A sequence of geometric green spaces and lush borders in Tom Deacon?s stunning country garden leads from one magical surprise to another.
Photos by Tom Deacon
As the soft dawn breathes its way into the Mulmur Hills of southern Ontario, an observer catches each shift in mood and swing of light. Tom Deacon, a man with the eye of an artist and a feel for the earth, surveys the garden he has created?one of the finest in the country.
Set in close to 100 acres on the fringes of the Carolinian forest, it is perfectly wedded to the site?s natural beauty. Similarly, Deacon?s house, designed by architect Ian MacDonald, takes full advantage of the rolling landscape with a sweeping view of the hills to the west. Built in 1999, the house is perched on a promontory much like the prow of a ship, with the garden streaming out behind in a manner both wild and domesticated.
Gently clothed in morning mist, a sumptuous mix of ornamental grasses, sedum and clipped ?Munstead? lavender line the central pathway leading to the ?oculus? in the distant trees.