Roncesvalles Village raised bed garden makeover

A small Toronto front raised garden re-design in Roncesvalles

I love these kinds of projects:  The client knows exactly what plants to buy given how much maintenance will be committed, I transplant them with a design in mind and get paid right away!

The client, Tanya, was fed up with the front raised bed she inherited when she moved in. There is an existing medium sized crabapple, a small weeping red cut-leaf Japanese maple, some clumps of grape hyacinths and an old rose that she hated.

Here's a picture showing what I mean:

Roncesvalles Village Toronto
new garden installation before 

She wanted a more contemporary look so advised me to remove the rose (and the few large weeds) and to come up with a lower maintenance garden design. The combination of full sun, contemporary look and lower maintenance automatically suggests, to me, ornamental grasses and, with regular watering, some sedges ( Carex cultivars).

We came up with a plant list which includes Feather Reed Grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’),  Japanese Blood Grass (Imperata cylindrica ‘Red Baron’)  and  Variegated sedge (Carex "Ice Dance").  Originally I suggested using my favourite grass, Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’) but she decided on the Blood Grass instead. This was a brilliant move as the tips of the Blood Grass relate to the Japanese maple's burgundy leaves.

A few hours later...

Roncesvalles Village Toronto
new garden installation after 

I decided to reuse the grape hyacinths since the bed would have no early spring colour otherwise and recommended to Tanya to plant several dozen daffodils this fall to boost the garden's early spring curb appeal.

I applied a 3" layer of black (dyed) mulch to reduce the amount of weeds germinating and lessen the need for regular watering (after the perennials become established.)

Here are more "before" and "after" pictures of the garden from various viewpoints:

Roncesvalles Village Toronto
new garden installation before 

Roncesvalles Village Toronto
new garden installation after

Toronto new garden installation
Roncesvalles Village before 

Toronto new garden installation
Roncesvalles Village after 

Toronto new garden installation
Roncesvalles Village before

Roncesvalles Village Toronto
new garden installation after

Tanya was very happy with the new cleaner look, in no small part due to removing the previous homeowner's prized rose. I was delighted with her lack of remorse!

A Weeping Mulberry weeps in Scarborough

A raised garden bed makeover involving the death of a Mulberry tree

If there's a small tree that I dislike intensely, it would be a Weeping Mulberry (Morus alba 'Pendula'). I'm not a big fan of weeping forms of trees in the first place but this living "green umbrella" of a tree is overused, needs regular pruning of dead branches, often planted in locations that don't consider its mature width, has boring bark and dull fall foliage. So when Carol, one of my clients, asked me what we should do with this raised bed (which receives 6 plus hours of direct sunlight), I knew that mulberry had to be shovel pruned.

Here's the "before" picture:

Scarborough rock garden
with weeping mulberry before 

There's a lot going on here.  A weigela in the lower right, a clematis that is supposed to go up the right trellis, two large "Blue Star" junipers on the left, a Thuja occidentalis 'Rheingold' (golden yellow cedar) against the shed near the back and, of course, that darn weeping mulberry.

It's not a large area but can be a focal point when seen from the patio. I decided to really simplify things by:

• removing the juniper
• removing the weigela
• moving the clematis to another bed
• keeping the cedar
• keeping the small mockorange (behind the junipers above) and, lastly
• removing the mulberry

So what would be the specimen here? Carol and I decided on a "Waterfall" Japanese Maple ( Acer palmatum "Waterfall" or "Viridis". I can't distinguish between the two green leaved lace-cut maples)   because she still likes the weeping shape. I like it because it has a great "billowing" form, doesn't cast a huge shadow and small enough for this raised bed. The orange fall foliage isn't too shabby either as shown below.

After a lot of digging, swearing, cutting tree roots, more swearing and transplanting, we get this: 

Scarborough rock garden after
removing weeping mulberry 

We're still short a few plants but the concept is to carry the Japanese Forest Grass all the way across the top of the highest row of boulders. Eventually, the grasses' foliage will spill over the boulder tops and soften their look.

I hope you can make out the "Waterfall" Japanese maple in the centre. It hasn't leafed out yet and is a little taller than normal. Eventually, we hope it gets fat and happy like this guy/gal from another garden, but this will take many years.

"Waterfall" laceleaf Japanese maple (Acer palmatum var. dissectum  "Waterfall" )   autumn foliage

So who would be the supporting players?

The rest of the bed will be filled up with two types of sedges: Gold Fountains Sedge (Carex dolichostachya ‘Kaga-nishiki’)  which I've used in the past and a new one (to me): Carex oshimensis EverColor® (‘Everillo’ sedge) which has a wonderful lime-green leaf.

Carol and I noticed that the bed really "popped" out because of the yellow/limey green foliage which will only be enhanced with the direct sunlight. The cedar will become even more yellow since the mulberry's shade is a thing of the past. I'll prune the mockorange every spring to give us better foliage at the expense of flowers.

Here's the "after", from another perspective. With time and more plants, this will be a bright and exciting bed.

And the mulberry won't know any better...

Scarborough Toronto rock garden
after removing weeping mulberry