Canada's Local Gardener Volume 3 Issue 2 2022 by PegasusPublicationsInc

Official English Language Magazine

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Issue 2

2022 • 1

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Contents volume 3

Canada’s local Gardener

32 Dear gardeners and garden dreamers.....................4 A gardener’s colour guide..........................................6 Why do plants grow better in a greenhouse?.......14 Seed catalogues—ready, set, dream!....................16 Beautiful Gardens: Greg Auton, Brookside, Nova Scotia...................20 Colin and Leona Van Buskirk, Edmonton, Alberta............................................26 Denis Diotte and Richard Sarault, Gatineau, Quebec..............................................32

ISSUE 2, 2022

Garry and Brenda Hedberg, South Surrey, British Columbia.......................38 Todd Boland, St. John’s, Newfoundland............ 44 Lorna Woods, Moosomin, Saskatchewan........50 Maggie and Mike Connell, Durham Bridge, New Brunswick.....................55 Jonny Faykes, St. Andrew’s, Manitoba...............60 Pat Uptegrove, Victoria Cross, Prince Edward Island........................................66 Margie and Donnie McAlear, Matawatchan, Ontario....................................72 The Year of the Garden in Canada 2022................78

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2022 • 3

Dear gardeners and garden dreamers

ere is a collection of 10 of the best gardens we visited last year, one from every province. Feast your eyes and grow jealous of my amazing job. From west to east, first my mother, Dorothy Dobbie, and I visited Garry and Brenda Hedberg in Surrey, BC. Garry has the most lush and manicured garden and grows nine different varieties of bamboo. My mother was thrilled by his knowledge of plants and took a video of him and his wife, which is featured on our website. In Edmonton, we stopped in to visit Leona and Colin Van Buskirk. They have a beautifully laid out garden full of colourful annuals. Mom thought she’d seen this garden before, and we weren’t surprised to find out that we’d done Leona’s sister’s garden a couple of years earlier. Two very talented ladies from the same family. Saskatchewan took us to Lorna Woods’s ranch near Moosomin. This gifted lady has collected gorgeous pieces for her landscape and her pool house, which she found, installed and decorated on her own. And she did it all for free or for a very low cost. In Manitoba, Dorothy went to see Jonny Faykes’s garden, just outside of Winnipeg. It sounds like a wonder, with envelope-pushing bravery. A holly tree in Manitoba? This I hope to get to see in person one day. My husband, David Johnson, made the drive with me to Margie and Donnie McAlear’s garden, near Griffith, Ontario, located roughly between Kingston, Ottawa and Renfrew. The charming couple made us a gourmet vegan lunch and showed us around the cultivated parts of their 100 acres. I visited Denis Diotte’s garden in Gatineau, Quebec, on my own and was wowed by his incredible design, care and curation of trees, shrubs and foliage plants, with a few flowers for good measure. Denis and his partner Richard Sarault work tirelessly on this astonishing space and I was lucky to see it. I picked up my adult daughter Claire on my drive east. Just outside Fredericton, with the help of reader Karen Robinson, we had the great fortune to see the garden of Maggie Connell. It’s a rural property complete with chickens and turkeys, where Maggie and husband Mike grow every sort of vegetable you could want for your family, and they do it in a heart-stopping landscape amid flowers and painted signs. In Prince Edward Island, Claire and I visited Pat Uptegrove. She’s worked all over the world throughout her career but has chosen an old farmhouse in Montague to rebuild and, eventually, retire in. She takes on large-scale projects with finesse, intelligence and dogged determination. Claire and I also visited our Editorial Board member and regular contributor Greg Auton near Halifax. I hope, when I graduate to a larger garden than Toronto can give me, that I can begin to approach the fecundity of this man’s garden. The one province I didn’t visit this summer was Newfoundland. Another Editorial Board member and horticulturist at Memorial University’s Botanical Gardens, Todd Boland, tells the fascinating tale of his personal garden, full of shade species. I do hope to visit this garden in the future. Add to this a feature on colour and our seed catalogue review, and you have a very cozy afternoon of reading. I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Dreaming Shauna Dobbie Editor shauna@pegasuspublications.net 4 • 2022

Canada’s

Local Gardener Follow us online https://www.localgardener.net Facebook: @CanadasLocalGardener Twitter: @CanadaGardener Instagram: @local_gardener Published by Pegasus Publications Inc. President/Publisher Dorothy Dobbie dorothy@pegasuspublications.net Design Cottonwood Publishing Services Editor Shauna Dobbie shauna@pegasuspublications.net Art Direction & Layout Karl Thomsen karl@pegasuspublications.net General Manager Ian Leatt ian.leatt@pegasuspublications.net Contributors Todd Boland, Dorothy Dobbie, Shauna Dobbie. Editorial Advisory Board Greg Auton, John Barrett, Todd Boland, Darryl Cheng, Ben Cullen, Mario Doiron, Michel Gauthier, Larry Hodgson, Jan Pedersen, Stephanie Rose, Micheal Rosen and Aldona Satterthwaite. Advertising Sales 1.888.680.2008 Subscriptions Write, email or call Canada’s Local Gardener, 138 Swan Lake Bay, Winnipeg, MB R3T 4T8 Phone (204) 940-2700 Fax (204) 940-2727 Toll Free 1 (888) 680-2008 subscribe@localgardener.net One year (four issues): $35.85 Two years (eight issues): $71.70 Three years (twelve issues): $107.55 Single copy: $10.95; Beautiful Gardens: $14.95 150 years of Gardening in Canada copy: $12.95 Plus applicable taxes. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Department Pegasus Publications Inc. 138 Swan Lake Bay, Winnipeg, MB R3T 4T8 Canadian Publications mail product Sales agreement #40027604 ISSN 2563-6405

Canada’s Local Gardener is published four times annually by Pegasus Publications Inc. It is regularly available to purchase at newsstands and retail locations throughout Canada or by subscription. Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted. Publisher buys all editorial rights and reserves the right to republish any material purchased. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright Pegasus Publications Inc.

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2022 • 5

A gardener’s colour guide By Shauna Dobbie

A jumble of colours.

hen you’re new to ornamental gardening, you probably don’t think about what colours you’re putting together in a garden. Flowers all go together, right? But after you’ve been at it for a few years you begin to sense that some flowers look just a little more magical when placed side by side. They may go together softly, like a quiet evening whisper, or hit you between the eyes in the most exciting way. Getting everything just so takes some trial and error; two plants that bloom at the same time in the catalogues may not bloom at the same time in your garden. You can have a lot of fun trying to get it right and you may make some beautiful discoveries along the way. Neutrals White, black, grey and brown are neutrals in your wardrobe. In your garden, add green. These colours calm other colours. They can be used to separate others, to lighten the effect of contrast. In addition, white has special properties because it is so highly reflective. It is absolutely necessary in the night garden, where it shines like a beautiful beacon. Think about it in the classic red rose bouquet; it may be old fashioned, but a spray of baby’s breath still lifts an arrangement of red 6 • 2022

long-stems from meh to marvelous. Black and brown are less useful in this regard when you think of flowers and foliage. While there are certainly examples of both, they prove more useful in furniture and hardscaping. A brown fence virtually disappears. A black wall is a gorgeous backdrop for brightly coloured flowers. Grey is striking when it comes across as silver in plants. And green… in a garden, it is almost always there. It is the familiar hue, comforting in its ubiquity. Monochrome The simplest colour scheme to achieve is monochrome. You can have a garden where all the flowers are blue, or all pink or orange or whatever. The favourite type of monochrome garden is white, following on the famous example set by Vita Sackville-West at her home in Sissinghurst Castle. While planning a white garden is simple, it isn’t easy. Many “white” flowers are ever-so-slightly tinged with pink, peach or yellow. If you are the least bit particular, it can take a couple of years to erase the colour from your garden. For any colour, of course, your flowers will be variations of the colour you’re thinking of. Yellow, for instance, ranges from the delicate butter-yellow of a snapdragon to the more intense tone of a sunflower. Issue 2

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Knowing the colour wheel will help you understand how colours work together.

Analogous colours To discuss anything else, we’ll need a colour wheel. We’ll use a very simple wheel with six colours, with red, blue and yellow as the primary colours. Between the primary colours are purple, green and orange, which are the secondary colours you get when you mix two. To follow an analogous design scheme, choose flowers from any two colours on the wheel that appear side by side. Using colours that are related in likeness produces a harmonious look. It calms the mind and enables you to focus. Complements If you haven’t delved into colour theory this much, complementary colours may confuse you; it sounds like complimentary colours, which would be colours that say nice things about each other. A complement, with an e, is an opposite. Complementary colours are opposites on the colour wheel. Purple and yellow are complements, as are orange and blue. Red and green are complements, too, but because green is used as a neutral colour in gardening, you don’t see a red-green scheme used very often. Complementary colours almost vibrate when they’re together. It excites the mind and thrills the heart. Tints, shades, tones and values So, where does pink fit into the colour wheel? Or burgundy? They don’t. Not into the simple colour wheel, anyhow, because they are a tint and shade of red. A tint is when you mix a primary or secondary colour with white and a shade is when you mix in a little black. When you mix in both white and black, you get a tone. Another point of colour is saturation or value. Think of a lipstick versus a lip gloss. The hue may be the same, but the value for the lip gloss would be less saturated. A saturated hue is stronger. You can play with these aspects as you garden. They are particularly useful in staging a monochrome garden. Objects and foliage Colour can come from anything in the garden, not just flowers. You need to consider the walls of your house and your fence when working out a colour scheme. Think localgardener.net

Purple and pink are analogous.

The complementary colours of purple and yellow. Issue 2

2022 • 7

Eryngeum.

Analagous foliage colour.

