Joy's New Garden, Toronto

A terraced and woodland garden on the upper edge of a Toronto ravine in Rosedale. The garden was inspired by the flight of the tiger swallowtail butterfly, terrace gardens of the Italian Renaissance and the novel Who Has Seen the Wind, by W.O. Mitchell.

The configuration of the original house, renovated to accentuate the strong axis and sight lines, bears a remarkable resemblance to the tiger swallowtail. Joy’s terraces, sculpted out of the slopes, cascade from between wings of the butterfly, down the hillside to the restored woodland ravine. Sculpting the land, the garden appears to float. Geometry and natural order both preside over distinct spaces in the garden. Arcs of curved walls of Kingston sandstone capture landspace, expanding sight lines and releasing them to the city skyline beyond the woods. Chattering winter leaves of beech and red oak, alternate-leaved dogwood and witch hazel, varieties of Japanese maple, acanthopanax, itea and Korean spice viburnum. In the front, resembling the head and antennae of the butterfly, architectural and spatial order, control and geometry are strengthened with pairs of fern-leafed beech and boxwood hedges enclosing masses of white-flowering azaleas, punctuated by eastern redbud and hawthorn.

“Dennis has interpreted both me and the landscape brilliantly”
Joy Levine