Beautiful Gardens of Canada

Shelley and Gord Toews

Coaldale, Alberta

Shelley has been gardening since she was a little girl, about 45 years. When she was young, she pulled weeds, some of them as big as her.

She’s lived in Coaldale for three years.

“What I love about gardening is the joy it brings and how it can relax you just to get out in the yard and dig in the dirt. And you see all the results from your hard work. All the colours and sweet scents of the flowers.”

michael Ball

Brandon, manitoba

Michael has been gardening since he was a child, growing tomatoes and flowers. He’s been in his current home since 2012.

“I love gardening because I love producing some food. Fresh vegetables are the best and healthy. I use the product to make chili sauce and other foods. I like to watch the plants grow and being out in the sun on a hot summer’s day. I really love the brilliant colours of the flowers.”

Ron and Marlene Klassen

Outlook, Saskatchewan

Marlene has been gardening since she was a child, helping her mother on the farm in the 1960s, then in her own garden in 1973. From 2004 to 2019, they owned 40 acres in Pike Lake, Saskatchewan, where daughter Melanie Dyck helped grow perennials, fruit, trees and shrubs; they also had a pond. From there, the three moved to their current location.

“My love of gardening has provided mental respite from work demands over the years, the opportunity to be physically active and enjoy being outdoors in all seasons and the joy of celebrating nature through bountiful harvests, beautiful flowers and so many other gardening wonders that I’m truly grateful for.”

madeline and andy sherren

edmonton

Madeline took up gardening when they moved into their home 13 years ago. She and Andy have 11-year-old twins, Nina and Rio.

“I love providing my family with nourishing healing food and herbs. I'm currently enrolled at Wild Rose College to become a certified herbalist, and I'm passionate about growing my own food and herbs.”

Beverly and Curtis Penner

Glenora, Manitoba

Beverly grew up on a farm, watching her mother nurture the garden. When she and Curtis got married in 1981, she started her own garden on a rural lot. Then in 1987, she took over her mother-in-law’s vegetable and flower gardens, the fourth generation of Penners on the farm. They celebrated 100 years in 2017, and at that time passed the farm to the fifth generation, their daughter and her husband.

Beverly and Curtis moved to Rock Lake, Manitoba. The terrain is rocky with rolling hills, quite different from the flat prairie of the farm. “We had to adapt as we learned to adjust and correct washouts due to excess rains on slopes, how to keep deer, groundhogs and squirrels away and try to get grass to grow on shale and in the shade of many oak trees instead of rich black earth in the sunshine,” Beverly explains.

“I have always loved gardening because of the peacefulness that I feel while working outside. Whether it was the many, many hours spent mowing our large farmyard or now puttering on our lake front property, I find it both relaxing and rewarding.”

Jeff and Sarah Bergeron

Winnipeg

Jeff has been gardening for most of his 30 or so years. It was mostly container gardening as an adult, but this past year, he and Sarah and their kids Emily (age 9), Juliette (age 4) and William (age 3) rented a big 18-by-40-foot garden plot.

“Gardening for me is a very calming and therapeutic experience. I enjoy the magic of planting a seed and seeing if become a full mature plant that can provide food for my family and me. It’s also a great experience for the kids to get out to the garden and learn about hard work and where our food comes from.”

Lois Maclennan

Winnipeg

Lois is a retired speech and language pathologist who is a certified Master Gardener. She volunteered when the Oakview Place Long Term Home sought help for their gardens, which were weedy with brambles and overgrown bushes. “With the help of seven other master gardeners, staff, residents and community volunteers and high school students we have restored both the front and back green spaces during the past three summers,” she says.

This summer was challenging with COVID-19 regulations; the gardeners were allowed to do their work for two hours, once per week. Like us all, they managed, and the residents had beautiful gardens to be in when their families visited at a safe distance, outside the fence.

“Gardening gives me a sense of serenity and invigorates me in other areas of my life. Time slips by without awareness and allows one the opportunity to reflect and experience peace and happiness.”

Twyla and Luke Bartel

Rosenort, Manitoba

Twyla began gardening 23 years ago when she and Luke got married and bought their fiveacre farmyard. “The farm had a beautiful perennial garden which won my heart, but I was young, newly married, beginning a teaching career and we landed up re-landscaping the yard meaning many of the perennials did not survive. The first decade was a big learning curve as I tried to learn the art of gardening and it was filled with more failures than successes, especially with four little ones underfoot,” she says.

