A Naturalized Garden with Douglas Counter

Want to be in touch with Douglas? You can reach out through email dcu.humanature@rogers.com

Here’s the transcript…

Hi, this is the Garden Shift and I'm your host, Tina Cesaroni.

I'm joined today by Douglas Counter.

Some may know Douglas for his involvement with not-for-profit organizations like the North American Native Plant Society, Project Swallow Tail or the David Suzuki Butterfly Way Project.

0:24

Or you may even know him because images of his home native plantings have appeared on a Canadian postage stamp.

I first read about Douglas in an article in Spacing, a unique Canadian magazine about urban spaces.

The article was titled From Drainage Ditch to Vibrant pollution Absorbing Habitat. Read here

0:44

In it, Douglas describes his plan for his city owned Blvd.

He says I decided to create a storm water infiltration garden to show people in my community that they could have a positive impact on the quality of the lake and streams through the way they gardened.

1:02

An ally of nature.

I knew I had to meet Douglas and as a guest of the garden ship you will hear his battle story with the City of Toronto.

But don't worry because the ending is the best part.

The fight to keep his moisture loving native planting taken all the way to the Ontario Court of Appeal where the court recognized that citizens have the protected right to express pro environmental values on public land, subject only to safety considerations.

1:37

Welcome to the Garden Shift, Douglas.

Thank you very much, Tina.

Welcome to your listeners.

Douglas, I know your Blvd. story is a long one with many face to face meetings with bylaw officers investigating complaints about the garden allegedly blocking sightlines for drivers in your neighborhood.

1:57

Can you start our discussion by giving some context as to why this fight to keep your Blvd.

Planting was important to you and how the result has led the way for gardeners to follow in your footsteps, naturalizing in their own gardens and on city boulevards.

Yes.

2:14

I'll just start by mentioning that my garden started on Mother's Day in 1997 as a memorial to my mother, who had passed away the previous year.

And I believe I was led to create that garden because I found a poem on the day my mom passed away that spoke about how nature can be a way of remembering someone, someone's spirit.

2:37

And I think that was affirmed for me and my father in the summer of 2000.

The garden was three years old by then.

Front Prairie Garden was three years old by then and we spotted fireflies in the garden one evening in Toronto.

2:53

It was the first time my father had ever seen fireflies in Toronto in his life.

He was 75 at the time, and to us, that meant that my most spirit was alive in her memorial garden.

That speaks to why I created the garden and what how how it's important for me.

3:12

I grew up hearing stories from my father, who grew up in Parkdale and which is a neighborhood in Toronto close to Lake Ontario.

And I would listen to my father's animated stories of how he grew up swimming in Lake Ontario at Sunnyside Beach every day of the summer as a child.

3:34

And I was lamenting the fact that my own nephews, this is around the late 1990s, my own nephews couldn't do the same because Toronto beaches were often closed after major storm events due to polluted stormwater runoff.

3:51

So in my community in western Toronto, the stormwater drainage is is a system of above ground drainage ditches.

It's like a hollowed out, turfed, uh, depression in the ground and the stormwater runoff, it flows directly from those ditches and collects one house at a time and then enters untreated into a local stream and from there enters a larger Creek and into Lake Ontario.

4:26

And the beach that it enters, that which is Marie Curtis Park Beach, was always closed after a major storm event.

So what I've realized in doing some research, Toronto Region Conservation Authority, was that my Blvd. ditch was directly connected to that issue at the lake a few kilometers away.

4:49

And So what I decided to do was to create a stormwater infiltration garden in the on the city Blvd. to show my community that they could do something to positively impact the quality of the water in our streams and in Lake Ontario.

5:07

And I started doing planting a number of wetland species.

The Boulevard now has probably about more than 50 species of native plants specifically chosen for that area.

Mother to a bog garden.

5:23

That's right.

So basically my garden is acting like a giant sponge.

So in that respect is similar to a bog garden, but there's no standing water.

So it, you know, in dry periods it dries out, but it's always I think moister than than it would have been if it was turf because the because the plants have deeper roots than turf grass and they sort of create a more permeable soil so that the water does infiltrate lower into the soil.

5:52

OK.

We can talk more about the plants that you chose for that area later because I know your plants were fantastic with what I saw there.

