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Tomato plants on a balcony. Bee balm in the backyard, rosy faces turned to the sun. Dogwood leaves rustling in the breeze. If it’s green and growing outdoors, it’s something to celebrate this year in Canada’s Year of the Garden.

Here are some GTA home gardens that deserve a tip of the sunhat:

From pot to plate, with relish: At last count there were 15 grow bags, eight vertical planters and five big containers in Panna Koppala’s small Ajax backyard. Bursting with vegetables and herbs, they’re lovingly tended by the dyed-in-the-dirt gardener for three to four hours a day.

“I’m just looking at every leaf, every flower, every petal,” she says of her progeny that includes tomatoes, zucchini, kale, broccoli, cauliflower and basil to make the family of three’s favourite pesto.

This year, she “got ambitious” and added okra, eggplant and bitter gourd, a nutrient-rich vegetable with bumpy skin. And she and her six-year-old son, Sathya Cherukuri, are trying to outgrow each other with Indian cucumbers.

“His have flowers coming out and mine don’t!” admits the seasoned green thumb who is a billing analyst by day.

Growing their own food helps cut costs, says Koppala, citing Indian cucumbers that sell for $8 apiece. She turns the “melon-cucumber hybrid” into pickles that she cooks with lentils: “It’s really yummy.”

No space is left unused in their deck-covered backyard where fence-mounted planters her husband built from reclaimed wood grow herbs and salad greens. A raised pollinator bed attracts winged visitors.

Koppala, who prefers to feed her family organically-grown produce from seeds sown indoors, makes soil enhancer from powdered eggshells and dried banana peels, and uses rinse water from rice and lentils for irrigation.

“I have found so much peace and happiness in gardening,” says the plant parent, who shares her passion on her YouTube channel called “Artic Sprig.”

Bedposts and birdhouses: Denny Vanden Heuvel puts a tiny cross on the peaked roof of every Victorian-style birdhouse he makes.

“Talent is a blessing from God,” explains the hobbyist, whose skills are self-taught.

Vanden Heuvel paired talent and tools to turn his Newcastle backyard into a wonderland of handcrafted creations made from reclaimed materials and nature’s cast-offs. In addition to the birdhouses built atop old bedposts, there’s garden furniture, rustic sheds and even a summer sink.

Greenery and splashes of colour abound, courtesy of his wife Jane, the gardener in the family.

Vanden Heuvel, a sheet metal mechanic, sees artistic possibilities in miscellaneous “stuff,” including weather-beaten barn board, painted trim, furniture parts and picture frames.

“You hang onto them,” he says of his finds at yard sales, barns, antique shops and recycling sources.

The outdoor hutch with sink is built from an old door and windows while spoons and metal scraps have been transformed into flowers and dragonflies. Cedar wood is a favourite — “you can’t beat Mother Nature” — with slabs, sticks and twisted roots and branches turned into Muskoka chairs, fencing, a rocking chair and table.

Each of his birdhouses has a metal roof cut from a century house ceiling, a picket fence, stoop, and drawer pull for a perch. Vanden Heuvel built some to sell at We Made It shops in Newcastle and Cobourg.

“It’s a lot of fun building these things because they take on a character of their own.”

‘Solace for the soul’: Andrew Henwood’s deep-rooted love of gardening and his wife of 56 years is on display in all its glory at their lovely 185-year-old house in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

There’s a “random selection” of perennials, rhododendrons, roses and “happy lupines in bloom,” with other flowers waiting their turn to show off through the summer.

“It’s a tribute to my wife,” says the 83-year-old, who makes twice-daily visits to Gayle in a care home. “I wanted to make the garden really, really gorgeous.”

He also wants it looking its best for the Niagara-on-the-Lake Horticultural Society’s free Open Gardens tour on July 9.

For the first time, he notes, “I spent quite a lot of money this spring” on new plants and materials. Last year, he built a greenhouse in one corner out of 14 old storm windows.

“I’ve always loved gardening,” Henwood reflects. “It’s a great solace for the soul. In the garden, everything’s fine when the rest of the day may not be.”

A tropical getaway in their own backyard: Like so many people, Rick Hutchings and his family were itching to get away during the pandemic last year.

“The kids were going bonkers,” he says of his two grown daughters.

So Hutchings, a landscape designer, brought the vacation to their Leaside backyard with a lush, colourful array of flora, fauna and (fake) feathers in a tropical oasis reminiscent of holidays in Florida and Curacao.

Flamingos and whimsical objects nestled among canna lilies, Boston ferns and even a banana tree while tiki torches and solar-powered lighting added ambience to the exotic display on and around their two-tiered deck.

“It set the mood all summer,” says Hutchings. “At night when the lights came on, you felt like you were on vacation.”

He’s the owner of Landscapes by design and a member of the Leaside Garden Society, which is holding a tour on June 18. (Tickets are $15 with details on leasidegardensociety.org.)

Hutchings built their staycation setting around existing components and new purchases, including a watermelon outdoor rug and a pair of plastic shades-sporting oranges.

“I saw them at Loblaws and thought, ‘Oh my god, these have to go in,’” he laughs. He also built a firepit where his daughters hung out with friends all summer. Now, everyone has a new appreciation for their back garden.

“My wife really enjoys going out there and just sitting in the Adirondacks,” says Hutchings.

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