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Keppel Croft Farm & Gardens |
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Keppel Croft Farm & Gardens |
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We are the gardeners, Bill and Dawn Loney of Keppel Croft, and we would like to welcome you to our three acre perennial gardens near Georgian Bay at Big Bay, Ontario. The gardens are situated on an ancient shingle beach which offers excellent drainage and a real challenge to planting, for which a pick axe is essential. Our Zone 5b garden was awarded the Garden of the Year prize (1995) by the Canadian Gardening magazine.
Two pit greenhouses are on the property. One is used for overwintering tender plants such as the fig trees and agapanthus. It is heated by a single 100 watt light bulb. The newer pit greenhouse is used in late spring and early summer for raising the perennials for sale.
The pasture east of the laneway has been commandeered from the sheep and now includes a circular lawn with garden beds featuring some of our old apple trees, grasses and late summer flowering plants. Last year we began work on a large rock garden in this area. Between these two gardens and with the help of some friends we hope to develop a memorial garden this summer. Keppel Henge, our millennium project, attracts visitors who enjoy its artistic and spiritual dimensions. The henge is located in the field to the south of the gardens. At this site you will also find the analemmatic sundial constructed last year as an extension of the millennium project. The Garden Shop sells locally produced crafts, all related to gardens. The Garden Gallery features paintings and much more. In the plant sales area you can purchase unusual plants and discuss your garden landscaping concerns with us. Art in the Garden is held annually on the second Saturday in July. Twenty five artistic neighbours and friends will have their works for sale at Keppel Croft. The artists will offer woodturning, origami cards, jewellery, pottery, green wood furniture, baskets, willow furniture, carvings, monoprints, oil and watercolour paintings, teddy bears, garden ornaments, wreaths and pressed flower cards. Admission to the gardens is $3. |
A
variety of small gardens lie within the larger garden, linked by
pathways. You can stroll through the woodland garden, past the rockeries
and the pebble beds. A wander through the trough gardens featuring
alpines and rockery plants may lead you to one of the ponds. A small zen
garden invites meditation. The xeriscape border is full of drought
tolerant plants. The circular thyme garden leads to an allee of ironwood
saplings which will one day form a pleached allee. A variety of mulching
features are used throughout the gardens.
Garden visitors may encounter resident cats,
guinea fowl and pea fowl in the gardens. Three aviaries house a
collection of canaries, finches and quail. A nature walk takes you on a
twenty minute stroll through the fields to the maple bush and back
again. Signs posted along the trail inform you of seasonal points of
interest. You may lean over the barn fence and view our Highland
heifers, Morag, Moira, Fiona, Skye and Isla.