Let let me let you continue now with your storyline about what happened next.

6:09

OK, so I I planted the Boulevard garden with the help of friends in 1999 and in the summer of 2000 I started receiving complaints from the City of Toronto.

They seemed to be minor at first.

So I made remedies to these numerous minor complaints and had the city inspector come back and reappraised inspect and approve the garden.

6:33

So there was this process of where we received a complaint.

I would address it, then I'd get another complaint over the course of several weeks.

And then it sort of occurred to me that there was a pattern happening here that I was, that I was being harassed because the complaint sort sort of escalated in nature.

6:52

And, and it ended that the city claimed that my Blvd. garden, which is on city property.

And I'm aware of that less than illegal encroachment.

Now back then in 2000, plantings, you know, flowers or plantings or whatever, we're not considered to be an encroachment.

7:15

But all of a sudden, my garden was now being called an illegal encroachment subject to law, and their city wanted me to pay for an an encroachment permit which would have cost $700.00.

7:32

And they wanted my father and I to pay $10 a square meter for every square meter of city property occupied by my beneficial stormwater infiltration garden.

So that would have cost, I think, something like $670 per year on our taxes to do something that was more beneficial than turf grass.

7:53

And to class my father and I, we decided that that was a dangerous precedent to set.

We didn't want to be the first ones to apply, have to apply for a permit and do it willingly and then pay for it.

Because what I wanted to do was encourage my community to follow my lead and create beneficial gardens on their boulevards.

8:16

And they wouldn't do that if they had to pay for it.

So we objected to that course of action.

Back then would do you think that you could have talked to the bylaw officers and sort of give them an understanding of of the ecological benefit of what you were?

8:33

Doing definitely did talk about the benefits of it, but it seems it seems like in terms of bylaw complaints, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

The city eventually wanted us to remove the Boulevard garden entirely to cut it down.

8:52

They claimed then that it was a a sight line obstruction for one particular driveway.

Anyways, the city escalated it.

They wanted us to remove the entire Blvd. garden.

It was to me a sacred space as part of my mom's memorial garden and it was providing a benefit to the community and we refused on principle.

9:13

The city attempted to cut it in the fall of 2000 and I had been on CBC radio a couple times talking about the imminent threat and we actually provide for the city from cutting it.

We, and this is important, we asked the city for a copy of the bylaw that we were allegedly violating and they didn't have a copy of it.

9:34

Within hours, I received a phone call from the director of Environmental Defence offering us a lawyer, basically.

Sorry, what was that?

The director of Environmental Defence.

International Group.

9:50

OK.

That support groups and or individuals and organizations who are trying to protect land.

You had someone, now you're starting to form a team now.

Yes.

And another thing I'll point out, when I started getting media in the fall of 2000, when all of this was first happening, I started receiving calls from members of the public who are who are strangers to me, who read about me or heard about me on the news and who told me that they were undergoing the same kind of experience for their native plant gardens.

10:27

And then I realized at that point, this wasn't just about me.

This was a bigger problem and I also realized that I had a had quite a good background to fight this.

I was a board member of the North American Native Plant Society.

10:43

I sat on the board of my local chapter of TD Friendly Environment Foundation.

I was involved with Evergreen Foundation for many years.

And then I realized like this felt like a calling, you know, like I had the background and the knowledge and the connections in the community to fight this for on behalf of other partners.

11:04

And I really hope that no one would ever have to go through what I was going through ever again.

So we, you know, fought the good fight.

So, OK, so now what year is it now that the fight starts in the courts?

Oh, through the fall and into the spring of 2000 into 2001, we received a continuous threat that the city would come and remove our Blvd. garden when the weather permitted.

11:32

So every morning my father and I left the house.

We were worried that when we came back the garden would be gone.

So our lawyer was in contact with the city still trying to determine what the bylaw we were in violation of.

And the city in again upped the ante and again threatened to come and remove the garden and gave us another deadline in August of 2001.

11:55

So on the deadline that they gave us to remove the Boulevard garden in August of 2001, we launched A lawsuit against the and we held a press conference in our garden and invited the media.

And we were fighting on constitutional grounds.

12:14

We felt that the cities bylaws were violating my right to express myself through my garden.

