants is my raison d'etre but when the opportunity arises, it's exciting to plan and execute such a sustainable idea. In the right situation, lawns are great to play on, easy on the feet, capture rainwater, etc. but let's face it, having a nice looking patch of grass takes energy, time and money to maintain. (For most lawn owners, especially it seems male ones, "nice looking" means a weed-free carpet of Kentucky Bluegrass mowed to 2.5 inches worthy of garden parties and weddings.)

What happens, though, when your small front lawn (say an area of 12 feet by 12 feet as in this post) goes to sh*t and you don't want to deal with re-sodding or re-seeding and get into the endless cycle of fertilizing, watering, and mowing your very expensive 144 square feet of Toronto property? What if, on the other hand, you (the homeowner) prefers to have plants which invite birds, bees, butterflies as opposed to raccoons and skunks ripping up your turf looking for grubs? 

There are options....

I've worked for Laura and Greg, the homeowners, for many years and seen the front lawn (aforementioned 144 square foot area) deteriorate from pests and weeds to the point that they pulled out whatever remaining patches of grass last year. Laura wanted to plant some hydrangeas but I suggested another strategy. She has three young children so perhaps she would be interested in teaching them about ecology, life cycles of plants and insects, etc. Maybe transplanting a range of native plants (perennials here) could be more informative and educational (best case scenario for the kids) while involving less work, aside from occasional watering and seasonal pruning (best case scenario for Laura and Greg.)

They were very open to the idea of ditching their rotary mower so asked me to come up with a list of native plants to Southern Ontario and "make over" the front. They got the plants right away (I love committed clients)  but I had to weed the front garden first in preparation.

Below are some pictures of the front garden before the renovation from various views. The site is in full sun, facing south, with no automatic irrigation system in place. The assortment of vigorously-growing weeds shows that growing nicer stuff was promising.

Wychwood Toronto Pollinator Garden Installation Before 

Toronto Wychwood Pollinator Garden Installation Before 

Toronto Wychwood Pollinator Garden Installation Before 

Wychwood Toronto Pollinator Front Garden Installation Before 

Wychwood Toronto Pollinator Front Garden Installation Before

Wychwood Toronto Pollinator Front Garden Makeover Before

Wychwood Toronto Pollinator Garden Makeover Before 

Wychwood Toronto Pollinator Garden Makeover Before

Toronto Wychwood Pollinator Garden Installation Before 

Stage One: Let's Get Rid of Those Weeds!

Wychwood Toronto Pollinator Front
Garden Installation Mid Way 

Wychwood Toronto Pollinator Front
Garden Installation Mid Way 

Stage Two: Transplanting Perennials

Now that I had a clean "blank slate", planting the new native perennials was straight-forward. (What did I plant? Some of the usual pollinator-friendly stalwarts like Echinacea, Rudbeckia, Asclepias, and Monarda.)

I placed them in groups and formed a mulched pathway around the massed plantings. This allows for easier access to maintain the perennials (yes, I know "maintain" is a dirty word but "no maintenance" is an even dirtier phrase). Laura's kids can walk around easily to view the butterflies and bees in closeup while I can weed in the future without constantly worrying about stepping on things. 

Walking in this garden is greatly encouraged!

Toronto Wychwood Pollinator Front
Garden Installation After 

Toronto Wychwood Pollinator
 Garden Installation After 

Toronto Wychwood Pollinator
 Garden Installation After

Wychwood Toronto Pollinator
Front Garden Installation After 

Wychwood Toronto Pollinator
Front Garden Makeover After 

Wychwood Toronto Pollinator
Garden Installation After

Wychwood Toronto Pollinator
Garden Makeover After

And a Few Weeks Later...

I returned to clip the "L" shaped boxwood hedge, weed and add some more mulch. All the perennials are growing happily, I'm glad to report. (The Anise-Hyssop (Agastache) seemed to have doubled in size.) I saw many types of butterflies and bees visiting this small garden. 

It's gratifying to add beauty and food (for the insects and perhaps birds) to Toronto, one garden at a time. I don't miss planting hydrangeas at all and I'm sure Laura would agree.

