IN THE GARDEN:
SECRET SPACES OPEN THEIR GATES
Want to see some of the prettiest private gardens in Vancouver? Then set aside some time on June 21 and 22 and pick up your passport for the third annual Heritage Vancouver Garden Tour.
Sixteen gardens will be featured on this year’s two- day tour, including some gems rarely opened to the public.
Some owners had their arms twisted to agree to open their private garden sanctuaries.
They are shy, private people who really prefer not to be in the limelight, but they were persuaded that it would be a good thing to do to help raise money for the Heritage Vancouver Society, which is dedicated to creating a future for heritage.
One of the loveliest gardens on the tour belongs to Jennifer Buckland and Van Eriksen, retired flight attendants who have been working on the garden since they bought their house in 1995 on Allison Road at the University of B. C.
Buckland is a member of the Vancouver Hardy Plant Group and Dunbar Garden Club.
Even without knowing this, you would be able to tell the garden is the work of an enthusiastic and knowledgeable plants-person the moment you step through the front gate.
A paperbark maple makes a striking first impression and points the way into an immaculately maintained front garden of clipped boxwood hedging, elegant stone walls and curving perennial border that sweeps around a neatly trimmed lawn.
Here, a yew hedge gives privacy while a purple- leaf Japanese maple provides light shade with its open canopy.
Three large clumps of Hakonechloa macra Aureola grass create a lively rhythm of foliage colour and provide a graceful contrast against the rich blue leaves of a hosta.
This section of the garden also contains some abstract sculptures, some made by Eriksen.
In the centre of the lawn, there is jubilation featuring a figure leaping for joy.
Placed against the yew hedge, there is a figure- eight- shaped sculpture with a love theme called Tangle.
The division of labour was settled early on with Buckland selecting plants, mulching, composting and designing flower borders while Eriksen has taken charge of installing all the main infrastructures — fences, arbours, paths, steps and trellising — as well as lawn care.
It is a happy partnership that has produced impressive results. However, the main showpiece is the backyard, entered though a handsome wooden gate.
The first thing you see is a small pond with papyrus shooting up from the centre and two pale blue Adirondack chairs strategically placed on a paved patio at the side to provide a pleasant view over the water.
To the right, positioned a short distance away on the lawn, is a life- size metal statue of a heron, frozen in action as it raced over the grass to gobble up fish in the pond.
This struck me as funny. The heron could have been placed in the water or beside the pond, but instead it has been placed to emphasize the heron’s hell- for- leather rush for the fish.