Designing
in vignettes:
Iris
siberica
‘Ruffled
Violet’, nepeta mussini and Allium giganteum, each comes in and out of bloom consecutively throughout the season, ensuring the garden always looks great.
previous year’s growth is cut down in the spring, it’s set on the grass on the boulevard, mulched with a
battery-
powered mower (the company is Bull- frog Powered so even the electricity is green!) and put directly back on the garden as mulch. Rainscaping is a huge part of the
landscape with all the paths being permeable and covering infiltration trenches (glorified French wells), along with rain barrels, and drought-tolerant plantings. The parking pad has been expanded to include an infiltration zone and water that runs off the old asphalt drive is channeled, via a grate across the end of the drive, into a rain garden. The front yard features an evaporation pond, designed, first, to be beautiful and second, to clean and hold rainwa- ter channeled off the roof. It evaporates away an impressive inch per day. It’s a rare raindrop that escapes this garden. The garden is designed to be light-
hearted and fun – to provoke joy and relaxation, and to push the boundaries of artistic comfort; all the while helping our beautiful planet Earth. K Sean James is a graduate of the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture and owner of Fern Ridge Landscaping & Eco-consult- ing. He’s been speaking publicly and writ- ing about eco-gardening issues since the early 90’s. He’s also the Chair of Landscape Ontario’s Environmental Stewardship Committee and several other eco-commit- tees.
localgardener.net There are species in our world that need our help and our gardens are a great way to offer that help.
Plants don’t all have to be native to do good. The white-flowered, native big-leaf aster is great for dry shade as are varieties of non-native monkshood and both are great for pollinators.
Attracting birds to the garden helps control pests and adds beauty. Beautiful Gardens 2015 • 19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40