House Beautiful: A stunning oasis of plants and pollinators Palm trees and ornamental grasses adorn the front yard while an amazing array of fruits and vegetables grown in back of this property that you can visit as part of the self-guided Victoria Urban Food Garden Tour on Sept. 7. Grania Litwin Aug 31, 2024 4:30 AM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Previous Next 1 / 1 The completely remodelled, two-level home has been painted pale yellow and features palm trees and waving grasses in the front, while on the lower level at the back are vegetables mixed with ornamental perennials.
The garden was designed by the owners along with Rebecca Lang of Any Thyme Gardening and it features includes four different grasses including Calamagrostism, Mexican feather grass, Anemanthele lessoniana and Miscanthus. Advertisement Expand Listen to this article 00:19:44 People who drive by this remarkable garden have been known to honk with appreciation, while those on foot often loll at the gate to take in the sumptuous scene. One woman recently wrote a fan letter to the owners, which they found incredibly heartwarming.
It’s easy to see why people are drawn to this property. At first glance it’s the three palm trees spreading high above four different varieties of waving grasses, and the winding path edged in a thick carpet of crushing thyme. But what soon becomes evident behind the house, which sits on a corner, are rows of espaliered fruit trees underplanted with Japanese eggplants and zucchini, enormous kale and rhubarb specimens — and masses of bees, hummingbirds and butterflies.
This garden is not only a feast for the eyes but also an edible delight, and it will be open to the public on September 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.
m., as part of the Victoria Urban Food Garden Tour. (See factbox) Owners Gord and Ronnie (who prefer to just use their first names) are thrilled to be supporting the community and delighted to share their garden with others.
The duo, after moving to Victoria four years ago from Vancouver, undertook a massive renovation of the house with the help of builder Lionel Godet. “He was terrific and is now a friend,” said Gord, a lawyer who went to UVic. They also give huge credit to Rebecca Lang who designed their garden and worked in stages over the last three years to create the unique space.
“Rebecca is a gem,” said Gord. Ronnie agrees and said he didn’t know initially how deeply she was rooted in the vegetable gardening philosophy. “I soon found out and got ignited by her ideas,” said the registered nurse who works in the coronary intensive care unit at the Royal Jubilee.
When he isn’t at the hospital he’s knee deep in the vegetable garden. “I am dead-heading all day today.” Having grown up on a farm in the Philippines, he has long been yearning for a garden and a chance to grow fruits and vegetables, especially after years in a condo.
“It was in me already, this love of plants, but now it is reignited and I’ve gone native,” he said with a chuckle, plucking a piece of pineapple sage. “This is a favourite in salads.” He is also thrilled to be growing blueberries, raspberries, blackberries.
“I love all sorts ...
. and the bees love them too.” The latter passion is evidenced by an enormous poster in the house, showing all the different kinds of bees.
Both the owners love plants with low foliage and flowers on the end of long, high stems so they dip and sway in the wind. “It is very entertaining to watch the bees land and bob around.” said Gord.
They find evergreens too structured, “too regulated,” and they prefer the architecture of slender perennials and grasses because of that swaying motion. “I sit and watch the movement and become kind of mesmerized,” said Ronnie. They didn’t plant edibles in their front garden because of deer — although they have a few “sacrificial” plants for them to nibble — so all the culinary magic happens in the back.
Here are rampant plantings of everything from Brussels sprouts and broccoli to yarrow, peaches, peas, spinach, herbs and more. One plant, from South Africa, smells like peanut butter. “This was all basically grass when we bought the house,” said Gord, who stressed that neither he nor his partner like lawn.
“It’s soggy in the winter and brown in the summer.” Instead they have a variety of mostly drought-tolerant shrubs and perennials, micro fruit trees, herbs, vegetables and those tall wavy grasses. “Considering how young this garden is, it really is preposterous how beautiful it is,” said Gord in wonderment, adding that amid the plantings they now have a new greenhouse, too.
