Long Branch By the Lake Garden Tour sign

Long Branch by the Lake Garden Tour 2016

On Saturday I attended the first ever Long Branch by the Lake Garden Tour, in the south west part of Toronto. Shortly after stepping out of the car, on my way to visit the first garden, I overheard one neighbour, out walking her dog, say to another “You know, I think it’s really weird to go into other people’s gardens.” Thankfully, the fourteen homeowners that participated in this inaugural tour didn’t share her strange opinion (I can only assume she wasn’t much of a gardener!)

Long Branch is a neighbourhood in transition–many of the older small bungalows on generous lots are being replaced by estate-style homes, and, all too often, the lots are being split and two large homes shoe-horned onto the lot. It’s raised concerns about the city’s planning process. With the variety of homes, though, come a tremendous variety of gardens and gardening styles:

A charming driveway potscape at a small bungalow. The agapanthus stole the show!

 

Formal estate-style garden on a lot with an incredible view of Lake Ontario

 

The one thing that all of the gardens had in common were friendly owners! Without exception, we were warmly greeted. It was wonderful to see the community coming together to share their gardens and raise funds for their neighbourhood community health centre.

The tour was the brainchild of two community members, one of which is my friend Sheila Gregory (pictured here, with husband Eugene Knapik, in front of their canoe garden):

I’ve toured through a lot of gardens, including the marvelous eclectic homes that participate in Garden Walk Buffalo, but Sheila and Eugene’s garden is the most unique one I’ve ever been in. The two of them are artists, and it certainly shows, not only in the whimsical accents liberally dispersed throughout the garden, but also in the way they combine plants. Here is a small sampling:

Frog train in the front yard

 

Mosaic butterfly on arbour

 

Birdhouse (with occupants–you can see mama bird sticking her head in one of the entrances to check on her babies) on mosaic covered pole. This is at the entrance to the back “forest walk” portion of the garden.

 

A vintage “chick feeder” has been turned into a planter–with hens and chicks (the common name for certain small succulent plants) where hens used to feed.

 

Cat angel eyeing what looks to be a bird confection, among the poppy leaves

 

With all of the construction going on in the neighbourhood, I heard that some visitors were planning to copy Sheila and Eugene’s trick of hanging camouflage netting to mask the view. Here, it forms a great backdrop for this amazing bear mosaic that Sheila and Eugene created:

 

This style of garden isn’t for everyone, but the lesson I take from it is that the more of your personality you pour into your garden, the more interesting it is. Stepping outside what’s considered a ‘normal’ garden in your area takes boldness, but I think it pays off. I remember when I first started to rip up my front lawn and put in perennials. A fellow from down the street, who rarely speaks to anyone, ventured over, cigarette in hand. “Those won’t last you know. People will take them.”  Well, I decided I was going to try anyway, and persisted. Thirteen years later I think I have a pretty neat garden. And yes, a few plants were taken–but that was one woman with a problem (some day I’ll tell the story of the plant thief here)–and it didn’t happen until almost a decade after my neighbour’s warning. Yes, I think it was worth the risk.

But back to the rest of the garden tour. Here is a small selection of moments where gardener’s personalities and creativity really shone through to me:

A whimsical planter, made out of a watering can and shepherd’s hook

 

Vignette on an old tree stump

 

I loved the way this homeowner hid their air conditioning unit, with screening and planters

 

Planting this particular honeysuckle next to the red garage door was genius (although the owner said it was more serendipity than anything planned–regardless I thought it was stunning)

 

What an amazing stone fireplace in this back yard! I wish I could have adequately captured the rest of the space, but my camera batteries wore out

 

This was the most robust milkweed plant I’ve ever seen–it came up to about eye level. It had just started to bloom, but no butterflies were yet to be seen

 

Driftwood moose snacking on Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra) caught my eye in this excellent front yard garden

 

Judging by the success of this first Long Branch by the Lake Garden Tour, I doubt it will be the last! If you enjoyed these photos please check back on the blog in early August when I plan to profile some of the gardens from this year’s Garden Walk Buffalo. That tour encompasses a few hundred gardens so I think I’d better charge up my camera batteries!

If you have a garden tour in your area I encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity–after all, it’s not every day you get invited to walk through other people’s private gardens.

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4 Comments

  1. Dawn Teal on June 20, 2016 at 11:24 pm

    Wonderful pictures, and descriptions. Thank you Jennifer.

    • Jennifer on June 21, 2016 at 6:08 pm

      Glad you enjoyed it, Dawn!

  2. Kathy Briggs on June 22, 2016 at 1:56 am

    Wow beautiful pictures, I’ll have to save the day for next year, I can’t wait they look amazing.

  3. Garth Wunsch on June 22, 2016 at 7:59 am

    Enjoyed Eugene and Sheila’s decor so much that I had to start a new “PinIt” gallery… just for Garden Accents and Decor.

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