Dunbar Garden Tour Delights!

Dunbar Garden Club members admiring Nola Frost's garden.

It was a hot and sunny Father’s Day in June when the Vancouver’s, Dunbar Garden Club had their annual member’s garden tour, which I gleefully attended.  I was impressed as well as inspired by the five very different gardens. Although many plants were in flower, it seemed to me that it was the roses that stole the show. The many creative flower combinations brought out the very best of each individual. I couldn’t get enough of the many wonderful peonies, roses and clematis combinations.
If you want to take the tour with me follow below. I’ve written a few things of note for each garden and theirs lots of pics as per.
Hope the photos inspire you as much as the real gardens inspired me.
Thank you to all the garden tour hosts for their generosity and kindness.
Cheers,
Amanda

Rosemary Harkness is a Gold Medal & Fragrance Award Winner reliable, free blooming hybrid tea rose. It apricot coloured flowers bear a sweet citrus scent. It grows 3ft x 3 ft.

---

Nola Frost - A Garden of roses

Climbing roses provide a backdrop for the many robust roses in the foreground.

​If you are not a lover of roses, this garden might just change your mind. Unlike most formal rose gardens with blocks of roses surrounded by boxwood hedges, Nola has incorporated bold, beautiful and floriferous roses throughout her garden. They are artfully interspersed between vibrant peonies, lilies, clematis and other garden beauties. Climbing roses are an obvious favorite of hers as they have been accommodated by the many trellised covered walls and arbours. 
​
Nola’s roses are virtually blemish free, but such healthy and beautiful roses must need lots of care, right? Well, that is just not the case. There is no spray program except for an occasional application of dormant oil/ lime sulfur mix in the winter. Fertilizer is applied yearly in early spring and a layer of a rich organic mulch on top of the soil is applied every other year. They really are easy care roses. 

As a member of the Vancouver Rose Society, Nola knows her roses and makes a point of growing those that are resistant to black spot and mildew. This is why she likes the new modern roses that are bred to be disease resistant as well as the reliable and tough Old Garden roses.

When asked which rose were her favorite, Nola responded with three different ones ‘Dublin Bay’, ‘South Africa’, and ‘Summer Wine’. Sadly Summer Wine was not in flower during my visit so I don’t have any pictures.

Although I already love roses and have a few in my garden, Nola inspired me to grow more. I have no idea where to put them in my bursting garden, but I just can’t resist. Oh no! 

Compassion is a continuous blooming climber with fragrant pinkish-apricot 4 inch blossoms.

Golden Gate is a vigorous repeat climber with fragrant citrus and fruity scented 3 inch blossoms.

Amadeus is a dark rich, red climbing rose with a light spicy fragrance.

A clematis and a Compassion climbing rose intertwine.

Graham Thomas is a David Austin rose with fragrant 4 inch blooms on vigorous, slender upright 5 ft shrubby bushes. A repeat bloomer. An Award winner.

James Galway is a David Austin climbing rose with frilly pink petals with an old fashioned rose sent. Repeat flowering and grows 5ft x 4ft.

Munstead Wood is a David Austin rose that bears Old Garden rose type blossoms with the scent of crushed berries. A 3 ft tall repeat bloomer.

Teasing Georgia, a David Austin rose bears strongly scented yellow blossoms. Can be grown as a large shrub or a small climber.

Teasing Georgia flowers are packed with petals.

Easy Does It is a repeat flowering floribunda. Flower are fragrant on tall 6ft plants.

Desmond Tutu is a fragrant floribunda rose. Repeat bloomers, 3ft tall.

Rosemary Harkness a fragrant hybrid tea.

South Africa, a grandiflora, grows 5 ft, fragrant 4 inch blossoms and a repeat bloomer. An award winner.

The grandiflora rose, South Africa.

Kardinal Kolorscape 'Forever & Ever' rose flowers continuously and needs no pruning. Grows to 2 ft, fragrant and low maintenance.

Bull's Eye, a 5ft shrub rose, with fragrant repeat blooms.

Grootendorst Supreme, a rugosa, grows to 4 ft blooms repeatedly but bears no fragrance. Very hardy and reliable.

---

Helen Smith – A Tale of Two Gardens

Helen's shady back garden boasts bird feeders, a koi pond and fun little touches.

A tall retaining wall greets all that pass Helen’s garden. Rugosa roses cover one end of the rock wall and bright yellow creeping jenny and stonecrop sedum provide a brilliant groundcover at the entrance.  It’s only when you walk up the stone path that you get a sneak peak of what’s to come. There’s a circular sunken patio with chairs and table inviting visitors to sit and enjoy the sunshine. It was a nice surprise. This patio becomes the main focal point when viewed from the house, but relaxation isn’t the only intent of the front garden. There’s a path that winds its way around the patio with vegetables and ornamental plants blending together in harmony. Asparagus, pole beans, squash, basil, garlic, chives and other edibles are mixed in with peonies, spirea, ninebark and other ornamental plants including a stunning deep purple clematis.

When walking from the sunny southern facing front garden to the back yard, the bright sunshine gave way to coolness and shade. Green leaves of different hues, shapes and forms dominated the small but well-appointed garden. And it is full of life. A netted fish pond sits below an ivy covered wall and active bird feeders hang above in overhead tree branches. Helen has added many lovely little touches to amuse and delight. A stone frog, a bunny by the stairs, a wee frog in water-filled rock, a rustic birdhouse tucked in behind Japanese forest grass and at the front, there’s a clay pot on its side spilling out succulents. Helen has artfully created two distinct gardens that are both functional and innovative.

