Siri Luckow’s  garden won first place in the Environmental category in a city-wide garden contest, and on her street in the northern part of Toronto it stands out as a beacon of hope in a desert of lawns.  Look at this, in late spring.  It’s hardly a sacrifice in the name of the environment, is it?

She proudly proclaims her intention with this beautiful garden right out front, where passersby can be inspired.

I visited Siri’s garden first in 2015 with a group of garden bloggers, and she was a delightful host.

I then asked to return the following year to absorb a little more of what can be done on a small property, like the drainage made possible by a dry stream bed.

In her front yard, Siri mixes lots of natives, like the dwarf chinkapin oak (Quercus prinoides)….

….with old-fashioned non-native favourites like tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa).

But it’s not all ‘native this’ and ‘non-native’ that. Siri’s garden contains loads of edibles as well, front and back. In her front garden, she mixes shrubs like gooseberries….

….and blueberries with the ornamentals….

…. and she includes leafy crops in her containers, too. Here’s kale with pansies.

Moving around to the back, you’re greeted with a lovely flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) underplanted with sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum).

Nearby in a sunny spot is the vegetable garden.  The plastic mesh panels deter her kitties, which love to dig here.

In her shade garden, Siri grows ostrich ferns and white bleeding heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Albus’)….

…. and spring natives like (Geranium maculatum)….

…. and this uncommon white form of Virginia bluebell (Mertensia virginica f. alba).

There are beautiful painted ferns (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum), paired here with the foliage of early-flowering native bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis).

Siri’s garden art tends to be organic and ecological, like this rotting tree section melting into cranesbills (Geranium sp.)….

…. and this vine sphere…..
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…. and this dead branch cradling a smooth rock.

There’s a bit of lawn in the sunny part, and behind it a wonderful mini-woodland that acts as ‘edge’ habitat, bringing many birds.

Chickadees nest in a house Siri set up here…

….and birds are able to secure nesting material in the wool holder or nesting ball that hangs in the garden.

There are always birds feeding here. Here’s a male northern cardinal eating from a simple plastic plant pot feeder,

…and the female eating a sunflower seed, too.

Hidden away in the trees is a brush pile for birds and other wildlife – the value of which too few gardeners understand.

It’s easy to plant some pussytoes (Antennaria sp.)……

…. and wait for the painted lady butterfly to lay its eggs on the leaves, which then become the larval caterpillar’s diet.

Siri’s sunny woodland front features native shrubs like Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus)…

…. and native trees like the paw paw (Asimina triloba), with its dusky maroon flowers…..

…. and native perennials like prairie smoke (Geum triflorum).

But she’s a plant collector, too – so there are a few rarities like Syringa afghanica.

During the Garden Bloggers’ Fling in 2015, we were invited to climb the ladder to look at the Luckows’ Green Roof. Here’s Toronto garden designer Sara Katz taking a photo under tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipfera)….

… and here’s my photograph of the top of the roof.

Thank you Siri (belatedly) for opening up your garden to gardeners – and to the rest of the wild creatures you welcome daily.