Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/108099
RESTAURANT RETREAT (Clockwise) Japanese irises pair beautifully with yarrow; peach diascia, lavender and fuchsias carpet a tiered fountain in the formal garden; Pierre's kitchen garden supplies the restaurant; a bronze frog reigns over the box-edged formal garden. Bev's first garden, designed in 1998, is an old-fashioned bed that sweeps in a wide, curving swath from the restaurant's windows toward the sea. Here, Oriental poppies, irises, lady's mantle, perennial geraniums, alstroemeria, phlomis, flowering sage and lavender combine with roses and flowering shrubs such as 'Anthony Waterer' spirea. To disguise bare spots in the border left by fading spring bulbs, Bev positions urns and glazed pots filled with annuals, succulents and small shrubs. Overlooking this garden and lending the property an evocative sense of place is a tall, handsome totem pole carved by the late Brentwood Bay artist and teacher Jim Gilbert. But for the hand of fate and the generosity of a friend, Deep Cove Chalet and its gardens might now be an exclusive suburban subdivision. Seven years ago, the landmark restaurant and its six-acre grounds were on the brink of closure; the Koffels' lease had expired and the property owner was making plans to demolish the building and sell the land. A dramatic, last-minute rescue by the late philanthropist Bill Winspear, who summered nearby, enabled Pierre and Bev to buy back the restaurant and the surrounding grounds. Their future now settled, the Koffels began construction of a beautiful home at the far edge of the property. For Bev, it was the perfect opportunity to express, on a much larger canvas, her passion for flowers and colour. And as usual there was a good friend in the wings who shared their love of the property and was ready and willing to lend a hand. "Gerhard Rehm had been coming to the restaurant for fifteen years," recalls Bev, of the late, German-trained landscape architect. "He would take his glass of wine outdoors and sit quietly while gazing out at the ocean. He loved the property and knew it very well." For fifty years he collaborated with homeowners and architects in greater Victoria, working with what one writer called "an almost monastic pursuit" to create landscapes that respected the sacred elements of nature already inherent in a site. Together, February 2013 BC HOME & garden | 61 p58-65_Koffell garden.indd 61 13-01-23 11:24 AM