Dreammaker Garden
The of Anthony Steffes
A vine covered pergola is one of the mysteries of the garden, providing a shady walk. Below right: Anthony’s favourite lilies. He couldn’t remember the name. Story and photos by Darlene White
artist. Anthony Steffes is also a brilliant gardener with a deep love for plants and the pictures they paint on the mind. His North Kildonan garden
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starts off with a certain amount of drama in the front yard which is dominated by a massive Mani- toba maple that shelters a well- designed but almost conventional hosta garden. But once on the path down the side of the house on the way to the back yard, it is clear that this will be no ordinary experience.
For one thing, there are huge containers lining the pathway. For another, there’s what in them: tall peach-coloured lilies as fragrant as they are beautiful; giant frilly kale that reaches out and hangs over the margins of their jailer con- tainers; glorious gladiola showing promises of things to come. Then comes the back yard, a
14 • Beautiful Gardens 2012
e’s a big man, generous in his thinking, open in his views. Above all, he is an
banquet of colour, a feast of flow- ers, but not a hodge-podge. The beds are meticulously planned. There are objet d’art to set off the colour; there is a long, cool shaded pergola for strolling and dreaming.
On the right-hand side, there is an unexpected deck reposing in the shade of another maple, which is surrounded by colour. Islands of flowers pose a challenge about which way to go – left or right? But you want to do both, to scamper up and down the grassy pathways like a child greedy for a taste of everything at once. White hydrangeas and green
ferns cool the riot of colour. Ligularia ‘The Rocket’ reminds you that colour is not an enemy of shade. Their bright spires are echoed in brilliant yellow lilies that glow in the sunlight, their gold picked up and thrown back by sun-loving Solenia begonias. The tree trunks paint straight lines of strength among the beds,
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