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The Aqueduct, 2014

Last year was the summer of The Aqueduct: a series of mishaps, course corrections, and headaches that resulted in what I believe is a triumph of landscape art and design. This overview of the main portion of The Aqueduct dates from summer 2013. Those of you who were reading Site and Insight last summer may…

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Following my Tree: August

Corylus avenllana is the proper name of the tree I am following, corkscrew hazel is its common name, and Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick is its nickname. This nickname was what attracted me to the plant many years ago. That and a photo of a full-grown plant. This photo of a full grown contorted hazel is…

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Italian lessons: planting The Big Rock

I have no desire to create an Italianate garden in rural Quebec. Yet many things in the Renaissance and Renaissance-revival gardens I visited this spring are inspiring me to re-examine aspects of the garden at Glen Villa. High on the list is ensuring I have the right balance. Balance between simplicity and decoration. Between open and closed…

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How a Garden Grows: The Skating Pond

This post is the first of several I plan to write, describing how different sections of the gardens at Glen Villa have changed over the years. Let me know what you think. Are you interested in more posts like this one? Some people plan a garden before they begin to make it, with sketches or architectural…

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The International Garden Festival at Métis, Québec

Edward Lutyens once said that a garden “should have a backbone — a central idea beautifully phrased.” The central and beautifully phrased idea of the International Garden Festival at the Reford Gardens in Métis, Québec is to offer garden installations that challenge conventional ideas of what a garden is — or can be. For the…

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