Plantings and garden layouts in any given year are typically as described below.
Parlour Garden
The garden beds in the Parlour Garden, located at the front of the house and along the picket fence, contain a mix of old-fashioned perennials, annuals, shrubs, and roses. What is in bloom varies from one week to the next, and from season to season, as in any mixed border. Plantings include the varieties listed in the table below.
| Ajuga | Evening Primrose | Lady’s Mantle |
| Bearded Irises | False Solomon’s Seal | Lamb’s Ears |
| Bergenia | Flax | Lilac |
| Bleeding Heart | Forget Me Not | Lily of the Valley |
| Bluebells | Golden Glow | Morning Glories |
| Bridalwreath Spiraea | Hollyhocks | Peony |
| Columbines | Hosta | Roses |
| Cranesbill | Hydrangea | Turk’s Cap Lilies |
| Day Lilies | Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate | …other old-fashioned flowers |
The Herb Garden
The Herb Garden, surrounded by a dry-stone retaining wall and low split-rail fence, was installed along the west side of the O’Hara house in 2007. The five beds contain a wide selection of plants traditionally grown for medicinal, culinary, aromatic, dyeing, pest-repellent, and decorative purposes. Plantings include those listed below.
The Kitchen Garden
The Kitchen Garden north of the house has been expanded. It now has eight beds – four new ones west of the cedar arbour and last year’s four beds east of the arbour. Each contains rows of heirloom varieties of root vegetables, leafy vegetables, fresh table vegetables, fruits and/or cutting flowers. The selection varies each year.
Kitchen Garden Layout
The following were cultivated in 2008.
Kitchen Garden Plants
| Anna Hubbard Squash | Matina &Riesentraube Tomatoes | Amber Colored & Big Rainbow Tomatoes |
| Aunt Emma’s Bean | Bachelor’s Buttons, Mixed Colours poppy, & California Poppy | Black Ethiopian & Black Krim Tomatoes |
| Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce | Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce | Black Valentine Bean |
| Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach | Brandywine & Cherokee Purple Tomatoes | Bull’s Blood & Chioga Beets |
| Cosmos | Cream of Saskatchewan Watermelon | Crookneck Squash |
| Curly Green Kale | Debarao & Djena Lee’s Golden Girl Tomatoes | Detroit Dark Red beet |
| Double Shirley poppy | Early Fortune Cucumber | Emerald Gem Melon |
| Fish & King of the North Peppers | Five-colour Silverbeet Chard | French Breakfast & Cherry Belle Radishes |
| Golden Zucchini | Grandpa’s Leaf Lettuce | Ice Wax Bean |
| Irish Cobbler Potatoes | Little Gem Squash | Luther Hill Sweet Corn |
| Montreal & Jenny Lind Melons | Nante Coreless & Chantenay Carrots | Nicotiana |
| Russet Potatoes | Scarlet Runner & Rattlesnake Snap Beans | Stupice & Yellow Pear Tomatoes |
| Sweet Wormwood | Thomas Laxton pea & Blue Pod Capuchijner’s Soup Pea | Tondo Scuro di Piacenza Squash |
| Tongue of Fire Bean | Waltham Butternut Squash | White & Yellow Onions |
| Yugoslavian Red Butterhead Lettuce |
The Field-Crop Garden
Broad rows in this garden represent basic crops that were grown in fields to provide flour, meal, cereal, soup, etc. 2008 plantings included the following.
Field Crop Garden Plants
| Beans | Corn | Cranberry soup beans |
| Havana smoking tobacco | Hollow-crown parsnip | Indian corn (multi-coloured) |
| Indian smoking tobacco | Mangels | pumpkins |
| Purple Top White Globe turnip | Red Broom-corn | Sunflowers |
