2006 OHS Garden Tours: Nathalie Chaly's Garden Oct 5, 2006

Thanks to Angela Snowdon for these pictures and to Nathalie Chaly for opening her garden to OHS members.

"Garden-Through-the-Seasons" Tour - Photos taken October 5

One of the biggest challenges of garden-making is to keep the garden interesting throughout the growing season. So, this year we’ve organized tours of a garden where succession planting has been a preoccupation of its owner, Nathalie Chaly, from the beginning. The garden will be open four times during the season, highlighting the evolution of flowers and foliage in the borders over time.

The one-year-old front garden (designed by Joanie Flynt) was planned with low maintenance and long-lasting interest as absolute priorities. The back garden has been worked for about 12 years. Though not large, it is fairly complex in design, featuring both shady and sunny borders, and is packed with plants, many of them uncommon. At the side of the house is a small vegetable garden, a container garden of annuals and tender perennials, and a pond-in-a-pot.

(For a taste of how the garden looked during the 2003 OHS garden tour, please see http://www.ottawahort.org/tournathalie1.htm)

See the June 8, July 20 and the Aug 31 tour pictures of Nathalie's garden

Click the photo to see a larger version.

The front garden illustrates  contrasts amongst colour and texture of soft lamb's ears, short purple asters and rock;  creeping Veronica,  draping herself along and over  the rock while hugging dwarf globe evergreens; thyme and Irish moss share quarters with  Hens and Chicks.

The hosta, while nestled amongst the leaves looking very much  like a painter's palette,  displays her own palette of changing colour and bids adieu.

Solidago 'Firecracker', a garden selection of goldenrod, is centred in the bed along the back fence.

A kaleidoscope of colour and textures  jostle for attention in the centre bed.

This beautiful little flower - a toad lily and her babies, shows the delicate side of autumn and takes pride of place in the centre bed.

And last but not least, a magnificent Japanese Anemone - 'Whirlwind' as white as the blanket of snow that will soon cover the garden.

  Many thanks to Nathalie for sharing her garden over the seasons, and for allowing  me to come earlier than the crowd in order to do justice to her garden.

  Angela