Borage.

about new pots you can buy or paint. There are various objects in the garden that can add to your dream, from arbours and trellises to objects of art. And of course, there are the non-flower parts of plants. Foliage is not always green, and certainly not always emerald. There are limey hues and deep purple tones and silvery leaves. Some change with the seasons. Fruit at certain times of year brings interest, sometimes putting colour at the forefront. Think of the blue berries of certain viburnum or porcelain vine, the red berries of holly and the striking purple of callicarpa for those at the higher zones. Blue True blues are not common in the plant world; look at purples for more plants you tend to think of as blue. But those that are pure blue are showstoppers. In addition to the following, there are forget-me-nots. Meconopsis, the Himalayan blue poppy, is difficult to grow unless you are in a region it particularly loves. It requires well draining, slightly acidic clay loam and dappled shade. Success is limited in areas with hot summers. If you manage to grow them, get a perennial type. M. betonicifolia ‘Lingholm’ is one you can find a lot of seeds for. You are unlikely to find it as a bedding plant because it doesn’t transplant well. Good luck! Eryngium planum, or sea holly, is not too fussy and it is very hardy. It is a perennial that loves a dry, hot, sunny space. ‘Blue Glitter’ is an improvement over earlier cultivars, being more floriferous, but any you find at a nursery are recommendable. Centaurea cyanus, bachelor buttons or cornflowers, are annuals that self sow reliably. They also come in pink, lavender and dark purple. If you’re fussy about blue, look for the word in the cultivar name, like ‘Blue Boy’ or ‘Blue Diadem’.

8 • 2022

Issue 2

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Heliopsis.

Bells of Ireland.

Borago officinalis, better known as borage, has the most lovely blue flowers if you get the species plant or some of the many cultivars. It is an annual that grows in partial or full sun, reaching heights of 1 to 3 feet. Hydrangea macrophylla and Hydrangea serrata can be blue, depending on the variety you get and the acidity of the soil. You cannot change the colours of other types of hydrangeas, and these hydrangeas are not the super hardy ones, H. paniculata, that you find on the prairies. There are no blue H. paniculata. Green Moluccella laevis, better known as bells of Ireland, are one of the few truly green flowers grown by gardeners. They are annuals and mostly grown by seed. There are a few other particular varieties of hydrangeas, hellebores and amaranth with green blooms, but by and large, your greens will come from foliage. Yellow So many yellow flowers! Here are a few of our favourites, the ones we think of when we think “yellow flowers”. Ligularia, many species and hybrids. They range from the varieties of L. dentata, which are daisy-shaped blooms, to the others, which are tall spires of sunshine in the shade. Hardiness varies. There are a few tall types that are hardy to Zone 3b, while the L. dentata are typically hardy to Zone 2. Achillea, or yarrow. Sun-loving and carefree yarrow comes in various colours, but the yellows are spectacular. From the light, creamy ‘Anthera’ to the sulphuric ‘Moonshine’, it’s an old-fashioned perennial that fills in a garden beautifully. Thunbergia is the annual (for most of us) black-eyed Susan vine. It grows in sun or part sun and climbs up any kind of support. localgardener.net

Pale yellow yarrow.

Ligularia ‘The Rocket’. Issue 2

2022 • 9

Tagetes.

Hemerocallis ‘Frans Hals’.

Orange petunias and cuphea. 10 • 2022

Heliopsis is well-known by its Latin name and by its common name, false sunflower. With numerous cultivars, many of them hardy to Zone 3, it is native from the south of Saskatchewan and east. Helianthus annuus, the sunflower. There are so many of this annual to choose from, how do we begin to suggest one or two? Sunflowers need a sunny area and they will grow fairly fast. They range in height from 1 to 10 feet tall. Orange Coming somewhere between the yellows and the reds, we’ve made our few suggestions that are a true and even mixture of the two. Hemerocallis is known for the ubiquitous orange ditch lily, the daylily that has overtaken country lanes so prolifically. Those invasive ones have been supplanted by betterbehaved orange daylilies, such as ‘Bright Sunset’, ‘Primal Scream’ and ‘Rocket City’. A favourite is ‘Siloam Peony Display’, which is a double in soft orange. Daylilies thrive across the country, take very little care and at least a little sun. Avens, commonly called geums, are an underused perennial that are typically listed as hardy to Zone 4 or 5 in Canada. The colour ranges to fiery reds, but a favourite is ‘Totally Tangerine’. Tagetes, or marigolds, are making a comeback in garden favour. The shorter French marigolds (T. patula) and taller African marigolds (T. erecta) are the annual that speaks of late summer and hangs on through to frost. Yes, they come in yellow and with red bands, but the orange varieties like ‘Savannah Sun’ truly warm the cockles of our hearts. Asclepias tuberosa is known as butterfly weed or orange milkweed. If you are in an area where monarch butterflies spend the summer, this is an important flower to have in your garden. It is a carefree perennial that some people call invasive, though it is native through much of the prairies, and how can a native plant also be considered invasive? Keep it in the sun. Issue 2

localgardener.net

Salvia splendens.

Red In addition to the roses, poppies, tulips and snapdragons that come in red, here are some less-known flowers. Lobelia cardinalis, or cardinal flower, is a native perennial in southern Saskatchewan and east through New Brunswick. It isn’t particular about sun or shade but it will not tolerate drought. This plant often grows on riverbanks and may survive in standing water. And if you can grow it where you are, it will reward you with blooms from spring through fall in the most beautiful, clear red colour. Salvia splendens is also known as scarlet salvia. It is a shorter spike used as an annual in Canada. It isn’t too fussy about where you put it or what you do with it. Not too long ago, it was everywhere in public plantings, but now, it’s harder to find. Amaranthus caudatus. Its old-fashioned name, love lies bleeding, is positively Victorian. Growing this annual will get some oohs and aahs from visitors, with its dreadlockstyle tassels of flowers. It grows from part shade to full sun and is drought tolerant. Purple Lilac. Lavender. Many clematis. Most bellflowers. Alliums, iris, veronica, nepeta. So many flowers start out as purple or have shades and tints of purple among their cultivars. Here are a few we don’t see often enough today: Heliotropium arborescens, commonly shortened to heliotrope. The heavenly scent of cherry pie wafting from these annuals on a hot evening makes them well worth growing! They are perennial in the deep south, but here we grow them happily as annuals. It likes full sun, full-draining water, and plenty of food. Liatris spicata or blazing star is native to Ontario and Quebec and is hardy across Canada. It favours sun and moist, sandy loam. Drought tolerant! Agastache or anise hyssop. Another sun-loving perennial spike hardy across the country, but this one will do almost as well in part shade. If you have soil that tends toward the alkaline, this is a plant that will do well for you. localgardener.net

Liatris.

Heliotrope. Issue 2

2022 • 11

Monarda.

Callicarpa, or beauty berry, is limited to the very southern areas of Ontario and the coast of BC. The flowers aren’t much to look at, but the berries cluster around the branches in the most stunning and clear tone of purple you can imagine. Think of Thrills gum. Pink Softer than red but you cannot deny its punch. Think of echinacea, cherry blossoms, and so many varieties of dianthus, commonly called pinks, that the flower gave the colour its name. Spirea, magnolia, rose of Sharon, phlox, and herbaceous peonies that aren’t white or red. Monarda or bergamot. This yummy-smelling ragamuffin flower comes in tones of pink, purple and red, and in every height from 1 to 4 feet tall. It isn’t fussy about soil type, as long as it’s not too acidic, or water, and it does well in every kind of light from full sun to part shade. Penstemon, sometimes known as beardtongue. Comes in many colours, but the ones we’re thinking of are the

Cimicifuga. 12 • 2022

Bleeding heart.

Penstemon.

diminutive P. barbatus ‘Elfin Pink’, which is less than a foot tall, and great for hot, dry sites to at least Zone 4. ‘Dark Towers’ has darker pink blooms with burgundy foliage and is taller, but also good to at least Zone 4. Dicentra or bleeding heart. Some of the bleeding hearts formerly known as Dicentra are now Lamprocapnos, but they have a similar look and require similar care. They like a bit of shade, and the old-fashioned ones will thrill at the beginning of summer. Most grow from 1 to 3 feet high. White Think of any flower that has been very popular in the last 40 years and chances are, there is a white variety. There are a few that come only in white, like candytuft and edelweiss. Just about every plant species listed above has a commercially available white variant, except for heliopsis, ligularia and bells of Ireland. (And the actual flowers of bells of Ireland are white; the green part we tend to think of as flowers are the calyces.) Even sunflowers and monarda come in white. o

Lily of the valley.

Anemone canadensis. Issue 2

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2022 • 13

Why do plants grow better in a greenhouse?

gardener without a greenhouse is a bit like a cook without a stove. Yes you can manage, improvise and still be creative, but the greenhouse facilitates much more than you might imagine. A greenhouse allows you to concoct the most divine combinations for your garden, to experiment with your ingredients and nurture the most wonderful plants. It supports your plants in a nurturing, caring environment and provides just the right conditions for plant growth. The relationship between a gardener and their greenhouse is emotional; of that there is no doubt. But there’s solid science behind the benefits of the greenhouse. And it’s not all about your plants. A greenhouse is a haven for the gardener, a place to practice horticultural alchemy, and provides space for mindfulness activities as well as lifting the spirits on those wet, cold, dull days we so often experience. It’s a shelter from the weather, a place for quiet reflection and somewhere away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Lungs of the planet But when it comes to your plants, the greenhouse is a catalyst. Cast your mind back to school when we learned about how plants make food in their leaves. Like all great food production even plants need the finest ingredients; quality ingredients that a greenhouse enhances. First they need light as the energy source for the photosynthesis process and a greenhouse harnesses the power of the sun through its glass panels. Without light your plants cannot grow. It’s as simple as that. A greenhouse amplifies the light and also provides a protected place for your plants to grow. Plants need water, which the attentive gardener will provide to their plants, and they also need carbon dioxide, which is present in the air. The water molecules in the reaction are broken down and release oxygen into the atmosphere. Plants use the carbon dioxide and make carbon chains in the form of sugars and plant

14 • 2022

Bespoke lean to style greenhouse by Hartley Botanic.

