Keppel Croft Gardens, A Horticultural Treasure on the Bruce Peninsula

Welcome to seasonal views of Keppel Croft.

We enjoy the constantly changing aspects of Keppel Croft Gardens. We hope you will enjoy these seasonal "moments in time" at Keppel Croft Gardens.

The woodland garden was once a gravel pit. All the earth for the gardens had to be brought in by wheelbarrow. Primroses and daffodils welcome spring.
Photo: Dawn Loney

Early spring fills the rockery with colour-daffodils, phlox, cerastreum, and fern leafed peonies. The pagoda Bill made after a trip to Korea.
Photo: Dawn Loney

Tulips and daffodils line the edge of the dry stream bed.

Some parts of the dry stream bed edge are lined with tulips and deffodils. Throughout Keppel Croft we have made use of the natural stones and original cedar rails.
Photo: Dawn Loney

This arbour was prefabricated, painted and then placed in the gardens, much to the surprise of garden visitors who came twice in a week and couldn't believe that they missed seeing it on their first visit!
Photo: Dawn Loney

Peonies are so generous with their glorious blowsy blooms, their colour, their scent, and their exuberent growth. .
Photo: Dawn Loney

The xeriscape gardens are never watered.

The xeriscape garden is watered by Mother Nature. Drought tolerant plants flourish here.
Photo: Dawn Loney

Blue, orange and yellow irises feature predominantly in an iris border that is overlooked by Bill's favourite garden seat--a swinging bench under a canopy. The path features designs made by inserting black stones into the concrete between large flat stepping stones. The garden is mulched with stones taken from the planting holes of the irises.
Photo: Dawn Loney

Thelma's memorial garden is full of purple and white flowers.

In the garden we have planted numerous memorial trees for friends and family. Bill's friend and colleague, Thelma McDougall, is remembered in a garden that features purple and white blossoms through the seasons.
Photo: Dawn Loney

The lavender and thyme plants growing in this circular garden have given us great pleasure but the garden is badly overgrown. This season this garden will be renovated and brought back to its former order! The rock mulch will be exposed and the stepping stones made accessible again.
Photo: Dawn Loney

Glorious autumn colours fill the rockery.

Autumn colours in the rockery by the lane way are quite spectacular. Nearly all the trees in our garden, with the exception of the apple trees, have been planted by Bill over the last thirty years. We just wish we had planted more!
Photo: Bill Loney

Snow covers the old pioneer-planted lilacs.

Winter in northern Grey County brings lots of snow. The snow is welcome - an insulating blanket to protect our plants from freezing temperatures. The lilacs in this part of the garden have seen more than a century of winters.
Photo: Bill Loney

Brilliantly sunny days in winter show off the winterscape in our garden. The garden beds near the house have been quietly overtaken by sumach in the last few summers. They offer a screen to the patio but are on the list for removal this summer.
Photo: Bill Loney