Every garden needs a focal point, but it doesn't have to be a plant. In the garden of Peter Reisiger and Sylvia Simpson, it's a flower-bedecked shed. Or, as Simpson more elegantly puts it, "the cabin."

Reisiger built the cabin as a studio for Simpson. But she now has a space in Westdale Village. So he uses the cabin to build architectural models and for woodworking.

But it's the cabin's exterior that graces the garden. Reisiger built it with the corner closest to the house bevelled off and closed in with old french doors. Casement windows on either side catch the breeze in the summer and the sun in the winter. The semicircular shape of a window above the doors is mirrored in the pattern of paving stones in front.

The front of the cabin is wrapped in blue morning glories, a lovely contrast against the cabin's white trim.

When Reisiger and Simpson opened their southwest Hamilton garden for Hamilton Spectator Open Garden Week, the cabin was admired as much as the rest of the garden.

Simpson takes no credit for the garden. "It's entirely a Peter Reisiger production," she says.

He started growing unusual herbs, vegetables and perennials from seed back when garden centres stocked old favourites and little else. Recently he has been growing species native to the Carolinian forest that graces some parts of Hamilton.

The front garden is anchored by a spruce, a Kentucky coffee tree and an eastern redbud. The Kentucky coffee tree is a particularly interesting native tree. It has lovely textured bark and what look like the end branches are actually the tree's 60- to 90-centimetre leaves broken into dozens of leaflets. They turn away from the sun during the day so the tree does not lose excessive moisture.

Large curving beds are a mix of mostly native perennials -- native bergamot for splashes of blue, and coreopsis, black-eyed Susan, purple coneflower, grasses -- and a few annuals. A wide mix of hostas fill the beds in the shade of the house.

"Native plants are easy to care for and don't need much water," Reisiger says.

Reisiger made railings and a pergola to make the deck feel more enclosed. Here again, are trees grown from seed: A dawn redwood, a gingko (both among the oldest trees known to science), pagoda dogwood, tulip tree and sassafras.

"Starting trees is a lot more challenging than starting tomatoes," he says, noting they often require specific treatment or conditions to germinate.

Simpson particularly likes the improved deck, but her favourite view of the garden is from a small seating area at the back, looking toward the house. Reisiger focuses on a small back corner where lilac, hosta, Solomon's seal and a neighbour's honeysuckle intermingle.

He appreciates the garden in details -- which is only appropriate for someone who constructs tiny perfect buildings for a living.

Rob Howard lives and gardens in Hamilton. Talk gardening with Rob on Room To Grow, Saturdays 9 to 11 a.m. on AM900 CHML.

rhoward@thespec.com