Sweet Pea Garden – Small Is Beauty

Once in a while we stumble upon a garden so nice and cozy, we would love to spend long summer hours in it, eating gelato, drinking some bubbly (preferably with some friends), and feeling perfectly content and happy. Julie and Terry Flatt’s back garden is one of these, and it’s a part of this year open garden tours for Victoria Horticultural Society, here on Vancouver Island, in BC, Canada.

This small space is perfectly suited for leisure with different settings of sitting areas: under a pergola, on a porch, on a sunny carpet- size lawn or on a single bench. From these vintage points, you can enjoy looking at the plants, many with surprisingly large leaves as for a small garden.

“The fact that you have a small garden doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to fill it only with small plants, ” says Julie. She is a professional gardener with vast knowledge of plants, and it is evident here.

The indisputable king of the garden is a big Canadian maple tree transplanted by Julie almost 20 years ago. It gives the partial shade to the garden (it shades tender plants) together with unbelievably white barked Himalayan birches.

This teeny-tiny garden appears much bigger than it actually is, not only because of its clever design but also of unusual, quirky artwork which surprises you and makes you stop to investigate closer.

It has a fun-filled touch to it. Julie often uses garage sales found treasures or some thrown-away objects in a new, creative way: round rattan woven chair frame makes a spider’s web decoration; wooden bed frame is decorative arch. Small mirrors reflect the greenery and trick the eye. These fun details make Julie’s garden fantastical and whimsical, happy, relaxed and light-hearted, a perfect place for a tasty summer gelato.

Thank you for stopping by, and as always – if you like this garden and our post – please SHARE with friends.

Until next time. Cheers!
Derek

In appreciation of her hospitality, we gave Julie one of our books – Exotic Gardens of the Eastern Caribbean, by Margaret Gajek and with my images.

 

Next post coming soon, perhaps about an art photo shoot I recently had.

Photos by Derek Galon, Ozone Zone Books.
Story by Margaret Gajek, Ozone Zone Books.

As we are in a fun mood after visiting this garden, I thought – you’ve seen me on a few photos on this blog, but some of you may wish to see a pic of Margaret. Here it is, I titled it “The Joy Rider” Hope you enjoy!

Margaret Gajek – recent image. Photo by Derek Galon