Beautiful Garden: Spirit Garden, South Surrey, B.C.

Storyby Shauna Dobbie, photos by Joan Mara.

Joan and Jon’s home in Surrey, BC, is next to a half-acre lot with a couple of retention ponds. The ponds were built by an engineer who wanted something a little different for the storm water basin in the neighbourhood. (Most are just a grassy depression that fills up when it rains or in the spring.) Several years ago, Joan was looking at the area, then wildly grown over, and thought: this could be a beautiful garden.

She thought about it a lot, and eventually got permission to turn it into a garden. Fortunately, the two-pond engineer works for the city and was able to fund the material costs for a bit of infrastructure, so Joan and Jon just set about clearing the area in 2009.

Removing the old stuff took a year. There were brambles and weed grasses, dandelions and self-elected trees growing. It turned out there were some hidden treasures as well—rhododendrons and hydrangeas that were planted before the area was left to go wild. They saved these treasures and mowed the rest down. “I tried to help the grass come back to life. It looked brown, but I just treated it like grass. I watered it, I raked it, I cut it. And I just kept saying to it, "Look! You’re grass! You’re supposed to be green!”

Pink dianthus, the green foliage of Lady’s mantle and clean white cerastium.

Jon and Joan.

This is from the area before Joan and Jon got to work.

It turned out there were some hidden treasures as well—rhododendrons and hydrangeas that were planted before the area was left to go wild. They saved these treasures and mowed the rest down. “I tried to help the grass come back to life. It looked brown, but I just treated it like grass. I watered it, I raked it, I cut it. And I just kept saying to it, look! You’re grass! You’re supposed to be green!”

It worked. A year later the grass was green.

They started building flower beds. There was already an asphalt pathway Joan named Fairie Tale Lane. They laid river rock on the grass for where the retention ponds were, two bowls in the earth which fed out to a culvert and underground to a creek. Over the years they installed trellises and a second walkway of crushed stone, relying on city funds and grants. Last year they installed a primeval granite bench; this was a gift to the garden from the Maras.

They called it the Secret Garden at first. It wasn’t until a few years later (2013) that it became the Spirit Garden. At the time Joan was suddenly struck by a notion, it was like the garden was telling her what it wanted to be, what it needed to be: a garden to honour the people in our lives who have died.

I need to be careful here. It isn’t exactly a memorial garden. There are no plaques or names on site. The people honouring a lost loved one often have an informal ceremony at the planting of their tree or perennial, but the

Single marigolds and tickseeds reach out from behind big boulders.

Single marigolds and tickseeds reach out from behind big boulders. Flowers and foliage tumble over the rockery. ultimate intention is that it is a garden for the neighbourhood, where you can wander and look and smell and feel the beautiful things around you, and one thing that makes them more beautiful is that they were placed in memory of people who were loved. “It’s not so much a place to remember someone. It’s a place to come and find it easy to connect with them there,” Joan explains.

Sometime around the summer solstice they have an evening in the garden when candles are put in front of all the trees and plants that were placed in someone’s honour.

The candles look magnificent as the sun sets around them and the garden is eventually lit by them. It sounds magical.

Everyone can come and feel what they feel, whether it’s someone walking their dog or someone checking how the peonies are blooming or someone with a special tree they planted for a loved one. “There’s an amazing, wonderful mash-up of people in the garden,” Joan says. Followers from around the world have joined the Facebook group, from Asia, Central America, Europe and the US, and Canada, of course.

Peony kissed with rainwater.

Flowers and foliage tumble over the rockery.

The rough-hewn bench the Maras donated to the garden.

Pink phlox draws the eye.

Sea Serpent rising from the marshy bowl.

Candles at dusk during the solstice.

Ferns and bergenia cool off in the shade.

“It’s not so much a place to remember someone. It’s a place to come and find it easy to connect with them there,” Joan explains.

Phlox.

Dianthus in pink, white and red.

The garden is maintained by Jon and Joan and the occasional volunteer. Joan is the one who mows the grass weekly. She and Jon have placed every stone personally. So, what happens when they stop doing it?

“I don’t really worry about that,” she says. “The odd person has come through the garden and been very anxious about that.” People who are very concerned that the city should be supporting her more, or that Joan is being taken advantage of. She thinks, “Look! Find some joy!” And she laughs about it. If the garden should go back to nature some day after she’s gone, well, everything does eventually.

As for Surrey not giving the garden what it needs, Joan says she loves the city. They allow her to create this beautiful garden on this plot of land.

If you’re in the area, you can find the Spirit Garden South Surrey at 2860-140 Street. You can also visit the garden from anywhere on Facebook.

High in the picture, chocolate purple hellebores overlook white candytuft.

Check out the Facebook page for the Spirit Garden South Surrey community garden in Surrey, BC at https://www.facebook.com/SpiritGardenSouthSurrey/