It’s not tucked into corner but in the centre as a focal point. “It’s a wonderful place to sit and enjoy the garden, to entertain, to watch the Northern Lights,” said Gord, adding they took photos there during the aurora borealis display this summer..
Their garden designer, who is owner of Any Thyme Gardening, is a big believer in greenhouses. Lang doesn’t think of these structures in terms of a single use, as merely a shed for growing plants, but rather as a centre of attention in a landscape. “It can be a very pretty space, a place to sit and relax, to entertain or even sleep,” and she feels that way about everything in a garden.
Each element or plant should have several purposes. A plant can be a beautiful thing to look at, but also edible and attract helpful insects. Lang and her helper Kaleigh Valois, also a landscape designer, work with a local sub contractors to construct gardens and after completion she offers continuing consultation.
When they started this project, the only thing out front was mud and a single, 30-foot palm tree. “We brought in two 20-foot palms to make sense of the existing one and we didn’t want to grow food out front, because of deer, so we concentrated on grasses and perennials there. “In the second stage, we started in the back and that’s where all the food happens, and the outdoor living space, which is a really great growing spot because of the very sunny slope.
Lang contends a veggie garden doesn’t have to be a lot of work. “If you balance the space with pollinators you have a lot less peaks and valleys of pests and disease. For example, you can balance the ecology by growing things like yarrow to attract ladybugs to eat aphids.
” She’s also a proponent of layering and encourages people to leave leaf litter and small cuttings on the ground. As leaves decay they attract insects and insects attract birds, which help control caterpillars, for example. Covering the ground once a year with a thin layer of fresh compost is a must.
“That is the biggest improvement you can make in reducing work. I call it a lipstick layer. It covers up the accumulation, makes things break down faster and reduces weeds .
...
There is quite a science to it.” Some people want a stylistically tidy garden, but that’s too much work, “and it’s a starvation diet for the micro world.” Ronnie has taken to the technique with alacrity.
“I just chop and drop, then I push all the little bits back under the plants.” FACTBOX WHAT: Victoria Urban Food Garden Tour WHERE: 10 gardens in Victoria and the CRD WHEN: 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m. Saturday Sept.
7 TICKETS: $25 at Eventbrite. See https://vicurbanfoodgardens.wixsite.
com/tour This year’s self-guided tour is raising funds for the Victoria Rainbow Kitchen, which provides meals to those in need and works to strengthen food security on the South Island. The tour is a chance for people to see not only some extraordinary gardens but also to learn about everything from food production and soils to pollinators, raising chickens, fruit trees, greenhouses, sustainable water use — and how to grow food in small spaces. As well as private gardens the tour includes several plots at the Capital City Allotment Gardens.
Cutline info for 2225 Lansdowne.. pix by Stone (Starting the lines from the photo of the owners) • • A couple of years ago Ron and Gord completed a total renovation on their house and when that was done they started on the garden where, area by area, year by year, they have created a sumptuous Eden brimming with culinary herbs, fruit trees and vegetables that blend in with flowering shrubs and masses of waving grasses.
• The 4,400-square foot home’s interiors are minimalist and open plan, with one of the main design criteria calling for a generous space for Gord’s piano. • The lower floor was entirely re-imagined and re-designed with a broad wall of glass and double sliding doors off the master bedroom which flows onto a south-facing patio surrounded on three sides by dense plantings. • The master ensuite is spacious and serene with soothing blue-grey walls and generously-sized white fixtures and floor.
• Plantings in the garden are mostly arrayed in contrasting shades of blues and yellows, and the patio and balcony chairs chime in with bold Persian blue upholstery. • The sloped and south-facing side of the home was completely opened up on the ground floor to create an inviting entertaining space and viewing terrace from which to enjoy the garden. • Pale blue bowls set amid a bed of stones make an attractive fountain and add soft background noise.
• A choice of comfy seating areas around the garden provides relaxing sun or shade preferences throughout the of day. • Flowering shrubs, ornamental grasses and perennials like this Ligularia provide a range of yellows from pale to vivid. • A new greenhouse, located in the most-recently designed and planted area of the garden is not tucked into a corner but is in full view as an attractive focal point and a favourite place to relax, entertain or shelter from the rain.
