A Toronto Front Yard Gains Style and a Taste of the Southwest
This fresh design includes gravel beds, Cor-Ten steel planters and cold-hardy plants inspired by desert landscapes
The landscape of the American Southwest is worlds apart from that of Canada, but that didn’t stop the owners of this Toronto home from wanting to bring a taste of the desert to their front yard. The owners, who are avid gardeners, loved the rock, rusted metal and desert plants they had seen while on vacation in Arizona. They turned to landscape designer Shelby Hallman Mailloux of Earth and Sole to translate that vision into a design that would thrive in their climate.
Prefabricated Cor-Ten steel planters line the front edge of the elevated yard, beautifying the sidewalk, screening the home from the street and acting as a retaining wall for the slightly raised front yard. Their weathered finish complements the home’s brick exterior while also echoing the desert aesthetic that the homeowners admire.
Mailloux filled the planters with breezy grasses and dusty, trailing plants — species similar to what you might see in the desert but much more cold-tolerant. The plants include ‘Silver Brocade’ artemesia (Artemesia stellariana ‘Silver Brocade’), ‘May Night’ sage (Salvia ‘May Night’), ‘Xenox’ stonecrop (Sedum telephium ‘Xenox’) and, for height, ‘Northwind’ switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Northwind’).
The homeowners hand-water the containers every other day in summer and reduce watering in the cooler months. They leave the plants up over winter and cut them back in early spring.
Planter fabrication: Hogtown Sheet Metal + Custom Fabrication
Mailloux filled the planters with breezy grasses and dusty, trailing plants — species similar to what you might see in the desert but much more cold-tolerant. The plants include ‘Silver Brocade’ artemesia (Artemesia stellariana ‘Silver Brocade’), ‘May Night’ sage (Salvia ‘May Night’), ‘Xenox’ stonecrop (Sedum telephium ‘Xenox’) and, for height, ‘Northwind’ switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Northwind’).
The homeowners hand-water the containers every other day in summer and reduce watering in the cooler months. They leave the plants up over winter and cut them back in early spring.
Planter fabrication: Hogtown Sheet Metal + Custom Fabrication
The family’s trash, recycling and green-waste bins sit just inside the wall of planters, in the front corner of the yard. Mailloux chose this spot because it provides easy access to the street but also keeps the bins out of the way and out of main sightlines.
Instead of building an enclosure around the bins, the designer placed them on a pad of Wiarton limestone pavers. She didn’t want to call more attention to the trash area or have it compete with any of the yard’s other design elements.
Instead of building an enclosure around the bins, the designer placed them on a pad of Wiarton limestone pavers. She didn’t want to call more attention to the trash area or have it compete with any of the yard’s other design elements.
Rock and gravel spread over new soils add to the desert-garden effect that the homeowners wanted. The materials also help maintain soil moisture and act as a weed barrier, preventing unwanted plants from popping up in the garden.
A straight cedar boardwalk leads from the street to the front door, adding another texture, color and material to the stone-and-metal-filled yard. The wood will continue to age and develop a soft gray patina, with the only maintenance being an annual power washing in spring.
In this photo that looks toward the street from the house, you can see how the planters and plants lining the front of the yard add privacy, with a passing pedestrian and parked cars mostly obscured from view.
A straight cedar boardwalk leads from the street to the front door, adding another texture, color and material to the stone-and-metal-filled yard. The wood will continue to age and develop a soft gray patina, with the only maintenance being an annual power washing in spring.
In this photo that looks toward the street from the house, you can see how the planters and plants lining the front of the yard add privacy, with a passing pedestrian and parked cars mostly obscured from view.
Mailloux opted for cool gray, purple and blue plants to create the feeling of a Southwest garden, with cold-hardy grasses, flowering perennials and succulents filling the plant palette. Patches of sedum and thyme are spread across the ground, similar to how succulents and other ground covers carpet the desert floor. “The goal was [to create] something desert-style but lush, not bare,” Mailloux says.
‘Little Spire’ Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Little Spire’) and ‘Big Ears’ lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina ‘Big Ears’) add height, texture and color to the front yard plantings. A weeping lime-colored Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) stands out as the bed’s focal point.
A new stepped cedar fence increases privacy along the south side of the yard; it matches the existing fence on the north side of the yard. Grasses planted along the fence will fill in as they mature.
Plants: Beech Nursery
‘Little Spire’ Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Little Spire’) and ‘Big Ears’ lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina ‘Big Ears’) add height, texture and color to the front yard plantings. A weeping lime-colored Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) stands out as the bed’s focal point.
A new stepped cedar fence increases privacy along the south side of the yard; it matches the existing fence on the north side of the yard. Grasses planted along the fence will fill in as they mature.
Plants: Beech Nursery
Other plants in the front yard include woolly thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus), ‘Albiflorus‘ thyme (Thymus praecox ‘Albiflorus’), ‘Pacific Blue Ice’ hens-and-chicks (Sempervivum ‘Pacific Blue Ice’), October Daphne stonecrop (Sedum sieboldii), ‘Autumn Fire’ stonecrop (Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’), ‘Carl’ stonecrop (Sedum ‘Carl’) and ‘Dazzleberry’ stonecrop (Sedum ‘Dazzleberry’). Grasses include inland sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’), blue fescue (Festuca glauca), blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens) and ‘Morning Light’ maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’), which add interest and structure over winter.
All watering in the garden is done by hand, as the homeowners requested. Over time, the plants will continue to fill in and the garden will evolve. “It is a gardener’s garden,” Mailloux says.
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All watering in the garden is done by hand, as the homeowners requested. Over time, the plants will continue to fill in and the garden will evolve. “It is a gardener’s garden,” Mailloux says.
More on Houzz
Tour other inspiring gardens
Browse thousands of photos of landscapes
Work with a landscape architect near you
Shop for outdoor products
Yard at a Glance
Who uses it: A family of three and their dog
Location: Leslieville neighborhood of Toronto
Size: 546 square feet (51 square meters)
Designer: Shelby Hallman Mailloux of Earth and Sole
As part of the redesign, the homeowners wanted their front yard to be more functional and to have more curb appeal, privacy and plants. Maillou preserved an existing mature spruce tree and a front porch that the homeowners like to sit and relax on, but excavated nearly everything else, including an existing retaining wall and interlocking brick pavers.
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