Wychwood Barns Toronto Pollinator
Front Garden Makeover After 

Wychwood Barns Toronto Pollinator
Front Garden Makeover After

Spring Time in a Riverdale Ecological Garden

Gardening with Native Plants in Toronto: Spring Can Be Beautiful, Just Don't Expect Lilacs

What a spring it has been so far! Like last year, we've seen ornamental Flowering cherries, crabapples, magnolias and others display their glorious and short-lived blooms. Of course, tulips, daffodils and other seasonal bulbs offer their much-needed colour too, notwithstanding squirrel vandalism. But what if you don't want such traditional trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs in your garden? Could it be beautiful too in the spring?

A garden I visit weekly to look after shows you that the answer is a resounding "yes!"

Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
spring flowers in a Riverdale
ecological garden

I'd describe the philosophy behind this garden's plant choice and maintenance as "ecological" as the clients want a variety of insects and birds while choosing perennials and shrubs native to southern Ontario only. There's no use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, mainly due to the absence of a lawn.

White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
spring flower in a
Riverdale ecological garden

I've profiled this garden many times in my blog's history (search "ecological garden"). It's one of my favourite gardens to work in due to omission: the plants here are simply absent for the most part in all the other gardens I maintain. So from purely a maintenance aspect, I find it very interesting to see how the garden changes from April to November. Buddha knows, I can look at mophead hydrangeas and boxwoods so many times before boredom ensues.

Wood violet (Viola odorata) spring flowers
in a Riverdale ecological garden

In May, many shrubs and perennials in this Riverdale garden offer their nectar and pollen to hungry pollinators. In high summer, the frenzy of activity peaks when other perennials like asters, Ironweed, and coneflowers are covered with hoverflies, many species of bees, moths and butterflies.

American Plum (Prunus americana)
spring flowers in a
Riverdale ecological garden

Canadian wild ginger (Asarum canadense)
in a Riverdale ecological garden

It's not only flowers which are attractive now. Like any "great" garden (well, to me), foliage plays an equally important part. Several clumps of Canadian Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) like the one above have really established themselves over the past few years. The soft richly-veined new leaves are very ornamental. They remind me of Siberian Bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla). 

Canadian wild ginger
(Asarum canadense)
leaf detail in a Riverdale
ecological garden

Golden currant (Ribes aureum)
spring flowers in a
Riverdale ecological garden

Mertensia virginica (Virginia Bluebells)
spring flowers in a
Riverdale ecological garden 

Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum)
spring flowers in a
Riverdale ecological garden

These nodding flowers will turn into "smoke" later. The fuzzy flower reminds me more of a Dr.Seuss character than anything else!

Prunus americana (American Plum)
spring flowers in a
Riverdale ecological garden

I'm mildly irritated when I read or hear the claim that using native plant species will automatically and magically mean much lower maintenance requirements (no pests, dieases, etc.) All I can say is "it depends." While the great majority of plants in this garden don't need fussing about, this Plum is the exception. It suckers everywhere and is very prone to scale, leaf curl and blight damage so parts of the tree look crispy later. The clients spray a mixture of horticultural oil mixed with a fungicide to control the damage to acceptable levels. If it was up to me, this plum would be replaced with a Pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) but...it's not up to me!

Red baneberry (Actaea rubra)
spring flowers in a
Riverdale ecological garden

Another shady character above. The globular flowers will produce brilliant red berries in autumn. Perhaps I should collect them and try to germinate them?

Serviceberry
(Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance')
spring blooms in a
Riverdale ecological garden

Sharp-eyed readers will look at the above and ask: "if native species are only found in this garden, why is a tree-form Serviceberry (Amelanchier) cultivar here?" That's a great question and I don't have an answer. If it's any consolation, there are three medium sized multi-stemmed Serviceberry shrubs nearby which fruit profusely (I enjoy a few ripe berries before the robins and squirrels beat me to them in July.)

And, yes, the fall colour is excellent on this small tree!

Serviceberry
(Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance')
spring flowers in a
Riverdale ecological garden

Trillium grandiflorum (White Trillium)
spring flower in a
Riverdale ecological garden

Our provincial flower above in full bloom. We're trying to establish a colony under a cherry tree but it'll take time.

Below is a closeup from a clump of Wood violets. They can be "weedy" but since there's no lawn here, that's never an issue. The two patches of violets always die back (go dormant) in August's heat but recover nicely in the fall with fresh foliage.

Viola odorata (Wood violet)
spring flowers in a
Riverdale ecological garden