About our country garden

The view from our farm pond to the house in mid-summer
Photo: © Y. Cunnington

When we bought our property in May 1998, we found a simple home-built bungalow on 10 acres that had been rented out for years.

This meant that the grounds were so neglected that our friends thought we were brave, or crazy, to take it on. They were probably right on both accounts, but the location was ideal.

It was in the country, near Hamilton (we are about an hour's drive from Toronto), and an easy 15-minutes to my husband's job. Located across the road from a golf course and a horse ranch, it also had terrific views.

Creating the garden one step at a time

Our meadow of North American prairie wildflowers   © Y.Cunnington

We spent our first summer in cleanup and bulldozer mode. Before we could start to lay out garden areas, we had to remove masses of burdock, brambles, poison ivy, buckthorn, falling-down fences, and concrete and stone from the farm's original barn, long since torn down.

Since our second season, we've planted hundreds of trees and shrubs and turned a hayfield into a native plant prairie (above). The prairie is my favorite part of the property: it teems with birds and butterflies and looks amazing from mid-summer well into the fall.

Rock garden jewel tones in early spring
Photo: © Y. Cunnington

Around our pond, we planted native wetland species, and in the space around the house, we laid out several huge beds of perennials and ornamental grasses.

My husband, who wanted to do his own thing, then created a rock garden out of old barn foundation stone that had littered the property.

The view from the house out into the garden in summer
Photo: © Y.Cunnington

Garden design inspiration

Our farm is a fantastic garden lab for trying the plants and garden design ideas that I write about.

I'm a great admirer of the new wave garden styles of Dutch designer Piet Oudolf, author of Planting the Natural Garden, and of American landscape architects Wolfgang Oehme, and James van Sweden, author of Gardening with Nature.

Both Oudolf and Oehme van Sweden use masses of ornamental grasses, which are among my favorite plants. Together with flowering perennials - many of them tough, drought-tolerant North American natives - these plants are perfectly at home in our hot and humid summers and our cold winters.

Four-square garden early morning in late summer
Photo: © Y. Cunnington

By following the example of these brilliant designers, I have managed to create a garden that is at its most colorful from mid-summer through the fall.

This is a time when many gardens - and their gardeners - have given up the ghost for the season.

If you would like to visit our garden

Perennials and grasses in mid-summer

We have welcomed bus tours in the past, but to simplify things (we're not as young as we once were!), we don't host bus tours now, except in special circumstances.

However, individuals or small groups are welcome by appointment from June to mid-September. We don't have set opening hours, but are flexible (most day-times and weekends are good).

If you would like to arrange a tour, please use the form at the bottom of the page to send an e-mail, or call (905) 304-0766 to arrange a time and get directions.

Photo: © Kathy Renwald

Admission: To help pay for gardening help, we charge a small fee of $5.00/person, kids under 12, free.

More garden day trip attractions: Our area has excellent garden attractions: More information and links to gardens worth visiting.

To visit our garden, please fill out form: Include dates that you would like, and double-check your email address. If you make a typo, I can't reply to you.

Thanks for visiting my site and our garden in pictures. I look forward to hearing from you.

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