What constitutes a low maintenance garden?

After:  Updated colourful garden, 2 months after installation

We have never been asked to design a "high maintenance garden" yet;  everyone wants a "low maintenance garden."  So what is a low maintenance garden?

Before:  Original garden with lawn

First, this depends on the maintainers.  Is the homeowner someone who enjoys spending some zen time once a week pushing around a lawnmower?  Or perhaps the homeowner enjoys mindless weeding and deadheading while listening to books on tapes.  Alternately, a hired hand could be the only person ever to set foot in the garden.  These factors need to be considered when designing a garden.

Second, for a garden to be low maintenance, it must be designed for the environment.  Plants are chosen according to soil conditions, the amount of sun available, the drainage patterns, and the traffic patterns in and around the garden.


The garden pictured here is one that has evolved over its 35 years.   The original garden was a developer's special:  Azaleas and Junipers.  The homeowners introduced various favourite plants over the years: sometimes choices were appropriate;  other times not.    Live and learn.  

The children became adults and moved out.  Then came grandchildren, so low maintenance evolved into lawn.  Lawn is easy to cut, and somewhere for the kids to play.  The grandchildren grew up, and the owners could no longer mow the lawn.  Now they were dependent on the kindness of neighbours to keep the entrance welcoming.  So the next evolution was introduced.

The advantage is that now the owners are very familiar with their garden:  the soil conditions, the amount of sun available, the drainage patterns, and the traffic patterns in and around the garden.  With all of this information, and a better sense of plants available, the garden is now a colourful, low maintenance garden.

Plants grow, so plan ahead

Thuja plicata (RedCedar) hedge

This photo portrays an excellent example of a short sighted landscape design.  This RedCedar hedge is planted 1'-0" from the public sidewalk, and on 3'-0" centres, or 3'-0" apart.  There is not a hedging shrub in cultivation that should be planted 1'-0" from the sidewalk, because every plant needs space to grow.  However, RedCedars in particular need a lot of space.

For instance, RedCedars grow in the wild to 170-250' (50-70 meters). One of the features of a red cedar is its buttressed trunk which can be 6'-0" in diameter at maturity.  Although these cedars will never reach those dimensions, they will easily and quickly form a hedge 6'-0" deep and 10'-0" high.

My guess is the homeowner requested an inexpensive, fast growing hedge for privacy. The RedCedar hedge will definitely provide privacy for the homeowner quickly, and it is the least expensive of hedging shrubs.  But the hedge will not stop growing once it has provided the privacy;  the hedge will continue growing for years, and for years the homeowner will have to pay to have this hedge trimmed.

Hedges that are repeatedly pruned hard become stressed.
Hedges that grow beyond their required height are
expensive to remove.

All formal hedges have to be trimmed regularly to maintain shape, width and height.  But when a hedge is planted so close to a public sidewalk, the public's right of way becomes an issue.  There are also often municipal issues of not obstructing an area within 2'-0" of a public sidewalk, and in this case, site lines at an intersection.

Even with pruning, the trees in this hedge will continue to grow in girth, and the trunks and roots of the RedCedars will eventually lift the public sidewalk, making it uneven.  The solution to levelling the sidewalk may be to remove the concrete, cut all the roots of the hedge, and re-pour the sidewalk.  This will be a solution for the sidewalk, but not a solution for the hedge.

A better solution is to choose an appropriate hedging material during the design process. The appropriate hedging material may be more expensive initially, but will be cost effective during its lifetime.

Analyzing your site

Here is a good example of the importance of analyzing the conditions of a site before detemining a design.  This apartment building had a badly designed patio area.  The area has no shade from about 10 AM until evening.  On the other side of the fence is the lane and two apartment buildings.  Across the lawn, about 40' away, is the south side of a ten storey concrete apartment building.  Directly facing this patio at ground level are large windowed bedrooms of a suite, without privacy screening.  In fact, we were the only people who ever sat in the two chairs provided on the patio.

Before

As with many apartment buildings, the garden area is actually a rooftop garden, over the parkade. Unfortunately, the original landscape design allowed for very little soil, and the depth of the soil is 4"- 7".  The design did not seem to have included drainage.  Most of the garden is a bog.




The surface of the patio is mud covered with a thin layer of non-compactible gravel. The entrance to the patio is either across the boggy lawn, or slaloming through the half barrels sunk into the patio surface.  The arbour built over the patio remains empty because there is nowhere to grow vines around the base of the arbour posts.