foods which they use to fuel growth and store the carbon chains in the structure of their leaves and fibres making them into virtual carbon sinks. That’s why planting trees and growing plants is good for the planet. As long as there is good ventilation and airflow in your greenhouse there will be plenty of carbon dioxide. Remember, in the absence of light (at night) your plants will respire and produce carbon dioxide that will enrich the air in your greenhouse with CO2 and this will be used when the sun rises by the plants for photosynthesis. And the waste product from photosynthesis is oxygen and that is why trees and plants are regarded as the lungs of our planet. In a nutshell the greenhouse provides, enhances and supports the Issue 2

perfect conditions for photosynthesis, the method in which plants make food and grow. Plant needs Warmth and humidity promote plant growth. Plants need moisture, warmth and light to grow. A greenhouse stabilizes the growing environment by buffering the ambient temperature and protecting the plants from extreme cold. This protection extends the growing season at both ends, so in late winter and early spring it enhances the growing conditions for plants and allows them to start into growth earlier than they would when growing outdoors. This enables the greenhouse gardener to sow earlier and reap the benefits of the extended growing season, with earlier flowers and harvest. By sowing successionally, localgardener.net

Inside the Victorian Grand Manor greenhouse.

a few seeds every couple of weeks, a greenhouse grower can reap a harvest well into autumn especially by using the greenhouse environment to nurture late-sown seedlings. Minimizing problems The greenhouse can also protect your plants from a range of pests and diseases. By keeping on top of small pest outbreaks, your greenhouse can become an oasis free from flying pests such as adult aphids, egg-laying butterflies and all manner of other plant munchers. You won’t keep them all out because your ventilation provision will allow some access, but you can minimize problems significantly and also utilise a range of biological controls that can virtually be confined to your greenhouse growing space where they can deal naturally with any pest outbreaks without the need for toxic chemicals. That means you can grow organic produce for the family too! Some plant diseases such as blight can be minimized by growing tomatoes in a greenhouse environment. The fungal spores are less likely to reach your plants and the growing conditions inside the greenhouse are less conducive for the fungi to infect your plants. By choosing blight resistant varieties you can virtually eradicate the chance of tomato blight on localgardener.net

The Victorian Lodge greenhouse.

your greenhouse crops, which is a huge advantage over growing outside. But the benefits of the greenhouse are more than the sum of their parts. Add up the positive vibes, health giving properties and the way a greenhouse enhances your growing potential and, to be honest, there are few other ways to improve your gardening, your garden and your life so easily. Ask any greenhouse owner what they would do differently and they will all say buy a size bigger than you think you need and invest in a quality greenhouse every time. You Issue 2

won’t regret it and you really won’t be disappointed. o

Scan me Check out Hartley Botanic greenhouses here.

https://hartley-botanic.com 2022 • 15

Seed catalogues— ready, set, dream! All the seed catalogues in Canada that we could find.

A’Bunadh Seeds abunadhseeds.ca This little seed grower from Cherhill, Alberta, produces over 150 types of tomato seeds on her farm, as well as all the other vegetables, and a few flowers. She specializes in Zone 2b growing. AgroHaitai Ltd. agrohaitai.com Lynden, Ontario company specializing in Asian vegetable seeds. They sell edible loofa, hairy gourd, stem mustard and others.

16 • 2022

Annapolis Seeds annapolisseeds.com Started by a high-school student, this Nova Scotia company now offers over 500 vegetables, herbs, flowers and grains, many of them uncommon. Atlantic Pepper Seeds pepperseeds.ca If you grow peppers this is a seed house you need to look at. Family owned and operated out of New Brunswick since 2001, they started with chilis and have grown from there to over 800 varieties per year. Issue 2

BC’s Wild Heritage Plants bcwildheritage.com All plants are native to BC; no cultivars and few traditional vegetables. Good place to look if you want a native plant, but it must be native to BC. Plant list includes edibles like wild strawberry and huckleberry. Berton Seeds Company Ltd bertonseeds.ca An Italian seed company in Canada. Over 150 varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs, all imported from Italy. They do bird products, too. localgardener.net

Bird and Bee birdandbee.ca Mostly vegetable seeds collected from their farm near Ottawa. Brother Nature brothernature.ca Brothernature Organic Seeds carries a healthy & highly diverse selection of sought after, unique and standard varieties of Certified Organic Annual, Perennial, Herb & Vegetable Seeds. Germination Tested. Free Shipping on orders over $30.00. Casey’s Heirloom Tomatoes caseysheirloomtomatoes.ca Casey started growing a few tomatoes when he was teaching in Japan several years ago. His hobby became a bit of an obsession, and now he grows tomatoes (and a few peppers) in his back yard in Airdrie; he saves seeds and sells them online. That’s it. Cochrane Family Seeds cochranefamilyfarm.com Operated by the Cochrane Family Farm in Upper Stewiacke, Nova Scotia. They grow only organic certified, open pollinated and heirloom plants. They have a selection of vegetable, herb and flower seeds. Eagleridge Seeds eagleridgeseeds.com They sell rare and endangered heirloom seeds. If you’ve never heard of earth chestnuts, well, you can get them here. Early’s Farm and Garden Centre earlysgarden.com Early’s has been serving Saskatchewan growers with quality products and expert advice for over 110 years. Early’s has one of the largest garden seed selections available all year long! Perfect for spring prep, or winter indoor gardening too! While placing your seed order on their website, you can check out their other gardening supplies, as well as lawn, yard care, pet and livestock items as well! Eternal Seed eternalseed.ca They provide heirloom vegetable, herb and flower seeds. These are varieties grown for flavour, not storlocalgardener.net

age. They are a totally independent, B.C. owned farm based company focused on offering varieties that grow well in Canada and taste the best on your plate or in your hand. Special offer for Canada's Local Gardener readers – use code Canlocal to receive 10% off orders over $15. Ferncliff Gardens ferncliffgardens.com Dahlias! Dahlias! Celebrating their 102nd year providing Canadian gardeners with premium Dahlias! Located in Mission, BC, Ferncliff Gardens’ catalogue is a wonder to behold. If you are a serious collector of dahlias, this is the place to go. If you are new to dahlias, consider one of their special collections; you’ll be hooked! Florabunda Seeds florabundaseeds.com Since 1999 Florabunda Seeds has specialized in Non GMO, Non Hybrid, Untreated, Interesting & Unusual, Heirloom Flower, Vegetables & Herb seeds. Free catalogue upon request. Full Circle Seeds fullcircleseeds.com All organic, all grown at ALM Farm in Sooke, BC, which is on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Good Food Garden goodfoodgarden.ca This farm outside Vankleek Hill, Ontario, sells seeds from Matchbox Garden, High Mowing, West Coast and their own organic seeds. They have all the usual vegetable and flower seeds. Seeds ordered ship within 48 hours! Greta’s Organic Gardens seeds-organic.com Interesting looking and tasty heirloom vegetables, all organic, located in Ottawa. They sell some flower seeds, too. Halifax Seed Company halifaxseed.ca Canada’s oldest family owned and operated seed company - established in 1866. Halifax Seed offers quality seeds and gardening supplies. Vegetable, Issue 2

flower and herb seed, all GMO-free and untreated along with organic options too. Operating two retail garden centres in Halifax, Nova Scotia & Saint John, New Brunswick. Catalogue available via mail or check out their website and easily order online – ships Canada wide. Harmonic Herbs harmonicherbs.com Located in Central Alberta, this company specializes in fast-growing seeds on a smaller scale. They offer mail order and sell their seeds (Norseeds) in a handful of stores in Calgary, Edmonton and Grand Prairie. Hawthorn Farm Organic Seeds hawthornfarm.ca Growers of organic heirloom and organic farm selected seeds. Open-pollinated, Non-GMO seeds for the home and market gardener across Canada. Certified organic by Pro-Cert. Heritage Harvest Seed heritageharvestseed.com This Fisher Branch, Manitoba company has some of the most unique vegetables imaginable. If you’ve never seen reisetomate tomatoes, look it up. Hope Seeds and Perennials hopeseed.com Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia seedproducer. About 75 percent of their seeds come from their own production and their grower network. Howard Dill Enterprises howarddill.com The home of Dill’s Atlantic Giant pumpkins. If you want pumpkins, squash or gourds, definitely take a look. Incredible Seed Company incredibleseeds.ca A young family on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. In addition to the usual flowers, herbs and veggies, they offer tree and shrub seeds. Kitchen Table Seed House kitchentableseedhouse.ca Certified organic vegetable, flower and herb seeds specializing in regionally adapted, flavourful heirlooms and new varieties with exceptional culinary possibilities. 2022 • 17

La ferme cooperative Tourne-Sol fermetournesol.qc.ca Certified organic seed company in Les Cedres, Quebec. They grow 70 percent of their seeds and another 10 percent are grown by local farmers. Have you ever seen black popcorn? They have it. La Finquita lafinquita.ca Looking for seeds for pigweed or chickweed or dandelion? They are available here. Cold-hardy greens, medicinals, wild edibles and a few more common varieties. Lindenberg Seeds lindenbergseeds.ca This is one company that still does things the old fashioned way. You can order their print catalogue of new and unusual varieties along with old favourites on their website. This Manitoba company started in 1935 with the philosophy that supplying quality seed at a fair price was the best value. They purchase their seeds from reliable growers and test and retest them to keep quality high. Manhattan Farms manhattanfarms.ca Billing itself as “seeds for city farmers”, this Vernon, BC company is a good starting point for new gardeners or gifts for wannabe gardeners. And the packets are beautiful watercolour illustrations. Mapple Farm mapplefarm.com “A modest source of seed and plant stock, grown well off the beaten track.” This Weldon, New Brunswick company sells mostly tomatoes and squash with a few other things thrown in. And they sell sweet potato slips! Matchbox Garden and Seed Company matchboxgarden.ca Certified organic seeds and seedlings. Garden education. They specialize in open pollinated, heirloom, and rare varieties for the home and market gardener. 18 • 2022

