Wisteria boulevard

If you haven't done it already, it's time to let your front yard out of prison. Move beyond what one gardener once described to me as, "The rock, geranium, and Austrian pine school of landscaping."

For new ideas about transforming front yards from boring to scintillating, snoop around the city of Guelph. Let's call it the "common scents revolution." You'll see it on streets such as Douglas, Edwin, Neeve and Margaret.

The front gardens are layered with fine plants and those tiny, municipal afterthoughts called "boulevards" are planted with fragrant, colourful, tough perennials. They make a walk down the street a journey of discovery.

"A boulevard is the ultimate garden challenge, they're really like a giant planter." Gayle McCormack is with GEN, the Guelph Environmental Network. They started the Guelph Boulevard Club.

"There is so much interest in the boulevards here, especially after last summer's drought, people are looking for plants that remain healthy with little water and no chemicals," says McCormack.

Conditions can be hostile in the no man's land between sidewalk and street, but peer down into these little landscapes in Guelph, and you'll see an intricate pattern of leaves and flowers.

Boulevards especially, are not places for rare and frail plants. Put the cast iron performers here. Sedums for instance, you can't kill them. Low growing ones, like 'Dragon's Blood', look pretty in all seasons. In shady spots, try sweet woodruff, (Galium odoratum), it smells like fresh cut hay, it flowers in May, and it spreads in a non-threatening way. I saw Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis), the perennial Geranium macrorrhizum, and Canada ginger (Asarum canadense) mingling in a healthy, communal way.

Thymes are perfect for hot, dry spots. On a recent visit to Wrightman Alpines in Kerwood, Ontario, Irene Wrightman raved about Thymus serpyllum 'Minus'. She said it is the best carpet-like thyme she has grown. I saw it there, spreading out over some stone and gravel; it hugged the ground like a good toupee. Imagine looking out the window of an airplane and seeing an island of green - that's what Thymus 'Minus' looked like. Perfect for life in the boulevard.

This really isn't meant to be a rant against lawns. But I'll never forget what a woman in Ancaster told me recently when I went to see her garden. She was new to the area and said when her front yard was all lawn, no one ever stopped to talk to her, but when she started planting gardens of daylilies and black-eyed Susans, that changed. People stopped, they complimented her, they asked questions. She made some new friends.

Honk if your wisteria blooms. That should be a new bumper sticker. How many gardeners wait patiently for those voluptuous blooms and year after year remain flower-free and heartbroken?

In my neighbourhood the best wisteria are grown by the Portuguese. They attack the vines like they are breaking a horse. Wild, new growth is reined in with pruning shears. The finished product is a very well-mannered vine, completely in scale with its support, and producing an explosion of lilac-coloured flowers.

My neighbor summoned one of these wisteria wizards to work on his own non-performing vine. They spoke no common language, but with much pointing and flailing of arms and head bobbing, they tamed the green monster. Now it blooms.

So here are some pointers for managing wisteria. Plant it in full sun. Do not fertilize, this promotes leaf growth at the expense of flowering. If it shows excessive growth, prune new, long shoots back to two or three buds, and repeat this until growth stops. Be patient, it can take up to seven years for wisteria to bloom. When buying wisteria, look for ones that are blooming in their containers.

Remember that severe winters and cold snaps in spring can kill flower buds and then no amount of fussing and fretting will promote flower production.