The story of two people brought together by their mutual passion for gardening, plants and colour. Sandra and Nori Pope ran a successful flower nursery in Victoria B.C., but when they discovered the sadly neglected Hadspen Gardens in England, they knew they were the ones to take on the challenge of restoring them. The Popes sold their business and their home, packed up everything and moved to Somerset, England, where they rediscovered a passion for gardens, and each other.
Concerned about western medicine and its heavy reliance on prescription drugs, Heather Bakazias left a successful career as a psychiatric nurse and moved to a fifty acre farm near the tiny village of Singhampton, just south of Georgian Bay in Ontario. Her move reconnected her with a long family heritage in herbal medicine. Nestled in acres of wildflowers, Heather has built a retreat where she counsels people toward an holistic approach to living in the wilds, and gathers herbs to use in her own line of herbal products.
Axel Bonaert is a man caught in two worlds - the modern day world of his chosen career as a IT engineer, and the world he has inherited as one of the heirs to the Freyr estate and gardens, that date back to 1760. Built in the tradition of the French Renaissance, with 350 year-old orange trees that originated from the Court of Lorraine, the estate is phenomenal, and for many, an inheritance of this opulence would be a dream. However, 21st century demands weigh heavily on this modern baron, and for Axel, the inheritance is definitely a mixed blessing.
Patrick Lane and Lorna Crozier have created a sensational garden at their home in Victoria, BC. Both renowned poets, their writings draw heavily on the symbolism a garden provides - for Patrick, it is a metaphor for life and for Lorna, a source of erotic imagery. The garden was instrumental in Patrick’s recovery from alcoholism and served as inspiration for Addicted: Stories From the Belly of the Beast, a collaborative work edited by Patrick and Lorna that features writing on addiction from a diverse range of Canadian writers.
Des Kennedy has made a career of combining his passion for the earth and love of the spoken and written word. A former monk who left his order for an even greater calling, Des’s depth of knowledge on gardening has earned him a loyal Canadian audience for his writing, television and public appearances. Des reveals how he has managed to create a spiritual lifestyle which enables him to merge his passion for gardening and the environment with his public life as a humourist, writer and journalist.
To Douglas Counter, the naturalized garden he planted at his Etobicoke home as a memorial to his mother represents a meditation space of natural beauty. It is also a unique and inexpensive approach to filtering pollutants from streams that run through his community. Follow Douglas as he challenges the City’s by-laws to protect not only his environmentally important sanctuary from nuisance complaints, but the rights of all gardeners to heal the environment.
Though he’s the man behind the hair of some of the biggest names in Hollywood, legendary hair stylist Art Luna considers himself first and foremost a garden designer. Over the years, Mr. Luna has earned a reputation as a no-nonsense hairstylist, intolerant of divas - he has even been known to refuse service at his salon to less than gracious movie stars. But from his garden clients, he demands only appreciation and passion for the fabulous gardens he creates.
Tricia Oktober was raised in the freedom of Australia's outback, spending her days communing with nature, and for as long as she can remember, has taken that inspiration and turned it into art. A renowned illustrator, artist and author, Trish's life hasn't always been easy, failing at three marriages and losing two children in infancy, the tragedy of which eventually tore her third marriage apart. Five years ago, she rediscovered her childhood happiness in the form of a garden paradise in the Blue Mountains, where she has surrounded herself with flowers from all over the world, many of which have become the subjects of watercolours that grace her books and local art galleries.
In the late 1990’s, Nicola Russell and Teddy Hutton left their home in Oxford, England to follow their dream. They bought a domain in a small town in the south of France and turned it into an artist’s retreat. Artists themselves, they now play host to painters, dancers, actors, sculptors and writers from all over the world who come to work and reflect in the garden paradise that Nicola and Teddy have created.