I'm responsible for tending that Blvd.

The city, you know, expects most people to attend it as turf grass, but I wanted to be able to to tend it in a more environmentally responsible way that added beauty and benefit to my community and and I wanted the right to do that.

12:41

The case went through the course and in Ontario Superior Court, Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that natural gardening on city property is a protected right under the Constitution under the Charter's freedom of expression clause.

13:01

We weren't successful in striking down the bylaw that the city was claiming we were in violation of, so we appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal.

The Appirio Court of Appeal ruled in May of 2003 and agreed with the lower court in that the appellate court agreed that my garden was protected expression under the Charter.

13:24

So this is the first time that an appellate court in Canada had recognized that natural gardening isn't protected form of expression under the Charter.

Well, in Canada, that's pretty incredible, Douglas, right?

And all I wanted to do is create a beautiful garden and memory of my brother, you know, and this is, I think this is a, a gift for my mother, you know, I think, I think when you fight for something you believe in, the universe helps you.

13:53

I, I truly believe that all like, I mean, imagine getting a lawyer who had already fought A constitutional case on private property just coming out of the out of the blue, you know, in response to a radio interview I did.

14:09

Yeah.

So here's, so if now here we are in 2025, do you think in your opinion that there is more clarity now for homeowners planting in their front garden with I think there's been a revision to the turf grass and prohibited plants bylaw?

14:26

Yeah.

Well, this is interesting.

I was actually invited by the city to be a subject matter expert on the upgrade of the turf grass bylaw.

It was called the Tall Grass of weeds bylaw, and I was among about a dozen or 15 people who were invited to consult on that.

14:46

And one of the things that we really wanted to have changed was the enforcement process because what happens is people and called that 31311 and lodge a complaint against the neighbor.

They don't even have to give their name.

15:03

They can do it anonymously or if they do give their name, their name is never divulged to the to the property owner who's being complained about.

So it was an opportunity for people to harass their neighbors.

You know, you, you have bylaw officers who have the right under the law to enter onto your property.

15:25

They, unfortunately, at the time and even now, I think aren't fully trained to recognize the difference between a native plant garden and neglect because they're not properly trained in species identification.

15:44

So I find that there still are issues that need to be ironed out.

But I think in general, yes, the situation is better now.

More people are creating habitat gardens.

The city is certainly making more habitat gardens in public spaces and in public parks.

16:01

Inhibited plants, I nobody, you know, plants a buckthorn or a dog strangling vine or a Thistle, right?

So if your neighbors are looking at your aesthetic and saying, well, I don't like the appearance of that and they're looking at asters and goldenrod, maybe they need some education as opposed to dialing 311.

16:21

And that's one thing we were hoping to have written into the bylaw was a better screening process at the 311 entry point into the complaint system.

We wanted the 311 agents to be able to weed out nuisance complaints and by by making the onus on the caller to identify the specific bylaw infraction as per the bylaw.

16:52

And that would allow that would force homeowners to become educated about the 10 prohibited species of plants right after they were told which plant do they have.

If the agent asked which plant do they have and they would have to name.

It well, Toronto's definitely come a long way.

17:09

And when I was looking up just to have a reread of the turf grass and prohibited plants bylaw, I notice there's a really nice section where there's the official bee of Toronto and how to grow a pollinator garden.

So the information is definitely there now on the on the City of Toronto website, right?

17:28

This is, I think, a problem.

It's a sort of a problem of one hand doesn't know what the other is doing.

The city has done amazing work in in promoting and encouraging habitat creation on public lands and on private lands.

17:44

Unfortunately, the bylaw Enforcement division isn't up to speed on recognizing those gardens.

Right, right.

Like being able to positively identify them and basically whenever the city gets to complain about unknown grass, you know the native plant gardeners are the first ones to be targeted.

18:08

I want to get back to your garden and in particular I was lucky enough to catch one of your late season tours in October this year.

I don't first hand how passionate you are about, about your plants and what you know about your plants because you've grown them right.

18:25

And I remember in the tour, there's just a few of us, but there was a young boy, I don't know if you remember him, and he spotted a bumblebee moving through your Blvd. and then and then his dad spotted a dragonfly.

We were all like mesmerized just standing there.

