Patra's paradise

Steve Whysall, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, July 18, 2008
Patra DeSilva thinks her roof garden overlooking the marina at Granville Island in downtown Vancouver looks magical, especially at night when strategically-placed lighting turns it into a veritable fairyland of colours and textures.

But the garden, which occupies 3,000 square feet on the terrace of DeSilva's two-bedroom condo, is an astonishing work of beauty any time of day.

And there is certainly something magical about the way you enter it. One minute you're walking along the featureless corridor of a typical apartment complex with its concrete walls and the sound of elevator doors closing behind you.

The next, you're stepping across a bed of pebbles through lush plantings of rosemary, salvia and fuchsias and through a woodland of dogwood, magnolia and maple trees.

The transition from boring apartment corridor to sumptuous garden oasis is astonishing. It makes you look back to see if it is really happening.

The transformation is reminiscent of the dramatic change of scenery in the story The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe when Lucy pushes through old fur coats and ends up in the glistening magical kingdom of Narnia. Once through the entrance, you come face to face with a mesmerizing spectacle -- more than 80 kinds of roses, from hybrid teas to floribundas, shrub to tree roses, in a sensational splash of colour.

Next you become aware of the large number of trees. DeSilva has planted a forest of choice specimens -- ginkgo, robinia, fig, mulberry, redbud, dogwood, Japanese maple, corkscrew willow, southern magnolia and maytree (Prunus padus).

She has even found a spot for the humungous empress tree (Paulownia tomentosum) and she is giving the tender blue fernleaf acacia (Acacia baileyana) a try.

In other places, large shrubs catch the eye. There's a mature French lilac (Syringa 'Charles Joly') and superb Crytomeria japonica 'Elegans' with its lovely golden foliage.

A big rhododendron provides spring colour around the same time all the white- and purple-flowered magnolias bloom. And the floriferous Hydrangea 'Endless Summer' pumps out blooms all summer while Sumac 'Tiger Eyes' offers great foliage interest as well as striking fall colour.

There all sorts of other visual treats including a yellow-flowering fremontodendron over a metal arch and a purple Osier willow billowing up into a cloud of frothy blue foliage.

The roof garden also has two ponds, one stocked with koi. They occupy opposite ends of the garden and are designed to create serenity and tranquility as well as provide "white noise" to mask traffic noise.

But it is the abundance and sheer flamboyance of all the roses that make the garden so breathtaking. All the plants are grouped together in well-defined colonies of containers to form distinct island beds of flower colour and foliage texture. Roses include 'Tuscan Sun', 'Voluptuous', 'Aroma Therapy', 'Sheila's Perfume', 'Margaret Merrill' and 'Lime Sublime.'

The exposure is ideal with an abundance of sunshine for the roses as well as gentle breezes for good air circulation.

Summer annuals such as calebrachoa, Cerinthe major, nicotiana, impatiens and lobelia have been dotted throughout as stand-alone features or to add flashes of colour under plants.

DeSilva cuts back all the floribundas and hybrid teas to about 30 cm every fall. The tree-roses (rose standards) are cut back to the main hub and the shrub roses are lightly trimmed.

None of the roses are wrapped for winter or moved into frost-free quarters. The only cold-treatment they get is a light layer of bark mulch to cover the crown of each rose.

In spring, DeSilva scrapes away a few inches of soil and replenishes it with SeaSoil, an enriched soil mix produced on Vancouver Island. She feeds the roses with fish fertilizer and Miracle Grow in summer.

Watering is a major commitment. It takes DeSilva 21/2 hours every day. "I like doing it. I find it very relaxing. And I have a method, so I have got it down to an art."

Despite the amazing number of plants on the rooftop, there is still plenty of space to walk around.

Close to the entrance, a dining area inside an elegant arbour has a canopy of rippling organza over it, giving the spot an inviting Mediterranean-villa vibe.

Other seating areas include a swing settee with brightly coloured cushions and a quaint metal tete-a-tete bench.

Decorative art work has been placed throughout the garden. There's glass art produced by a student of Portland glass artist Dale Chihuly and a leaping frog that spurts water into a pond. Elsewhere, plinths, columns, plaques and statues all style andstructural definition.

With unimpeded views of yachts moored in the marina at Granville Island and with the urban architecture of Burrard Bridge and highrises on the north side of False Creek, the roof garden is frequently used for dinner parties and soirees. DeSilva says it can accommodate 50 guests comfortably.

The garden spills over to other areas at the front and side -- DeSilva calls it her "outside 40" -- where lavender is grown in terracotta troughs and narrow borders are filled with trees, shrubs and perennials to give the main garden more privacy.

What about the weight of all these plants? DeSilva says engineers have checked and given the garden their okay, but she makes a point of using super-lightweight containers and always mixes her own soil to work in more pumice and fast-draining material to reduce weight.

The impact of the garden is all the more impressive when you realize it was only in 2004 that DeSilva and her husband, Barry, moved into the condo after selling up in West Vancouver.

"Some people say, 'What a lot of work', but I think of it as a labour of love. It gives me enormous pleasure," says DeSilva.

swhysall@png.canwest.com

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q: Can you help with our persistent and pervasive problem of morning glory? After two years of hard work we have not managed to get rid of it. Roundup and Killex has no effect.

SW: You have my total sympathy. Morning glory (Calystegia sepia) is also known as blindweed and devil's gut.

It is truly a nightmare of a weed to eradicate. Studies have found its roots can go as deep as 20 feet, which is very disconcerting if you're considering re-digging an area.

Roundup is supposed to work. Killex is less effective. The recommended method is to take a plastic bag, tuck some of the vine into the bag, spray the leaves with Roundup, then tie the bag tightly.

Being systemic, Roundup is supposed to kill the weed within 10 days internally by disrupting its cell structure. However, it is banned as a pesticide in some areas, although is still available in various sizes at GardenWorks stores.

An organic approach -- the one I use, with mixed success -- is to continually cut the vine down to ground level the moment it raises its head.

By denying it light, you ultimately weaken its root system and it is supposed to die from lack of energy. You must also stop it flowering and cut it at the base to sap its strength and prevent it seeding.

Unfortunately, I have to say it frequently escapes my attention and manages to get a chokehold on a beautiful clematis in my garden.

It takes an enormous effort to detach it without hurting the clematis. If I pull at the bindweed indignantly, I end up pulling away great clematis flowers. Very frustrating.

I am told pigs are great at clearing ground of morning glory. They sift through the soil, eating the shoots until it is gone forever.

Q: What is eating the leaves of my roses? They have been chomped into almost perfect half circles or ovals. Does this damage the plant?

SW: This is the work of female leaf-cutter bees. These are solitary creatures that cut the leaves of roses and use the pieces to make little cells in the ground for their offsprings.

These bees like rose leaves, especially it seems, old-garden roses. The leaves are cut very efficiently. The slice is smooth with no ragged edges. Leaf-cutter bees do no serious harm to a rose bush. If you have them, it's a sign that the environment is working as it should. A few chomped leaves is no big deal. Next time, try to see if you can spot the bee at work. It's quite an interest spectacle.

ONLINE: Remember, you can download an In the Garden podcast by Steve Whysall from www.VancouverSun.com

This week, the Nitobe Garden at UBC is featured; it is the sixth episode in a series of tours of top gardens in Metro Vancouver.

ONLINE: See a photo gallery of Patra DeSilva's roof garden at VancouverSun.com