Peter and Pat LeGrow never favoured an endless lawn of green, so when they built their home in 1983 in Cornwall, Prince Edward Island, they also committed themselves to creating a garden on their one-acre property. With their sons now grown, Peter, a retired hydrometric surveyor, and Pat, a relief librarian, had more time to devote to their evolving landscape.
Fans of native flora, the LeGrows decided to build their garden around the many indigenous trees, shrubs and plants already established on their land. Scattered throughout the property, an abundance of trees such as Canada yew, Eastern white pine, white spruce, Canada fly honeysuckle, beaked filbert, red and white baneberry, tamarack, sheep laurel, staghorn sumac, creeping juniper and red-berried elder all thrive here in their natural habitat.
For colour, the couple again relies heavily on native plants, many of which were already growing on the property and some they transplanted themselves. Favourites include purple, spring-blooming, marsh blue violet (Viola cucullata), bluebead lily (Clintonia borealis) and painted trillium (Trillium undulatum), whose white blooms are accented by red veining at the base. Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum) and goldenrod (Solidago spp.) add vibrant shades of magenta and gold to the landscape.
As is true with many gardeners who deal with shady conditions, Peter and Pat have an extensive hosta collection of some 100 varieties. Cultivars range from the giant-leafed 'Sum and Substance' to dwarf ones such as 'Tiny Tot'. There are also intensely coloured cultivars, such as the bright gold 'Sun Power' and the deep blue 'Love Pat'. Numerous variegated types include 'Minuteman' and 'Great Expectations'. The garden's greenery is also enhanced by an abundance of native ferns, such as ostrich (Matteuccia struthiopteris), interrupted (Osmunda claytoniana) and cinnamon fern (O. cinnamomea), whose spore-covered segments turn from green to a golden cinnamon brown when mature.
Image at left: A few favourite hostas: 'Sum and Substance', 'Undulata' and 'Royal Standard'
The LeGrows don't mind the challenge of the more invasive plants, some of which they've even planted themselves. Pat says their approach is to decide if the plants add value to the garden, then work at keeping them under control or, if this is not possible, get rid of them. For instance, on the southern side of the property is a patch of policeman's helmet (Impatiens glandulifera) -- so named because its blooms resemble the old-fashioned, English bobby's headgear. This plant, also known as touch-me-not because of the propensity of the mature seed capsules to burst when touched, can send seeds spraying up to six metres in all directions. In front of some impatiens grows 'Beautiful Truth' Korean bellflower, which produces a groundcover of shiny, heart-shaped leaves and sends up sweeping sprays of leafy stems topped with white, tubular flowers that are red-spotted on the inside. Although the bellflower can spread like a groundcover, Pat keeps it well contained in this area. She attributes its manageability to the location, which is drier than this plant normally favours.
Not one to settle for the ordinary, Pat designed a unique three-by-five-metre checkerboard in the backyard. Built in 1995, it consists of 24 paving stones alternating with 24 planted squares, each 60 by 60 centimetres. Pat selected perennials based on their suitability for growing in a confined space, and trims them as necessary. A trellis draped with American bittersweet and climbing hydrangea provides a handsome backdrop.
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