In summary, we have a shadeless, full sun, uneven surfaced, viewless patio.  Attempts have been made to green the patio with herbs and Roses and Hypericum:  random plantings in random containers.

Install Day, April 2012

We, The Cultivated Gardeners, were asked to design an alternative to the unused patio.  

After

Our first consideration was compiling a list of full sun bog plants.  Secondly, we removed the rocks and mud, and replaced that with healthy, organic soil.  Carpenters fixing the fence had already removed the arbour.  Then we created a design using complementary plants, and focusing on textures, repetition, and all season interest.  We also threw in some blueberries and garlic, and a tomato plant grew from the compost in the soil mix.

April 2013

Ironically, within months of us installing this new garden, the strata owners wanted a seating area to enjoy their beautiful garden.

Rain Gardens vs. Swales

I am researching rain gardens for a new garden design.  The clients live in Richmond, and have a high water table--inches below the surface of their lawn.  They have asked me to design a garden with a rain garden feature, that would tie into a drain.

I have been pondering how to design a rain garden when water frequently sits close to the surface.  If there is no drain, the rain garden will be a pond for most of the winter months.  If there is a drain, where should it be located to be effective?

Rain Garden

Part of my research has been to define the term rain garden.  In fact, a rain garden is a planted garden that holds water for, ideally, no more than 48 hours.  A rain garden may look no different than the rest of the garden, but the soil could be boggy at rainy times of the year.

Dry River Bed

Construction of bioswales on
Blenheim Street, Vancouver

The photographs my clients sent me of their favourite gardens are in fact dry river beds. Dry river beds are not planted, and they may or may not have a lining.  If a dry river bed has a lining, it is designed to move water.  If a dry river bed does not have a lining, it is designed to absorb water, and may have a French drain beneath, which moves water.  A dry river bed should be located at a lower grade than the rest of the garden.






A swale slows the pace of water down a slope. In Vancouver, there are a series of swales on Blenheim street.  Before these were installed, rainfall was channeled down the hill and into drains strategically placed by the road side. Now, the water is channeled into curb breaks, and collects in the swale with much of the water absorbing into the ground.  If too much water is channeled through the curb break at one time, a catch basin at the end of the swale stops the water from flowing over the sidewalk and back onto the street.  The catch basin is higher than the bottom of the swale.  If the catch basin was placed at the bottom of the swale, water would simply collect in that and be swept into the ocean.  The bottom of the swale should be designed with pervious soils to allow water to be absorbed into the ground.

Resist the Annuals! (for a couple of weeks)

Fibrous Begonia

This weekend's weather forecast for Vancouver promises the beautiful sunshine we have all been waiting for throughout the first half of our cool, rainy spring.   The garden centres are packed with gorgeous reds, yellows, pinks, and blues of spring annuals.  

Yesterday I visited a garden centre to buy some Seasoil for a planter, and I could not resist wandering the aisles looking at all the bright, cheery flowers, especially festive on such a sunny day.  I started pondering what annuals would complement the new garden we installed at our parents' home, but I stopped myself.

Professional gardeners follow a rule in the Lower Mainland to not plant annuals until the Victoria Day weekend.  This date is considered the safe date after which temperatures won't suddenly dip, and the annuals will be set back.  An easy way to gage planting annuals is to wait until the municipal summer annuals are installed in parks and focal areas of municipalities.

Annuals are grown in greenhouses, protected from the elements.  If we put them out in our gardens too soon, the annuals may not die, but they may spend a lot of energy fighting to survive;  energy that they could be using to bloom had they stayed in a protected environment a little longer.

This weekend we are also expecting record breaking heat temperatures which are not predicted to last.  We do not want to scald or fry any new plantings, so try to resist buying annuals this weekend.  

If you want to be outdoors, spend the time working your composter, and separating out the usable compost.  Weed parts of the garden.  Check your plants' health and happiness.  Do a sun/shade analysis of your garden to see how the big plants have grown and affected other plants in the garden.  Basically, fosick about and get reacquainted with your garden.

What's blooming in Vancouver - April 25 pt 3

Dicentra formosa or Pacific Bleeding Heart

A couple of excellent ground covers for the deep shade garden are Dicentra formosa and Oxalis sp.  I want to emphasize that the Oxalis is good in deep shade, because I believe the lack of light may slow its progress.  There can be a danger of the Oxalis being invasive.

