SPADINA HOUSE PART 2

In Part 1 of our Spadina House series we featured the unfinished 3rd floor.  With an unusually early spring/summer season upon us, we visited the historic gardens at Spadina Museum as the Father Hugo's rose was in full bloom.  This 5.7 acre city  property is decorated with an orchard, grape arbour, greenhouse, kitchen garden, and rambling display beds.  The museum site describes it thus:

Spadina today features more than 300 varieties of plants in an historic setting that is the result of archaeological studies on the grounds and painstaking research through family diaries, old drawings and photographs, journals, letters and stories told by members of the Austin family. Much original plant material can still be seen on the grounds; the magnificent white oaks, for instance, predate the house. Other plants still growing include the lilacs, peonies, daylilies and irises, as well as a rose identified as a Dorothy Perkins: "one of the best of the old ramblers," according to a garden writer of the Edwardian period.

I was told that the grounds have been kept by the same gardener since the 1970s when the Austin family still owned and resided at the estate.  It is undeniable that the property has been cultivated with love.  Taking a walk down winding paths and lounging on the lush lawns you can imagine yourself in a cotton voile gown hoping to hear the hoofstep of an anticipated visitor.  We've saved Part 3 and 4 to shoot later in the season as an excuse to visit the gardens when in full bloom.