Light Fantastic

Garden back-lit by strong afternoon sun.


Agaves back-lit.


Agaves under diffused light.


Today I opened my garden as part of Open Gardens Toronto from 1.00p.m. to 4p.m., and in that time only four people showed up. How was I to know when I chose this date back in January that it would also be the afternoon of the World Cup final?
Fortunately all four visitors were knowledgeable gardeners and I had plenty of time to spend with them all. Then after I closed up ( and after the game), four friends showed up with wine and food, boosting my numbers to eight.

It was interesting to notice that through the afternoon the weather turned from blazing hot sunshine to overcast to rain and finally to a pleasantly cool evening.
During that time, the garden changed with the weather, starting with the blazing sun back-lighting the beech trees and throwing them into stark silhouettes. In front of the beeches I'd arranged a collection of Agaves on a table in the centre of the circular lawn and they too took on a dramatic transformation lit from the rear. After the rain and in more diffused light, everything seemed more three dimensional and detail was more evident; the silhouettes had simplified the composition, reducing forms to two dimensional shapes that made it easier to see the structure of the garden. The diffused light, on the other hand, afforded a different way of seeing, allowing a greater perception of detail and three dimensional form. Both these conditions created different but equally beautiful points of view.