Last week I was given the honour to co-host Landscape Ontario’s Award of Excellence along side fellow Garden Broadcaster Mark Cullen. The LO awards celebrate the exceptional creativity and hard work of Landscape professionals right across Ontario. Their work is world class and I have to admit some of the Landscapes are a little out of reach for many of our budgets but the pictures can inspire our own garden. The key to creating a great space is to have a great plan / design followed by the selection of fantastic plant material that will work in your space and finally and most important surrounding yourself with knowledgeable people who have the ability and background to install the job, on time, on budget and with your best interest in mind. For more info on Landscape Ontario go to: www.landscapeontario.com .
1) Winner of the Don Salivan Award for Excellence in Grounds Management – The Cultivated Garden (2 photos)
2) Winner of the Casey Van Maris Award (unique and innovative construction) – Oriole Landscaping (2 photos)
3) Winner of the Dunington-Grubb Award for highest overall score in the construction category – Tumber & Associates (2 photos)
4) One of the 11 winners in the “Residential Construction – $250,000 to $500,000” category – The Beach Gardener (2 photos)
5) One of the 10 winners in the “Special Interest Construction” category – Let’s Landscape (Together) – for “The Tiki Hut” (2 photos)
1 ) Winner of the Don Salivan Award for Excellence in Grounds Management – The Cultivated Garden (2 photos)Main focal point of back garden large hill in center.
Hill planted with large assortment of herbaceous perennials
Particular attention paid to perennials suitable for cutting as client likes to bring flowers indoors
Particular emphasis is on perennials that flower in spring and fall as clients are away frequently in mid summer
Selection of Tulip bulbs planted each spring and treated as annuals for maximum spring display
Main focal point in front of house is large containers planted with seasonal displays.
2) Winner of the Casey Van Maris Award (unique and innovative construction) – Oriole Landscaping (2 photos)
A site with several very large existing trees and their associated by laws, a request for a pool and hot tub, an entertaining, and a cooking and dining space that allowed for both family enjoyment as well as the ability to transform to allow for small corporate functions to be hosted within the confines of this averages sized yard located on a corner lot. The challenges of this site allowed for a creative solution to this yard that was harmonized with the clients wants and needs.
3) Winner of the Dunington-Grubb Award for highest overall score in the construction category – Tumber & Associates (2 photos)
Designed By: Randy Tumber – Tumber & AssociatesA formal reflecting pool just off the home houses the first bronze statue with recirculating water feature in water lilies. For a touch of formality, the pool cabaña, statue, and outdoor terrace were all in the line of sight from the patio doors.
A cedar gazebo obscures the source of an extensive water feature that begins on the far side of the design and works its way to the foreground through four separate ponds and to separate water courses that merge. The rivers dance around a sunken hot tub, finished with timbers and natural stone, that the clients must step over a bridge to access.
An imported, Italian wood fired pizza oven was installed in an underground grotto. Another waterfall cascades over the edge of the grotto allowing the chef a wonderful view through the waterfalls back to the landscape. A second seated bronze figure is mounted in the stream with “her” feet dangling in the water.
A final Pizza Café area sits atop a massive, one piece cantilevered stone deck over the largest lower pond that required special transport from the Bruce Peninsula.
Access to the pizza grotto comes by crossing one of two bridges that span the two separate rivers and Koi ponds. These were constructed of rough cut timbers to match the supporting antique barn beam posts of the cave to enhance the idea of being in an old abandoned mining shaft.
Water that originates on top of the pizza grotto splits into two sets of waterfalls, flowing down to meet each other in a reflecting pool that flows inside the cave and is accessible by a knee wall that wraps inside the grotto and terminates at the “Weeping Wall”. This was installed inside the grotto to allow for a pleasant trickling noise.
The entire system including pool, stereo, lighting and waterfeature are monitored and controlled by one home automation system through a touchpad in the kitchen, handheld devices or via the Internet. New technologies were pioneered to allow for the installation of multiple, variable frequency drive pumps that were programmed on timers to allow for maximum show at key times while facilitating high energy efficiency.
4) One of the 11 winners in the “Residential Construction – $250,000 to $500,000” category – The Beach Gardener (2 photos)
Designed By: Mark Bradley – The Beach Gardener IncThe Lake
• Our second project for these avid art collectors who hire us as “artists” rather than landscapers to commission a piece of architectural art for them.
• Environmentally protected property required years of planning, engineering, and an extensive permit application process.
• Extensive erosion control issues needed to be considered in the design, the clients noted they wanted the grade to be accommodated in a natural and environmentally responsible approach, and we allowed the grades to flow as naturally as possible despite the 35’ elevation drop on the property.
• The planting was designed to blend with natural surroundings of the chalet; the home and garden are tucked into a 1/3 of an acre on a 70 acre property with a private 10 acre lake.
• Each pre-cast concrete slab was hand made, craned into position using large slab handling suction tools, the slabs weighed up to 1300lbs.
• The landscape was designed using the most sustainable building materials available – steel, concrete, and natural stone, fallen log timbers gathered from the site make up all of the hardscape materials, the garden was designed to be environmentally sensitive, a rain water collection system for natural irrigation of the gardens, solar landscape lighting, and a low maintenance plant selections prove that environmentally responsible can look and function exceptionally well when designed properly.
• The entry courtyard needed to set the mood while walking up to the main entry, immediately upon arriving to the top of the 1/2km driveway it becomes evident you are visiting an architectural masterpiece – the courtyard garden needed to compliment the clean lines of the chalet. Steel panels were used to create a tiered garden filled with Thyme, Lavender, Moss, and Ornamental Grasses.
• The vanishing edge pool was designed with an attached spa with custom benches that overlook the lake and an automatic pool cover for child safety.
• Irregular concrete walls set into the steep slope allowed us to create some table land for a play space for the children, we wanted the land to move naturally and the form needed to be powerful when being viewed from above or below since the walls are the main architectural feature of the large sloped garden between the home and the lake, a sculpture with an 
irregular concrete base was used to create a vertical interest without planting trees that would eventually crowd the picturesque lake view.
• A sod sofa was incorporated into the plan next to the fire pit located lakeside for evening relaxation in a more natural setting.
5) One of the 10 winners in the “Special Interest Construction” category – Let’s Landscape (Together) – for “The Tiki Hut” (2 photos)
Special Interests
-Sunken kitchen/bar area with swim up bar complete with custom bar stools
-Tiki Hut has a waterfall into the pool from the roof creating a rain fall effect when sitting at the bar
-Oversized flagstone counter tops shaped and installed by hand
-Tiki Hut was constructed using oversized beams and rafters made of Douglas fir and the roof material is artificial thatch.
