July 19th and 20th, 2013
from the program: Cottage gardens wrap around this 1896 home in a succession of outdoor rooms, each filled with breath-taking color and whimsical garden art. Flowers and feeders provide a sanctuary for birds, which you will surely hear as you meander on the brick path. The welcoming deck is a haven for friends and family. This exquisite garden will be a great inspiration to those who garden in small spaces.
The garden tour was on the 20th, but I have included some photos from the 19th when we did our last check up on this garden, one we have been working on, with owners Jo and Bob, for 19 years. I knew it would be crowded with people on tour day so wanted to get some clear photos of the garden from one end to the other the day before.
This photo, taken by a friend on tour day, shows the driveway approach to the home. You might not guess what a lavish garden lies beyond the gate.
photo by Kathleen Sayce
Looking west at the entry arch, photo by Kathleen Shaw on tour day
- On Friday, Jo agrees the garden is ready.
through the arch on tour day
Just inside, along the wall of the garage (which has been turned into a garden shed on one side and a darling guest cottage on the other) are containers and windowboxes featuring plants from The Basket Case Greenhouse.
along the guest cottage wall (a north facing wall)
The annual geraniums, alternating pink and red, thrive even though one side is at the base of a north wall.
geranium (pelargonium) walk
For the windowboxes, Jo buys flats of assorted annuals from the Basket Case and then I figure out an arrangement with what she brings home. Every year we do her ground level arrangement of pink and red geraniums with alyssum so the window boxes echo that pattern.
guest cottage windowbox, north wall
At the northwest corner of the guest cottage (formerly a garage), you get the first good look at the 1896 house.
beach house
Meanwhile, on the other (north) side of the geranium walk, raised up with a railway sleeper wall (railroad ties to non-anglophiles) is a bed of mixed colourful perennials and annuals. Inspired by visiting my garden last summer, Jo had us tear out some shrubs and some dull perennials (big yellow daylily, for example) and plant thickly with our favourite plants, especially the ones she had pointed at as we walked through my garden.
sunny bed on north side of entry walk
Above: I see Salvia viridis (painted sage), Nicotiana langsdorfii (chartreuse flowering tobacco), snapdragons, salpiglossis, Eryngiums, Cosmos, Agastache, backed with Lavatera ‘Barnsley’. The rugosa rose at the right is so fragrant that it was allowed to stay during the re-do.
another view of new mixed bed
Back to the northwest corner of the guest house: If you look south, you will see a shade bed planted against the house deck.
(left) more windowboxes
(right) shade bed
a view looking north from beside the shade bed, photo by Kathleen Shaw
Above, shade bed would be to your left and the guest cottage window to your right.
- Up we go to the next level.
to the right, an old bench with containers
Fat little birds like to sit on the rail above that bench. A friend told me the birds were there even on tour day.
friendly bird
A wooden arch and metal gate lead into a narrow path in the new mixed border.
the day before tour day
Honeysuckle grows over the arch.
Inside the arch, people could walk one by one on a narrow brick path through the newly planted colour beds. Jo calls it a “one butt path”.
narrow path, east to the white entry arch through which we entered the geranium walk.
looking west back to the honeysuckle arch
looking west back to the honeysuckle arch
just inside the honeysuckle arch where the garden comes to a triangular corner
North of the honeysuckle arch on a small patio at the north side of the deck is a water feature with a tipping bucket.
This is a favourite spot for the birds.
on the deck the day before tour day
on tour day, photo by Kathleen Sayce
- tour day refreshments including Bob Fitzsimmons’ home made cookies.
Jo serving lemonade
Jo and Bob have a wonderfully arranged deck, sheltered from south and west winds and with a roofed nook by the back door.
Tom Trudell was the musician at this garden and played in a cozy corner of the deck.
northeast corner of deck, looking over the garden; hanging basket at right is on guest cottage
Just west of the tipping bucket water feature, we walk through another wooden arch into the center patio.
just past that arch….the day before tour day
Above, the guest house is marked by the hanging basket, and the tipping bucket water feature would be to your right if you walked back through the wooden gate. You can see the metal gate to the left, and the plant bench below the rail where the chubby birds like to sit.
just west of that gate on tour day, photo by Kathleen Sayce
Here is the center courtyard, on the north side of the house, looking west. Next year, Jo wants to remove the old rhododendrons and make a new, no doubt colourful, shade garden on the north wall.
center courtyard
When we first started working in this garden in about 1995, all that was here was a line of rhododendrons running along the fence and a straight gravel path down the middle.
center courtyard with bird feeders
looking west; to the left, stairs to the house.
looking west over the fence
Jo demands that every plant provide lots of colour; if it is not colourful enough, she says a plant “doesn’t have enough bang for the buck”.
colour
This garden view was one of my main inspirations to move from my old shady garden to a sunny one in 2010!
through the gate
just past the windmill
birdbath where the path curves to the west
turning south at the west side of the house
Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ that Allan fenced in with rebar and bamboo
looking south; the path to the right leads to a west gate, below
The west gate opens onto a big lawn that is also part of the property. When Jo said she wanted part of her garden to look just like mine with all her favourite plants that she saw when mine was on tour last year, I never thought to say we could make a garden exactly like mine by doing great big beds out in this lawn! We are contemplating the idea, I’m not sure how seriously on Jo’s part!
daisies and monkshood in southwest garden
looking south: the garden ends here
Let’s turn around and walk back to the center courtyard, admiring the plantings from a different angle.
looking north from the end of the brick path
the northwest corner of the old porch steps
The house had a west and north facing wrap around porch that has been enclosed into a wonderful L shaped sitting room.
looking east, swinging back around the corner
Years ago, my former partner Robert Sullivan laid this path for Jo and Bob. Originally, the beds were straight and edged with railroad ties and the whole impression was not soft and flowing like this.
around the corner, looking east to the center courtyard
daisies and Lavatera ‘Barnsley’
from the garden, looking over Knautia macedonica to center courtyard
the day before the tour: Coco went to “doggy spa” on tour day.
looking east in the center courtyard the day before the tour
guests in tour attire
pointing at a hummingbird
It was an enormous pleasure to help Jo and Bob get this garden ready for the tour. For more history of their garden, just put “Jo’s garden” into the search box on this blog!
Tangly Cottage Gardening 