Trellis Magazine

Trellis Magazine
Editorial Feature Writing

I’ve always experimented with other forms of writing and creativity – from photographic to horticultural. In the past few years, this has taken an editorial turn with a series of feature articles written for Trellis the Toronto Botanical Garden’s magazine. For me, it's a chance to write about wild new frontiers in planting design – something I’ve been studying and practicing as a gardener for years. Click here to see the current season of my naturalistic perennial garden in the Kawarthas.

excreptclick here for text excerpt

Raising the bar for low-maintenance gardens

Tony Spencer puts down his secateurs to ask three landscape architects about designing a smart and stylish, low-maintenance city garden.

It’s one thing to design a garden, quite another to maintain it. All three of the landscape architects I spoke to — Victoria Lister Carley, Amanda Lapointe and Martin Wade — have designed a fair share of projects with low-maintenance in mind. Landscape architect, Martin Wade has observed a profound shift amongst residential clients over the last 25 years. “The majority now ask for a low-maintenance garden. A lot of them, even if they’re gardeners, don’t necessarily want a garden that requires intensive maintenance — just because of time constraints.” In the buzz of the big city, it makes perfect sense. Homeowners want a garden that fits their lifestyle but without the work. They view gardens as open-air extensions to the house, replete with the now-familiar idea of garden rooms to divide up the space for entertaining, play, or as a quiet retreat. While urbanites appreciate the ambiance of a natural setting, they tend to have neither the time nor energy to care for a more labour-intensive plant-centric garden.

Note: Full story available upon request.