There are about 500 varieties of Oxalis spp, and I can't remember which one is shown in the top photo.  I can say that it grows beautifully all year round, and tumbles gracefully over the paver driveway, softening the hard edge.  In this situation, the Oxalis is growing at the feet of Rhododendrons and Oemleria.

Dicentra, or Bleeding Hearts, are such unusual flowers.  The native D. formosa has feathery leaves and smaller flowers than the classic Dicentra.  Like the Oxalis, Dicentra spreads by rhizomes.  If the soil is loose, these will spread easily.

What's blooming now in Vancouver - April 25 pt 2

Polygonatum

Here is one of my favourite shade plants:  Solomon's Seal or Polygonatum.  I love the delicate weep of the single stalk, covered with tiny scented white bells hanging like earrings from the stalk.  

We had a site with hundreds of Polygonatum lining the top of a steep slope.  Imagine our delight when one morning we spied a hummingbird flitting from one tantalizing white flower to the next!

Polygonatum grow in deep shade, but I like to provide staking so the single stalks do not fall over.  This photo shows my staking device forming a fence around the Solomon's Seal in the direction I know the plants will fall without staking.  If the stakes are placed early enough, the stalks of Solomon's Seal will grow over and hide the stakes.

Solomon's Seal will increase in number each year, which is terrific because it looks best in a large group.  Just make sure you have allowed enough room for a great showing.  Solomon's Seal is also easy to divide and transplant.

Plant Solomon's Seal with Hostas and Ferns, and other woodland plants.  There is also a variegated leaf variety of Solomon's Seal.

What's blooming now in Vancouver - April 25

Erythronium sp. or Fawn Lily

The delicate yellow flower in this photograph is an Erythronium or Fawn Lily.  It is also called a Trout Lily or Dog-Tooth Violet, but I prefer the gentle connotations of Fawn Lily.

This lovely native perennial stands on tall stalks above thick green leaves.  The Fawn Lilies in the photo are intermingled with late blooming Daffodils in a moist, deep shade garden.  It is always a challenge for us to find plants that will bloom in this Kerrisdale site surrounded by forest.  I believe we planted these lilies about 10 years ago, so they have done us proud.

We have the Fawn Lilies scattered throughout the garden, mixed with about 100 Daffodils of three varieties, Pulmonaria, Helleborus, Tolmiea, Leucojum aestivum, Heucherella and Heuchera.

As the season progresses, the Daffodils and Fawn Lilies will make way for Cranesbill Geranium, Hostas, Hakonechloa and Ferns.

Brunnera: another great shade plant

Brunnera macrophylla flowers tucked in amongst the dafs

Brunnera is another terrific shade plant.  The first sign of Brunnera macrophylla in the spring is the Forget-Me-Not like blue flowers rising from the earth.  If the Brunnera is planted with bulbs, like the photo to the left, the delicate blue flowers provide a lovely contrast to large Daffodil heads.

Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost'

Once the flowers have emerged, heart shaped leaves develop and grow.  The more recent varieties of Brunnera have interesting variegation in the leaves, from lightly variegated, to the entire leaf being white or silver.  I prefer the contrast of green veins, so I stick with B.c. 'Jack   Frost.'

Brunnera can tolerate full shade and part shade, but don't let them dry out.  Their leaves will be margined with brown, which does not complement the silver.

Pig's Squeak! Blooming Now!

Bergenia cordifolia

Pig's Squeak, or Bergenia cordifolia, is a fun plant for the garden.  Its big, leathery leaves provide a wonderful contrast to almost every other foliage in the garden.  If you are going for a tropical look, these leaves have a tropical look, yet the plants are super tough.

Bergenia can be grown in any type of soil, from full sun to part shade, and under most any water conditions. Does it get any better?

Why, yes.  Bergenia are also evergreen.  For another bonus, the leaves of Bergenia cordifolia 'Bressingham Ruby' turn burgundy in autumn.


In spring, long lasting stalks of flowers pop up above the leaves.  The flowers are usually a shade of pink, but there are some varieties with white flowers.

Bergenia divide easily, and will spread by root without being a pest.

If you want to know how Bergenia got its common name, rub one of the leaves between your finger and thumb.

Beautifully scented Lonicera pileata

Lonicera pileata berries

Lonicera pileata flowers

The Lonicera pileata hedge that stopped me

Today I was walking through a commercial parking lot, past a low maintenance, uninspired garden.  What stopped me was a beautiful scent wafting through the air, above the smell of traffic on the busy arterial road.  Below the walkway where I was standing was a Lonicera pileata hedge, emitting a beautiful, citrusy fragrance.  The fragrance is not heavy, but light and fresh.