The front garden is hot and sunny with a patio surrounded by a garden full of edibles.

A large stone retaining wall hides the patio on the other side.

The retaining wall around the patio includes a vegetable lined path.

A stone retaining wall hides behind robust rugosa roses

On the other side of the retaining wall lies this inviting sunken patio.

This is a great way to display a miniature hosta.

Mature Oregon grape hollies, laden with blue berries, provide an architectural backdrop to the chartreuse Mexican orange in the foreground.

This perfect deep purple clematis is planted amid the vegetables in the garden surrounding the sunken patio.

A stunning plant combo in a nice old planter.

Water in a wee pond reflects the Japanese maple tree above.

Within the tiny pond, a little stone frog rests.

---

A hosta provides a lush backdrop to blue Corydalis flowers.

An anthurium shares the soft shade with a lush fern.

Ferns lay at the feet of a huge Western red cedar.

A frog seems bored and unimpressed by all the garden visitors.

The entrance to the front garden.

A quaint birdhouse sits nestled among the Japanese forest grass.

At the base of this ivy covered wall is a koi pond, which is covered by wire mesh to keep the fish safe.

---

The shed is surrounded by well chosen and arranged shade loving plants.

An urn provides an accent next to the pond.

A bunny provides sits next to the steps.

A lush garden border is a safe haven for the visiting birds.

An Oregon grape holly bearing its fruit.

Cute little touches are a nice surprise.

---

Larry and Margaret Moore – A Garden of Rooms

Huge flowers of the Nippon Beauty peony.

This heritage home has been in the family since it was built in 1924. The large 84ft x 120ft lot is divided into numerous rooms to serve specific functions. The front garden display gardens wrap around the large lawn and the garden’s perimeter. A concrete garden urn provides an accent and a touch of formality while the wood wheelbarrow with a container of Bishop’s weed provides country flair and breaks up the large lawn.
​
The backyard is a whole different ball game, literally as it opens up to a vast lawn with a basketball hoop on one end. With generations of the Moore family growing up in the house, the garden must be multifunctional. There is a kitchen garden full of edibles that doubles as a play area for small children that includes play house. As Larry explained, the kitchen garden opens up to the living room where people congregate and sit. Tucked away in the 'living room' is a serene pond laden with fish and waterlilies for everyone to enjoy.

For privacy and to rest, another garden awaits on the other side of the property. It’s shady, intimate and features green and white plants that adds to the serenity. A striking stained fence provides a warm, fresh backdrop to the white goats beard, hosta and other shade plants. A bucket of blue campanula seems to flow aimlessly out of an old water pump. It provides a fine accent to the stylish bench beside it.

This garden is one for all ages, which is evident with the garden rooms that perform specific functions for every member of the family, no matter what their age.

A birdbath becomes an Asian vignette with the addition of a pagoda and a Japanese maple.

A quaint wooden wheelbarrow provides a nice accent in the vast lawn.

The wheelbarrow contains a planter full of the otherwise invasive goutweed.

The equisite blossoms of the bear's breeches, Acanthus mollis, with the Moore's home in the background.

A grouping of containers is nicely arranged.

A cute way to display wooden clogs and sedum.

A white astilbe likes the shade and moist soil.

---

This urn planter is located on the front lawn surrounded by the large and lush garden beds.

A secluded bench is a wonderful place to relax and enjoy the garden.

The white plumes of a goat's beard (Aruncus) is showing off in this shady garden.

---

The food garden and play area for the grandchildren, sits beside the ;living room' where the family congregates.

---

A pretty blue campanula flows next to an antique water pump

A Green Man plaque on the fence and a bird bath with a quaint statue is skirted by a thriving ivy.

A small water fall trickles water into this lily and koi pond.

A perfect water lily.

---

Jennifer Buckland - Art in the Garden

The front lawn is embraced by softly formed beds.

---

This simple urn sits at the end of the winding garden on the front lawn.

An original piece of art makes a statement.

The entrance to a small loosely formal secluded garden.

---

Original art add interest and brings attention to some purple allium.

The garden in the back yard enjoys dappled shade, perfect for a conveniently placed bench.

---

The secluded garden offers a bench placed so you can see the gardens beyond.

It's a perfect view of the pond from a conveniently place bench.

Jennifer's artful contribution is a red painted seed head from the tumbleweed onion (Allium schubertii).

The back garden is full of hostas, a gunnera and a charming piece of art.

---

Funky.

The side garden is highlighted by a tall elegant planter finished off with a very happy hosta.

---

Beside the pond, emerges this charming ornament.

This miniature climbing rose, Laura Ford, scales the wall beside the front door.

Laura Ford climbing rose.

---

A charming gate offers a peek to the cobblestone path littered with fallen red Japanese maple leaves.

An inviting walkway leads the way to the sunny front garden.

---

I will never again throw out my old shoes.

A beautiful hosta is adorned with painted a red allium seed head.

Veronica's Choice, a double flowering clematis, cascades over an arbour.

Dortmund is a dependable and beautiful climbing rose.

Dortmund climbing rose.

Mediterranean spurge, Euphorbia characias, becomes an easel to hold an original piece of art.

A climbing nasturtium, Tropaeolum speciosum, climbs up a neighbouring cedar.

The red flowers of the climbing nasturtium stands out against the green cedar leaves.