Several Navan home owners generously opened their garden gates this past weekend to let us all enter and gawk at the landscaping and in particular, get pointers, ideas, and photos of individual plants and flowers.
Who knew that cacti could survive the harsh Canadian winters? Isn’t Ottawa in the top ten coldest capitals of the world? Someone forgot to tell these prickly beauties that were happily growing along a sunny south facing wall.
And who knew there was a winery in this area as well? I certainly didn’t. And yet, only ten minutes from home, we entered the wine cellar of the Perrault family who welcomed us and told us a little of the history of this family owned farm. The vines were planted in 1999 and consisted of 10 varieties of hybrids on one acre of land expanded to five additional acres in 2005. Their wine cellar is well stocked with a variety of wines. (www.domaineperrault.ca)
Along with all the beautiful, lush gardens, we also enjoyed the work of various local artists. Among them was Bernadette Alcock of Garden Inspirations in Orleans, Ontario. (www.gardeninspiration.ca). Bernadette had her unique sculptures displayed outdoors at Paul Rushforth’s home. Bernadette recycles and repurposes t-shirts, broken pottery, cheesecloth, seashells, lace doilies, etc. into lovely sculptures that can be displayed indoors or out. I found out she gives full day beginner classes for groups of 4-6 so that we can bring home our own whimsical sculpture. I love this idea!
So many discoveries all in one day!