Lonicera pileata has many advantages.  It is a tough plant that can tolerate little water, and full sun to dappled shade.  This Lonicera is evergreen in Vancouver, and its branches grow in long, straight formations.  Branches near the ground will root, making the Lonicera pileata a great erosion control plant.

Although the flowers are insignificant to look at--only about 3mm long--they release a lovely scent.  These flowers give way to an iridescent purple berry in summer.

Lonicera pileata is not a specimen shrub, but creates a good backdrop for other plants, and fills a spot year round with green.  It can be pruned to shape, and usually grows to 2'.

Beesia, a great little underused plant

Beesia with Autumn Fern and Daffodil greens

Beesias are fantastic evergreen perennials that grow in deep shade.  They have beautiful glossy, heart shaped leaves with contrasting vein markings.  In spring, spikes of tiny white flowers emerge.

Beesia is the plant with the heart shaped leaves in the centre of these photographs.  You can see how Beesia 
contrasts nicely with fern foliage.

Beesia are wonderfully strong plants, and will grow in the shade of conifers, like the Beesias in these photographs.

Beesia with Daffodil greens

Beesias are hard to find, and are expensive.  I'm not sure if they are hard to find because they are expensive, or expensive because they are hard to find.  They are certainly easy to grow, and I recommend anyone with a shade garden to invest in 2 or 3 Beesias.  They are worth the cost.  These Beesia cost about $20 each when we installed them three years ago.

We have bought them at Phoenix Perennials and Southlands Nursery.

mycorrhizae fungi

 mycorrhizae fungi inoculant results

Whenever we install a new garden, we use mycorrhizae fungi inoculant on the plants' roots.  When I research the use of this inoculant on plants, I read many mixed reviews.  So I decided to test the product for myself.

I don't have a lab.  I don't have all kinds of electrical monitoring devices--I simply grew seeds in a growing medium with and without mycorrhizae inoculant.  All the seeds came from the same package and were planted in the same growing medium.  Half of the growing mediums had Myke mycorrhizae fungal inoculant added.

The photo to the right shows two basil seedlings:  the one on the left was grown without mycorrhizae inoculant, the one on the right grown with mycorrhizae inoculant.  They were both grown for the same number of days.

The plant on the right did much better than the plant grown without the fungal inoculant.  This was true with every seedling we tested.

The key to a healthy plant is healthy roots.  The more root mass a plant has, the more food and nutrients the plant can ingest.

Mycorrhizal fungi is a natural fungi growing in all our soils.  Plants could not exist without it.

In Canada, I believe the only maker of mycorrhizae fungal inoculant is Alberta's Myke.  Gardening centres usually carry small containers of the product branded for specific purposes.  We buy large bags of all purpose Myke from landscapers' stores.  You can contact Myke (www.usemykepro.com) for a local suppliers.

Trilliums

Trillium grandiflorum April 8, 2013

Trillium grandiflorum April 25, 2013

Trilliums are a beautiful addition to a shade garden.  This Trillium grandiflorum starts out with this smallish white flower which will grow larger and turn soft pink within the month.

One of the great advantages of Trilliums is they grow in the shade of large trees in root bound soil, competing for nutrients and water. This photo is of a Trillium growing under a mature Birch tree, planted long ago and far too closely to a mature Pine tree, which in turn is planted far too closely to a mature Spruce.  This Trillium also must compete with Lamium, visible in this photograph, although we regularly try to eradicate the Lamium.

This Trillium has been reappearing every year for at least 5 years now.  Each year the plant gets slightly larger.

We bought this Trillium from www.Botanus.com, an online catalogue for bulbs and corms and the like, as well as some bare root plants.  Botanus is a Langley based company run by women.  We like Botanus because it is local, reliable, friendly, and there aren't enough businesses run by women.  If you have a question about their products or delivery, the toll free telephone number is answered by the women in charge.

Ordering bulbs online is so much nicer than standing in a nursery juggling bags of bulbs and tags.  Ordering online means sitting down with a cup of tea, at a desk with a pen and paper, and organizing your order effectively.  The Botanus online calendar has great information about the growing conditions for bulbs, and the photographs are also accurate, not luridly enhanced.  Botanus has two catalogues per year:  one for plants to be planted in spring and one for plants to be planted in autumn.

