Julie Paul, a former marine biologist and self-styled professional volunteer, says “I love construction” the way another woman might say she loves Paris. She should know. She recently finished a long-term affair as the chair of a committee that oversaw planning for the expansion of a local school, grinding her way through neighbourhood consultations and development applications for eight years before the backhoes started their engines.

By comparison, making over her garden was a brief fling.

Paul and her husband, Terry Lyons, had known it would have to be done eventually. When they bought this west side Vancouver property a few years ago, the house was unlovely, too big and too beige, solidly built but sadly typical of late ’80s architecture. What Paul saw, however, was a lot that was 50 by 216 feet—a rare find in this neighbourhood—and a location at the top of a hill that provided wonderful views. The house, she decided, could be fixed. The overgrown garden had to wait a few years.

But when it came time to patch a leaky water feature in the front yard, a little synchronicity came into play. Paul gives a lot of the credit to landscape designer Kari Renaud of Watermark Gardens, who also oversaw the garden’s installation with Watermark owner Liam Robinson. Despite Paul’s plans to wait a while on the front yard, Renaud examined said leaky water feature and proposed a more far-reaching garden plan. And off they went.

Paul wanted a place to sit outdoors that was more enclosed than the decks and patios at the back of the house. At the same time, the space had to be expansive enough to accommodate lots of people—Paul and Lyons enjoy entertaining and Paul has cooked dinner for as many as 80 people at a time in this house. She also wanted a style that echoed her boldly coloured interiors.

Renaud responded by tweaking the usual interpretation of “green screening” after seeing Paul’s bold kitchen with its green glass cabinets and collection of colourful art glass: green glass screens would sub in for the more classic green hedge. The translucent screens—now the most dramatic feature in this design—would provide privacy without taking up space.

After months of consultation, every existing plant was put in pots and moved out of the way—and only then was Paul able to plant. She chose—of course—a green theme for the front garden, with a focus on plant shapes and textures that reinforce the cool, lacy effect of the original Japanese maples. Bamboo, a narrow-leaved Mexican orange blossom (Choisya ternata ‘Aztec Pearl’), potted dwarf papyrus in the shallow pond and a delicate passion flower vine soften the hard edges of the glass screens. Contrast is provided by a bold giant rhubarb (Gunnera tinctoria) near the door.

Colour lives in the back garden. There, Paul worked with existing windmill palms, a purple flowered wisteria vine and a silk tree (Albizia julibrissin) that has scented pink powderpuffs of flowers throughout August. She added orange dahlias and canna lilies and then punctuated the terrace with banana trees (Ensete ventricosum) and dark purple New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) to give the pool area a hot, spicy flavour.
And yet, as happy as Paul is with the final result, she admits to being hesitant about those dramatic screens when they were first installed—but not so much that she wasn’t willing to take the chance. “Julie is creative and can envision what she wants,” Renaud says. “When the screens were put up and passersby were saying they were a bit questionable, she told me ‘I trust you.’ She stuck it out.”

That’s what you do when it’s true love.

SOURCES Design and installation, Kari Renaud, Watermark Gardens, Vancouver, 604-323-1448, watermarkgardens.com. Glass panels, Grosvenor North America Technologies, Vancouver, 604-602-0566, grosvenorna.com
Outdoor sofa set, Chester by Cane-Line, Ginger Jar Casual Living, North Vancouver, 604-988-2789, gingerjarinteriors.com; Chintz & Company, Victoria, 250-381-2404; Calgary, 403-245-3449; Edmonton, (780) 428-8181, chintz.com; caneline.com.Table Top Gardener, Argee Corporation, argeecorp.com; The Garden Room, Winnipeg, 204-487-1151, gardenroom.ca. Mini Garden Tools, Lee Valley Tools Ltd., Vancouver, 604-261-2262, Calgary, 250-253-2066, Edmonton, 780-444-6153, Saskatoon, 306-652-6902, Winnipeg, 204-779-7467, leevalley.com. E-Light Umbrella Light, frontgate.com.