. • Designed and constructed by B.C.
Greenhouse Builders, the new greenhouse was the last project on the owners’ wish list. It is already home to avocado and olive trees, and was an ideal spot for watching the aurora borealis display earlier this summer. (Two photos) • Crushing thyme outlines pathways and creates subtle bursts of scent while plenty of paving stones and pea gravel allow easy access to each part of the garden, even in the wet.
A new concrete driveway, at left, was recently poured to access the blue-painted, double garage doors. • Artichokes thrive in the garden and add another shade of blue to the colour scheme..
• One section of the garden has three slightly raised, wood-framed beds which are home to things like beets, Swiss chard, kale, fava beans, arugula, snap peas and more. • Gord is an endlessly inventive cook taking what is ripe and delicious each day and concocting an original meal. Here he will be inspired by tomatoes and basil to get his creative juices flowing.
“I use whatever bounty is in the garden at the time.” • Japanese eggplant is delicious and brings lively colour into the garden. • Purple and blue plantings, such as this Agastache, “Blue Fortune,” contrast with creamy yellows and flaxen shades of four different varieties of grasses.
• Ripe for picking is an early pear that suns itself on a dwarf bush. • About 12 different kinds of apples are being trained to grow in espalier fashion in the year-ground garden. Such fruits are easier to maintain and harvest than standard tree forms which require ladders.
• Zucchinis creep along the ground amid chives and other herbs. • Round, juicy watermelons enjoy a warm spot beside one of the raised beds. • The back patio steps down gently into the lower garden which is immensely private thanks to dense plantings around the perimeter.
• Slate pathways fan out into the garden and lead to smaller pea-gravel ones that access every corner of the property. • A pumpkin orange sofa suits the garden’s vegetable theme and offers a brilliant bolt of colour in the living room. • The owners have collected artworks and furniture from around the world, including pieces with carved wooden panels from India.
• The completely remodelled, two-level home has been painted pale yellow and features palm trees and waving grasses in the front, while on the lower level at the back are vegetables mixed with ornamental perennials. The garden was designed by the owners along with Rebecca Lang of Any Thyme Gardening and it features includes four different grasses including Calamagrostism, Mexican feather grass, Anemanthele lessoniana and Miscanthus. • No lawn, just grasses.
That’s the mantra of these owners who prefer waving grasses to lawn. Ronnie is so enamoured he occasionally combs these beautiful grass fronds with a dog comb to remove seed pods and keep them loose and floaty. “People laugh if they see me doing it,” he said with a grin, “but I don’t mind.
I just love the look.” (TWO PHOTOS OF GRASSES AT FRONT) People who drive by this remarkable garden have been known to honk with appreciation, while those on foot often loll at the gate to take in the sumptuous scene. One woman recently wrote a fan letter to the owners, which they found incredibly heartwarming.
It’s easy to see why people are drawn to this property. At first glance it’s the three palm trees spreading high above four different varieties of waving grasses, and the winding path edged in a thick carpet of crushing thyme. But what soon becomes evident behind the house, which sits on a corner, are rows of espaliered fruit trees underplanted with Japanese eggplants and zucchini, enormous kale and rhubarb specimens — and masses of bees, hummingbirds and butterflies.
This garden is not only a feast for the eyes but also an edible delight, and it will be open to the public on September 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.
m., as part of the Victoria Urban Food Garden Tour. (See factbox) Owners Gord and Ronnie (who prefer to just use their first names) are thrilled to be supporting the community and delighted to share their garden with others.
The duo, after moving to Victoria four years ago from Vancouver, undertook a massive renovation of the house with the help of builder Lionel Godet. “He was terrific and is now a friend,” said Gord, a lawyer who went to UVic. They also give huge credit to Rebecca Lang who designed their garden and worked in stages over the last three-year to create the unique space.
