Penny Hill has boundless energy and an artistic flair when it comes to home design and gardening. She is also blessed with a posse of hard-working friends who offered her some extra elbow grease when it mattered most.
About 15 years ago, she bought a small home in the Wilkinson area that she thoroughly renovated, before transforming the modest garden into a showcase of foliage, texture and ingenuity.
During a recent walk through the subtly multi-level landscape, she emphasized again and again how her vision was brought to fruition thanks to the assistance of many male acquaintances from work and volunteering, as well as suggestions from a knowledgeable girlfriend who specializes in design.
The results will be on show June 9 when the property opens to the public as part of the Victoria Hospice Teeny Tiny Garden Tour. (See below for details)
It is not a teensy garden, but Hill has designed several mini 鈥渞ooms鈥� on different levels of the landscape, which slopes down toward the back property line.
鈥淲hen I bought the house, there was nothing here but lawn, trees, some retaining walls and a disgusting old pool in the backyard with five-foot cattails growing in it,鈥� said Hill, who is the office manager for VDA Architecture, which designs community, aquatic and recreation facilities as well as multi-family and commercial projects.
Although the company specializes in pools, she didn鈥檛 want to restore this one.
鈥淎n amazing friend called Rick showed up with a commercial-grade jack hammer and took out the pavers on the back courtyard and knocked holes in the pool so we were sure it wouldn鈥檛 hold water.
鈥淚 am so fortunate in my friends and we have a running joke. If you do me a favour, I owe you a favour.鈥�
Hill planned where she wanted to create new flowerbeds and began digging each one down to a depth of 18 inches, then dumped all that material in the pool.
鈥淚 had to because no slinger would reach that far into the back.鈥� She then put the word out to anyone else who had excess fill and it started pouring in.
Next she ordered 20 yards of topsoil to top up the pool and fill all the flowerbeds.
Fifteen yards of gravel came next and she shoveled and wheel-barrowed it all down one side of the garden to create a path from front to back. 鈥淏y the time I was finished I was literally on my knees.鈥�
For months she toiled for five or six hours every day, after work and on weekends.
She planted lawn on top of the old pool and covered the cracked and shabby-looking deck - formerly invisible under a thick layer of moss - with paving stones. She interspersed these with patches of small, smooth stones wherever she couldn鈥檛 fit a paver.
鈥淢y friend George took down the filthy, horrible, green fiberglass corrugated fencing and rotting posts while I was working inside,鈥� She and other friends built new fences.
Despite a snowfall on Easter weekend, shortly after moving in, friends Mike and Des came over and framed up a new back deck off her television room, formerly the garage.
鈥淚 said you don鈥檛 have to do this, it鈥檚 snowing,鈥� but they insisted.
Later, when she had an housewarming party she asked a camp ranger friend she knows through volunteer work at the 250-acre Camp Barnard, in Sooke, (she is on the executive of the Scout sa国际传媒 committee that manages it) if she could borrow bench.
He brought along two old ones that he gave her, and another friend cut them in half. She brightened up the four recycled benches with multi-colour paintings of geometrics, daisies, an orca and heron. They now stand by a fire pit in the middle of the lawn.
She created curtains for a raised outdoor entertaining gazebo, 鈥渨here it is toasty warm in the evening,鈥� and two picnic tables were another gift from friends.
Her new back fence was located about well inside the back property line on top of another retaining wall, as it drops off about three feel on the other side. She created a mass of plantings beyond the wall and added a little 鈥渉obbit door that goes nowhere.鈥�
Storage is an issue solved by two sheds at the end of the pool: one a former poolroom and the other built by a handyman whose services she purchased at an auction.
The latter was tricky to construct as it is suspended from the back retaining wall, over a drop-off of about a metre.
As the garden is shady, except for one sunbaked corner she focuses on texture, colour, shape and size with hostas, ferns, rhodos, azaleas, hydrangeas, iris, peonies and more.
鈥淵ou have to work with what you鈥檝e got. You cannot fight with mother nature.鈥�
She also has two small water features, uses lots of solar powered twinkle lights for evening ambiance and added a small courtyard to the front of the house.
This sitting area is screened from the road by a trellis and plantings of clematis, Japanese painted ferns, pansies, succulents and 鈥渢hings with purple leaves.鈥�
鈥淚 love Cannor Nursery. It鈥檚 my weakness and I buy most of my plants there. I appreciate the fact they deliver, they have a discount for members and the way they organize plants into shade, sun, annuals, perennials.鈥�
While focused on her garden now, Hill also enjoyed renovating her house.
She redid the bathroom, reconfigured the kitchen, combining it with an old pantry, and turned the garage into a television room.
鈥淢y brother Norm and I refinished the oak floors. Our dad was always keen on us knowing how to do things. He taught me how to change the oil and tires on my car and taught my brother to weld, do electrical.鈥�
When her brother was removing a heater in the crawl space he found a dead cat but that didn鈥檛 stop him installing all her kitchen cabinets. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a really good guy,鈥� and she returns the favour with painting and gardening.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 have done this without friends and family. I鈥檝e been so lucky. People would stop by on their way home from work and help for a few hours. Willie, Des, Gary, Mike, Rick, Malcolm [and] my boss were great.鈥�
When she first saw the house she liked its 1940鈥檚 style round-edge ceilings, but the living room had deep red shag, an acoustic panel ceiling and vinyl wallpaper on the walls.
Tearing down the panels revealed plaster in very rough shape.
A drywaller wouldn鈥檛 even give her a quote when he saw it, but a friend suggested a medallion of drywall in the centre of the ceiling, with trim around the edge.
鈥淵ou really know who your friends are when they offer to hang 12-foot sheets of drywall on a ceiling. We strapped it first and then Malcolm, Des and my brother installed it.鈥�
She added three bay windows to the house, redid all the plumbing and electrical, and then painted most of the walls a crisp shade of freshly sliced cucumber.
Hill is happy to open her gardens in support of Victoria Hospice as her mother was on the program for almost four months. 鈥淲e probably could have managed, but to have their help was amazing.鈥�
鈥淗ospice kept her comfortable and she passed away in her own bed and bedroom. I cannot say enough good things about Hospice. They offer a service you don鈥檛 know you need until you need it.鈥�
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WHAT: Teeny Tiny Garden Tour
WHEN: 9.30 to 5 p.m. Sunday June 9
TICKETS: $25. For information call 250-519-1744 or see victoriahospice.org
NOTE: The self-guided tour benefits Victoria Hospice鈥檚 end-of-life care programs
The gardens range in size from teensy to slightly larger ones and feature everything from creative use of containers, to water features, edible treats and terraced gardens with meandering trails laden with eclectic surprises.
Hospice鈥檚 Wendy Innes said people love to see grand, over-the-top gardens designed by professionals, but they also love seeing smaller ones, where they can glean imaginative ideas and be inspired to do something similar at home
