Monday, June 21, 2010

The Toronto Botanical Garden Tour - The Beach - Part 1


26 Marvelous gardens were featured on this year's TBG garden tour of the Beach.  The first order of business was to dump the car, as finding parking closer to Queen Street is a nightmare.   I found a spot  right in front of the first house Kevin & I lived in (and were evicted from!) in Toronto  - 36 Enderby Road.   

We started our tour just around the block.  Here's the sign:


And here's the house:



So many people in the Beach have given their lawn over to plants.  It really makes for a very pretty neighbourhood.



I don't know about you, but when I see homes as modern as this one, I often don't have much hope that there's going to be a garden.  However, I was completely wrong:


The nice walkway up to the front door.

And then,


The backyard.  The homeowners are garden mad.  50 Japanese Maples (I didn't count them, I'm just going by the program souvenir.).  All sorts of special little plants - mainly keeping in the yellow/blue/purple families.  And, the collection of pots they had would keep them busy watering for hours!




Not only was the garden large - it was all neat as a pin.

Peggy & I decided that we would walk as far as we could - starting at the top of the Beach and then grab the bus when we had to go back up the hill.  Here's a spectacular garden/home we saw after our lunch on Queen Street:



This would be the garage.



This would be the house.



And this would be their view.



And this would be all the people on the tour sitting around ever hopeful that they might be invited to stay for drinks.



Over a couple of streets to a sweet little house and garden.



Unusual colour for a Martagon in a lovely old-fashioned garden.

And so I'll pause here.  More tomorrow with some goings-on of my own garden that I can hear from my window calling out for water, weeding and attention.

6 comments:

Barry said...

Barbara:
I want to live in any of the homes and gardens that you have shared with us! I do admit that the first seems to call a wee bit louder than the rest, but I think its because of the abundance of shade. 50 Japanese maples would make me a little bit more than nervous!

I love the shot of the infinity pool in the second garden..... sublime, and with a view as such I don't think I could create a garden that could possibly compete! Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing more of your own private sanctuary tomorrow!

Chen said...

The front of the first garden is very elegant, and the design somehow appears to negate any sense of 'narrow' even with that narrow strip of water; how interesting.

Glädjekällans Trädgårdsblogg said...

Lovely gardens and houses. I really like the modern one.
Birgitta

Anonymous said...

Hi Barbara, What a fun day it must have been with the blue skies and diverse gardens to look at and love and learn from. Thank you for sharing. :)

Barbarapc said...

Barry - that garden was so large we could have divided it happily and gardened there for years. And, the types of shade garden we could have had - woodland, on-the-edge, half day - just amazing.
Chen - the designer did an excellent job - it really felt like a wonderful sanctuary when you were standing there - and you're right - not narrow at all.
G&G - the modern one was my favourite for garden - the beach situation just because it's wonderful to look at the lake. Peggy & I have already marked our calendar for next year - it's in a completely different area of Toronto - Swansea.

Gardenista said...

These lovely yards are so great to see. I'm glad others create these oases for us to enjoy. These people make up for all those yards of bare lawn that seem to be popping up all over America these days. How could they have better things to do than gardening!?