Ann's Garden
Purpose
The purpose of Ann’s Garden is to maintain a cottage-style garden in memory of Barbara Ann Jardine (1923-1991).Habitat
About half of this garden is in full sun, and mature conifers provide shade for the remainder. The combination of heavy clay soil and large trees generates a difficult soil environment that ranges from saturated to very dry. Regular hand-watering is frequently required to supplement the pop-up irrigation system. Leaf mulch in the fall and steer manure mulch in the spring help maintain consistent soil moisture as well as providing nutrients and weed control.
Features
This is a genuine memorial garden in that it utilizes plants that Ann Jardine loved and carries on a gardening style that she practised. In addition to serving as a memorial, the garden serves as model for homeowners with moderate gardening skills and aspirations. It is not large and does not include unusual or difficult-to-maintain plants.Cottage gardens are casual rather than formal and are productive as well as attractive. Thus, you will find herbal and food plants mixed in with the flowers. There are a lot of plants in a relatively small space, and you may see plants growing through one another. Although it is primarily a summer garden, winter seed heads and berries, evergreen foliage and early spring bulbs provide some year-round interest. The basic design involves a set of larger structural plants that define spaces and provide the backdrop for a wide variety of other plants.
Plants
Major structural plants start with three naturally occurring Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii).
This vertical, conical element is continued at a smaller scale with plants from three genera of the Cupressaceae family (Thuja, Juniperus and Chamaecyparis).The use of a horizontal variety of juniper brings our focus back to the ground. Flowering shrubs include Ceanothus, Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' and lace cap hydrangea (Hydrangea mariesi 'Perfecta').It is difficult to get plants to grow under mature forest trees. Here this challenge has been nicely met with sword fern (Polystichum munitum), salal (Gaultheria shallon), hellebores, barrenwort (Epimedium x versicolor), two varieties of sedum and a variety of bulbs.
Spring bulbs in this garden are the tried and true sequence that provides flowers from February into May. It starts with snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis), moves through crocus and daffodils, and ends with tulips. They provide a lot of early bloom without too much effort. Foliage and spent blossoms need to be removed after flowering and the bulbs need to be divided every three to four years.
Roses
are pretty much obligatory in cottage gardens, but the three varieties here are not doing well and will probably be replaced with more disease resistant varieties. There are two flowering climbers . Clematis montana) is a vigorous, deciduous perennial that is being trained to grow up the trunks of the Douglas-fir trees. It has numerous, vanilla-scented, light pink blossoms in mid-spring. The annual sweet pea (Lathynus odoratus) is also fragrant, and it will provide colour for several months if the spent blossoms are assiduously deadheaded.
Vegetables planted in this garden vary from year to year. Herbs include lavender (Lavandula angustifolia),rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), two varieties of sage (Salvia officinalis), thyme (Thymus vulgaris), golden oregano (Origanum vulgare 'Aureum') and borage (Borago officinalis).
Self-seeders provide a good return on gardening investment. In this garden there are: Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis), foxglove (Digitalis purpurea ), hardy geraniums (Geranium sp.), mullein (Verbascum sp.), Forget-me-nots (Myosotis scorpioides), snapdragons (Antirrhinum sp., yarrow (Achillea sp.), Verbena bonariensis, Centaurea montana and Aquilegia sp.