The stunning gardens of Lavender Farm
story by Judy Ross ❧ photography by Derek Trask
Yes, lavender does grow happily at Lavender Farm. But so does everything else. Masses of perennials spill down from the house, a large vegetable garden offers up bountiful produce, and a sweet circular kitchen garden overflows with aromatic and medicinal herbs. “We started gardening 26 years ago at our first country house in Ravenna,” recalls SueAnn Wickwire, “and that was the beginning of a great journey for both of us.” Today both Wickwire and her husband Stephen Headford are consummate gardeners; during the season both of them will be out for hours digging in the earth somewhere in the two or three acres of gardens that surround their heritage farmhouse.
They have huge perennial gardens to the south of the house, which they planted when they purchased the property in 1995. Much of the success of the gardens is due to the protected sunny location and to the truckloads of aged manure that enriched the soil from the start. A cedar trellis along the back of the perennial beds supports 25 varieties of clematis, which grow to amazing heights. While most of the property gets plenty of sun, there is a shade garden at the bottom of the driveway filled with maintenance-free plants like hostas, ferns, bleeding heart and sweet Woodruff.
Wickwire’s favourite plot is her 60-by-20-foot vegetable garden, a fenced-in potagerie of six raised beds with enough variety of produce to keep the couple supplied with food for months and months. Wickwire is known locally for her success at growing and propagating heirloom tomatoes, and sharing them with other local gardeners. In her tomato patch she now grows 30 varieties with quirky names like Marvel Stripe, Red Brandywine and Kellogg’s Breakfast. As she explains, “Anyone who tries an heirloom tomato can’t believe the difference. There’s just no comparison in taste.”
She also grows 20 varieties of lettuce, four varieties of heirloom carrots, four varieties of heirloom beets as well as collard, garlic, swiss chard, leeks, beans and peppers. About the only thing she doesn’t grow is corn, “because the raccoons always pulled it all down the night before we were going to harvest. We just don’t bother with it anymore.”
Other than that raccoon episode, Wickwire feels lucky that they haven’t had many problem with animals. The deer stay up on the ridge and don’t come close to the house, and the groundhogs and rabbits are discouraged by the fencing around the vegetables. Wickwire starts her seeds under grow lights in the basement in late March and then, in late April, moves cold weather plants like lettuce, parsley, peas and kale outside to raised beds with greenhouse tops that she designed and had built. “I have a lot of raised beds, all 12 feet by 4 feet and surrounded by pea gravel paths,” she says. “We used wood framing for some of the beds and stones from the property for others.”
About 10 years ago the couple met master gardener Mike Donnan from Creemore and he has been working with them on – and in – their gardens ever since. “He took our level of gardening up by leaps and bounds,” says Wickwire. “Even though we had gardened here for 10 years when we met him, he taught us about enhancing our soil, he fixed flaws in our garden design, and he introduced us to such interesting new plant material.”
A lot of the most interesting plants are in the “medicinal garden,” a 30-foot round cow patch which features unusual herbs and plants like angelica, comfrey, clary sage, sweet Cicely, artichokes, Asian pokeweed and sea kale, among others. Aromatic and beautiful to look at, the herbs are used in cooking, not in medicinal remedies. “I don’t know enough about herbal medicine,” laughs Wickwire, “I might end up killing us.”
Despite the extent of the gardens at Lavender Farm, there is no irrigation system, so a lot of time is spent keeping things watered. In the midst of the property is an old log cabin that acts as a garden house. It has a water pump outside and a line-up of watering cans at the ready. “I love this old shed,” enthuses Wickwire. “It’s really cute inside; I call it my Martha Stewart shed.”
One of the biggest challenges for gardeners is to create gardens that will look lush and lovely all through spring, summer and fall. With the help of master gardener Mike Donnan, Wickwire and Headford have risen to the challenge, and their hard work has produced gardens that are thriving and beautiful in all three seasons. As Wickwire reflects, “They really just never look bad.” ❧