Metchosin Farm Seeds metchosinfarm.ca Organic seeds from the southern tip of Vancouver Island. This company will send you potato seed, which is different from seed potatoes, so you can grow brand new varieties of spuds! Mount Royal Seeds mountroyalseeds.com Mostly trees and shrubs, most of them native. They sell to bonsai enthusiasts, too. Naramata Seed Company naramataseedco.ca Okanagan Valley seed company. Good selection of veggies and a few flowers. Norton Naturals nortonnaturals.com Small selection of native perennial vegetables. Jerusalem artichokes and ramps as well as hog peanuts and camassia quamash. Good place to visit if you’re starting a food forest. OSC oscseeds.com Ontario Seed Company is over 125 years old. They sell seed for everything from your home vegetable garden to major construction projects. Perfectly Perennial perfectlyperennial.ca Perfectly Perennial, located in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, is a social enterprise company that grows and distributes locally adapted seeds for vegetables, herbs and flowers, as well as offering garden workshops and design services; Perfectly Perennial is supporting several initiatives to help expand local food security. Prairie Garden Seeds prairiegardenseeds.ca Most of the seeds they offer are grown at the family farm near Cochin, Saskatchewan. They have a brand new website you can order from, though it is still possible to print the form and order by mail with a cheque. They offer a wide variety of cultivars from many different vegetable, grain and seed crops, and flowers. They have one of the largest cereal grains and broad beans of any seed catalogue. Issue 2

Rainbow Seeds rainbowseeds.ca Family owned and operated farm near Fundy Park in New Brunswick. They offer a selection of vegetable and flower seeds. Ravensong ravensongseeds.com Artisan seed company in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, BC. They’re conscientious about growing and selecting seeds for sale. Wide variety of herbs, including uncommon plants like salal and poke root. Renee’s Garden reneesgarden.com The company with the really pretty, artist-rendered seed packets. Easy to order, but do so in advance because it takes a couple of weeks to get to us in Canada. Richters Herbs richters.com If there’s a kind of herb you’re looking for and Richters doesn’t have it, you must have dreamed it. Located in Goodwood, Ontario, north of Toronto. Sage Gardens sagegarden.ca A strong selection of vegetable varieties from this Manitoba company, as well as flowers and herbs. Salt Spring Seeds saltspringseeds.com Since 1986, they have been encouraging gardeners to grow their own food, medicine, seeds and beauty! They grow all their seeds organically, with over 500 varieties to choose from and specialize in beans, grains and medicinal herbs. Seeds of Imbolc seedsofimbolc.ca This Fergus, Ontario company grows all seeds organically on the premises and offers 31 varieties of heirloom tomatoes as well as many heirloom vegetables and flowers. Silver Creek Nursery silvercreeknursery.ca This company sells trees, not seeds, but localgardener.net

they do ship across Canada (except BC and Newfoundland, owing to CFIA regulations) from their Wellesley, Ontario nursery. They sell fruit trees and berry bushes. Soggy Creek Seed Co. seeds.soggycreek.com This is a homestay and vegan sanctuary for goats, ducks and turkeys in Nipissing Valley, Ontario. They offer a few varieties of seeds in funky packets. Solana Seeds solanaseeds.netfirms.com More than 200 varieties of tomatoes are available from this Quebec company. Check out their “other” section for a variety of edibles you may never have heard of. Stems Flower Farms edgebrookfarm.ca “Located just outside Cookstown, Ontario (formerly as Edgebrook Farm) this company has more than doubled its vegetable seed offering over last year and continues to offer a huge number of flower seeds, in support of its cut flower business. They have 22 varieties of calendula!” Stokes Seeds stokeseeds.com/ca Proudly Canadian since 1981, Stokes Seeds is a leading supplier of the highest quality of seeds with delivery across the country. Offering one of the largest selections of vegetable, perennial, annual and herb seeds, all quality tested to thrive in Canadian gardens. Visit their website to order online or request a catalogue or to find all your seed growing and gardening accessories! Showcasing many new variety introductions and special collections, you won’t want to miss checking out stokeseeds.com. Sunshine Farm sunshinefarm.net Sunshine Farm is both a seed company and a centre for vocational development for adults in the Community Living Sector. The farm provides a mixed setting for hands-on experience with a multitude of activities. They focus on respecting the rights of the localgardener.net

individual and building self respect. Their seeds are certified organic in BC, PACS 16-504. T&T Seeds ttseeds.com T&T of Headingley, Manitoba, has been open since 1946 and is a good, reliable place to order seeds and plants from. They operate a full garden centre, so you can get planting supplies and household things like cherry pitters and hand soaps. Tatiana’s Tomatobase tatianastomatobase.com “One of the largest privately owned and privately funded seed banks in North America.” They have over 4000 varieties of seed, mostly tomatoes. Located in Columbia Valley, BC. Terra Edibles terraedibles.ca Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes! Separated by colour on the website. ‘Banana Legs’, ‘Osu Blue’ and ‘Emerald Green’, to name but a few; photos and descriptions help in your online shopping experience. Located in Foxboro, Ontario, Terra Edibles has been serving customers since 1993. They also offer many choices of other vegetables (especially beans), and herbs and flowers. The Seed Company theseedcompany.ca Located in downtown St. John’s, Newfoundland, this company started in 1925. Now operated by the greatgrandson of the founder, they sell a variety of seeds. Urban Harvest uharvest.ca/shop Toronto company providing organic and heirloom seeds chosen for urban gardeners. Urban Tomato urbantomato.ca Tomato and other seeds offered by a Peterborough urban farmer. Veseys Seeds veseys.com For 80 years this company has operIssue 2

ated out of a farm on PEI. They have a wide selection of a wide variety of seeds plus bulbs, starter plants and gardening products. Plus they have a guarantee that says, if you aren’t satisfied, they’ll replace the product they sent you. West Coast Seeds westcoastseeds.com West Coast gets seeds from a variety of farms and ships them out. The company is certified organic, but not all of their farms are; it costs too much for some folks. You can get a wide variety of seeds from these guys. WH Perron www.dominion-seed-house.com/en/ Formerly Dominion Seeds. WH Perron sells seeds for every kind of plant imaginable. Wild Rose Heritage Seed wildroseheritageseed.com Lethbridge company offering heirloom varieties of vegetables and herbs. William Dam Seeds damseeds.com Since the 1950s this company has operated out of Ancaster, Ontario. They were the first registered seed company in Canada to feature a line of certified organically grown seeds in 2000. Today they offer a few selections of all the vegetable, herbs, flowers, climbers, grasses and a few bulbs besides. Zappa Seeds zappaseeds.com A Waterloo and Brampton, Ontario, family-owned company offering a wide variety of vegetable seeds for all types of cuisines. Looking for bitter cucumber? This is the place. ••• We believe this list is up to date as we go to press. We aim to include every English-speaking seed order business in Canada that delivers across the country. If we have missed any, or if any are no longer in business, please let us know. Email shauna@pegasuspublications.net. o 2022 • 19

The sand spread between the raised beds helps keep down the weeds, and any that get through can easily be pulled. 20 • 2022

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Greg makes ample use of whatever he can scrounge, like straw, for mulch.

Beautiful Gardens Greg Auton

Brookside, Nova Scotia

Story and photos by Shauna Dobbie

s Greg shows people his garden, he doles out his matter-of-fact information with the understated excitement and pride of a horticulturist. He’s not a horticulturist, though; he doesn’t spend more than an hour per week in the garden, except at planting or harvesting, and he has a full-time job in the city, with an hour commute each way. But he grows a huge portion of his family’s produce

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in an area carved out of Nova Scotia brush, protected by 6-foot page-wire fences. And besides that, he does podcasts and videos for his website Maritime Gardening. How does one person manage all that? The 50-by-50-foot space is very tidy, with sand about 5 inches deep between (mostly) rectangular beds. He confesses that he did weed the sand walkways before we came to make it more photoIssue 2

Scan me Check out a video here and see how Greg’s garden was doing this fall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOhLVI8Rgoo

genic, but by and large, the sand keeps the weeds at bay without much help. The beds are defined by logs, boards or stones. Some are less rectangular, hugging the curves of the border. Outside of the fenced-in garden, he may try something in the wild areas. One year he mowed the weeds, put some seed potatoes down and covered it all with straw in the spring; in fall, he harvested a respectable number of potatoes. Last year he grew a couple of pumpkins just outside the bed. On the way to the fenced area, he has four hugelkultur beds where he plants vegetables that aren’t bothered by deer and rabbits, which are common visitors. (Hugelkultur beds are built by 2022 • 21

An overview of the mini farm.

laying down logs, topping them with smaller and smaller pieces of wood and grass and eventually compost.) How does he spend so little time in the garden? For one thing, he mulches heavily. This works in Nova Scotia, where he can expect annual precipitation of 1,467 millimetres; Winnipeg, by comparison, gets only 514 millimetres per year. That much rain and snow means he doesn’t have to water very often. And in addition to keeping in moisture, mulching means fewer weeds grow and they’re easier to pull if he wants them gone. Once the plants get big enough, they shade the weeds to keep them down. About half of what Greg grows is root vegetables, all of which store well. Potatoes he can leave in the ground until his garage is cool enough to store them. Carrots and parsnips can stay in the ground until just before it is frozen; in fact, they get sweeter with the cold. He grows these and Jerusalem artichokes, beets, and lots and lots of garlic. Garlic is a plant that gives to the grower twice; everybody knows you can harvest the bulbs in late summer, but Greg also harvests the scapes. Garlic sends up a stem, and when the long flower bud at the end curls around into a complete circle, you can cut them back. The scapes taste like a milder version of garlic cloves and Greg puts them in lots of his cooking. He also makes pesto out of them that he can freeze for use all year round. The

Greg shows off one of his beets. 22 • 2022

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A firepit in the yard is good for family evenings.

