Garden Muses: A Small Toronto Gardening Services Company Blog

19.7.21

A Summer Garden Cleanup in High Park

Weeding Under a Majestic Oak

It's mid-July and the new garden installations are all done but the weeding is incessant. That's a good thing, though, from a cash flow perspective!

I'll go over a small front garden cleanup in Toronto's High Park neighbourhood in this post.

The area is under a huge oak so I raked many leaves that weren't collected last autumn.

And, yes, the weeding...

Here are some before and after pictures, which feature a very beautiful Japanese maple!

High Park Toronto Summer Garden Cleanup Before

High Park Toronto Summer Garden Cleanup After

I didn't intend to make the fire hydrant a design focal point but there's no way to screen or hide it!

High Park Toronto Summer Garden Cleanup Before

High Park Toronto Summer Garden Cleanup After

Toronto High Park Summer Garden Cleanup Before

Toronto High Park Summer Garden Cleanup After

Toronto High Park Summer Garden Cleanup Before

Toronto High Park Summer Garden Cleanup After

Toronto High Park Summer Garden Cleanup Before

Toronto High Park Summer Garden Cleanup After

9.7.21

Gardening Under a Maple Tree: A Sisyphean Task?

Installing a New No Lawn Front Garden in the Fairbank/Belgravia Neighbourhood of Toronto

Gardening under a big maple tree is often an uphill battle. Much like Sisyphus being condemned by Zeus to push the same boulder up a hill, seeing it fall back down and repeating this task for the rest of eternity, a gardener who is foolishly optimistic and plants a new garden under a thirsty maple often sees the new plants die due to the dense shade and losing the competition to the tree for nutrients and water and feels the need to replace them. The process is repeated often until the gardener runs out of patience or funds.

I suppose it's a little better than what Sisyphus is currently dealing with, according to the myth.

But it's also a myth that establishing a garden in dry shade cannot be done. I've seen many gardens under mature trees which seem to thrive in seemingly inhospitable conditions. (Although, to be fair, I'm not privy to the homeowner's water bill if irrigation is constantly needed).

With this foolish optimism, I created this new garden in less than favourable conditions.

Here's a picture showing the client's small front garden in Toronto's west end, under and around a maple tree before I "renovated" ("resurrected"?) it:

Fairbank Toronto No Lawn Front Garden Installation Before

This space was a small patch of lawn until last year when the homeowner decided to remove it. She was tired of watering and mowing such a small patch of grass and the lawn was probably patchy anyway, being in the shade of the maple.

As you can see, weeds have taken advantage of the bare soil before I arrived!

The soil itself was very compacted due to construction (house renovation) so digging holes for the new transplants was a challenge. The maple's extensive surface root system didn't help with the transplanting process either, especially near the base of the trunk.

But I managed to find pockets of soil to place the small starter perennials.

Here are more before and after pictures of the no lawn garden makeover:

Fairbank Toronto No Lawn Front Garden Installation After

Belgravia Toronto No Lawn Front Garden Installation Before

Belgravia Toronto No Lawn Front Garden Installation After

Belgravia Toronto No Lawn Front Garden Installation Before

Fairbank Toronto No Lawn Front Garden Installation After

Toronto Belgravia No Lawn Front Garden Installation Before

Toronto Belgravia No Lawn Front Garden Installation After

Toronto Fairbank No Lawn Front Garden Installation Before

Toronto Fairbank No Lawn Front Garden Installation After

Toronto Fairbank No Lawn Front Garden Installation Before

Toronto Fairbank No Lawn Front Garden Installation After

With regular watering by the homeowner, the new perennials should overcome the typical challenges of living under a maple. But then again, I'm a half full glass kind of gardener!

28.6.21

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

Toronto Riverdale 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

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!

21.6.21

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

I doubt the client misses the spireas one bit!

11.6.21

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!