"I want community gardens to be as common in big cities as libraries," says Laura Berman, coordinator of the Food Share Community Garden program in Toronto. Laura used to be a landscape architect, but grew tired of creating elaborate and expensive back yards for people who simply wanted a garden because they had money. She now designs and implements community gardens that provide food for people in need, which satisfies her more than any expensive garden ever would.
Maria Galletti is a woman on a mission to find rare varieties and propagate the "precious jewels" of the plant world, alpine plants. These incredibly small plants can be challenging to grow but at Alpines Mont Echo, Maria's garden and nursery in Sutton Quebec, she has found ways of growing them in the most difficult conditions. She has also grown in reputation, slowly evolving from an immigrant entrepreneur to battle her way through the male-dominated world of alpine plant hunters, only to find herself one of the most respected alpine specialists in the world.
The Reford Garden (formerly Les Jardins de Métis) is one of Canada's most historic landscapes, thanks to both its creator, Elsie Reford, and her great-grandson, Alexander Reford. Although the gardens were sold to the Quebec government for a time after Elsie's death, the estate is now back in Reford hands, and it is thanks to Alexander's tenacity and background as a History professor, as well as Elsie's extensive archives that the family has been able to slowly restore the garden to its former glory.
His passion for literature and gardening history is what eventually drew Douglas Chambers away from the life of a professor and back to his family's farm. With the use of pedestals and inscripted stones, Douglas Chambers creates quasi historic landscapes wherein both his personal and our greater history is brought into relief. In his beautiful garden, with plants and text, he actively celebrates his favorite poets, indulges himself in the mysterious atmospheres of Chinese gardens and commemorates a succession of European kings; while other planting schemes in the garden are devoted to a sense of the history of the area itself and to Chambers' own pledges to the memories of lost friends and relations.
Captain Steele believed that beauty has the power to transform us. After surviving two major wars as a Naval Officer, Steele rediscovered the beauty and serenity of earth through one of the world’s oldest plants - the Rhododendron. Now recognized as one of the great plant breeders in North America, Steele not only transformed Bayport Farm and nursery into a magnificent Rhododendron forest, he used the power and beauty of plants to transform lives.
Marjorie Harris, best loved gardening author and editor-in-chief of Gardening Life Magazine credits the 19 x 100 foot plot of land behind her house in Toronto for changing her life. This extraordinary urban garden is recognized across the country for its beauty and lushness and has been a source of inspiration for much of Marjories writing
According to world-renowned Canadian photographer, Freeman Patterson "gardening is an act of creation and the primary responsibility of our lives is to be creative". Wherever he roams Patterson combines his love for gardening with his passion for photography. As we travel from Shampers Bluff, the beautiful river valley he calls home, to a wildflower reserve in Namaqualand, South Africa, where he regularly teaches photography seminars, we are invited to observe the beauty of nature which has brought joy and healing to Freemans life.
Vancouver restaurateur Umberto Menghi has created his very own paradise in the form of a seventeenth century villa he has recently restored in his native homeland of Tuscany. Surrounded by miles of vineyards and olive trees, Villa Delia is a cooking school, a luxury resort and a second home for Umberto and his family and fulfills the dream of uniting his love of food and fine wine together with his love for the Tuscan countryside.
Tired after years of living the fast life of socializing, traveling, and working around the clock, Gerry Herron, former football player with the BC Lions, decided to re-focus his energy into his own backyard. From what was once a shady gravel pit, Gerry has created an Eden that defies nature and breaks all rules of gardening.
Thomas Hobbs began growing seeds at the age of five years old, owned his first greenhouse at the age of ten, and began breeding orchids by the time he was fourteen. Formerly the founder of the renowned "Thomas Hobbs Florist" in Vancouver, and author of the books "Shocking Beauty" and The Jewel Box Garden, Thomas is now the proud owner of "Southlands Nursery", a nursery which he claims has enabled him to live a "charmed life". The nursery is the culmination of a lifetime of loving and growing plants, and from it Thomas proudly supplies gardens all over North America with his creations.
