A Touch of the Mediterranean!

Goodness me! Its been awhile since I have had time to myself, what with work, house sitting and the garden tour – but now I can sit, put my feet up and reflect on it all. Oh and did I mention that we’re in the middle of a scorching heat-wave at the moment? [My Heathcliff sensibilities – fog, drizzly cool moorish weather are sulking at best!]

The garden tour, a bus trip out of Toronto under the tutelage of Frank Kershaw arrived in Elora at three this afternoon, with their first stop being the gardens of two wonderful gardening friends, D & I! Truly artistic plant aficionados, in the three years since moving, they have transformed their corner property into a plantlover’s paradise – not to mention the stunning transformation of the recent Heritage designated stone house. It is as if you stepped off the sidewalk and into a Mediterranean villa!

   The back of the property which sits 3m from street level is home to a wonderful series of raised borders that form a potage. Here kitchen vegetables are grown with other ornamental aromatic flowers such as Lavandula and Salvia. In the year since I last visited this area has been totally transformed! The results are nothing less than stunning!

A magnificent fountain provides a wonderful trilling sound of water as it splashes from one level to the next. D insists that it was found in a feedlot, complete with a floating plastic yellow duck! ‘They had no idea what they had!’

   This has been a stellar year for anyone who grows Yucca, and this magnificent specimen of Y. filamentosum immediately caught my eye. I am still toying with the idea of adding three plantings to the Ornamental Grass Border at D’s this Fall.

Rosa “Peace’

The last picture in the above trio designates the woodland garden where one will find Trillium, Meconopsis, Hydrangea, and the much beloved Arisaema, including the beguiling A. candidissimum! Is it any wonder that I and myself can spend hours discussing plants when she visits the nursery? We did a brief jaunt to the garden whilst D entertained guests so that she could catch me up on recent installations.

An aptly designated plaque of achievement!

 I look forward to seeing the garden as it continues to mature and develop under the careful tutelage of such talented and artistic caretakers. Congratulations on an additional achievement as well! Here is a sneak peak inside!