What's blooming now in Vancouver? pt 3

Daffodils

Vancouver is alive with Daffodils of white and yellow right now.  Daffodils are so cheerful, they can make the grumpiest person smile.

Another advantage to Daffodils, or Narcissi, is the bulbs are poisonous to eat.  I am always so disappointed with Tulips because squirrels and raccoons find them delicious, and come spring, many of the Tulips are gone.  Rodents do not eat Daffodils.

Some Daffodils can also tolerate partial shade and shade.  Most Daffodils naturalize in the ground, meaning they come back year after year.  Look for "Naturalizing" on the label of bulb bags and tags.

Heather

Heather, or Erica carnea, is a resilient early bloomer.   E. carnea comes in shades of red, pink, purple and white.  In full sun, the entire small shrub is a mound of tiny flowers.  

These come from the moors, so think rocky, inhospitable soil and sun.

Cut the branches back after blooming to maintain a full shape.  With no pruning, E. carnea get leggy and the centres look dead.

Camellia

Camellias are beautiful in spring.  They do tolerate some shade, but bloom profusely in sun.  Find a variety that does not rust, which is the look when flowers look rusty after a rain.  This is especially important in rainy Vancouver.

Camellias are prone to many little bugs, and subsequently, sooty mold or aphid honeydew, the black that can coat leaves.

Camellias are also evergreen shrubs, so they provide some winter greenery.

Prune roses when Forsythia are blooming

Forsythia in bloom now

The rule of green thumbs is to prune your roses when the Forsythia are in bloom.  This climate specific advice is much more useful than stating a particular week or month to prune or plant something.  We need to look for signals in our own gardens for when to care for our plants.

Throughout Metro Vancouver we have many climate variances.  For instance, one of our garden sites is at the top of Mountain Hwy in North Vancouver.  This garden is usually a full month behind our Vancouver gardens in spring.

Even within Vancouver there are many different climates.  Oceans moderate temperatures.  Both of us Cultivated Gardeners live by the ocean.  Sometimes we set off for an autumn garden clean in Kerrisdale or South Cambie, only to discover those gardens are covered in a new snowfall;  yet where we live, there wasn't even frost.

Leaving the leaves in spring

Every autumn, we cover the garden beds with leaves to protect the soil.  Keeping the leaves on site has many advantages.  

1.  Plants take up nutrients, and when the plants die back for the year, if left on site, the nutrients will go back into the soil.

2.  The average rainfall in Vancouver between October 1st and April 30th is 1150 mm or 3.75 feet for the seven months.  The average raindrop hits the ground at 24 kph or 15 mph.  This amount of water hitting the soil creates a tremendous amount of compaction.  An inch of mulch on top of the soil absorbs the impact of this much water on the soil.

3.  If the soil is protected from rain, and does not get compacted, all the useful little critters and microbes stay alive to do their good work for another season.

Often, we are asked when we will be removing the leaves in the spring.  The answer is usually, we won't remove the leaves.  An ecologically designed garden has many tiers of plants covering the soil.  In the spring, as the deciduous plants rise from the soil, they cover the decomposing leaves.  By summer, the leaves have decomposed back into the soil to provide nutrients for the earth again.

The only time we remove leaves is if they are so filled with tannins (i.e. oak, beech), that they will blow all over before they ever decompose.  These leaves go into the compost where their decomposition is accelerated.  These leaves can stay at the back of beds behind or beneath plants, but we do remove them from front entrance or feature beds.

Whenever we can, the autumn leaves get mowed up before being applied to garden beds.  Mowing the leaves speeds up decomposition, and makes the leaves small enough to provide a mulch and allows moisture to penetrate to the soil.

What looks good now in Vancouver? pt 3

Some plants have colour that is enhanced by winter's cold weather.  

The bright red bark of the Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku' gets brighter and redder with cold temperatures and exposure to the winter sun.   The vibrant red whips of branches contrast beautifully with dark greens in a winter garden.

Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku'

Similarly, the reds of our native Cornus sericea (Red Osier Dogwood, Red Twigged Dogwood) branches are more striking with the winter cold.   These shrubs can withstand most garden conditions from wet to dry, and good to bad soils.  The deciduous leaves can be variegated white or plain green as shown here.  The umbrels of white flowers turn to blue berries in summer.

