THE SKY’S THE LIMIT
AN EIGHTH-FLOOR TERRACE IS REBORN AS A LUXE ESCAPE.
Y“You can sit outside and read just as easily as you can inside.” Jeff Shaddick couldn’t argue with his daughter’s initial observation. It’s just that when he looked at his condo’s terrace, it didn’t exactly beckon, even though it overlooked a park in Toronto’s Summerhill neighbourhood and measured a sprawling 1,485 square feet. Landscape architect Kate Fox-Whyte of Fox Whyte Landscape Architecture & Design agreed. “There was some hardscaping, some stone paving and a couple of pergolas, but they were undersized and not suited to the scale,” says Kate. The terrace was also about 17 years old and showing signs of wear, including water leaking into the unit below. “There was a bit of planting, but it wasn’t doing well,” she adds. Jeff has three adult children and twin six-year-old granddaughters, and he wanted a space to host his family. So Kate drew up a plan that divided the terrace into three distinct areas: a dining area with a barbecue, a lounging area and a private terrace with a sitting area off the principal bedroom.
After razing the terrace back to the concrete, the first step was laying both Algonquin limestone and ipê flooring. “The terrace was designed as a series of rooms, with ipê boards laid in a herringbone pattern forming a ‘carpet’ and warming up the space in the central lounge area,” says Kate, who brought in Coivic Contracting for the
construction and planting. Next, two large-scale pergolas with retractable awnings were installed over the lounge space and dining area. “We get some shelter from the pergolas, but adding trees eight storeys up really makes it feel like a garden,” says Kate. She introduced paperbark maples to bookend the lounge area and dogwoods on either end of the terrace. “The trees provide scale and an overhead canopy,” she says. “None of them grow particularly large, an important consideration when the soil volume and space is limited.”
To reinforce the garden feel even more, there are long, built-in planters to help obscure the balcony railing and frame the east-facing view over the park, and sun-loving sedums were sunk into shallow planters at ground level. “Layering a variety of groundcover and mid-height perennials provides a lot of seasonal interest,” says Kate. Purple-blue cranesbill and silvery artemisia and dogwood accent the pale furniture to create a visually cool effect in the summer. In the fall, the kousa dogwood has showy red berries, and the ‘Bombshell’ hydrangeas turn a pinky crimson. When snow blankets the terrace, the boxwood hedge in the planter stays green while swaying Pennisetum adds engaging movement.
The result is a four-season outdoor space that doesn’t require much tending, since Jeff, a semiretired actuary, isn’t the type to fuss with pruning or watering. “One of the top things Jeff asked for was a no-maintenance garden, and there really isn’t any such thing,” says Kate. But she made it as easy as possible to maintain by using perennials that mean no replanting is needed in spring. A micro-drip irrigation system is set on a timer but has a sensor so it will water less if there’s been a lot of rain. “The higher you go in a condo, the harsher the conditions for the plants.”
“Kate’s strategy was to create a terrace that made me want to go out more, and it’s worked. It’s a nice spot to sit and socialize outside; the kids love it,” says Jeff with a laugh. “In 2019, I had the whole family over to celebrate my 70th birthday. The kids brought in a chef, the table was big enough to seat all 12 of us, and it was wonderful.” It’s just the incentive he needed to leave that indoor armchair behind.
“WE GET SOME SHELTER FROM THE PERGOLAS, BUT ADDING TREES EIGHT STOREYS UP REALLY MAKES IT FEEL LIKE A GARDEN”