Barbara and Michael Gergel don’t believe in half measures when it comes to creating an outdoor environment.
After buying their old English-style cottage in Fairfield, they decided to re-landscape in a big way by removing all the lawn and plants, digging down the entire back garden by a metre, and adding cream walls that are actually planters, which they filled with hedging plants to create a buffer from the road and a unique, sunken living space.
They converted an old garage at the bottom of their garden into a studio, called “the green room.” They transformed the former driveway into a bird sanctuary and remodelled the interior of their home to create a stylish, flowing synergy between the two spaces that is both casual and classic.
The wonders they have wrought in their courtyard and garden will be on display during the Victoria Conservatory of Music Garden Tour on Mothers’ Day weekend.
Barbara describes the style as modern vintage.
“If you have too much vintage, it looks syrupy,” said Barbara, who has a diploma from the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific and is a project manager and designer for Demitasse Garden Centre.
“I see modern vintage as quiet and elegant. I like to play on clean, modern lines, so things don’t jump out at you, but then I like to add some cachet of the ’20s and ’40s.”
The stylist is an avid collector with a wacky side. She never follows trends or copies another person’s look, and has a knack for weaving together disparate things and tweaking a design so it suddenly seems fresh and original.
“I like doing all kinds of different looks, but this house told me what it wants,” she explained. “If you really tune into a space and follow what you love, you will develop a feeling for it.”
In this case, she and her husband, Michael, knew immediately that this property was right for them.
They bought it in 2003 from upholsterer Bonnie Schmaus, a business associate who was trying to sell it and asked for Barbara’s advice on how to fit a dishwasher into the kitchen. It was serendipitous, as the Gergels were living in Maple Bay but looking to move to Victoria.
When Barbara saw the 1925 house, she knew the kitchen didn’t need or want a dishwasher, but she wanted the house.
“We had always built our own homes, so this was a big switch, but we both felt we could do something here. It’s been a wonderful journey. This house has been just as good for me as I’ve been for it,” she said, noting that through the house and garden, she has made the greatest friendships of her life, with local garden and flower gurus such as Susan Ramsey and Valerie Murray.
Inside the home, the Gergels made mostly cosmetic changes. For instance in the den, now dubbed the “tree room,” they painted the walls a rich, earthy brown and had Bruce Ketterer craft built-in storage and closets on either side of the hide-a-bed.
At auctions, Barbara collected vintage tree art to hang on the walls, and outside, she collected feathers to attach to the curtains.
The greatest transformation happened in the garden, after they hired Bill Kennedy Construction to reduce the level of the backyard by a metre, so they could walk out the basement door rather than climb up five steps.
“Instead of raising the roof, we dug down,” Barbara said with a chuckle, noting the new 1,200-square-foot living space is wonderful for relaxing and entertaining.
“We now have a little house that lives big.”
Her husband, who works in IT for the provincial government, does almost all the cooking outside now, on the barbecue.
“When we created this patio, we didn’t realize how much utilization and satisfaction we would get out of it,” said Michael.
“It is almost our primary kitchen and we often eat outside in the studio. It feels like we’re really away, the next best thing to being on vacation, when we sit outside.”
While the garden can be cool and windy, as it’s near the water, when the sun shines, the concrete warms up and holds the heat, he said. And being able to walk out at ground level from the back door is a huge improvement.
“It was a bit intimidating at first, watching the number of truckloads of earth that came out. Our neighbours thought we were doubling the size of the house or putting in a swimming pool,” he said.
Instead of mowing lawns, he now sweeps or hoses off the courtyard, and Barbara keeps busy creating tapestries of colour, texture and contour that flow from the garden into the home, and out again through windows and glass doors.
In some ways, the setting is more an art installation than a garden. “It’s all about relationships and interweaving beautiful things,” Barbara said.
Dancing along the edges of the property are masses of tall, decorative grasses, while the front corner is her gift to the neighbourhood, a place where passers-by often stop to marvel and chat. Here is her healing garden, with kale, rosemary, thyme, roses, nasturtiums and Chilean guava.
“This is the informal, public part of my garden, my nod to the Prairies where I grew up,” she said.
The back courtyard is formal, invisible from the road and utterly private, thanks to the low walls and hedge. Along one of the inner dividing walls, she has created garlands of mosses and sedums against a backdrop of bushes from the olive family.
Whether inside or outside, her philosophy of design is not about decoration: It is food for the soul.
“A design must connect to the deepest part of you. It must inspire you, give you a sense of wellbeing and pleasure,” said Barbara, who was one of seven children and learned at an early age how to create beauty and peace in a chaotic house.
Valerie Murray, who is on the conservatory’s tour committee and head gardener at Government House, said she has learned a lot about gardening from books and magazines, but more from visiting gardens.
“We have many great public gardens in Victoria, but these smaller ones inspire me, too, because you see new plant combinations and design ideas. Almost every time, you come away with practical ideas or something you’ve learned.
“Barb’s garden isn’t large, but she uses every inch of her outside space for maximum enjoyment and really pays attention to details, doing wonderful things with colour and texture. She has achieved a very special relationship between her house and garden.”
Garden tour raises cash for Conservatory programs, events
What: Victoria Conservatory of Music’s Mother’s Day Musical Garden Tour
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 13 and 14
Where: Ten private Victoria gardens
Tickets: $30 for the weekend pass, order at 250-386-5311 or the VCM, 900 Johnson St. or see vcm.bc.ca/Victoria-garden-tour/
The Victoria Conservatory of Music’s 35th tour on Mother’s Day weekend will include musical entertainment by the conservatory’s students, teachers and guest musicians.
The private gardens on show this year offer everything from native foliage to exotic palm trees and bananas, from small city oases to large rural properties.
“The garden variety this year is stupendous,” said conservatory CEO Jane Butler McGregor, noting one has a tiny train, bonsai trees and miniature landscapes.
The tour was started by George and Ann Nation, who nurtured its growth through three decades. As George died recently, this event is being dedicated to his memory.
The conservatory serves more than 3,700 students, along with many more elementary school children, preschoolers and youngsters in daycare through outreach programs.
The tour supports an array of music programs and events.