I am Jan Le Clair from Kingston, Ontario, Canada. I have been gardening for about 15 years at this historic house, built in 1866. We are three city blocks north of Lake Ontario, in Zone 5B. You have visited my garden before (A Garden Sanctuary From the City); however, last spring and this spring, with working from home the new normal, I overhauled the gardens both front and back. They are small gardens, as our lot size with this row house is small. But there’s no grass to cut, which I love.

The front garden is now almost exclusively pollinator-friendly plants. Yellow, purple, and white with a dash of orange threaded through is the front sun-garden scheme.

Early spring was about irises, a ‘Krinkled White’ peony (Paeonia ‘Krinkled White’, Zones 4–8), a bridal veil spirea (Spiraea prunifolia, Zones 5–8), and a purple hardy geranium that seeds heavily, but I love the rich color. Newly planted tangerine geum (Geum hybrid, Zones 4–10) was the thread of orange.

A soft yellow bearded iris (Iris hybrid, bearded group, Zones 3–9) puts on a spring display.

Here you can see just how urban this garden space is. You don’t need a big area to have a lovely garden.

This is the same garden bed, but looking toward the house from the street.

Come summer, the garden bed totally transforms, with blue Perovskia atriplicifolia (Zones 4–9) and yellow black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida, Zones 3–9) dominating the scene.

The yellow-orange color is amped up by this lantana (Lantana camara, Zones 7–11 or as an annual).

Black-eyed Susan as seen through the branches of the Perovskia.

Single-petaled peonies like this ‘Krinkled White’ peony are better at standing tall without flopping than those with more petals.

What a stunning Oriental lily (Lilium hybrid, Oriental group, Zones 4–9). Oriental lilies are famous for having some of the strongest fragrances of the lily world.

A soft yellow daylily (Hemerocallis hybrid, Zones 3–9) makes a perfect combination with the blue Perovskia.

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