It was so much fun, you know.

18:40

And then you took us to the back to your back garden and it was really my turn to be in wonder because you have a mini forest back there with the Creek running through it.

And it was, it was like I just landed somewhere else up north and I saw my favorite tree in your backyard.

18:58

I think he told me you have 11 of them, the hemlocks.

And, you know, can you talk about that?

Because you created something really special back there.

Thank you.

So my backyard is actually a challenge because I have a non-native Norway Maple, which a lot of people in Toronto have because these trees were planted 50 and 60 years ago as a quick growing shade tree.

19:20

But they have a notoriously shallow Gense root system which creates bone dry conditions under the tree canopy.

So what I did in the back garden, it's about 55 feet by 35 feet.

19:38

I don't know what that is in metric, sorry.

And and it and it has a gentle slope to it from diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner diagonally through the garden.

And one of the problems I just mentioned was I have like I need water to create, to grow something under this dry shade of a Norway Maple.

20:02

So at the top quarter of my property, which is where my house is, I luckily have a downspout.

And then I noticed during heavy rainstorms that the rain was flowing down the slope of the property toward the diagonal opposite corner.

20:19

And I thought I can take advantage of that.

So what I did was I created.

Dry stream bed in the back garden that kind of follows that slow but I realize like when it rained, the water that came from that downspout flowed down the slope of the property and filled the Stry stream bed with water with rain runoff and it contained it like that dry stream bed is probably about 30 centimeters or a foot deep.

20:50

It would fill it to the top during one of these brief sudden rainfalls, but then over the course of the next couple hours it where seeps slowly into the ground.

So that was feeding all of the plants that I eventually planted in that that garden under the shade of the Norway.

21:08

Clever me.

I asked my neighbor who also has a downspout at that uphill corner of my garden if I could borrow his rainwater.

So I asked him if he could he would mind re locating or redirecting rather his downspout.

21:26

So his downspout feeds my garden as well.

So I have my downspout and his downspout and in a sudden storm I have like a sheet of water about an inch deep or 2 1/2 centimeters deep just flowing down into that dry stream bed.

So what I created is like instead of a desert under that Norway Maple, now I have like an Oasis.

21:49

Ground covers back there that are really flourishing.

I have I have a number of sedges which are which are sort of look up appear to be grasses but they're not said.

If you remember, sedges have edges, so a graph stem has a circular cross section, whereas Assange has a triangular cross section and they all edges also grow in little Tufts.

22:20

So rather than a sheet or, you know, a carpet of turf grass, you have these beautiful little Tufts of sedges.

And I have a number of sedges.

I have wild geraniums selling in May.

My garden is covered in lavender coloured wild geranium flowers.

22:39

So what I did was I planted eastern hemlocks under the shade canopy of the Norway Maple.

And So what those have done is created an understory.

So they're, they're inhibited by the, by the canopy of the Norway Maple above them.

22:55

So they're shorter than they would normally be, but they create a beautiful canopy.

Sorry, an understory rather.

And I had a I've had fireflies in the back garden as well because they like that kind of understory habitat.

Yeah, you must have a lot of it's landing back there too, right?

23:14

Yeah, it's amazing.

Well, I had just up until recently, I had a family of red tail Hawks whose nest was in a tree about four backyards away, insight of my backyard.

So I would often have rental Hawks gliding into my garden and then stopping in my garden.

23:32

This is really strange.

A couple years ago I looked out and there was a wild Turkey in my, not in my garden, but in my neighbor's garden, and I have no idea where.

A wild Turkey in Toronto comes from but.

They are really fun to watch though.

Yeah, I've had so many songbirds and I've had Downey woodpeckers.

23:55

I've had a snowy owl 1 winter, which was really strange.

I had a Merlin, which is a bird of prey.

I didn't know what it was at first.

I had to look it up.

I've had screech owls.

Sick.

Yeah, I've had, well, you know, the normal raccoons and things like that.

24:14

But, you know, when you create a habitat, you're inviting wildlife.

And what you realize is that you become friends with the, with the wildlife that visits your garden.

You're creating habitat.

And one thing I'd like to impress upon people when they come on a tour is that I could not possibly have anticipated what wildlife I would attract to my garden.