This is an immigrant success story. The story of how a Taiwanese family followed their dream and established an orchid nursery in the most unlikely place: the prairie city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Jason Lin has built EverSpring Orchids into one of the largest suppliers of orchids in western Canada. World class orchid hybridizers, theyve won every orchid competition that theyve entered and have created an oasis of pure beauty
Princess Peggy and Prince Nicolas Abkhazi were long time friends whose relationship, due to life circumstances, was never permitted to go beyond the writing of letters. After the war though, their paths crossed once again, but this time resulted in deep found love and marriage, and a new life in Victoria BC where they created their own Eden. After the Abkhazis deaths, the garden risked falling into the hands of developers only to be saved by the passionate people of Victoria, including Valerie Murray who has dedicated her life to the well-being of the garden and preserving the memory of this romantic story
In the heart of suburban Vancouver is an oasis of calm, a place where one can contemplate life and enjoy time going by. This piece of Eden, which was originally a backyard playground, is now a backyard Zen garden created by Dr. Kieran Egan. Author of "Building My Zen Garden", Kieran takes us on a journey on how what he originally envisioned as a small strip with some stones eventually grew into a pond with a small stream, a waterfall and a tea-house.
More than a designer of jewelry, John Hardy is a storyteller who is keeping a culture and a past alive through his jewelry and home furnishings designs. An expatriate Canadian who now lives in Bali with his family, John and his wife Cynthia have transformed their small Balinese business into a global design company whose designs can now be found in the worlds finest stores. Drawing inspiration from the local artisans who work to create his musings into masterpieces and the lush tropical landscape that surrounds his extraordinary open air longhouse and verdant terraced gardens, John’s approach to his creative work and domestic lifestyle has always been organic and luxurious. His passion is a primitive minimalism.
In 2002, Ben Ripple, an organic farmer, decided to take a risk and gave $200.00 to a woman in distress in exchange for suspicious airline coupons. Luckily enough the coupons turned out to be good for travel anywhere in the world and Ben, accompanied by his future wife Blair, decided to fly to Bali for their "dream" vacation. While on the island, they were offered 8 acres of land for free, found work on a local movie set which enabled them to start their own business, and eventually became in the short period of 18 months successful owners of an organic farming operation on the island of Bali. Now their tremendous array of crops number over eighty and the fields measure over 10 acres. What was intended as a vacation quickly turned into a life transformation.
David Kamp was a New York landscape architect with a high profile job and a great future, who worked on rewarding projects like the Australian Parliament House. But in the 1990s he left all of this behind to start his own business dedicated to the creation of restorative gardens which he believes in passionately. David contends that nature has significant therapeutic qualities and is essential to health and well-being. Today, he is applying this attitude to all of his projects including a 9/11 memorial in Pennsylvania, which is helping to restore an entire community
In the gardens of Charles Jencks, the internationally acclaimed architectural critic and designer has combined traditional and modern philosophies of nature and science with sculpture, architecture and landscape to create some of the most original and unique gardens of the 21st century. Inspired by his late wife, Maggie, Jencks uses the power of landscape and form to tell perhaps the most personal story of all: our search for meaning in our universe. For Jencks, this meaning takes him beyond surface beauty into form and function as he designs landscapes that speak to and of our fundamental connections to each other, to our selves, to nature, and to our universe.
Marcia Donahue is a hybridizer, but not in the common horticultural sense, as she has successfully blended her two worlds as an artist and as a gardener to create an elaborate tapestry of colour, texture, and patterns in the backyard of her Berkeley, California home. As a horticultural thrill-seeker, her garden is a whimsical and fantastical one that not only serves as her personal paradise, but also as her art medium as she believes that gardening is kinetic sculpture, because it doesnt hold still, it is always transforming itself.
