Uplands Hidden Garden

Trimmed symmetrical boxwood hedges and balls mirror formal front entrance of this 1935 English cottage style home.

The home looks out onto Garry Oaks and a key-hole shaped lawn surrounded by deep luxuriant mixed borders.

This hidden half-acre urban garden on a country lane is located in the Uplands neighbourhood of Oak Bay (a municipality adjoining Victoria). This is a half-acre organic garden which features wonderful deeply layered mixed boarders under the sinuous branching of the ancient (one to four hundred year old) Garry oaks. This gardener is a true artist utilizing a broad pallet of exotic and unusual plants, including many new plant introductions, which she has placed in her own imaginative combinations. Surrounded by exquisitely planted garden rooms are a Mediterranean patio and a naturalistic Koi pond. This is a welcoming manicured garden that is full of dramatic botanical surprises.

One of the richly layered borders surrounding the Gary Oaks in early March.	Extra winter interest is provided by the large furry buds of Magnolia soulangeanu that unfurl with the deeply textured bark of an ancient Garry Oak as a background.	An archway draped with evergreen and deciduous clematis delineates one sinuous garden room from the next.	The use of the canna with its large leaves and strong colouring as a container plant continues as a strong trend to contribute to the popular tropical look. This specimen shows how the placement to take advantage of backlighting can provide extra drama.
Curving garden rooms whose shapes echo the sinuous branching of the ancient ( three to four hundred year old) Garry oaks who tower above. Surrounding these rooms are deeply layered mixed borders that have been designed in the American Mixed Border style for year round interest.	Algerian Ivy, the evergreen clematis Armandii with its frothy fragrant white bloom, and Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’ which has already finished blooming but whose seed heads will continue to add interest in this early spring vignette. A nearby Viburnum carlessi has its arching branches trained in for more vertical interest. . Note the use of natural local slate in front of this vine clothed rustic shed.	Mixed borders have been developed under three to four hundred year old Garry Oaks (Quercus garryana). This gardener has maintained a sense of place perhaps since as Ann Lovejoy observes in her book Naturalistic Gardening “..garry oaks gives gardens instant presence and a strong sense of place. It also encourages us to pay attention to their sculptural strength, matching it with appropriate proportions of space and planting. Companion beds must be substantial enough in mass and strong enough in form to read against that natural grandeur without imposing on the aging trees’ root systems.”	Old rhododendron limbed up to provide extra vertical interest. The use of mirrors to give extra depth and light has been a continuing trend throughout 2004. Other vines are softening the slit cedar fence that provides a wonderful support system for the vines as well as utilizing natural materials.
Stipa gigantica plays an important screening role between two garden rooms, and is especially effective when placed for the effect of backlighting.	This magnificent acacia is a mass of warm yellow bloom in early March showing why Southern Hemisphere plants are growing in popularity for the provision of winter colour	A sense of mystery is achieved by a slate path disappearing into a grove of black and yellow bamboo. A simple clay pot completes the picture.	The placement of well selected art in the garden is another trend for 2005.
A sentinel planting of variegated Arundo grass invites you to follow along a slate path through a serene woodland setting into the garden.	Woodland planting - A single clump of the Japanese Woodland Grass is all that is needed to provide extra light and movement in a woodland planting featuring hostas and Kirengeshoma palmata (Yellow Wax Bells) with its large maple shaped leaves and yellow wax bell blooms.(blooms are not visible in picture). The white and green variegation of the hosta Patriot and the puckered blue-green heart shaped leaves with wide yellow margins of the hosta 'Frances Williams' adds additional interest to the planting.	Leycesteria Formosa (Himalaya Honeysuckle) bamboo like stalks have been limbed up to provide vertical interest while accommodating extra planting space at its base (This is a plant that can also be used in a large container). The wonderful long lasting cascading red-purple bracts with its white frilled blooms will produce black fruit throughout the summer. This is also a plant that attracts hummingirds.	At the Hidden Uplands Garden Rosa sericea ssp. omeiensis forma pteracantha provides large fin-shaped translucent red thorns. This rose species is another heritage plant that was brought back from China in 1890.
A luminescent dahlia has the perfect background of a Japanese Coral Bark Maple (Acer Palmatum Sango Kaku) with its bright yellow fall foliage and its coral coloured stems. The bright coral coloured branching of this maple which has been positioned where it can be enjoyed from indoors provides a winter focal point.		In the late summer a vitex or chaste tree with its tall purple spires takes on a prominent role in this border with the background given a hit of acid yellow by Robinia pseudoacacia 'Frisia.'