bulbs of garlic that he harvests later, of course, keep indefinitely. He also grows a lot of kale and other greens. Kale is ideal because it can be chopped and frozen and it doesn’t turn to mush when you use it later. Greg also devotes parts of the garden to lettuce, which his wife Joy loves, and sorrel, which has the advantage of being perennial. He usually grows collard greens, but this year he gave cabbage a try instead. Some insect got into the cabbage, though, making it a pain to clean, and next year he’s going back to collards. Beans, peas, broccoli, squash and tomatoes round out the mini farm nicely, and he has an apple tree and a full bed of strawberries for freezer jam. His raspberries are coming along after a couple of years and he expects to have enough to make some jam next season. He has blueberries growing, too. And oh, I forgot to mention the zucchini and onions. And asparagus. Dill, lovage and parsley. (Other herbs grow next to the house.) And there is one small bed where he grows irises and tulips, for Joy. One stunning thing about Greg’s approach to gardening is that he plants everything from seeds, and he does it all directly into the garden. To those of us who fussed with grow lights and leggy tomatoes last year, this sounds like sacrilege, or maybe like we’ve been lied to. But he does put the effort in to warming up the beds early and getting localgardener.net

Supports for cucumbers. Issue 2

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A couple of swings near the entry to the garden. You can see the hugelkultur beds here.

things going under hoop houses. He builds them out of 1-by-3, remesh (a bendable sheet of wire laid in a grid), and poly sheeting. It is remarkably easy if you follow his video. He spends very little money on his garden. Part of the savings is owing to sponsorships from Veseys Seeds and Safer’s products for maritimegardening.com, but he doesn’t put money into buying compost or topsoil. He mulches with yard waste, which he picks up from the ends of people’s driveways. It’s not an agreement; he pilfers bags put out for municipal pickup. Does the yard waste contain weeds? Absolutely. But he piles it on thick enough that it doesn’t matter too much. The weeds that do grow, he will just pull and leave on top of the bed as new mulch. Greg is an inspiration to gardeners everywhere, especially those who are lazy or time strapped. His message is simple: do what needs to be done, don’t bother with what doesn’t need it, and in the end you will eat well. o Scan me To see more of Greg Auton’s garden scan here! https://www.localgardener.net/garden-of-greg-auton/

Kale is a fixture in the garden and in the family’s diet. 24 • 2022

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The front of the Van Buskirks’s house.

Beautiful Gardens

Colin and Leona Van Buskirk Edmonton

Story by Dorothy Dobbie, photos by Dorothy and Shauna Dobbie

he first thing we notice upon driving up to the home of Colin and Leona Van Buskirk was a sense of déjà vu. Had we been here before? The second thing is a wave of beautiful sun-tolerant lobelia spilling over the edges of three attractive planters. This display sets the stage for what is to come: a journey 26 • 2022

through meticulous planning and planting outside this Edmonton home. The yard is a vision of well-balanced grooming: shrubs are neatly pruned and shaped, the curved beds are carefully planned, with low plants at the front, harmonious colour schemes, and careful attention to texture and form. These virtues are all lacking in my own tumultuous garden, so I gaze with wonder and admiration. It is late June in Alberta and peonies are in their full glory. Everything is lush and brilliantly green, except the blue spruce, which are decidedly blue, contrasting with the bright yellow-green of a northern lawn well fed with summer sunlight. A blue nesting spruce is edged with pink geraniums, set off by deeper blue lobelia and clumps of white. Leona has an eye for balance. Well planned annuals baskets are set among the perennials at heights that please the eye. Yellow and magenta, deep blue and white seem to be made for each other. This is clearly the work of a skillful gardener and Leona confesses that indeed she is a scrupulous gardening planner. She escorts us to her front door to show us a portfolio of her carefully kept records and planting maps, every detail recorded over yards of plantings. Plant names are precise: Hosta ‘Blue Elegans’ (note: blue-green leaves and white flowers) is placed in front Issue 2

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Every perfect plant in its perfect place.

Lobelia spill out over the edges of their planters. localgardener.net

A small foot bridge leads you around the side yard. Issue 2

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Decoration adds an Asian flair.

View of the verdant front yard. 28 • 2022

of Heuchera ‘Purple Palace’, flanked by Arctic phlox and low-growing sedum. That is just the front row. This part of the map is five plantings deep, each chosen according to height, colour, spread and sometimes the date of the planting. It is an incredible guide to the garden. As we leave the front steps, I spy something that sets bells ringing: a unique water fountain that I have only seen once before, in Edmonton, its mirror-like exterior and shape unmistakable. “Have we done your garden before?” I ask in bewilderment, although I know that where I had seen the fountain in the past was not a corner lot as is this one. Colin chuckles. “That was Leona’s sister,” he declares. “You covered her garden two years ago.” Memories of Laura Lucyshyn, her husband, Steve, and the two little grandsons they babysat come flooding back. The garden was very different in some ways but very similar in style and sensibility. It was not as large as this garden, although just as lovely. And the badge of sisterhood is that sparkling fountain. Steve got a deal on four of these some years ago and gave one to Leona and Colin, the lucky things. When they aren’t co-operating, the sisters compete with one another in a gentle familial way and to wonderful effect. We continue along a walkway by the side garden, which is a study in perfect planning and execution, until suddenly the vista opens to a park surrounding a man-made lake at the back of the house. Here is another lovely garden accessed by a small bridge and some paving stone steps interplanted with low growing thyme. The back garden is surrounded by a fence, barely visible for the plants and a row of tall, healthy cedars. Through the gate at the bottom of the steps Issue 2

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Leona Van Buskirk shows her garden plan.

Betony.

The memorable fountain. localgardener.net

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this small private space is protected to a large degree from prying eyes by the cedar plantation. A round stone table and some polished stone stools on a brick patio are backed by interesting greenery nestled against the house. On one side, a potting shed is partially hidden behind some cedars. The garden here has borrowed from a Zen aesthetic, with oriental lanterns and metal ornaments of cranes and small animals. The eye travels onward to the other end of the garden, where there is an arbour to lend shade on hot Edmonton afternoons, complete with seat and table beneath it. There is an aura of serenity around the entire garden, although Leona says this can be deceptive. Not that long ago, some passers by stopped their car on the street; a woman jumped out and ran up to the outside of the garden, reached over the fence and snatched one of the ornaments. The Van Buskirks have it all on video. Now Leona has moved temptation out of arm’s reach, but it is disappointing that someone would take these liberties with private property. Especially when they are doing this to such nice people. o Scan me To see more of Colin and Leona Van Buskirk’s garden scan here! https://www.localgardener.net/van-buskirk-garden/

A shady spot on a hot summer day.

The back garden overlooks the lake. 30 • 2022

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2022 • 37

The manicured front yard.

Beautiful Gardens

Garry and Brenda Hedberg South Surrey, BC

Story by Dorothy Dobbie, photos by Dorothy and Shauna Dobbie 38 • 2022

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arry and Brenda Hedberg have pulled together a little piece of heaven in South Surrey, BC and made it uniquely their own. The neatly groomed front yard of the brick house is a gardener’s dream of tidy grasses and trimmed and topiaried shrubs, each carefully chosen to set off the other in a pleasing kaleidoscope of colour and texture. But while we are gazing in delight at the front yard, something even more surprising is happening in the back. Fifty-foot stands of bamboo, happily growing here for 22 years, provide a stately backdrop to the yard and camouflage the little creek that runs behind them. localgardener.net

There are nine varieties of bamboo because Garry loves them, and he has figured out how to keep them under control. He says that where he lives there is a layer of hard pan that keeps the roots pushing out rather than down. He exploited this by building mounds of soil around the root zones so that when the stolons creep out looking to send up a new shoot, he can see them coming. “They grow out of the mound and make a dash for it,” he laughs. But he is ready. “I can see them when they start running, and I chop them up!” The result is a collection of wellbehaved bamboo that stand in imposing clumps like a group of soldiers protecting the yard. localgardener.net

One of nine types of bamboo. This one is 50 feet tall. Issue 2

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He has many reasons for loving the bamboo. One of them is the way they grow like “telescoping ariels”, he says, while showing the hollow sections in a young shoot. He loves his black bamboo which, when polished, is wonderfully ornamental. And lest you think bamboo can only be grown in Southern BC, think again. There are many varieties, some of them hardy enough to survive even cold Manitoba winters, and there are clumping bamboos that don’t run. Bamboo is not the only treasure in Garry and Brenda’s garden. There was an 8.5-foot-tall crinum lily, Cardiocrinum giganteum. This flower is a wonder, with 8-inch, trumpet-shaped white blossoms sporting maroon centres. Not really a true lily, it has a vanilla scent and heart-shaped rather than strappy leaves. When planted from seeds, it takes about seven years to blossom, then dies once it is finished. Brenda is amazed at the seed pods whose three compartments hold 400 to 500 little seeds surround by a transparent coat. And there is more. A mature kiwi vine winds up a patio pillar. Its slightly oak-shaped leaves provide dappled shade below. It was covered in fruit, but Brenda says that, though they have taken as much as two five-gallon pails of fruit from the vine, no matter what they did, the fruit never ripened. “It looks ripe, but it is not edible,” says Brenda, who notes that the unripe kiwis have a very astringent flavour. “Maybe this year,” she says, hopefully. The 2020 summer was uncharacteristically warm. Then we come to the cobra lily. “That’s our whole little family: Mommy, Daddy and the babies,” Brenda says with a laugh. This tall pitcher plant, Arisaema costatum, has lovely striped heads which are actually leaves that curve over and under to set a trap for passing insects. Growing among them and beside them is a beautiful, large-leafed plant, Podophyllum pleianthum, a very special species of the mayflower or mandrake plant. The 13-inch leaves are only slightly notched in seven lobes. Brenda pulls back a leaf to reveal a cluster of berries. “They are cherry black when they come out,” she says. They gradually turn pale green as they mature. “You won’t find these everywhere,” says Garry. “There’s only two greenhouses in Vancouver that sell them— when they can get them.” He grins. “This year they came up everywhere in here. I harvested them and sold them in 4-inch pots. I sold $1,440 worth of them at $15 a pot!”