Iranian-born, Canadian architect Fariborz Sahba has designed and built some of the most holy sites in the Bahai religion including the Terraces of the Shrine of the Bab in Haifa, Israel. Aesthetically and symbolically, these spaces are designed for celebration and worship, bringing people closer to the divine. But for Sahba, it is in the garden that relationships between structure, spirit, design and God become most apparent. Using the grammar of nature and the language of design, Sahba becomes a translator for whom he refers to as our Master Architect in his creation of gardens for people seeking spiritual refuge and inspiration.
Renowned artist Robert Bateman is known around the world for his paintings of nature, but it is in his garden that the self-professed ’nature faker’ lends his aesthetic eye, artistic skill and use of often man-made materials to create a stunning balance between what is natural and what is fabricated. On his new 80-acre property, located on Saltspring Island BC, Bateman’s gardens clearly demonstrate his artistic attention to detail by creating a natural landscape more real than reality, inspired by - and inspiration for - his art.
The word ’extreme’ comes easily to those who try to define John Grassl’s spirit, adventures, and private garden. As an adult, John has leaped off the CN tower, hand-glided across Lake Ontario, and rode a ferris wheel for 20 days. But his most extreme task took over 30 years to come to completion. As a small boy raised in the suburbs of Etobicoke, Ontario, John built a small pond in his backyard. 34 years later, the pond has grown to become a large exotic lake: an underwater garden of fish, plants and flowers with a rustic cabin and wilderness trails surrounding it. Encompassing most of the backyard, this unexpected paradise is a natural escape from the sights and sounds of the big city for the man who lives life to the extreme.
At first, Lucinda Flemers dream to build a world renown public garden in the town of St. Andrews by-the-Sea, New Brunswick, was received with scepticism, but the result of her perseverance and passion cannot be underestimated: eight award-winning gardens spread over 27 acres of land. Named Kingsbrae Public Garden, the property was built by individuals from all walks of life including the young and the old, troubled teens, abused women, and people whod never been able to hold down a steady job in their lives these were the people who would dig, plant and tend to the first of the Kingsbrae gardens and many whose own lives in turn were changed. As a result the gardens continue to mean many things to the thousands of visitors, gardeners and community members who share the beauty of the gardens: as a refuge, a symbol of hope, and an opportunity to experience the many wonders of nature. All fulfilling the important Kingsbrae creed: We dont just grow plants. We grow people.
For co-founders Jack Hutton and Sister Frieda Raab, Providence Farm was an answer to a growing lack of resources for people with social, physical and mental needs. For the members of Providence Farm, this beautiful 400 acres of land offers much more. Located at the base of Mount Tzouhalem in the Cowichan Valley of Vancouver Island, Providence Farm has healed and changed the lives of many through the power of working and caring for the soil. Offering one of Canadas few horticultural therapy programmes, the farm operates as a community caring and nurturing the land together, and as a result each individual is in turn healed. It is The Renewal of Life theory at its most obvious that by caring for the soil, the soil in turn nurtures the people.
Mike Moody is an unassuming modern renaissance man: an intellect who reads Latin and ancient Greek, a philosopher of great depth, a skilled craftsman, a successful teacher, a caring father and a reluctant gardener. Built in the asphalt desert of Torontos rooftops, Moodys garden developed unintentionally with the placement of one potted plant on the roof of 401 Richmond Street. Two years later, the result is a beautiful rooftop garden retreat that is now relied upon as a place of refuge by the buildings tenants looking to escape the heat, noise and stress of working downtown. It truly is an example of how one can create a space of beauty and environmental well-being in the least likely of places.
