Goodlot

A meadowy, get together garden full of cheer in summer.

This is a garden that invites you in for the good times. Bright plantings echo the atmosphere of this natural and friendly brewery. Aromatic perennials, Perovskia and Echinacea Pallida, drift alongside the brewing barn. Wildflowers mix with a matrix of golden grasses and perennials for a reminder that this organic hops farm is rooted in the sun filled meadow. Rudbeckia ‘Henry Eilers’ repeat around the patio matching the happy, yellow spaces.

Alton House

Shifting light and texture in an earthy, woodland’s edge garden.

The Alton house garden connects diverse settings as it meanders through a shady woodland area emerging into the sunny yard near the house. Muted purples growing close to rusty oranges make up a subtle and interesting palette designed to complement the house with its black siding and copper accents. There are foliage filled moments of tranquility near the shady pond and there are sunny conversation spaces for entertaining close to the house. This garden is full of plants with interesting textural features: Cotinus, Sedum, Liatris and Hellebore.

Ribbon Garden

Rhythm and colour through shifting seasons.

A renovation and extension of a multi-generational garden, designed to bring the style and vision of family together. New plantings intermingle with nostalgic, transplanted species in a custom, naturalistic design. Spring highlights include repeated Papaver ‘Allegro’ and Lupinus perennis. In Autumn, ornamental native grasses fill the space with a glowing backdrop for interesting blooms. Perennials planted for succession offer shifting colour throughout the seasons emulating the warmth and complexity of a wild meadow. Species were chosen for their dynamic texture and height to create depth and sustain visual interest through this large-scale border, creating a cohesive whole at a distance with intricate details up close. This is a garden that catches the sun and draws you in.

2024 Landscape Ontario Awards of Excellence winner.

Dufferin Farm

Flowing lines, meadow grasses and bird-friendly perennials on a naturalized hillside.

These flowing hillside gardens surround an existing stone pathway that winds its way from the bespoke, modern hilltop house to the natural swimming pond. The shape of the beds echo the curvature of the roof, mounded banks of the drystone walls and the expansive rolling hills that make up the stunning views.

Designed for year round seasonal interest and provision for birds and pollinators. Native species and drought tolerant plants feature in this meadow planting. Spring ephemerals, bulbs and perennials; Lupinus perennis, Aquilegia canadensis and Camassia leichtilinii, bring colour to the hill while cool season grasses begin to emerge. During the summer the space fills with aromatic, pollinator friendly blooms, like Monarda punctata. Autumn’s palette of neutral and subdued earth tones draws focus to the intricacies of shape and texture found in the seed heads of spent perennials that provide nourishment for song birds. In winter, tall ornamental grasses and perennials are left standing to form structure and habitats.

The stand out features of this property include the use of natural materials in the architecture, the drystone walls and the wildflower field restoration and this garden sits in harmony with its surroundings. The plant palette draws inspiration from the greater landscape, from the native species of local wild spaces to the rusty orange tones in the stone wall.