This boulevard garden, which covers 130 square metres, is located next to roads on a busy corner that was torn up for infrastructure upgrades 6 years ago. The soil is sandy loam (low water-holding capacity, low nutrient-holding capacity) with added backfill of sand and gravel mix.
Inspired by Doug Tallamy’s Nature’s Best Hope, Christine took this opportunity to make a garden that would support more creatures. A garden designer, but new to native species at the time, she dived in. The garden was planted over two summers in 2020 and 2021.
Disturbance – from people and dog traffic and snow removal practices – is constant, so the plant community has to be resilient. Christine used a mixture of interplanted grasses and forbs, many chosen from Ontario native dry meadow and dry shade plants. The planting is not exclusively native; some plants are included because of their visual interest in seasonal vignettes. Christine says she’s learning how to keep a balance of grass and forbs, as well as adjudicating the heavy self-seeders who would outcompete others if not edited by the gardener’s hand.
See blog post: Christine Edmond’s boulevard garden