24:37

It was planted basically as the as a memorial to my mother, but it's attracted so much incredible wildlife, including fireflies, which to me and my father at the time, we felt that my mom's spirit was alive in the garden when we first saw those.

24:55

But I've seen so many species of moths and butterflies and other insects that I have only seen for the first time ever in my own garden.

So in other words, I didn't need to travel miles into the wilderness and go hiking to see these wondrous insects and creatures.

25:15

They were coming to my garden.

And it's sort of like like the Field of Dreams movie.

If you build it, they will come.

So if you create a space for native wildlife, it will show up and it and it brings so much wonder and joy to your life.

25:33

And so after we left your back garden, the tour went around to the other side of your house and that's when I saw all the hundreds of seedlings that you would grow.

Did you collect seeds from your own property or are you collecting seeds from all over?

25:52

Mentioned when I started my garden in 1997, there weren't a lot of places to get native plants in Toronto.

So I actually had got most of my native plants from a grower in Eden, Ontario, appropriately named, but she's no longer growing plants.

26:08

But it was called Otter Valley Native Plants.

And I bought a lot of plants early on from her, from that grower, and that was the basis of my garden.

And then I bought plants over the years from places like the North America Native that societies spring plant sale and other local nurseries that were starting to get native plants.

26:35

But in a few years ago, about five years ago, I joined Project Swallowtail, which is a local community group.

It's great.

They're they're byline is neighbors uniting for nature or something like that.

26:52

And and it's basically a group of neighbors who help each other create habitat.

And that's what we need in cities is is corridors or ribbons of interconnected habitat.

And this group is great because it's hands on.

27:09

And through that group, I learned how to propagate native plants from seed in 20 after gardening from what 1997 till 2021 over long, that is 24 years of just basically buying native plants where wherever I could find them, I started growing them.

27:28

And I and I've learned so much about the plants from growing from seed.

I talked a little bit to our friend Lorraine Johnson about Project Swallowtail and let's just go through again how it works.

27:43

So you're, you're growing plants and then how do you distribute in the spring?

OK, so I'm I'm what's called a block ambassador project Swallowtail.

So my role is to engage my community actively to create habitat.

28:00

And they have another program called the seed sitters program.

I believe the David Suzuki Butterfly Wave project has that as well, something similar.

And through that I learned how to plant, how to grow native plants.

The first year I drew about 600 potted plants, the second year a couple thousand and I think the third year I had over 4000 plants that I've propagated.

28:25

What I started doing, what I realized is when you're when you're trying to encourage new newbies or beginners in native plant gardening, if you're basically starting from scratch, you people aren't aware of the species.

28:40

They aren't as aware of how big they grow, what habit they take when they grow.

So what I started doing was I started collecting seed just from my garden to propagate.

See if you're propagate plants.

And that way when I have the tour, I can show people what the plants look like in the context of a garden, how they look together in combination with other similarly coloured or contrasting coloured plants, you know, and the plants bloom at different times of the year.

29:09

So depending on when my tour is, they get a different viewing of different types of plants.

And so people can see what the plants look like in my garden and then they can pick some up if they want, you know, from my inventory.

I've also had workshops where I have trained newcomers to Canada on how to pot native plants and, and to these are newcomers to Canada who have agricultural or horticultural backgrounds in the countries where they grew up.

29:42

And they're coming to Canada and it's a way for them to learn new skills here.

And I think one of the things that apart from the sense of magic and wonder that native plant gardens create is I'd like to impart how amazing it's been meeting friends, making new friends, people who come on tours.

30:04

You know, I've made friends for people who come on tours.

You know, sometimes we feel like we're alone in this world and we can't make a difference.

We read the news, there's floods, there's forest fires.

The world seems to be coming to an end.

And what this type of work and even just creating your own garden does is it gives you a sense of purpose.

30:25

And it also means that you're proactively making a positive difference and you just, and, and you can see the difference that you're making almost instantly.

The first year you plant your garden and it comes into bloom, you're going to have amazing butterflies and pollinating insects visit.

30:43

And so you're seeing tangible results from your efforts.

And there's nothing more empowering and enlightening than making a difference and making a positive difference and bringing beauty to your community and making a new community of friends through the process.