With the kids—Jennessa, Jayden, Kara and Collin—grown older, she’s been able to put more time into the garden, turning it into an oasis for the family to enjoy.

“I find being in the outdoors, surrounded by the beauty of flowers, to be very therapeutic. I also love color, art and design, with flowers being my favorite medium to create with!”

Joan and Paul Moore

Niagara Falls, Ontario

Aside from working in her parents’ vegetable garden, Joan really got going on gardening in 2005 in her own yard. She and Paul built a log house in 1989 and had a few shrubs, trees, goutweed and ivy at the time.

Her efforts have been recognized. After winning two gold prizes from the City of Niagara Falls for the street view of her yard, last summer, she won the Award of Excellence.

“Gardening is my down time with my thoughts. I also love colours and the new growth; I look for new buds or blooms coming and walk around the yard daily. Love seeing the birds at the feeder and hummingbirds in the yard. Even cutting the grass is preferred over cooking! Come winter, my houseplants come indoors and this also feeds my appetite for nature.”

Tammie-lee and doug rogowski

stonewall, manitoba

Tammie-Lee and Doug bought their acreage with over 100 oak trees and just one peony along the side of the bush in 1996. Other than that, it was a blank canvas. That is when she started to garden. Today, she and Doug live there with their daughter Caitlin and a number of pets; their son Michael has moved out.

“I am a creative person and I am a palliative care nurse; gardening feeds my soul. I have a need to see life in bloom to know I’ve created something beautiful. Gardening gives me a deep appreciation of the changing seasons, much like our own existence.”

Nicole Deibert

Edmonton

Nicole comes from a long line of gardeners, including her grandfather, mother and two aunts. She has been gardening in earnest since 2010, when she moved into her current house.

Just this fall she planted 80 bulbs, including allium, hyacinths and daffodils. She’s looking forward to spring.

“I love playing with leaf and flower textures and colours in my front yard. It’s so neat to see what you can accomplish with the available plants in your area. In my back yard, I grow my vegetable garden and fruit trees.”

lydia Skourides Péquegnat and Pete Péquegnat

Toronto

Lydia started gardening seven years ago, when she married and moved in with husband Pete. They called their yard The Secret Garden because Pete had neglected it for the first five years he lived there, claiming to have a black thumb. When Lydia arrived, she started to tame the impenetrable garden. In non-pandemic times, it makes a lovely waiting area for students and parents who come to her home for music lessons.

Lydia was itinerant for much of her life before marriage, going to school in Brandon, Manitoba and pursuing an opera career in Germany. “I have been in this house for 7 years. It's the longest I have ever lived in one place, so I really wanted to take the time to create a beautiful home,” she says. The couple live there with their young son, Xavier, and their two ginger cats.

“What I love about gardening is how therapeutic and creative it is. One of my other hobbies is sculpture with polymer clay. It tends to be very detailed and nit-picky; gardening allows me to create with a really big medium while having the sun on my back. The result is so satisfying: a little oasis in the middle of a busy city.”

Carol and Wayne Pate

Carstairs, Alberta

Carol started gardening when she was 10, helping her grandparents transplant seedlings in their greenhouse. It became a passion in her 20s to have colour and greenery wherever she lives, and it continues to this day. She and Wayne have lived in Carstairs for 10 years.

“Gardening gives us a sense of being one with nature. Growing your own food is very rewarding, and having flowers, trees and shrubs to view daily gives us a sense of accomplishment, plus provides a private oasis for rest and relaxation. As well, it exposes the world of birds and insects in more detail because of their relationship to the plants we provide for them. It is a great stress reliever to work in the dirt!”

Shane and Todd

Cooks Creek, Manitoba

Shane has lived on their hobby farm for 15 years. He made three raised beds in 2019 and added to them in 2020.

“Nothings more calming then coming home from a busy day and stopping to look at your garden on the way into your house. The enjoyment of watching it grow until the harvest, when you get to enjoy healthy tasty food that you yourself made happen! It is rewarding, for sure.”

Jennifer Grad

Toronto

Jennifer does some gardening, but the garden at her home was done when she and her dog, Cassidy, moved there seven years ago. She keeps it up with the help of a professional gardener.

“What I love about gardening is planting something small and then watching it grow and bloom over the years.”

Jean and Kirk Rutherford

Midland, Ontario

Photos by Darrell Richards

Kirk. As a child, she loved to play in the dirt of the family’s vegetable garden, which she continues to do now, after 43 years in their current home.

“Gardening is my therapy. Nothing better than being close to nature: fresh air and a great workout to recharge your body, mind and spirit.”