Talk & Tour: Creating a Sensory Garden | Front Yard Garden Design #gardendesign #britishcolumbia

Take a front yard garden tour in British Columbia with Susan Koelink! Nearly 20 years after her first feature in Garden Gate Magazine, we’re back in 2025 to see how her landscape has grown. Packed with colorful plants, lush textures, soothing scents, and a charming frog fountain, this sensory-rich garden is full of inspiration for your own outdoor space.

“The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses” – Hanna Rion VerBeck

Read the original 2006 Garden Gate Magazine feature on Susan’s garden on our website: https://www.gardengatemagazine.com/articles/garden-design/garden-tours/simple-design-unique-plants-lovely-front-yard-garden/

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[Music] hello everyone I’m in the garden of Susan Cooling tonight in Vancouver British Columbia Hello Susan Hi J And that’s Cassie That’s Cassie Hey Cassie This isn’t the first time Garden Gate has been in your garden I would like to welcome Garden Gate back to my garden after almost 20 years Yes that’s amazing I saw the uh magazine from 2007 Yes revisited you and um had a big feature in the magazine Yes it did Uh and in 2006 twice and in 2007 they were mostly uh the early spring garden where we had a lot of the epimediums out and the hellaors were out and they are right now too and they are still hanging in there They knew you were coming Trillium That’s right The trilliums were in their glory So yes uh there was a major renovation that was covered in one of those magazines Well what what has changed you mentioned the things that are the same a lot of for this time of year but um what else has changed in the garden because when I look at the photographs it seems like it’s more of a curated palette now Maybe not as many plants or densely uh planted Is that true yes I think over time once I had the hardscape of the basalt rock of the concrete of the rot iron gates It allowed me to explore more um planting that was more ephemeral and it w could show off the dark and the light and the colors and the chartreuses against a background that was not going to uh disintegrate or um not that I mind disintegration That’s all right because that adds to the charm of a garden I I believe that Uh so and of course then we also had to deal with uh the real hard features of uh the potting shed which I asked for at the time which allowed me much storage as I’m sure you can barely walk in there and also the beautiful pond into which the frog spits and gives the addition of sound to the garden So those are kind of the highlights for me for my husband And I know one of the big highlights is the swing Okay when he comes home from work the pillows are ready I’ve just taken them out The weather has finally cooperated So those kinds of things that go on and the plantings I’m much more uh approaching it more in a sensory of the five the five senses Yeah And that permanent structure allows me to do that The foliage has has so much different texture but also there’s shades of green in the foliage There is color but I see all those peies about ready to bloom I mean a few of them are but like in a week or two weeks it’ll be a burst of color but still there’s so much going on I know with your with your textures and your colors and your subtleties in your plantings It’s really nice And when I have my garden tours which I have had a few and enjoyed very much welcoming people to my garden that is one thing they say uh about the feeling in the garden It’s more than just having mind you don’t get me wrong I do love to go to the nurseries That is not a problem But uh I’m making more of my choices based on how it will smell what color it is does it have a movement uh in where I place my plant Do you find a place in your garden that you want a new plant and then pick that plant out or do you wait till you get to the nursery and say “Oh that would go good there.” or get them home and say “Where should I put this?” Mostly it’s “Where should I put this?” Okay But that’s half the fun of it That’s why I do it Let’s take a chance Yeah And surprisingly it often works out Yes I think I’ve been doing it now for long enough I You definitely know what you’re doing Yes So another thing that’s changed I’m sure is the size of the trees And one thing I I mean I wasn’t here 18 years ago but one thing I noticed about your trees is again the bark is just amazing and there’s texture and color in the bark but also how you’ve um trimmed them up pruned them up and limb them up and so it creates space underneath the trees That’s right And that allows um not only in the trees but especially in the trees the um wonderfulness of what we call chiarosuro It’s the play of light and dark Yeah And it gives you that um just the strength because you get to see the trunks of the tree and then the light wind blows Yeah And um if the uh trees are pruned away from the sides of the home uh then we don’t get the scratchy scratchy But if we do that’s fine because it’s very reassuring when the wind is blowing And people have often asked me talking about trees and large trees Susan why do you not have the big catalpas in front of your house and I just say well the word is don’t ask don’t say just plant a beautiful coral bark maple And then on the other side plant a big Elizabeth magnolia with the scent and the soft lime orange So yes it’s very important uh that the trees are well looked after Uh the gardeners always tease me because I say “We have so many trees left How are we going to work with them all?” They say “Well you know you’ve taken one out there for good reason Taking one out there If something doesn’t flower or perform like you’d like to do it and some of them are just a most wonderful surprise that you just don’t want to touch them We have that beautiful snakes skin one at the front It’s just I know it’s out of control but I Yeah Won’t let the guy who prunes touch it Yeah Don’t touch it Well and just right there how those two colors mingle the chartreuse and the and the red Japanese maple Yes Um and it just brings how you’ve lifted them up and you see the structure of the trees The other thing I noticed when walking through and entering the garden is the attention to detail For every little corner you walk around there’s something there The containers that you have placed throughout the beds even I I love how you incorporate those containers and pots and plants in in the bed It all started with the three pots behind the concrete pond Okay There’s a big story It’s called And those those are the ones with hosta in right now Yes Those have hosta super sag uh bursting from them Yeah Unbelievable And at the base of each pot are baby’s tears because of course the spray from the spitting frog kicks up and it’s just that whole atmosphere there So the story behind that is a little story called stop the car as we are driving one day Okay Yes I can see where this is going Yeah This is about