Saturday Photo: Little Italy Garden is the Smallest Yet

How to squeeze a fountain, bird cages, ferns, azalea, and luxuriant tropical plants into a very small space? With great love and care, obviously.

This garden in what otherwise would be lost space between two buildings astonishes me every time I pass. There is small water feature where a maiden pours a stream into a basin, plus wind chimes, figs and bougainvillea. The whole thing is protected by a grill work, but it gives pleasure to everyone in the neighborhood.

Because it's located on the "east" side of the street (really the north east, given the way Montreal's street grid runs) it gets some direct sunshine in the afternoon, although street trees do cut down a bit on the light. Nevertheless, the gardener seems to have found the right balance of plants for the conditions. Where there's a will there's a way...