There is a garden in Ellerslie Park that does not exist on any map. It exists only in the space between what is defined as landscaping and what we might, with more honesty, call curation. To walk through it is to understand that nothing here happened by accident. Every plant, every stone, every blade of grass and every thread of water was chosen the way a conductor chooses which instruments will play, and when, and how softly. This garden is divided into two movements (front and back) with the house acting as the intermission. The plants were not simply planted, they were positioned, in fact, curated. The distinction matters. Planting suggests a hole dug and roots inserted with a hope and prayer that nature will cooperate. Curation suggests something else entirely: a conversation between gardener and ground, a decision made and remade over time, sometimes years, until the composition rings true.

 In the first movement mature MacArthur palms do not merely exist and occupy space; they proudly stand at attention as the members of the Garden Club of Trinidad wander, mouths agape, eyes widened, in awe at the picture perfection surrounding them. The trunk of a Royal Palm hails from a time gone by but remains in service and on the ready to support some beautiful climbing plant in the future. Three large crucibles, perfectly positioned to invite the visitor to walk towards an entry to the home, display brightly coloured bougainvillea with maximum impact and elegance. A perimeter bed overflowed with quintessential tropical specimens from Alpinias and Arelias to Crotons and Cordylines displayed in layers that sing to the soul.

A semicircular area that is bounded by the front perimeter wall on the south and a rondure driveway on the north makes for a perfect space to display the full orchestra of plants— the centre, a bank of yellow flowering Pachystachys, to the left, Pygmy Date Palms and a Red Stem Palm and to the right a collection of shade loving Calatheas with bowls of pink and red Anthuriums between, beautifully displayed at varying levels. A brambling Kopsia demanded attention, standing tall and wide along the driveway side. And these were just a few of the of the specimens on show.

The second movement begins with the hardscape at the back of the house. It is here that the garden reveals its deepest intelligence. At the garden’s heart is a pool, not merely for cooling off or swimming, but a vantage point for enjoying the creative design surrounding it. The space is split into distinct levels, adding interest but also defining function. A few steps across and one step down from the pool surround is an area paved with large flagstones separated by three-inch bands of savannah grass. A perfect place to sit and read or enjoy a glass of wine. A few more steps across is another more shaded area with a big bayleaf tree and a vintage water fountain. The fountain, along with a short waterfall into the swimming area, gives the garden its guttural voice. All so coherently designed, in a word, symphonic.

Angela and Philip’s garden is a garden that waits. It rewards the visitor who slows, who stops, who allows the eyes to adjust to a different tempo. The garden is playing something old and patient, a music made not of sound but of arrangement—of green against stone, of water against light. To hear it, one must listen with one’s soul and in that listening, one understands what curation means.

Ellerslie Park has always known curation. It is a place where form follows intention, where the oval holds its shape against the sprawl of the city beyond, where no two houses repeat. The garden at its center is simply the purest expression of that same principle. Every plant curated. Every blade adjacent. Every stone in its place. And the water moving through it all like a quiet, endless line of music that no one wrote but it is there! Food for the soul indeed!

Our meeting was a very interactive and educational one. From the informative tour headed by our hostess, Angela Hamel-Smith and Dr. Chancy Bachan Moll, to learning about Fever Grass from Dawn Thompson and Lignum vitae from Jackie Fung Kee Fung. Our next meeting will be on the 17^th of October in Haleland Park. The show bench will be Philodendrons. Until then remember to slow down and enjoy your orchestra too.

We wish to thank Philip and Angela Hamel-Smith for their hospitality and their warm welcome to our membership.