Sunday, June 27, 2010

A Garden in the City for Mosiac Monday

Lake Simcoe South Master Gardeners had the priviledge of visiting the garden of Paul Zammit and his partner Uli last week.   Paul Zammit is the Director of Horticulture at the Toronto Botanical Gardens and Uli wields her expertise at Plant World, a huge Nursery in the west end of Toronto.  The tour began in the driveway with Paul explaining to us that the soil on this property is sandy.   You could see my jaw drop.   I garden on sand too.   Their sandy soil is amended heavily with leaves in the fall.  The neighbours drop bags of leaves on their driveway and Paul mulches them up with the lawnmower.   The front lawn was packed with flowers and shrubs and a big SweetGum Tree.  The garden extended right out to the pavement of the street.   Up by the house were huge planters.   Paul Zammit is the king of the container.  He plants all kinds of varieties of plants and even vegetables and herbs in planters.   The sides of the house were planted with Hostas.  The backyard had a huge deck and it was filled with planters and shelves of planters.  A large gate divided the backyard from the deck.  There was every kind of Japanese Maple and huge Hosta.   In the lower left of the bottom corner of the mosiac you can see the Podophyllum or Mayapple 'Spotty Dotty' that was in flower.   Paul explained about all the plants and was gracious to answer all our questions.   Janet, our Social Convenor had a lovely spread of goodies to munch on while we ogled the plants.  She had picked strawberries that day and hand dipped them in chocolate.  Oh Heaven.    It was a wonderful evening in a beautiful garden.   Paul gave us all a piece of purple plantain from his garden to try in ours.  I hope you like the photos of the garden.  Have a great gardening week.  Valerie

More mosiacs can be found at Mary's DearLittleRedHouse.

27 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Lovely garden and photos! The strawberries dipped in chocolate sounds yummy.

black eyed susans kitchen said...

Lovely mosaic of garden pictures..I like the way you added the strawberries to break up the green...just lovely!

ellen b said...

Looks like a lovely garden to explore! Nice mosaic!!

EG CameraGirl said...

What a great experience! Your photos make me wish I had been there too!

Carol said...

Beautiful garden! but you got me with the chocolate dipped strawberries :) Enjoyed your mosaic!

Snap said...

How wonderful that they were willing to open their garden to your group. Loved the containers. I do quite a bit in containers ... moving them around looking for the best spot. Love the maple and the ducks!

Ebie said...

A colorful mosaic of flowers, fruit and herbs!

Those strawberries (dipped in choc) is very tempting!

I love it!

Mosaic Monday

Judith @ Lavender Cottage said...

I wouldn't want to have to water all those containers but two people with a passion = success.
Judith

Meri said...

The strawberries look scrumptious! Very pretty mosaic and fabulous garden.

Glenda/MidSouth said...

So many pretty photos - thanks for sharing them with us. The strawberries look so good.

My Dream Canvas said...

Really beautiful mosaic...hope u get a chance to visit My Dream Canvas too!!

Suzy said...

Its so inspiring to visit other peoples gardens. I envy their strawberries! Mine are a mess this year.

Carol at Serendipity said...

Beautiful garden. Your mosaic is lovely with the strawberries for a touch of whimsy.

Carol

Anonymous said...

How lovely and tasty looking at the same time! :) Those strawberries.
be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Beautiful garfen tour and mosaic! I love chocolate dipped strawberries!

Unknown said...

I love the Toronto Botanical garden, these photographs are gorgeous. I love your mosaic, and learning about Paul Zammit.
Karen

Naturegirl said...

Valerie garden tours are so much fun and we learn so much!I love the collection of cacti type plants featured..as my hubby and I collect cacti and overwinter them in the house!I love the way he groups them all together!
Thanks for sharing!

Wendy said...

Your mosaics are so beautiful. I love the picture of the hosta's. They have always been a favorite!

Lori E said...

I especially like the hostas at the side of the house.
Pretty plantings and displays all around though.

Pondside said...

Beautiful - it sounds like you had a grand day out. I haven't had a chance to take in any of the garden tours out here this year, so I enjoy these blog tours!

Mary Lou said...

Please send rain and choc strawberries!! I'm desperate for both....
Have a good week.

The Gathering Place said...

Beautiful flowers! I have the opposite problem- clay. Our soil can get so hard it acts like rock. I love to garden and always appreciate the work of other gardeners!

Joanne Olivieri said...

Now that's my kind of garden, choco dipped strawberries and all. Beautiful.

Anja said...

Dear Valerie,

thanks for visiting my blog. As I see you also have a challenge in the garden, sand, mine are stones. Nevertheless one can manage it, as I see in your mosaic. Hostas is one of the solutions. ;-)

Anja

Rose Silver said...

I'm really amaze in this garden! How they can make a garden such like this when the soil is sandy? For all I know you should have a not so dry and not so wet soil for you to have a perfect plant. So how does this come so beautiful and perfect?

Rose Silver said...

I'm really amaze in this garden! How they can make a garden such like this when the soil is sandy? For all I know you should have a not so dry and not so wet soil for you to have a perfect plant. So how does this come so beautiful and perfect?

Crystal Rose said...

Its an awesome garden, considering its right in the heart of the city with all those pollution. I would love to visit it one day and try that strawberries or maybe can have some plants to take home. Great post you had for the garden.

Hoping You Have a Blessed Easter