you know 2003 2004 We’re driving down 6th Avenue and enjoying and on the man’s boulevard one of those fabulous huge concrete pots and he’s planted a lovely dwarf Japanese maple in it We have to find out where we can get those pots because we’ve got just the place for them So we get out and it turns out that the man is a on a movie crew in Thailand when he comes across this pot and definitely falls in love with the look of the the uh Thailand uh probably a like a samurai type face on that pot Ask permission to have a brass rubbing He gets permission brings the brass rubbing home takes it to a landscape supply company and they make six of those pots So I said “Would you please phone the landscape company immediately and ask them if they have any left?” Well long story short they did and we chose three of them for behind the pond and then one in another big hosta on the patio So that’s the story of those So once you Wow get that But the other extreme well it’s kind of got a different twist too is check the alleys And that’s um there were some neighbors down the block who had a lovely connection collection of concrete pots Yeah And there’s one just right there at the corner Really nice And there are several that they have been alley fines And nothing nothing grows green moss like aged concrete pots Yeah And they’re just left in the alley And they’re just left in the alley And so you pick them up and you bring them home So that accounted for some of them And the other things uh nothing has um you know been too planned about that But when I see something Yeah And if I think it will work right um I I try it Yeah And of course over 20 years and more Well that Yeah For example that that Japanese maple there is a real focal point for that corner And that’s that has to be have been in that spot for a long time I would say it has been Yeah it has been Not only the concrete pots but you’ll see look at the edge on the wall on the brick wall I I noticed that walking through and that that’s what I’m talking about the detail of just like that But that that’s not something you plan No it’s something I ser you hope for Let’s put it that way So if we can do that you put the things in place for things to happen Then things happen Yes it’s most likely And so we often get comments uh visitors say “Susan what’s wrong why didn’t they finish painting all the way up to the roof on the brick of the garage Why should they isn’t it a lovely pattern that kind of thing that just kind of takes people by surprise but they come to say and and the rusting birds on the tree on the wall Yeah Right So uh that’s yeah it gives it a hint of sort of um an English garden with the wall like a walled garden and the bricks and that you know not being painted completely to the top It really gives that sort of It does aesthetic It does And and I appreciate it when people see it and mention it because I think okay that’s good And uh we’ll look for something else to pay attention to It’s people talking That’s right The garden was in the magazine 18 years ago but I know it was started before that when you had f young family kids right so there must be a lot of stories There are a lot of stories And we’ll start with our son Eric’s story how he enjoyed the garden And as we sit here just off to my right a beautiful patch of green lawn and part of a landscape But in order to get there we had to dig deep and wide to remove a very large chunk of concrete into which we had sunk the pole for the basketball hoop So that was a big deal Mhm Um and my oldest daughter’s uh graduation breakfast was held in the garden Yes And then uh some 21 years ago our daughter’s our other daughter’s wedding was held in the garden as well So yes we So it really is a holds a special place for them too It does Right It does because they had some uh life moments in this garden So and and that continues on because our grandchildren range in age from 21 and uh 19 and another family Eric’s family uh is 8-year-old fouryear-old little boy and a one-year-old So we go from 21 all the way down to one So yes So our family has indeed enjoyed it and thanks to my husband Tony he has kept all of the mechanical moving parts moving in this garden There’s always someone behind the scenes right always Always The frog’s not spitting We couldn’t do it without We couldn’t do it without that No And he is in charge of cleaning the pond and we appreciate that So uh well I bet do you do you open up your garden and do you have guests come through and Yeah I bet they’re just wowed Yes we have twice now hosted the Vancouver Hardy Plant celebration where we have had people come from England France Italy Australia Victoria Seattle So we’ve done that twice now My arm has been twisted And uh it’s it is very special to have that uh going on And like I say I’m our garden is shared by everybody Yeah that’s nice Neighbors and everyone who pauses at both the front gate Yeah That curb appeal and people I can just say stop and are look they were stopping and looking at the flowers on the um the tree pee and You treat peies in the Yeah rodendrrons Yeah Yes So they really do And of course the back gate You heard the story that Catherine the gardener shared with you right this lady’s walking up the back alley and stops talks to the gardeners draws attention to the plaque that identifies our garden and house as Weathercock House She said “Is is this a BNB is it for rent i’d like to come and make an appointment So that’s that happens It’s so appealing It uh encourages me to keep it up So when I’m asked “Will you have a garden tour through?” I try if I I can Yeah because I think it’s um it’s especially important to have um the gardens offer time for people to stand still and just enjoy the act of emotional connection of noticing what noticing can do to a feeling about a place uh and enjoy many ways to experience the senses I mean I know my husband enjoys his shady nap on the swing and when the raw sunset rose is in bloom he’s smelling the flowers the uh swing is is rocking and he’s listening to the birds And I was Yeah Speaking of the birds like I was here early this morning all by myself in the garden quiet and the birds you have a couple feeders out but they were just buzzing my ear Yeah Say “It’s our breakfast What are you doing here?” Right I know So I have a little quote from I believe it’s a woman Hannah Rion who says the greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses when people visit the garden and I would like my garden to be an example of that Um it’s uh and to plant a garden especially as you advance in age is to have a very strong belief in tomorrow Yeah You have something to look forward to How is that doing well we’ll have to come back another 18 years right oh don’t wait Don’t wait that long All right Yeah Lovely to have you Yeah Well thanks for hosting us and letting us come in and tour the garden again It was a really pleasure meeting you and seeing the garden um up close So thank you Thank you