Planting Style - No Rules Natural

Update Feb 2025: It’s interesting to read back on this post that I wrote originally in June 2022. Since then I’ve had periods of grappling with my identity as a gardener - but this post is surprisingly accurate. Where I think I got messed up is reconciling how I truly feel about gardening with the gardening ‘industry’ that I have learned so much about. Read more about those reflections here.

I have always loved the casualness of an English garden, over the structure of a formal garden. In the past few years I’ve discovered the gardens of ‘new perennialists’. These more natural, prairie style plantings make use of grasses for flow and structure with blocks of flowers for colour. I love the unpretentious and immersive nature of this garden style.

That said, I’m not willing to forego my love for peonies, that don’t fit the natural mold. I’m also not confined to native plants. I am willing to try hybrid flowers not commonly found in Ontario, as well as personal favourites, like foxgloves.

I’m very excited to start planting seeds for the rare varieties that people just can’t get at local garden centers. The reality is there just aren’t a wide variety of plant suppliers in Canada - and most garden centres are supplied by the same growers of starts and plugs.

Here at the farm we’re just not at a scale that we can grow as much as we want to plant each year - 15000+ plants. This leaves us somewhat at the mercy of the handful of growers, for now. My hope is that our combination of sown seeds and our own curation from the growers catalogs makes for a unique mix, that we’re excited to share.