31:03

The being together with like minded people is, is that social interaction is so important and I know you and I have talked about that and you're involved in so many groups and you just get so much back from that.

I just want to close with maybe a tip or two that you can give the listening public about how to deal with a bylaw officer today when they show up on your property.

31:30

Well, and I want to say that the instances of people having to defend their gardens is small, right?

But you hear, but you hear about us because you know, hopefully we fight back.

So ask specifically where you're how you're in violation asked for a copy of the bylaw and have them explain it to you.

31:56

I was just going to mention that bylaw.

Gardner said Toronto have found that bylaw officers aren't able to identify species that are in the prohibited plants bylaw.

So they're not properly trained and that could be the case where ever you live in Canada.

32:12

So you know, assert your yourself and ask to find out where your violation and have them point out the plants that are in violation in your garden.

But another thing is an important thing is to know your rights.

So remind the bylaw officer or city staff that settled Ontario case law protects the gardeners constitutional right to tend a natural garden on both property private property as per the Sandy Bell versus City of Toronto case decided in 1996 and on the adjacent public Blvd.

32:48

As for my father and my ruling in counter versus City of Toronto in 2002 and 2003.

So you have a constitutional right and get in touch with local environmental groups or organizations who you who you can network with and and get resources.

33:10

And also another good person to get in contact with this Lorraine Johnson, who Tina has mentioned earlier she is keeping records of people who have had bylaw issues with natural gardens.

33:25

Yeah.

So Lorraine Johnson has a Facebook page that's very active.

We, she writes numbers of books and she can be reached at her website, which is in my resource library listed on my Instagram.

33:42

I'm also going to list the spacing article that we've been referring to Douglas, so that people can read the whole article because there's a lot of detail there about, about your journey, which I think is, is a really fantastic article.

And I'm wondering about next year for you.

33:58

Are you going to continue with your tours?

Because I think I might come back in a different time.

Because I've just officially retired from the corporate world, what I really would like to do is I because my gardens are tallgrass Prairie, it's in bloom mostly in the summer, July through September and into October.

34:21

And my Blvd. garden is likewise in bloom.

Well, it's in bloom sort of maish throughout the year, but I intending to have summer and autumn tours, which are great.

But next year I'd like to start doing spring tours as well.

34:38

And there are periods where my car like my gardens different every week of the year, which is amazing.

It's never boring and I do have a lot of support for my community.

I should mention a couple of about a month or so ago, I was out doing some gardening, which I don't do a lot of.

34:58

I have to have to admit the native plant garden takes care of itself.

But I was out doing gardening one day and a young woman walked by and I didn't, I didn't know her.

And she said she lives a few houses down from me and she loves my garden and she would be interested in learning more.

35:16

And I've had, you know, people.

There's one time I was giving a tour and this woman came up the sidewalk with her dog and I went over to say hi to her and she said that she loves my garden and that she had actually designed or planned her dog walking route to include my garden so that every day she could see it and how it changes from day-to-day.

35:43

So really sweet like you have.

So you have you'll find that you have secret admirers as well, which is really, really wonderful.

I just want to impart that the benefits far outweigh any any negative issues you might encounter later, that your garden is going to give you so much joy and in a sense of place as well, because you know, when you travel, you see so many gardens look the same no matter what part of Canada you go to.

36:14

These gardens are designed using native plants native to the area where where you live.

So it gives you a real sense of connection to your land, to the land that you're living on and and attending.

36:29

It's also, I'll just mention briefly, it's also a good way to address the truth and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples because healing the land using native plants, it is a it's a way of directing your energy toward healing as part of the truth and reconciliation.

36:49

Thank you.

Thank you, Douglas.

That's nice closing words from you.

I'm thrilled to have come across that article and gotten to know you.

I think I've got a lot to learn still from people like you, and I'm glad you're in my circle now.

37:06

Thank you so much, Douglas, for being here today.

Thank you, Tina.

It's my pleasure and if anyone wants to reach out to me, maybe we could figure out a way to have a link in the in the nose.

37:21

Yeah, I'm going to get some contact details from you the best way that you think people can reach you, and I'll put those in the notes for sure.

How's that?

Yeah, sounds great.

OK, great.

Thanks.

Thanks.

Very much appreciate it.