GUELPH – Waterfalls, ponds, pergolas and pagodas. Art and garden whimsy.
And don’t forget the more than 3,000 different varieties of plants.
It’s hard to pick a favourite feature in Robert Pavlis’ garden.
Nice spot – The Teahouse, perched atop a hill, has become a popular destination in Robert Pavlis garden in south Guelph. Pavlis opened his garden for a tour on June 12 to benefit the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Pavlis opened his garden gate to the public on June 12 and it is among the first in-person garden tours in this region since the pandemic.
Pavlis said he and his wife bought the property 16 years ago. The house was new and the property featured only lawn, but it backed onto hills and forest in Guelph’s south end.
Pavlis said on moving day he was busy digging up grass and installing a garden. And it seems he hasn’t stopped since.
“I designed it before we moved that October,” he said. “So, I only had a short time to get the garden in before it was too cold to plant.”
Since then, the garden has evolved. That original garden still greets visitors as they stroll up the driveway.
There’s a path and a pergola arch beckoning visitors to wander, examine the flowers, and view the art, which ranges from rusty farm equipment to delightful sculptures and contraptions that blow with the wind.
Around the bend is the clematis arbor and rock garden with blooms galore. The structure holds the plants but also frames some stunning views of the rest of the landscape.
Perched on the hill overlooking the property is a pagoda – what Pavlis calls the Teahouse.
He said for his first garden tour there was no teahouse and he carefully placed rocks to create a winding path up the hill.
“But nobody went up the hill,” he said.
The next year he put a bench at the top and tour-goers did venture up. But he thought the bench was too small and out of scale with everything else.
So he built the Teahouse and now it’s among the favourite places to hang out, whether it’s watching the pond behind or the garden below.
Behind the house and visible from the screened-in deck is a waterfall and pond. For a minute it’s easy to believe you are miles from the city.
And all the gardens and features are connected by meandering paths.
The tour was a fundraiser for the Stephen Lewis Foundation, which helps fund initiatives by community-based organizations in sub-Saharan African countries still grappling with the fallout of AIDS.
Locally Blooms for Africa, Grandmothers and Friends for Africa, and Guelph Go Go Grandmothers organized the tour.
All three organizations raise funds here to help grandmothers in Africa, many of whom had to raise their grandchildren when their adult children died of AIDS.
With a generation practically wiped out, it’s grandmothers who are running businesses and seeking to make change.
“They have become powerful,” said Joanne Dear, a member of the Blooms for Africa group. “It’s grandmothers who are running businesses and protesting governments. The money we raise goes directly to them.”
Pat Dickinson, of the same group, said Pavlis offered a webinar in March to benefit Blooms for Africa, in which he presented his garden through its various stages of development and he agreed at that time to host the tour.
“It was totally generous of him to do this,” agreed Pat Dickinson, also of the Blooms for Africa group.
“We’re very grateful.”
