Hobson opens his garden gate to visitors
Tomorrow and Monday, I’m throwing open the mighty portals to my vast estate and welcoming readers to tour my gardens.
OK, enough with the hyperbole. It’s only a garden gate and as for vast, it might appear that way to the rabbit I’ve been chasing around, but it’s only a suburban backyard.
I largely ignore the front yard, just two narrow strips beside the driveway, mainly because it doesn’t need much attention as it’s what could be termed a xeriscape — low-maintenance ground covers and drought resistant plants that never need water.
The route to the rear follows a non-meandering walkway bordered on the right by a future rock garden and on the left by my lavender field.
It’s finished blooming already but is still fragrant; however the foliage was ravaged by the four-striped plant bug, a nasty little critter that masquerades as a cucumber beetle. The cucumber and zucchini fortunately are currently pest-free.
Through the gate is the side yard. I now call it a garth, a word I recently learned that describes a cloister, or enclosed space.
It gives it a sense of grandeur, except it’s simply a shady spot, but not shady enough since the climbing rose made an exit. Its replacement, a climbing hydrangea, hasn’t climbed very far, yet.
As the feet of visitors pass over the reclaimed brick patio, they’ll be able to admire the exquisite pattern only reclaimed bricks can provide, and note the form of the over-ambitious person who this spring re-laid the whole back patio, henceforth renamed “backache patio.”
The patio is usually clogged with pots and planters, too many, so I’ll be plunking them down wherever I can find space in a flower bed — winners in front and losers back with the zucchini.
I tried to cut down this year but there are still more than 100 containers scattered around the place. Beside the patio are my prize echinacea, the “Cheyenne Spirit” variety I grew from seed. This is their third year and they are amazing, apart from the couple of yellow ones I lost over winter.
I have no geraniums, I’m afraid, but I do have a new petunia that isn’t available until next spring.
A sample from Proven Winners, it’s called “Picasso in Purple” and I much prefer it to “Pretty Much Picasso,” the first in the series from a few years back. The latter may be a little more vigorous but the colour is less intense than the newer one.
In the large impressive category is the cardoon, a “Jurassic Park”-style monster of a plant I mentioned in an earlier column. Less impressive is the patch of lawn, or should I say feed lot for a family of voles. They’re voracious little creatures that usually do their lawn damage in winter beneath the snow.
Other than that, I haven’t had much in the way of pest problems this year, hardly an aphid in sight, but that could be due to me not cleaning my glasses.
Not so with the Japanese beetle. I can spot them easily and deal with them. How? It involves swimming lessons. Invasive species are always a problem, but at least I haven’t found Asian carp in my pond.
No fancy koi, either, just a few hungry goldfish. They’ll be putting on a show of synchronized swimming — random performances.
From spring until fall, each day in my garden is always a surprise and a wonder, constantly changing. I strive toward that by succession planting. The daffodils are long gone and the columbines are sleeping, but there will be lots of other plants blooming in the days ahead.
Do drop by Sunday, July 24, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or Monday, July 25, 2 to 8 p.m.; 162 Herron Place, Waterloo. As the garden has narrow pathways and uneven surfaces, I’d leave the wobbly heels at home.
David Hobson gardens in Waterloo and is happy to answer garden questions, preferably by email: garden@gto.net. Reach him by mail c/o Etcetera, The Record, 160 King St. E. Kitchener, Ont. N2G 4E5