A new home with an old world look in the footprint of the old house created some extreme design challenges on this environmentally sensitive Oak Ridges Moraine property.
A formal entry garden was needed to compliment the stunning architecture of this timeless home design, we decided to go with strictly green and white for the planting theme for the front gardens. The lawn was to be a major feature of the front garden, we spent countless hours grading and preparing the perfect surface for a lawn that will be maintained 1.25" mowing height by the full time gardener.
We created a front parking court for the clients to receive guests, it was a requirement to park up to 12 cars without it appearing to be a parking lot. We decided a cobblestone driveway with artificial turf strips and cobble bandings would provide the effect needed. It needed to be large enough for stretch limos to complete a three point turn!
Large manicured lawns and formal gardens with mirrored reflecting pools on each side of the main entry of the home surrounded with rose gardens, tight boxwood and yew hedges and a pleached Beech hedge create the wow factor once guests arrive after the long drive up the 2km driveway.
Large pyramidal Hornbeam and Dawyck Beech were used as foundation plantings along the house, we under planted with endless summer Hydrangea to maintain a formal design to this space.
The Allee effect was created using Pear trees with a surrounding boxwood hedge and pea stone groundcover provides visual interest directly in line with a key focal point from inside and outside the indoor pool wing.
The rear garden had some mature specimen plants, an existing outdoor fireplace and a concrete spa that we decided to protect, restore and incorporate into the new design to help make the garden look like it had been there forever.
The new house was triple the size of the existing home it replaced, there were extreme grade changes that were modified using planters, terraced walls, steps, and rock gardens to incorporate the existing spa and fireplace into the landscape using stone re-claimed from the original home.
The planting in the rear garden needed to provide a relaxed natural transition from the formal 2000 sq.ft square cut flag rear dining terrace to the natural forest that surrounds the property without competing with the 40km views from the rear windows of the home. We used colourful high texture plants in the back terraced gardens to compliment nature and blend with some of the large specimens we saved throughout the massive construction project.
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