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Title : Garden Visits: Ali's, on an Island
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Garden Visits: Ali's, on an Island

Hello! Have I got a treat for you today!  Ali, a reader and sometime commenter here,  has generously invited us to visit her garden, so my idea of a series of posts featuring readers' gardens is becoming a reality. In case you missed it, the first post in the series was a visit to Wendy's garden in Yorkshire, and I'm pleased to tell you that another reader has offered her garden for a third visit. So we're well launched, aren't we?

For today's visit, you might just like to sit a while in that charming blue chair, above, in its lovely setting and just take in this wonderful garden, but let's wander a bit, shall we, and then we'll have its generous owner, Ali, tell us something about it.

Ali points out that this structure marks "the drink spot" -- I'll have a limoncello, thank you!

Ali draws our attention to this butterfly, who's landed just at the right time. . . . From the butterfly's perspective, I suspect that anytime is the right time when it comes to this garden.

There are no fish left in the pond, Ali tells us -- a snake ate all of them!

Below, the gardener, working away, covered from head to toe -- she tells us that she dislikes bugs crawling on her. I must admit I'm not keen on the sensation either.

This typically West Coast home blends so well into its setting, and the artfully naturalistic plantings complement it splendidly.

That's the neighbour's fence you see in the photos above and below. As Ali will explain, she's chosen the immense challenge of gardening without a fence in an area with abundant wildlife.

Oh! This magical early morning light, filtered through the surrounding evergreens. . .

And below, observe the wonderful variety of the thyme. Look, but don't step -- Ali gently points out that no one is allowed to walk on this section while the thyme is in bloom. Isn't it gorgeous? I imagine it is probably alive with bees.

Now that we've had a good look around the garden, let's let our host answer some of my Garden Series questions.

I'm so pleased that you've offered us a tour of your beautiful garden, Ali. Could you tell us a little bit about where your garden is and perhaps a bit about yourself.

We live on beautiful SaltSpring Island which is part of the Southern Gulf islands of British Columbia, Canada. I'm a retired Public Servant. We used to live in the Ottawa area, but fell in love with SaltSpring and bought a one and a half acre lot twenty five years ago....never really knowing if or when this fantasy would happen.

I know you built this garden from scratch, and you've been at it for long enough that you have a beautifully mature garden now. Can you tell us something about that, especially given that you were living in Ottawa 25 years ago and between then and now, you've created this magic.

Fast forward to 1999....very early retirement  and here we were. We built our house in 2003....typical west coast style, cedar with high ceilings. Naturally all the bare ground had to be hidden. This was a very well treed lot, meaning that trees here tend to be a few hundred feet tall and two to three feet in diameter. There is very little soil and a lot of rock; we live on a ridge.

Did you begin with a clear plan for the garden or did it evolve more organically?

There was never a plan for the garden. When extra money was found, we had huge rocks moved and placed around by enormous excavators. I used a pick to dig holes between the rocks, put in some compost and bone meal place a plant and carried on.
What challenges or frustrations do you face in this garden?
 Gardening here has its special challenges. We don't have a fence. We have ravenous deer and rabbits. I had to figure out what they would not eat or just nibble, and would look good...also not need a great deal of water. So to me that sounded like the South of France...minus the deer. I tried to make it look as natural as possible, within the parameters that I had. The front garden looks very West Coast....meaning a few rhododendrons and ferns. 
You say there was never a plan for the garden, yet it has a very obvious sense of design, with very strong "bones." Can you say something about how you've achieved that?

I'm fairly creative and have a lot of energy, so I've moved plants around a lot. I go in the house..look at the garden, ponder....return outside and move a plant. It has to look good from every angle; especially from the house, because you can see it twelve months of the year. I think that makes me very anal. Balance and layers are very important in the garden. I can't grow everything that I love, so I try to make it as interesting as possible. I use a lot of pots with the same plant in them...terracotta pots with boxwood. Terracotta square pots with feather grass. All this mixed with the usual Mediterranean plants...Lavender, Germander, Rosemary, and lots of other architectural grasses that wave in the wind and shimmer in the sun.

Do you do all the maintenance yourself or do you have help?

It seems that I have an almost full time job with the garden. I don't think I've ever worked this hard at anything before.  It completely absorbs me. Because it's a creative process it feels like play.  I just keep puttering away. In case you were wondering, my husband does help. He cuts grass, or what we call grass...reclaimed forest. He helps move the heavies that I can't do myself...helps move piles of soil, and chops wood....we have a wood stove. During the week, in the summer, he mostly cooks supper. He also has to remind me that I should eat. At five o'clock he rings a bell to tell me it's drink time. We sit out in the garden, under the arbor and drink a glass of wine and chat and listen to the birds. He also  has taken these photos of the garden Please be sure to thank him for us -- they're beautiful photographs!

Two years ago I decided to get someone to help with trimming in the spring and fall. I really hated that job. The garden is fairly steep which makes it even more awkward. It does keep me very fit though. 

What do you think of the garden at this stage? You must be very pleased with it. . . .any changes you think of making?

I'm still amazed that the garden looks like it does. It looks planned. It really wasn't. I stare  at it a lot....and decide whether it needs something tall or something roundish. Because of the deer, I have learned to think that way. It mostly is about the process, the creating, the details. I guess I really  am anal.

Sometimes I wish we had a fence; we could get one built, but, I would probably drive myself crazy, because I could plant to my hearts content. I would miss seeing the deer up close. They drink out of the birdbath. That's magical seeing a big buck drinking...or a doe with the fawns. Then there are the times that I run screaming out of the house swearing at them....

And then the wild card question. . . 

Aw, the question that I wished you had asked. Would I have started this garden if I had known how how large it would get, how much time, how much work?  Yes, I would. I'm a bit of an introvert and it's a perfect fit for me. Creating something, anything that you love doing is so rewarding. I mean really, at the end of the day sitting in a garden with a glass of wine, what's not to love about that.

What's not to love indeed?! 
Thanks so much for allowing us this generous peek into your wonderful garden, Ali. And thanks also for agreeing to answer readers' questions about your garden. (We understand that you'll be out in the garden most of the day again, so it might take a while for comments to be seen and answered.)

And as for our readers today, I know you'll join me in thanking Ali--I hope you'll leave a comment for her, below, and, as I say, she has indicated that she's willing to answer your questions, if possible. So go to . . . .

Thus articles Garden Visits: Ali's, on an Island

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