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In the Show Garden:
Berberis thunbergii f. atropurpurea ‘Royal Cloak’ (Japanese Barberry); rich colourful foliage on this shrub is hard to miss – the leaves on this selection are larger, rounder, and a deeper purple than those of other barberries.
Tulipa ‘White Elegance’ (Lily Flowering Tulip) with Fagus sylvatica forma purpurea ‘Cuprea’ (Purple Beech) in the background; an elegant ivory tulip flowering in mid-season, good for cutting
In the Garden Hall Courtyard:
Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Crimson Queen’ (Japanese Maple) with Tulipa ‘Queen of Night’ and Tulipa ‘Annie Schilder’; Japanese maples are exhibiting extremely rich colour this season, here A. ‘Crimson Queen’, a popular old cultivar hardy to zone 5
In the West View Terrace:
Daphne x burkwoodii ‘Carol Mackie’ (Daphne); extremely fragrant shrub bearing small pink flowers completely covering the plant for approximately two to three weeks. It prefers acidic soil and shade from hot sun
Wisteria floribunda ‘Issai’ (Japanese Wisteria); Japanese Wisteria is a hardy, rampant, deciduous vine; the cultivar Issai has relatively short clusters of fragrant lilac-blue pea-flowers and is an extremely vigorous twiner, quickly engulfing the structure it grows up
In the Entry Garden:
Amsonia tabernaemontana var. salicifolia (Blue Star); a native perennial to Eastern North America, deservedly becoming more popular in gardens as is exceptionally long-lived, bearing clusters of light blue starry flowers
Allium ‘Gladiator’ (Ornamental Onion); a very stately Allium with six inch globes of violet blue for early – especially early this seaon – summer
about the author: Sandra Pella
Sandra Pella has worked as Head Gardener of the Toronto Botanical Garden since 2008. She holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario, and upon graduation worked in the financial sector until the pull of plants was too much to resist, whereupon she found herself at Janet Anderson Perennials (formerly JEA Perennials) as a horticultural technician. She has been the Perennial Manager at Summerhill Nursery & Floral followed by the Assistant Horticulturist at the TBG prior to its renovation. Sandra worked as a Gardener for two seasons with the City of Toronto as well as seasonal Gardener for the TBG prior to being named Head Gardener. She is self-taught in the field and thus greatly appreciated the experience a gardening internship in 2009 at Great Dixter in the UK brought to her. Sandra has a regular What’s In Bloom blog and is one of the spokespeople for the TBG.
