It’s less than a week until our second annual Open Garden Day. I’m ready for it, bilingual volunteers are prepped, and the garden is looking fine.
So I hope I’ll see you here, next Saturday between 10 and 4. There’s no need to reserve a spot, and all are welcome, with admission payable on site. (No dogs or picnics, please.)
Here are the details.
And here’s a preview of what you’ll see.
The Cascade by the house …
The yellow Ligularia add a nice vertical element to the horizontal planting at the Cascade.
The astilbe and hostas by the front door …
The sculpture is by Quebec artists Louise Doucet and Satoshi Saito.
And a swing to pretend you are still a child. (It works for real children, too.)
A swing makes for an idyllic summer day.
In the Lower Garden, you’ll see flowers and shrubs, and a sculpture by Doucet-Saito.
Late afternoon sunlight makes the Aralia ‘Sun King’ gleam.
You’ll see more flowers twining up tree trunks …
Clematis Violacea Venosa matches well with Achemilla mollis, or Lady’s Mantle.
… shouting out sunshine …
The yellow flower is Inula magnifica ‘Goliath’. I started it from seed over a dozen years ago.
… and offering the perfect landing spot for bees.
Echinacea now comes in a variety of colours and shapes. I still like the old coneflower the best.
You may see deer — including two baby fawns who still have their spots — a fat lazy groundhog, turtles and frogs.
A frog in the hand is worth two in the pond.
You can explore, woodland trails, ponds and meadows.
Snapping turtles like to laze on the rocks at the Skating Pond.
Or take a look back in time, at the China Terrace …
The dining room table is made of cement tinted red to suggest a velvet tablecloth.
or the Sundial Clearing.
A trail through the woods leads to the Sundial Clearing. The shadow of a dead pine tree marks the hours of the day.
For a fun-filled day, rain or shine, Glen Villa offers a lot. Bilingual volunteers will be stationed around the garden and bilingual brochures make a self-guided tour easy. And remember, your admission fee of $25 helps to conserve pristine lands around Lake Massawippi — and to build ecologically sensitive trails that make that land accessible to all.
I’ll be around all day, happy to answer questions or just to sit and chat.
See you on the 29th!
Pat, the Cascade is looking lovely, all your work on it has really come together. The ligularia are a great choice there.
Thanks, Judy. I think it is looking better than it ever has. Strangely, though, the Ligularia has been there for years but hasn’t thrived until this year. Good weather conditions, I guess.
I hope you get an even bigger turnout than last year!
I hope so, too.
I wish I lived closer, Pat. Best of luck and fun on your open day. By the way, ‘Venosa Violacea’ is one of my favourite clematis.
Your open garden day is clearly well-timed, Pat; your garden is looking wonderfully lush. Like you, I like the simple old-fashioned Echinacea purpurea best. I laughed when, in a class with Bill Cullina at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens last week, he described what breeders have been doing to echinacea as « poodling. »