“Rebecca is a gem,” said Gord. Ronnie agrees and said he didn’t know initially how deeply she was rooted in the vegetable gardening philosophy. “I soon found out and got ignited by her ideas,” said the registered nurse who works in the coronary intensive care unit at the Royal Jubilee.
When he isn’t at the hospital he’s knee deep in the vegetable garden. “I am dead-heading all day today.” Having grown up on a farm in the Philippines he has long been yearning for a garden and a chance to grow fruits and vegetables, especially after years in a condo.
“It was in me already, this love of plants, but now it is reignited and I’ve gone native,” he said with a chuckle, plucking a piece of pineapple sage. “This is a favourite in salads.” He is also thrilled to be growing blueberries, raspberries, blackberries.
“I love all sorts ...
. and the bees love them too.” The latter passion is evidenced by an enormous poster in the house, showing all the different kinds of bees.
Both the ownerslove plants with low foliage and flowers on the end of long, high stems so they dip and sway in the wind. “It is very entertaining to watch the bees land and bob around.” said Gord.
They find evergreens too structured, “too regulated,” and they prefer the architecture ofslender perennials and grasses because of that swaying motion. “I sit and watch the movement and become kind of mesmerized,” said Ronnie. They didn’t plant edibles in their front garden because of deer — although they have a few “sacrificial” plants for them to nibble — so all the culinary magic happens in the back.
Here are rampant plantings of everything from Brussels sprouts and broccoli to yarrow, peaches, peas, spinach, herbs and more. One plant, from South Africa, smells like peanut butter. “This was all basically grass when we bought the house,” said Gord, who stressed that neither he nor his partner like lawn.
“It’s soggy in the winter and brown in the summer.” Instead they have a variety of mostly drought-tolerant shrubs and perennials, micro fruit trees, herbs, vegetables and those tall wavy grasses. “Considering how young this garden is, it really is preposterous how beautiful it is,” said Gord in wonderment, adding that amid the plantings they now have a new greenhouse too.
It’s not tucked into corner but win the centre as a focal point. “It’s a wonderful place to sit and enjoy the garden, to entertain, to watch the Northern Lights,” said Gord, adding they took photos there during the aurora borealis display this summer..
Their garden designer, who is owner of Any Thyme Gardening, is a big believer in greenhouses. Lang doesn’t think of these structures in terms of a single use, as merely a shed for growing plants, but rather as a centre of attention in a landscape. “It can be a very pretty space, a place to sit and relax, to entertain or even sleep,” and she feels that way about everything in a garden.
Each element or plant should have several purposes. A plant can be a beautiful thing to look at, but also edible and attract helpful insects. Lang and her helper Kaleigh Valois, also a landscape designer, work with a local sub contractors to construct gardens and after completion she offers continuing consultation.
When they started this project, the only thing out front was mud and a single, 30-foot palm tree. “We brought in two 20-foot palms to make sense of the existing one and we didn’t want to grow food out front, because of deer, so we concentrated on grasses and perennials there. “In the second stage we started in the back and that’s where all the food happens, and the outdoor living space, which is a really great growing spot because of the very sunny slope.
Lang contends a veggie garden doesn’t have to be a lot of work. “If you balance the space with pollinators you have a lot less peaks and valleys of pests and disease. For example, you can balance the ecology by growing things like yarrow to attract ladybugs to eat aphids.
” She’s also a proponent of layering and encourages people to leave leaf litter and small cuttings on the ground. As leaves decay they attract insects and insects attract birds, which help control caterpillars, for example. Covering the ground once a year with a thin layer of fresh compost is a must.
“That is the biggest improvement you can make in reducing work. I call it a lipstick layer. It covers up the accumulation, makes things break down faster and reduces weeds .
...
There is quite a science to it.” Some people want a stylistically tidy garden, but that’s too much work, “and it’s a starvation diet for the micro world. Ronnie has taken to the technique with alacrity.
“I just chop and drop, then I push all the little bits back under the plants.” See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? This has been shared 0 times 0 Shares Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message More Homes B.C.
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