It’s been a rough year for gardens. Sweltering heat, drought, a cold spell, torrential rains – just everything that could encourage insect pests, mould and mildew, and an early end to blooming, occurred over the summer months.
So the array of end-of-summer flowers entered in the Bond Head-Bradford Garden Club’s Fall Flower & Vegetable Show impressed the judges – from a late flowering rose, to Sedums and Dahlias.
While the judging was underway, members welcomed guest speaker Pat de Valence, master gardener and world traveller, who came to share ideas on creating “The Enchanting Garden” – adding mystery and whimsy to the garden.
“A big budget can make a fabulous garden, but there’s no amount of money that can make up for a lack of imagination,” de Valence told the group, encouraging them to make their gardens an expression of their own personality, and sense of humour.
“Approach it from your own perspective,” she said. “Think about what are the cornerstones of your personality” – but keep within the principles of good design, and keep it simple. “It’s so easy to make it busy and flea-market-ish!”
De Valence spoke talked about the importance of using garden ‘rooms’, vanishing paths, and intriguing glimpses of partially obscured features to “create a sense of mystery… It’s really a common trick. What you really want to do is draw visitors in. What’s around that bush or shrub?”
She spoke of creating movement in the garden, through the use of curved paths, water features or even windchimes made of recycled flatware, and ornamental grasses.
As for water, she said, “once you’ve added it to the garden, you’re going to wonder how you ever got on without it… Water gardening is a hugely satisfying experience. It provides a whole new magnitude for your plant mania.”
Her talk was illustrated with images from gardens across Canada and beyond, including examples of architectural features that can be used to create a sense of space, movement, mystery and structure.
“Architectural elements are those things that provide structure in the garden” all year round, de Valence said – and that can make visitors laugh out loud.
A fence made of recycled garden shovels, a pergola at a library that looks like a page out of a book, leopard-spotted Muskoka chairs, Trompe l’oeil features that use illusion to hide garden eyesores, sculptures ranging from the work of internationally-acclaimed sculptor Ron Baird (who created Bradford’s Dragonfly sculpture at the entrance to Summerlyn) to a human figure made out of inexpensive pipe.
“With humour and intelligence, you can find something that can fit your lot, your garden or your personality,” de Valence said.
