Gardens I Have Loved Before - Part 3

If you missed the earlier posts in this series please click on the links below:

Part 1

Part 2

I think from ages 14 - 17 I couldn't have cared less about gardens.  It was simply a chore that my mother insisted on and in turn, I hated.  I wanted to be at the movies or the mall with my friends.  Cool kids didn't garden in my mind.  But it was always around, and as a child you seem to learn by osmosis.  Sucking in that information around you whether you realize it or not.  My mother would talk about her garden, there would be chores that required help and like it or not I seem to have picked up a thing or two.  During that period of time we moved.  We left the cold harsh winters of zone 2 and went south to the temperate rainforest that is coastal British Columbia.  I had to relieve myself of all those sweaters and parkas.  We were in zone 8!

My parents had retired and built a home on a wooded 5 acre lot located on the gulf island of Gabriola.  Immediately mom set to work to make herself a dream garden.  I think retirement agreed with her.  Cedar, dogwood, fir and hemlock surrounded an open meadow.  There was a pond and an old orchard which included apples and plums.  Daffodils and wildflowers, like trillium and blue eyed mary's, dotted the landscape.  Initially some rocks were dragged in to shore up the driveway, then some beds were added and quickly the garden began to take shape and expand.  However, just as quickly mom had to come to terms with deer.  There was just no getting away from them.  Rather than fussing with so called deer proof plants fences were erected around the entire house to keep them out of the beds.

Brick and wrought iron fencing surrounded the front of the house

Even fencing proved difficult with determined deer though.  Babies were able to squeeze through the spaces in the wrought iron fence pictured above.  One large female actually shimmied under the porch and squeezed through the small opening to gain access to the flowers.  One section that contained 10 foot high netting was torn by the deer to gain entry.  With each break and enter fixes would be made and weak spots in the barrier were sealed up.

When the fences were firmly in place the garden really gathered some steam.  A fountain, stream and water feature were added.  More and more plants continued to amass.  My mother, who acknowledged her growing age and arthritis, attempted to find options in her garden that would save her time and work.  When she began her beds she laid down good quality landscaping fabric, enthusiastically telling me it would save her from constant weeding.  I guess we all learned something from that garden.  While the landscaping fabric kept the weeds out initially it became a giant pain in the rear end all too quickly.  While weeds might not grow from underneath the fabric it doesn't stop them from landing on top of the fabric and taking root.  Removing these weeds then becomes virtually impossible as the roots become intertwined in the fabric.  Moving plants around also became a painful exercise as you would have to chop a hole in the fabric to open up a space for new plants.

Another trick my mother used, and one that worked much more favourably, to reduce work in the garden was to use seed bearing perennials that multiplied quickly and filled up empty spaces all on their own.  The garden took on a cottage look after several years as foxglove, rose campion, columbine and daisies aggressively seeded and coated the beds. 



After several years it became a cottage garden filled with self seeding perennials.

By the time I moved away from this home at age 20 I had started to come around to gardening again.  Watching tadpoles in the pond, birds bathing in the small stream and feeding from the flowers got me back in touch with nature.  I willingly began to help pick apples and plums and collect seed from plants like columbine and hollyhock. 

My parents sold this house 3 years ago and I regret now that I didn't take more photos of my mother's garden.  The photos I have included were taken just days before they moved.  But I am thankful for all that I learned while we lived there and the memories I have of that home.  From that garden sprung a garden of my own as I transplanted and took seeds to create my own patch of paradise.