The C. sericea can grow into a full tree, or can be kept as a 3' shrub if old wood is removed every 2-3 years in spring.  Removing old wood encourages the plant to send off new red whips from the base.  The new growth will also have the brightest red colour.

Cornus sericea

The Cornus sericea species also come with yellow bark.  

Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea'

What looks good now in Vancouver? pt 2

As I mentioned before, there are not many flowers blooming now in Vancouver, so we have to think of other ways to make the garden interesting.  Here are two trees, suitable for a residential garden, that have interesting bark.  

This first photograph shows an Acer griseum, or Paper Bark Maple.  A. griseum has a beautiful, rich brown, peeling bark.  The warmth of the bark colour contrasts well with our cold grey days.  The way the bark peels gives an extra interesting texture to the garden.

The leaves of the A. griseum are atypical for a maple tree, and they produce a wonderful autumn colour, before dropping to unveil the bark for the winter.

The Stewartia pseudocamellia, or Japanese Stewartia, also has a colourful bark for winter interest.  It, too, is suitable for a residential garden.  The S. pseudocamellia bark peels in patches, resembling camouflage like colouring.

In summer, white flowers appear that resemble the flowers of a Camellia, hence the species name, "pseudocamellia."  

What looks good now in Vancouver? pt 1

Gardens are not only for flowers, but we need to think of complementary shades of green, contrasting textures of foliage, and different shapes of leaves.  Not many plants flower in winter, but many plants are evergreen or have some other interesting quality to feature in a winter garden.

Arum italicum makes a lovely ground cover for winter.  The shiny, elongated heart shaped leaves are highlighted with white veining.  Other Arum species do not have the decorative leaves.  

Come summer, the leaves die down and give way to long stalks holding spires of orange berries.

What's blooming now in Vancouver? pt 2

Hellebores are a wonderful winter flowering shade plant.  Things to look for in a Hellebore are the subtle shades and tones of the flower, the number of petals, and how much the flower nods.  

Hellebores come in shades from pure white to deep purple.  Between these two extreme colours are flowers in shades of pink, and/or  with green, yellow and pink tinges.

If the flower nods fully, so it faces the ground, the flower will not be fully appreciated unless it is planted in an elevated spot, like on a terrace above a retaining wall.  If you are to plant Hellebores at foot level, why not choose a variety with flowers that point up?

Hellebores bloom in winter, but their palmate leaves are usually evergreen in Vancouver.  Sometimes the leaves have contrasting vein colours, making them an interesting addition to the summer shade garden.

Not only do Hellebores bloom in the shade, but they also like growing in root bound soil under large trees.

Phoenix Perennials in Richmond has the largest selection of Hellebores in Metro Vancouver.  Here is a link to their Hellebore catalogue:  

http://www.phoenixperennials.com/HelleboreHurrahCatalogue2013.pdf  

The catalogue also has a botany lesson on Hellebores, and directions to Phoenix Perennials.

What's blooming now in Vancouver? pt 1

Spring is officially here so I thought I would post some photographs of plants blooming in a Vancouver garden at the start of spring.

Oemleria cerasiformis flowers

Oemleria cerasiformis

Oemleria cerasiformis berries

The first three photos show Oemleria cerasiformis, or Indian Plum, a Vancouver native deciduous shrub.  Oemleria are one of the first blooming plants of the year.  This shrub is an understorey shrub.  Being an understorey shrub means it likes to grow under taller trees, which in turn means it does not like to be exposed to full sun.  Masses of Oemleria grow wild along 4th Ave, by Jericho Park.  The pretty white flowers become plum shaped berries.

Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis

The fourth photo shows Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis, or Dwarf Sweet Box,  behind a Heuchera.  Sarcococca are low, evergreen shrubs with tiny white, but heavily scented flowers.  Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis, Sarcococca confusa and Sarcococca ruscifolia are all varieties of the same genus plant.  S. hookeriana var. humilis is smaller and tidier than the other two varieties so I prefer this one.  

All Sarcococca grow in shade to part shade, and their roots sucker.  Their leaves are glossy dark green and lance shaped.   These shrubs are not remarkable enough to be a specimen plant, but form an attractive background to other plants.  They are also useful fillers for dark corners.  Don't let them dry out.

Sarcococca flowers are insignificant, but strongly scented in February/March.  For this reason, Sarcococca are a lovely addition to a garden in Vancouver come the bleak, grey, rainy days of February and March.  Place them somewhere along the path most used in winter.  Their scent easily travels 10 feet, and is a pleasant surprise in the winter.