Backyard or Garden: Putting it all together

Open Garden Tours are an opportunity to experience beautiful gardens

I love Open Garden Tours.

They provide us with an opportunity to peek behind the back gates of some of the finest gardens in our area.

They inspire us to make our gardens better, to explore new approaches and to contemplate what we think makes a garden exceptional.

Over the years, garden tours have provided me with endless inspiration. I particularly enjoy touring gardens designed and created by homeowners rather than landscape professionals, but some of the most remarkable gardens I have experienced were created by professional landscapers.

During a tour a few years ago, I remember visiting many exceptional gardens of multi-million dollar homes. Most were created and maintained by high-end professional landscape companies.

One in particular stood out – not because of what it was, but what it could have been.

Everyone who walked through the home’s swanky front gates were excited to see what awaited us as we strolled into the back of the magnificent property.

Garden tours offer the perfect excuse to go exploring in other people’s gardens.

No-one expected the disappointment that greeted us - a sea of concrete, a large pool and a small cantilevered deck overlooking a woodland. That was it. I don’t recall even a single container planted up on the stairs leading to the pool.

The owners were obviously proud of their yard. They stood outside greeting visitors who offered polite praise of the back yard pool before scampering out as quickly as possible. It didn’t help that, for comparison, most of us had just toured some of the finest gardens in the area, but it was impossible to overlook the fact that this could hardly be described as a “garden.”

I’m sure there were visitors who were impressed with the yard.

The “gardeners,” however, were aghast.

And so, the question remains: What makes a garden exceptional?

To many – these homeowners included – a backyard is a place to entertain friends and family. To others, a garden is a quiet retreat under a canopy of magnificent trees.

Creating entertaining areas in the garden is the perfect way to encourage everyone to spend more time enjoying the fruits of your labour.

You may have noticed that I referred to one as a “backyard” and the other as a “garden.”

Today, as urban backyards become increasingly smaller, gardens are being replaced by yards. Large decks, patios, massive outdoor kitchens, television screens and hot tubs are competing with perennial gardens, flowering trees and shrub borders for our attention.

In most cases, the plants are losing out.

Gardens are being forced out by backyard entertainment areas in many urban neighbourhoods. Obviously, this is not a good thing. Natural corridors through neighbourhoods, so vital to mammals, birds and reptiles, are shrinking. In many new neighbourhoods we are left with mini-islands of green space not large enough to sustain any meaningful life for native fauna.

It doesn’t have to be that way. With proper planning we can have it all – a place to entertain family and friends as well as natural areas in the garden for wildlife.

Let me be bold enough to make a suggestion to new homeowners: Begin with trees, not the latest high-end BBQ.

The greatest investment you can make in your yard is a small tree that will grow into a magnificent specimen, providing privacy, shade and beauty year round. For the price of a high-end BBQ, you could purchase enough young trees, shrubs and plants to set the foundation for a lovely garden that will increase your property value ten-fold in a few short years – just about the time when you’ll have to replace that BBQ with a new model.

Unlike consumer products, trees get better with age.

I’m not saying don’t buy a BBQ, build a deck, add an overhead structure or lay a new patio. I’m just suggesting you start with a garden plan whether you draw it up yourself or sit down with a professional landscaper.

Once the bones of your garden are in place, then it’s time to look at possible entertainment areas in your yard.

Surrounding these entertainment areas with gardens provides the privacy that is so sought after in many of today’s modern subdivisions. One tree may be all you will need.

Creating the garden and privacy first will surely entice you to want to spend more time outside. Even if you think a garden is not your thing, I guarantee you the experience of eating under the limbs of a tree, it’s branches festooned with outdoor lights, will go a long way to change your mind about the need for a garden.

My wife and I recently bought into this idea big time. Given the stay-at-home world that Covid brought with it, we decided it was a good idea to invest in a little outdoor luxury. We purchased not one, but two barbecues – a small, charcoal unit and a two-burner propane unit. We also added an outdoor dining table and chairs with the expectation of staying home all summer and enjoying our garden in the midst of the pandemic.

It’s already proven to be a great investment. Dining outside couldn’t be more enjoyable. French toast for breakfast on the griddle of our new Vermont Castings propane barbecue, and outstanding chicken wings from the grill of our mini Louisiana Kamado-style grill has made restaurants and take-out a thing of the past. We have a summer of new recipes ahead just waiting to sample.

Spending time outdoors couldn’t be more enjoyable. There is something very relaxing about watching nestlings take their first flights while chipmunks chase one another around your table during morning coffee.

The yard and garden coming together as one. That’s a goal we need to work toward. That just may be the recipe for happiness.