Barraclough's Garden, Mississauga

A woodland garden covered by the canopy of a stand of green ash trees on the edge of a former wooded swamp. A cedar post-and-beam trellis and stone terrace mediates between house and garden. A wood stairway is like a bridge from an upper deck, over a mass of native rosa rugosas, to a round wood deck in the middle of the white clover meadow. Meandering stepping stones walk through the meadow to the deck. Both geometry and nature are used to define the architecture of the garden. Shrubs and small trees invite a large and varied bird population. The composition of plant communities in the garden is enriched by an abundance of perennials within the shaded-woodland and surrounding the meadow.