Crinum lily is over 8 feet tall.

Podophyllum pleianthum. 40 • 2022

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Groomed to perfection.

Cobra lily.

Bears’ breeches.

The back terrace. localgardener.net

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Big plants rule over the garden.

It is not hard to see where the proceeds were spent as you look around this wonderful garden. There are so many interesting plants. Carelessly growing among some ligularia is a clump of bears’ breeches which sport lovely big leaves. Green is the colour du jour here and large leaves predominate. Lovely ferns, including a very happy looking Japanese painted fern, surround a small water feature at one end of the patio. It is not only plants that make the garden lovely. Both Brenda and Garry have a highly developed aesthetic sense. Garry, who is retired from business,

carves beautiful works of art out of maple—and even a curious piece made from the remains of an aged hibiscus that he polished and smoothed and made into a statue resembling a hand. It even has fingernails and a thumb! However, his work usually involves eternity knots carved from maple wood. Brenda plants all sorts of wonderful things in pots, like hosta and a graceful Japanese maple. The pots themselves are works of art. Everything is tasteful and tidy, projecting serenity and sanity in a chaos ridden world. This is a garden to rest in and savour.

Looking around somewhat wistfully, Garry alludes to a future without the garden, when “it all becomes too much”. Let’s hope it never does. o Scan me To see more of Garry and Brenda Hedberg’s garden scan here! https://www.localgardener.net/garry-and-brendahedbergs-garden/

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A couple of Garry’s eternity carvings.

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Beautiful Gardens

The side yard, filled with shade-lovers.

rom a young age, I always had a love of gardening. My father had his vegetable garden and my mother loved her flowers. So gardening was in my blood. I created my first garden, located in a challenging area under a large maple, during my teens. Through many trials and experiments, I created a woodland setting replete with ferns, astilbe, hosta and other classic shade plants. I have now been gardening for 35 years on a relatively small lot containing a back yard 50 feet by 50 feet, a

Todd Boland

St. John’s, Newfoundland Story and photos by Todd Boland 44 • 2022

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side yard 50 feet by 10 feet and a small front garden just 40 feet by 15 feet. The back receives part day sun, the side yard mostly shade and the front garden morning sun, so needless to say, I grow mostly woodland plants that thrive under part shade conditions. The flower season starts in late March to early April with the first blooming winter aconites and spring heath, ending in early November with fall gentians, autumn crocus and budblooming heathers. Not bad for an area known for its long snowy winters. localgardener.net

At one time I had several large trees along the north side of my property but the tail end of a hurricane some 25 years ago took out the majority. Those that remained looked out of place so I decided to remove them all and start the ‘garden skeleton’ from scratch. Today I have no large trees on my property. The tallest are the ‘Suminigashi’ and ‘Red Trompenberg’ Japanese maples and the Magnolia sieboldii, each at about 15 feet. While they do provide shade, it is mostly dappled, allowing me to grow a wide variety of Issue 2

woodland gems. I do love Japanese maples, and St. John’s, being Zone 5b, is right on the edge of where they can be grown. Besides the two noted earlier, I also grow ‘Bloodgood’, ‘Red Dragon’, ‘Inaba Shidare’, ‘Omureyama’ and ‘Koto-no-Ito’. The former five have purple summer foliage and turn scarlet in fall while last two have green summer foliage but wonderful pumpkin-orange and golden-yellow fall foliage respectively. I find azaleas to be perfect compan2022 • 45

The back yard.

Rudbeckia hirta ‘Irish Eyes’ and Dianthus ‘Dash Pink’.

A collection of alpine plants.

ion plants for Japanese maples, so I utilize a few of these. The most dramatic is my 30-year-old Pontic azalea (Rhododendron luteum) which produces hundreds of fragrant yellow flowers each June. The other woody plants I grow include eight dwarf mountain ash (Sorbus) species from China, which have either white or pink fruit rather than orange-red we typically associate with mountain ash. You might be starting to see a trend developing; many of the plants I grow are from Asia. At first this was a coin-

berry (Actaea) species which have white, red or black berries. Hosta are also used throughout the rest of the garden. Astilbe are great contrast plants for hosta, as are ferns, a group of plants I think more gardeners need to utilize. Other great foliage companions I use include ever-popular heuchera, hellebores, rodgersia, primroses and lungwort. I especially love Japanese Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra), which does well in both shade and sun. Perhaps the most spectacular

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cidence but now I purposely seek out Asian species as that part of the world appears to be the epicentre for fantastic foliage plants. Dealing with considerable shade, I have come to learn the importance of foliage in a garden. Most woodland plants have modest floral displays, so selecting plants whose foliage is as attractive as their flowers, is crucial to creating a pleasing garden under shady conditions. Hosta are the main feature along the north side yard, combined with ligularia, ferns and several baneIssue 2

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Various plants, including Sedum, Phlox subulata, Silene flos-cuculi, Silene uniflora and Dianthus plumarius hybrids.

woodlander I grow is Japanese wood poppy, Glaucidium palmatum, with large maple-like leaves and saucerlike white or lavender-purple flowers. Yellow waxbells (Kirengeshoma palmata), shield rodgersia (Astilboides tabularis), Himalayan mayapple (Podophyllum hexandrum) and umbrella leaf (Diphylleia cymosa) are among other outstanding foliage plants I cannot do without under my shady conditions. I consider myself a plant collector and I enjoy pushing the limit of what can be grown in Newfoundland. localgardener.net

Himalayan blue poppies (Meconopsis) have proven to be surprisingly easy to cultivate. I now have them in white and purple, along with the classic skyblue. Black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus) is forming a large clump with purple-black, grass-like foliage and delicate wands of small lavender bells in September. I grow this near Beesia deltophylla, which has evergreen heart-shaped foliage that is dark, glossy green. Another evergreen is the broad-leaved Skimmia japonica. With their persistent leaves, these plants Issue 2

help maintain garden interest until the first permanent snows fly, usually in late December. My bamboo, Fargesia muriale, is now 7 feet tall while Viburnum X bodnantense is nearly 10 feet. I was told none of these would survive in Newfoundland, but so far, so good. Never let your hardiness zone hold you back from experimenting with a favourite plant. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you can successfully grow. Thankfully not all of my garden is shady. I have four small areas of the 2022 • 47

Roses and begonias.

garden that are reasonably sunny. Here I grow my other favourite group of plants, alpines. Two of these sunnier areas have been developed as rockeries, one as a narrow alpine garden atop a retaining wall and the last, a special form of rock garden called a crevice garden. While a classic rock garden has blocky rocks positioned in a horizontal fashion, those of a crevice garden are narrow and positioned vertically, creating narrow crevices where many alpine plants thrive. The added bonus is you can pack twice as many alpines in a crevice garden as a regular rock garden. Bellflowers, primroses, pasque-flower and the highly fragrant pinks are just a few of the alpines featured in these gardens. I also grow alpines in homemade alpine troughs. These are variable in shape, from round to square or rectangular, but all are relatively small, creating portable rock gardens positioned along the walkways, on decks or positioned in the garden where they can make the greatest impact. Given my obsession with collecting plants, you would think I had no lawn. To the contrary, I find a lawn is a great foil for setting off planting areas. However, my lawn might be mostly grass and clover in summer (I love clover in a lawn as it provides food for our pollinators), but April and May are another story. Like many gardeners, I utilize many bulbs to help brighten up the spring garden. 48 • 2022

The lawn in spring, full of crocuses.

Besides the classic tulips, daffodils and hyacinths, I grow many minor bulbs such as crocus, scilla, puschkinia, bulbous iris and winter aconites. I also grow a rather uncommon but very easy to grow tuberous plant called Corydalis solida, a distant relative to bleeding-hearts. Unplanned was the self-seeding of the crocus, scilla and corydalis into the lawn. Now my lawn is a carpet of bulbs. While beautiful, it does create its challenges when I do my daily inspection of the garden in April and May! Newfoundland might be referred to as “the Rock” and truth be told, we have plenty of them, but you might be surprised at the diversity of ornamenIssue 2

tal plants we can successfully grow. I regularly post images of my garden and feature certain plants so if you want to see what can be grown in my province, you can follow me on Facebook or Instagram. o

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Beautiful Gardens Lorna Woods

Moosomin, Saskatchewan Story by Dorothy Dobbie, photos by Dorothy and Shauna Dobbie

ind some things. Look at them with a critically artistic eye. Turn them into part of paradise. That sums up the style world of Lorna Woods in Moosomin, Saskatchewan. Lorna grew up with very little and had to learn to make do with what was at hand. She has carried on this lesson in life as she and her husband built their farm and their home, step by step, using what they had. Lorna laughs as she recalls a farm hand who asked in wonder, “How did

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The cottage pool house with the wrought iron fence in the background.

you get all these beautiful things?” She wasn’t sure he believed her answer in the way it was meant: “Day by day, through very hard work!” she told him. But that is exactly how it happened. This is southern Saskatchewan, big sky country. And this is the heart of a farm. The wind sweeps by all around, but here in Lorna’s yard, all is tamed and tidy. The pale grey clapboard farmhouse is meticulously kept, inside and out. The grounds could grace any counIssue 2

try garden magazine. At the rear of the home at one end of an in-ground swimming pool, there is a structure that looks like a summer cottage. It matches the house in the pale clapboard finish, the window grilles, the gabled roofline. Fieldstone pillars hold formal topiary plants flanking stone steps that are mounted to a deck that opens through some French doors to a grand room. Before entering, a look back reveals more fieldstone pillars, topped by localgardener.net

The pool house was created on a dime by the resourceful Lorna Woods.

Pizza oven on the patio. localgardener.net

Pots of petunias. Issue 2

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The pond and waterfall add to the coolness of this shady place.

