THE GREAT PATIO MAKEOVER
One classy facelift: Terminal City Club’s outdoor terrace gets the deluxe container garden treatment
When container garden expert Kathy Friesen first saw the large terrace patio on the roof of the prestigious Terminal City Club in downtown Vancouver, she was immediately struck by how unwelcoming it looked.
“It was almost a hostile space. The surrounding highrises were so overwhelming, they made the space feel intimidating.”
The planting on the patio was also not particularly elegant or classy, especially for an elite private members club.
“Magnolias were underplanted with hot pink begonias and there were hanging baskets that were loud and garish, and a little vulgar.”
The owner of Bloomsbury Designer Gardens, a New Westminster company specializing in small-space gardens, particularly balconies, patios and courtyards, Friesen was hired this spring to work her magic and transform the ugly, under-used patio into something members would find more inviting and attractive.
Peter Jackman, the club’s general manager, said members had expressed a desire to make better use of outdoor space.
To get some fresh ideas, Jackman went on a fact-finding trip with Karen van Schie, director of operations, to see other top private members clubs in New York and Toronto.
“We saw the wonderful things they were doing with their patios and it drove it home to us that we could do better with ours,” Van Schie says. “I had been complaining for years that the space was boring, a bit of a wasteland. And the kind of quality landscaping I knew was possible just was not there.
“After the fact-finding trip, we realized we had the best patio of them all, so we knew we really could do a whole lot better.”
The 20-by-30 metre patio is certainly well located, north- facing but with a sunnier exposure than you might expect, and spectacular views of the ocean and North Shore mountains plus a lively business buzz from being downtown.
With a history dating back 123 years and a membership of 1,900, the club felt the patio needed a complete makeover.
‘We called in Kathy Friesen and she made a simple storyboard presentation,” Jackman says. “We were impressed. She used little magnetic blocks to indicate where new planters would be located. It showed us exactly what we would be getting.
“This instantly made the space come alive and gave us confidence because we could see what the re-design would look like.”
Friesen says her goal from the outset was to make the space friendlier, more inviting and more interesting.
“As soon as we started making changes and introducing new plants, business people started coming out here to work on their computers and use their phones. That wasn’t happening before, so we knew right away we were on the right track.”
She says she was very conscious of the fact the patio had one of the best views in Vancouver.
“It’s an incredible space. I certainly didn’t want to do anything to block the views.”
First to go were the pink begonias. Then, the hanging baskets were removed.
Next, sleek black, lightweight planters from the classy Jay Scotts Collection were brought in, along with a couple of supersturdy galvanized steel containers for bulkier plants.
All the work was done in two days — started on a Tuesday and finished the next day, with the bulk of the job being done early in the morning before members began arriving.
Some existing plant material was recycled. A couple of ‘Little Gem’ evergreen magnolias, for instance, were repotted and placed in new locations and ornamental grasses were freshened up and given a new home.
New trees were planted, including a white-flowering Stewartia pseudocamellia, weeping purple beech (Fagus sylvatica ‘Purple Fountain’), weeping Serbian pine (Picea omorika ‘Pendula’) and a multi-stemmed Japanese maple (Acer palmatum).
Four large rectangular containers were added and lavishly planted with a mix of hardy, permanent plants and tender summer colour plants.
In one, star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) has been trained against a metal lattice to create a backdrop for a mix of purple-silver heuchera, salvia, coleus and colocasia.
In the other large planters, waxleaf privet (Ligustrum texanum) has been used as the screening backdrop, trained against a light metal grid.
All the planters have been deliberately placed around the edge of the patio, leaving the centre open and uncluttered, except for a few scattered tables and recliners.
“We left the middle empty because the club likes to use the space for yoga and fitness classes and also special events are sometimes held here,” Friesen says.
To break the formal look of planters plodding around the perimeter, she placed a few low rectangular concrete troughs on an angle and filled them with the graceful ornamental grass, Panicum ‘Northwind.’
In total, 149 plants were added to give the patio a more inviting, gentle, garden feel without it becoming too busy and fussy. Eighty per cent of the plant material is hardy and will remain year round.
For a splash of summer colour, calibrachoa and sun-tolerant Rex begonias have been tucked into containers along with tropical plants with exotic foliage, such as stromanthe, calathea, setcreasea and peperomia.
Friesen has even found space for an artichoke — just for fun — as well as the architecturally stylish Yucca desmetiana ‘Blue Boy’.
And Friesen will be trying to cover a wall with Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata ‘Veitchii’).
“I think we’ve achieved what we set out to do. The space has a calmer, more welcoming and more classy look to it.”
The Terminal City Club executives agree.
“The transformation is incredible,” Jackman says. “We gave Kathy a very limited budget because this project wasn’t really scheduled and she came in on budget, on time and the wow factor is better than we expected.”
Jennifer Silver, the club’s director of sales and marketing, says, “I’m now excited to bring people up here to see this space. It was a little under-utilized, so it’ll be good to show prospective members that this space is also available.”
Located next to the club’s fitness centre with its large swimming pool, the patio is licensed to serve alcohol, so members can enjoy a drink after their workout.
Jackman says the next step is to consider adding a water feature and possibly reconfiguring the layout so the centre of the patio can be landscaped but cleared when needed for a function.
Van Schie says she thought she spotted executives at the neighbouring Vancouver Club peeking over the wall to see what was being done.
“I’m pretty sure there was some patio garden envy going on there.”