Since his childhood, when he spent time growing vegetables in his backyard, Philippe Levesque has had a passion and respect for nature that quickly turned into successful business ventures and world-traveling. Accumulating more experience before the age of 30 than most gardeners do in a lifetime, at age 17 Philippe quit university and moved to London, England to work for a garden shop where his talent and charm attracted many of the citys rich and famous to hire him as their private gardener. By the time he was 20, he returned to Canada to pursue his dream of opening his own nursery and founded Macrophylla, an environmentally sustainable nursery in Dundee, New Brunswick that uses only biodegradable materials to produce ornamental plants. The nursery was a huge success and transformed the community with a new environmental consciousness, but left Philippe with a sense of longing to simplify his life. In October of 2005, his search for the simple life has taken him back to England with a renewed sense of purpose and only time will tell where his next adventure will take him
The small prairie town of Neepawa, Manitoba is now claimed to be the World Lily Capital thanks to the work and passion of one man known as the Lily King: Barrie Strohman. As a contractor, the houses he built formed communities and neighbourhoods for multiple families, but it is his passion for the "poor man’s orchid," the Lily, that has transformed this Prairie town’s spirit. An accomplished hybridizer, Strohman has dedicated himself to developing and growing over 2,000 named varieties of the flower at his nursery known as the Lily Nook, and his excitement and passion for the flower has been spread to the community as volunteers beautify the town with thousands of Lily beds and the birth of the annual National Lily Festival.
Cassie Scott uses her love of gardening to make a difference within the community of North Richmond, California. Located in a low income neighbourhood where racial tensions, violence and drive-by shootings are common, Scotts teaching garden at Verde Elementary School provides the students with an area to escape the daily stresses of their living environments. It is a place of community where they can learn about the beauty and diversity of nature by working together in the garden. A dynamic approach to teaching both traditional curriculum and social change, Scotts teaching garden brings children of different races and backgrounds together in hands-on projects that for many represent the first joyful experience of helping something grow.
Who wouldn't wish to live on a beautiful island and work for famous celebrities and 5-star resorts? For most, this vision presents itself with images of a partying and luxurious lifestyle. But for Natalie Zaiden, this dream became reality with some unexpected results: a sense of self that transformed the self-confessed wild-child into a responsible, focused, hard-working landscape designer whose clients include actor Bruce Willis, and who as an employer has provided work opportunities for over a hundred local Islanders. As the most sought-after landscape designer on the Turks and Caicos Islands, Zaidens work has a huge impact on the overall aesthetics of these quickly developing tourist communities. And that work continues to impact Zaiden herself as she becomes more comfortable with her role of responsibility to change the desert landscape into a panorama of ecologically responsible and beautiful gardens.
Joanne Schofield "Godolphin" Cornwall, UK While Calgarian, Joanne Schofield, might have married into a vast English estate, it was one in a state of serious disrepair. Godolphin is a 240-hectare family estate, located in the bucolic countryside of Cornwall, that has been undergoing a remarkable revival at the hands of the Schofield family. Teeming with roses and yew trees, the gardens are considered to be one of the most important historic gardens in Europe and date back as far as the 12th Century.
Paul Allison - "Hatley Park?", Victoria, BC For years Paul Allison, a horticultural therapist and gardener of the famous Hatley Park at the Royal Roads University in Victoria, was on an odyssey to find out more about Isaburo Kishida, the man responsible for designing one of the first Japanese Garden?s in Canada in the early 1900?s, but of whom little was known about.
Lois Hole - St. Albert, Alberta Coming from a modest, prairie background, Lois Hole made her mark on the Canadian gardening scene with the creation of what many consider a gardening empire: Hole's Greenhouses and Gardens. But her accomplishments did not stop here... she also authored many best-selling gardening books, was Lieutenant Governor of Alberta and was named to the Order of Canada. Above all though, Lois' passion was to combine her love of horticulture with public service. A passion which today is carried on memory by her sons Bill and Jim.
Geoff Cape, Evergreen, Toronto, Ontario Geoff Cape is not your ordinary gardener. Through his Toronto-based organization Evergreen, Geoff and his colleagues have been helping communities design green spaces for all to enjoy. By creating gardens in concrete schoolyards and in the heart of urban centres, Geoff and Evergreen are continually transforming places and people across Canada.