A pergola offers respite from the sun. 52 • 2022

Lorna finds treasures in what others throw away. Issue 2

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Pillars.

cement platforms to hold planters. The pillars also form an important part of the wrought iron fencing that surrounds the yard, separating it from the fields beyond. The remarkable thing about this view is that Lorna herself built the pillars after researching how it was done. That project typifies what is encountered indoors in what Lorna calls the pool house. The doors open onto a lovely room, a fireplace set between twin windows at the far wall. Cozy armchairs and a couch frame the fireplace. A rustic antique trunk serves as a coffee table.

Sumac flower. localgardener.net

And an antique light fixture hangs from the ceiling. Behind the couch is a polished wooden chest supporting an old tic-tac-toe game. A wicker basket holds an assortment of cushioning towels for the bathers. A long refectory-type wooden table, complete with the elaborate legs of a time gone by, is set along one side and on the other side are bunkbeds and a fully functional bathroom. The colour scheme is Portmeirion blue, beige, grey and brown, very soothing and relaxing. “My grandchildren spend all their time here in the summer,” Lorna

says. But the real story is in how this luxurious looking space was created. It is hard to believe that the building itself was just a “shell” that Lorna picked up for the lordly sum of $2,000. She made the improvements herself. All the contents are either found materials or Kijiji bargains. Reluctantly leaving this marvel, Lorna urges visitors toward a cool place on the far side of the pool where a small waterfall appears to feed its depths. Huge rocks in and around the pond and some limestone edges testify to its authenticity as a spring. Exotic-

Comfrey. Issue 2

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Pots of annuals look formal and festive.

looking sumac frames the scene. Then there is the ancient Manitoba maple that spreads its arms over this part of the yard, providing welcome shade on a hot day. This is not the only cooling space. Lorna has created another haven at the side of the house where her building handiwork once again takes centre stage in the shape of a white pergola. This is a garden of subtle hues and lots of greenery, much of it domesticated native species. One example is a large clump of comfrey with its soft leaves and pendulous, bell-shaped flowers. The yard is surrounded by plants she loves—many shrubs and big green plants such as castor bean, daylilies, hosta and bergenia. She sees the beauty in sumac with its beautiful white sprays of bloom and its lacy leaves.

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In this wide-open farm space, Lorna has created a sheltered place, edged by tall cedars, protected by a shelterbelt of poplars, not that she has abandoned the prairie. It is right there, signifying freedom and thinking big—just the sort of thing that had made this amazing woman who she is and how she made this remarkable place possible. o

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Lilies, zinnias and hostas, striking the balance between practical and beautiful.

Beautiful Gardens

Maggie and Mike Connell Durham Bridge, New Brunswick

Story and photos by Shauna Dobbie

aggie’s garden explodes with life. Containers at ground and above ground can barely contain the leafy vegetables and eye-smarting colours of zinnias and lilies. Raised vegetable beds have painted signs telling you what’s growing. The country property with a timber house overlooks a valley on one side and has shelters for chickens and turkeys. If Maggie had her way, there would be a shelter for a milk cow, too, but husband Mike disagrees. He is Maggie’s resident engineer, who brings her visions to life. localgardener.net

Hand-painted sign tells you this box has peppers growing. Issue 2

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Looking through the flowers to supports for squash.

Maggie with one of her chickens. 56 • 2022

She darts through the garden, followed by her greatgranddaughter Lydia, telling us what’s there, pulling back protective covers and nipping at the occasional (how does she see them?) weed. Everywhere there are innovations, wrought by necessity or by aesthetics or, more likely, a combination of the two. Six-yearold Lydia seems completely aware of the magic of this 50-acre property, where she lives with her parents, Marilyne and Derek, and 2-½-year-old brother, Tony, in a house built for them. There is a fence made of slab wood from a sawmill, the uneven bits with bark attached from the outside of a tree. Maggie is a painter when she isn’t gardening, and she admires the look of the slab wood. “I love that soft curvy kind of thing and I love when things are irregular,” she says. Cattle panels are bent into archways or framed upright to support different vegetable plants. Everything is planted exactly how it needs to be to grow fat. There is a screen house with narrow shelves near the ceiling, where a series of holes hold garlic upside down. This is where they dry for storage, once the greens are no longer green. Then Maggie takes the garlic down and stores it, with other produce, in a cold room below the house. Square containers have PVC tubes arranged in an upright frame, joined at the top over blueberry bushes to hold netting tight away from the fruit, which will keep out their golden lab. Each box has cabbage or kale growing in the corners. These are supposed to prefer alkaline soil, the opposite of what blueberries need, yet they look like vegetables painted by Beatrix Potter.

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Maggie says if she were to start over, she would plant everything in culverts.

Why? It turns out that Maggie had extras started and, since she hates to throw out any growing thing, she stuck them in here. And while they looked lovely, they ended up being wormy. Not a problem; the chickens loved them. Corrugated culvert pipes, cut to 4-foot lengths by Mike, are stood and filled with soil to grow beans and squash. She painted them black to absorb the heat and has been so pleased with them that, if she had the garden to start again, she’d do all culverts. The raised beds, including culverts, are Maggie’s solution to aging in the garden. She’s 71 now and plans to keep going until she’s 103. She figures it’ll be easier if she doesn’t need to bend down. Everything is geared to sustainability. Still, 103 seems to be a stretch for anyone to keep a garden producing, but with Maggie, you not only believe it, you wonder why she isn’t planning for 110. Her intelligence and enthusiasm give her a vitality that seems unextinguishable. “I've never had a sense of limit somehow. I'm not sure why, but I've never had it and sometimes it's been to my detriment, for sure.” Now, the edibles make a gorgeous landscape on their own, and medicinal plants grow among them, but there are also flowers to consider. Geraniums spill out of window boxes, Asiatic lilies, zinnias and gayfeather strain at the confines of raised boxes. Behind some feverfew, leaves attest that ligularia is coming soon. More leaves elsewhere indicate that peonies bloomed about a month earlier. She puts time into flowers because aesthetics are an important part of this artist’s life. “We forget that beauty counts,” she says. “You know we want to be practical. OK, what's this going to cost

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My heart sings when I see something beautiful. It seems even louder when I make something beautiful.

Barriers keep the bugs out. Issue 2

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Saw mill castoffs made into a fence.

us? What's the most efficient thing to do here? Blah blah blah, but we forget about the part that makes our heart sing. And my heart sings when I see something beautiful. It seems even louder when I make something beautiful.” This property was a clear-cut full of ruderal young poplars infested by army worms the first time Maggie laid eyes on it, 35 years ago. She thought there was no hope of her buying it, but she had made the trip to see it, so she got out of the car and clambered over stumps to have a look. There is a big old maple that was (and is) still standing, behind where the house is now. She climbed up the maple and looked down and saw the valley below. “Honest to God, I sat there and I just cried. I said, I don't know how I'm gonna do this, especially on my own but somehow I'm dying here.” So, she made the purchase and eventually built the house and began to conjure her paradise. As for the view from the maple tree, it has been softened to a heart-aching vista. You can see it on the cover of this magazine. o Scan me To see more of Maggie and Mike Connell’s garden scan here! https://www.localgardener.net/garden-of-maggie-andmike-connell/

Blueberries, being protected from the dog. 58 • 2022

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Tomatoes.

Inside the house, Maggie shows her dried produce pantry. localgardener.net

Inside the studio. Issue 2

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The deck overlooks the sunken garden and the pond.

Beautiful Gardens

onny Faykes doesn’t just have a garden. He is a gardener, through and through. You can tell by the big thinking he applies to his landscape: gardens that burst with exuberant life occupy his gigantic yard from one end to the other. We visited Jonny in 2014 when he lived in Winnipeg on an 80- by 150-foot lot. “My garden is full of plants that came from family, friends and strangers,” Jonny told us when we wrote about his city garden. Mentored by his grandmother, he said he started collecting plants

Jonny Faykes

St. Andrew’s, Manitoba Story and photos by Dorothy Dobbie 60 • 2022

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Jonny has created a natural looking pond in a prairie setting.

when he was 13 and he still has many of them to this day. He added to his mental collection during his travels around the world and fell in love with the way they gardened in Australia. “Some of the gardens were structured but they were based on a natural look,” he says. There are many similarities between this garden and the one we saw before. That is because Jonny brought much of the garden with him when he moved here. He also brought 20 yards of topsoil to make sure his babies were comfortable in localgardener.net

their new home. For the past seven years, Jonny’s mission has been to turn this acreage near St. Andrews, Manitoba, into a garden paradise. Most of the 5 acres are already filled with delightful surprises. Treasures to watch for include trees such as catalpa, not a natural in this part of the country, and a special white spruce with a golden hue that shouldn’t be so happy here in this part of Manitoba. Add to the list a sugar maple, a holly tree, some bamboo and a star magnolia, none of which are Issue 2

common here and which represent only a few of the many wonderful varieties he grows, and you begin to see the talent behind Jonny’s gardening success. He also indulges his woody plant passion with common but exotic looking sumac, whose ferny leaves add a different texture among the plantings. For contrast, he has interplanted these shrubs with the deep purple of monkshood. These plants are companions to other odd varieties of botanica, such as popcorn geraniums of several 2022 • 61

The pond.

types. A magenta flower on an ornamental flowering raspberry shrub from BC calls out to the viewer. It doesn’t really produce much fruit, but the flowers are lovely, and the seed heads are intriguing. A starshaped red petunia, Ruellia elegans, from Brazil demands attention from both hummingbirds and people. Annuals that normally sit sedately in containers revel in the generous soil prepared by Jonny. An eager angel’s trumpet tries to elbow an ornamental swan out of the way. Mexican marigolds taunt the green 62 • 2022

Driveway into the property in mid-September.

