The slopes of Strathcona
Tiered yards present design challenges and opportunities
I KNEW A BIT about Diane Daniels’ garden, but not so much about the topography around her house.
She lives in the Strathcona Neighbourhood, west of Dundurn Street between King Street and York Boulevard.
Little short streets named Tom, Jones and Lochearne run east and west. Follow some of them west and you run smack into the Hamilton Cemetery.
Unless you walk you will not see and feel the sloping streets, and unless you see Daniels’ backyard you won’t know how the yards drop like a set of giant stairs. To the right, the neighbours’ yard is almost two metres higher and to the left, that much lower.
“I couldn’t see to the end of the yard when I moved in,” Daniels says.
She moved into her little clapboard roughhouse two years ago when she downsized after the death of her husband. She stayed in the Strathcona Neighbourhood because she liked it. The new location has the familiar charm and friendliness and the fully renovated house is easier to look after.
“I turn 80 tomorrow but I’m not ready for a condo; I want to walk out to a garden.”
But walking out to a garden was impossible when she moved in. The urban pest plants were thick. The worst, Japanese knotweed, was on the march to conquer every square inch of soil. She needed a design, muscle and machines to carve a garden out of the thicket.
After some research, Daniels hired Rooted Landscape Design because she liked owner Janine Bleecker’s sense of design and knowledge of plants.
“It was exciting starting from scratch,” Daniels says. “Watching the machine thread its way to the backyard was impressive.”
“I turn 80 tomorrow but I’m not ready for a condo; I want to walk out to a garden.” DIANE DANIELS
TO
MAKE A USABLE space, retaining walls were built on both sides of the 25-foot-wide lot, and new fences created privacy and an elegant backdrop for plants. A stairway built off the back deck leads to the garden. Previously the only way to the garden was through the basement.
A wide, meandering gravel path travels the length of the garden. It’s a classic surface that always looks good, drains water well and is easy to maintain.
New plantings were selected by Bleecker with Daniels’ input for their quality of foliage and texture. Multi-stemmed serviceberry trees flower in the spring, produce berries for birds and have excellent fall colour. A threadleaf Japanese maple adds beautiful form and stays in scale with the small space.
At the base of the south-facing retaining wall a row of oakleaf hydrangea will add interest in all seasons, and cutleaf sumac, less aggressive than the regular form, displays a lacy texture with a slightly tropical air.
Most of the perennials were chosen for their shade tolerance and well behaved manner. Solomon’s seal mixes with ferns, perennial geraniums and Japanese forest grass line the path, and variegated and blue tinged hostas bring new shades to the mostly green garden. Right now clumps of astilbe are providing the major show of colour.
Though the garden is just a year old, it is showing its good bones.
Daniels had the small front yard garden renovated at the same time as the back yard. Those small spaces, practically grafted to the sidewalk, are always a challenge. In this case a big, open lattice fence creates a sense of boundary and a new curving walkway made of pavers softens the geometry of the little square space.
In this east-facing spot plants like lamb’s ears, salvia and sedums thrive, and a serviceberry will work its magic over time.
A cleverly disguised storage box sits near the front door and blends with the architecture of the house.
The built objects matter a lot to Daniels, who had a varied career as an artist and teacher. Her last show at Hamilton Artists Inc. was called Plumb Bob and Level.
Her attention to architecture and form is reflected in her garden, a space artfully reclaimed from the slopes of Strathcona.
Though the garden is just a year old, it is showing its good bones.