Susan McKenna Grant, La Petraia, Tuscany, Italy Seven years ago, former computer software designer Susan McKenna Grant left Toronto and bought an ancient abandoned farm called La Petraia, in the Chianti mountains of Tuscany. Slowly she is restoring this Tuscan hasienda to its origins as a working farm that is all-organic and self-sufficient.
Lucinda Vardey, Migliara, Tuscany, Italy Since the early 1990's, Lucinda Vardey, author of Traveling With the Saints in Italy, has opened up her home and gardens in Tuscany to those in need of spiritual and physical renewal. Known as Migliara, the 500 year old farmhouse surrounded by fields of wildflowers and a mountain stream, has always been a pilgrims rest from early Christian times. Many, including St. Francis of Assisi have walked this land and found peace and harmony in the flowers and the soil.
Diana Beresford-Kroeger, Merrickville, Ontario Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a gardener who likes to combine her medical training with her love of botany. Having studied classical botany, medical biochemistry, organic and radio nuclear chemistry, and experimental surgery, Diana believes that the cures for cancer and other ailments can be found in her garden located in Merrickville, Ontario. Among Diana?s prized plants are 150 year-old morello sour cherries, chocolate smelling peonies and rare breeds of trees and plants long thought lost to deforestation.
Birgit Piskor, Victoria, British Columbia Many have seen Birgit Piskor's garden located in the heritage district of Victoria, British Columbia. It continually receives attention from magazines to television to national gardening awards and is noted as a "must see" by Victorian Garden Tours. What few people don't know is how Birgit's garden, which is a masterpiece of Victorian and modern garden design, has changed her life forever.
Jane Walker and Barry Robbins, Panama In the height of the 1990's, Vancouver residents Jane Walker and Barry Robbins were fed up with their urban, high-stressed lives, and decided to leave it all behind to take a long car drive south. Their drive took them to Panama where they have now created a personal paradise they call their own. But this paradise is not for the faint-hearted and now they live with a different kind of stress - one that is centered on their gardens, farm and inn.
Gayla Trail, Toronto, Ontario When Toronto-based gardener and graphic designer, Gayla Trail started her website YouGrowGirl.com, she had no idea it would become the web destination for young, urban apartment dwellers desperate to create green spaces in their own homes. Having always been an "urbanite", Gayla has gardened in whatever space she finds available. From windowsills, to balconies, to vacant lots, Gayla can create a garden paradise anywhere.
The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia In 1904, Jennie Butchart turned an unsightly quarry site on Vancouver Island, into what would become a 22 hectare garden paradise. Today, the Butchart Gardens welcomes over a million visitors a year who come to see the unique sunken garden, the exquisite rose garden, the meditative Japanese garden and the romantic Italian garden. Declared a National Historic Site of Canada, the gardens have remained in the family for over a century and are currently being cared for by Jennie's great grand-daughter Robin Clarke.
Donna Dawson, Panama and France Currently Donna Dawson's only garden is a virtual one in the form of an internet website she founded called ICanGarden.com, which has now "grown" to be one of Canada's largest internet gardening resources. And although she is temporarily a gardener without her own physical garden, Donna gets her fix leading tours around famous public and private gardens in Europe. For Donna, the joy of being in a garden is unrivaled, even if for the moment, the garden is not her own.
Kim Ondaatje, Verona, Ontario Painter, photographer, and documentary filmmaker, Kim Ondaatje claims that one of her greatest "works" is Blueroof Farm, a three dimensional "living art" piece comprised of gardens, ponds, waterfalls and trails. An art critic once tried to describe the exquisite beauty of Blueroof Farm by saying the owner had "created a painting out of every window." Located just north of Kingston, Ontario, the property has served as a family home with then husband Michael Ondaatje, an organic farm and also a haven for some of Canada's most famous artists.
