With its tough, no-nonsense plants drifting in a sea of pebbles, a gravel garden is a casual kind of design with an almost chaotic planting style. This would seem completely at odds with the geometrically structured garden that former furniture designer Tom Deacon has created in the Mulmur Hills of Southern Ontario. But it is precisely that sharp contrast that made it the perfect choice when he was developing this area of his 100-acre property.

Fronted by clumps of spiky yucca, the long-stemmed blooms of Brazilian verbena and drumstick alliums act like a scrim in Deacon?s artful Gravel Garden.