world with their brilliant orange hues. A castor bean has set seed and is covered with prickly pink casings. This is not a tidy garden; it is one where things grow with abandon. Not that Jonny doesn’t employ some order, he does. But he loves enthusiastic plants and sometimes they are just determined to have their way. Big plants have free rein here. In late August, fleece flowers have already shown their finest but are still bravely flying the flags of their recent splendour. Hydrangeas are just coming into their own. Issue 2

Perovskia, the Russian blue sage, has the freedom to stretch here, its bluemauve blossoms set off nicely by the pinker tones of native phlox. One can see the blue-edged blossoms of monkshood, in the background of this planting. Arctic impatiens, much maligned by those who worry about invasive species, have a place to display their orchid-like flowers here. Vigorous goldenrod highlights some young cedars. Joe Pye weed is just beginning to show bloom. A stone pagoda lantern nestles next to a little blue spruce that shellocalgardener.net

Jonny has a collection of garden ornaments from around the world.

ters a nearby India Buddha, both part of an eclectic collection of ornaments from around the world that turn up throughout the garden. For Jonny, everything found has garden potential: tile rubble becomes an attractive slate path, pieces of Tyndall stone make a tidy pathway edging. Jonny’s garden philosophy is to work with nature, not against it. Jonny’s property is vast and in the “back quarter”, there is a wideopen field that invites the winds to tear through his shelter belt of localgardener.net

old and very large trees. This can wreak havoc on the garden, so it is a constant battle to keep things under control. There is always a project underway: something to fix or renew or add. Ah yes, there is always something to add. Plants are attracted to Jonny; at least it seems that way. In a sheltered area near the field, the remains of a series of raised garden beds speak of one-time ambition to create a market garden to help support this large property, but water, or rather, lack of it, has Issue 2

become an insurmountable issue. The only source is a well to answer the needs of this hot, dry place. As it is, it takes eight hours to water the rest of the garden. Gardening is a year-round pursuit for Jonny. He loves to enhance the outdoors so in November, he begins to mount his spectacular Christmas light show, with over 50,000 lights that illuminate the countryside. He has a garage packed to the rafters with Christmas decorations. Jonny has turned his passion into a business, Domestical Landscap2022 • 63

Jonny’s parklike front yard.

Catalpa frames the above-ground pool which is filled from a well.

ing. He spent nine years working with Harry Schriemer at his Molson Greenhouse, starting when he was just 15, and then for five years with Winnipeg’s landscaping division, before going to Australia to learn even more about horticulture. He has created and completed large garden projects and small, but in every one of them, he has left a bit of his heart. o

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Mexican sunflower. 64 • 2022

Jonny Faykes, gardener extraordinaire! Issue 2

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The house.

Beautiful Gardens Pat Uptegrove

Victoria Cross, Prince Edward Island Story and photos by Shauna Dobbie

at Uptegrove has lived all over the world, pursuing the corporate life. On vacation a few years ago, she almost bought a retirement home (for use eventually; she still hasn’t retired) in Lunenburg, but that fell through. So, she wandered over to PEI and when she saw this house she thought, “I’m in

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really, really big trouble.” She knew she was about to start a love affair with this old manor. The house was decrepit, but it looked just like her grandmother’s place on Georgian Bay in Ontario. Pat is a project manager by profession, and she needs that experience in planning and problem solving to make this century home into a beauty again. But when she took possession, there were rattling old windows, no locks on the doors, and raccoons had taken up residence inside. There were also four big maples between the house and the road. They were enormous and majestic, but near the end of their lives, so she’s had to remove three of them so far. She has planted many, many trees since arriving, though. One of the first things she did was order 42 eastern hemlock trees and plant a hedge. Her neighbours thought she was crazy. The trees were only about a foot high, but now, after almost 10 years of growth, they make a lovely backdrop for that part of the garden. “It’s a windbreak. It’s a snow break. It’s privacy. Although there’s a barn on the other side, I don’t see it.” She also planted several eastern redbuds, and now they’re producing seed pods. She’s collected the seeds Issue 2

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PEI’s acidic soil turns hostas blue.

A few potted roses around a birdbath. Those are Eastern hemlocks in the background. localgardener.net

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A few hostas and ferns in front of a picket fence with fading boards.

Your tools are your best friend. Invest in really good shovels.

A garden shed, looking like a little cottage. 68 • 2022

The magnolia. Issue 2

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Tall pink phlox, two types of monarda and the spires of baptisia.

and figures she can start them and pot them up and give them to neighbours. Eastern redbuds are a lovely Carolinian tree, with tiny rosy flowers that line the branches before they leaf out, that is underrepresented in gardens. If Pat has her way, they’ll become a lot more commonplace on PEI. Now, Pat is a woman living on her own. It seems she must have regular help in this garden. Did she really plant 42 trees by herself? Plus spruce trees and a magnolia and, of course, the redbuds? She did. “You get the hang of it. Every year I plant about 25 more trees to border the property,” she says. “Your tools are your best friend. Invest in really good shovels.” She adds: “I use a dolly all the time. You’re picking up things that are 80 pounds… you use physics.” She has a garden cart, which she built out of scrap wood left over from renovations, that she’s placed near the front of her property. She found she was throwing out flowers that had outgrown their spaces and thought, why throw out these perfectly good plants? Instead, she puts them on the garden cart for pickup by other gardeners. She charges a bit for soil and pots and has met so many neighbours this way. She takes pleasure in showing people her gardens when they come by, and she has made many friends. One woman in the area, an English gardener, is moving soon and invited Pat to come and raid her beds. “So, I now have holly bushes and all kinds of treasures that I’ve potted and put in a section so that they’ll winter over. And in the spring, let’s see what has survived, and I’ll start planting.”

Brilliant crocosmia glows in front of more muted colours.

Masses of Lady’s mantle. localgardener.net

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Espaliered apple tree.

Bit by bit, she is adding borders and garden rooms. You can see how progress is made. To one side of the house, the ground is covered with black poly and a mound of crushed grey stone. This is a garden in process. Beyond it, through an arbour and past masses of contented Lady’s mantle, is a table, charmingly set for refreshments. An espaliered apple tree grows lushly on a trellis and the magnolia is looking mature for its age, giving this room some structure and height. Garden design is clearly another forte of Pat’s. Just down from the house, on the way to what is currently a small fruit and vegetable garden (built from the floorboards in her attic), she has a couple of circular areas of meadow that sit starkly against the mown lawn. Half the property was like what’s inside of those circles when she moved in, full of raspberries and wild roses and grasses. This summer she found a couple of pumpkins growing out of one of these mini meadows. Where did they come from? She cannot say. Patricia appreciates the magic that comes from the untamed as well as the magic she creates by taming it. She is a wonder. We can hardly wait to see what she does next. o Scan me To see more of Pat Uptegrove’s garden scan here! https://www.localgardener.net/pat-uptegroves-garden/

The plant cart.

Fruit and vegetable garden with the borders built from floorboards in the attic. 70 • 2022

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Circles of meadow.

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The front of the house is well bordered by flowers.

Beautiful Gardens

Margie and Donnie McAlear Matawatchan, Ontario Story and photos by Shauna Dobbie

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e erects an outbuilding, she puts a window box on it, and together they make their lives just a little more beautiful than it already was. Margie and Donnie McAlear have been living on and in and with this 100-acre property well north of Kingston since 2009, though it looks like it has been there forever. Donnie grew up on a farm in St. Andrews West in Eastern Ontario while Margie grew up in Toronto, but with parents who always gardened. She didn’t really have an opinion on it either way but found as an adult that she felt most herself localgardener.net

A Grecian goddess surveys the border.

while playing in the dirt. “I guess there must be some residual, because as soon as I grew up and had my own places, I got into it. I like things to be beautiful.” Overall, the yard brims with oldfashioned blooms that mix in well with the great wide vistas of fields, hills and trees. Smatterings of pinks brush up against cerastium, single peonies blend in with the foliage of shrubs behind. A bed teeming with Queen Anne’s lace makes you wonder if she planted it or encouraged it, or if maybe it just grew there to suit this lady’s wild whims. Orange hawkweed multiplying in the grass seem localgardener.net

more like they’ve found this place on their own and dazzle the eyes with raging colour. She has a secret garden in a copse of shrubs. You enter through an arbor and find stepping stones around a statue of Buddha, his head resting on his knee, peering at the flowers surrounding him. A bench nearby invites you to sit down and contemplate the nepeta and spirea that bloom wildly before you head back out to the wider garden. Everywhere you turn, there is an ornament of some sort, anchoring a bed. Like the Buddha, there are statues and sundials and old farm Issue 2

implements. A horse-drawn plow seat, studded with lichens, above a harrower. A watering can. A bench. St. Francis. They seem to grow there along with the flowers: some purple salvia and a Grecian goddess. There are a few raised boxes containing vegetables, with walking onions ready to walk away, next to a greenhouse. A water barrel here doesn’t collect rain from a roof; rather, Donnie fills it with water from their spring-fed dugout pond. He has set up a pump so that, with various hoses, most parts of the garden can be watered and their well won’t be affected. 2022 • 73

A wagon wheel tucked into the plantings.

Raised vegetable beds in June.

It’s a gorgeous bit of land that seemed destined to be theirs. They were living in their dream home in Lanark Highlands, but, out for a drive one day while they were taking a weekend at a cottage nearby, they came around a corner and saw this farm. There was something about it, a big stretch with a farmhouse surrounded by goldenrod and wild apple trees. They asked about the farm when they stopped at the store in nearby Matawatchan; the woman they talked to, also a real estate agent, said the owner died and left it to five people, so it seemed unlikely to

A sundial amid grey, green and purple. 74 • 2022

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be for sale any time soon. They were disappointed and left; they had their dream home, after all. Well, the farm was listed for sale and Donnie nabbed it. The existing house needed to come down, so they lived in “an old and ill-equipped trailer without any hydro or plumbing” for four months while their new house was built. (The city girl was nonplussed, but her country boy didn’t mind so much.) In addition to roughing it for a few months, Margie has had a few other country living tribulations to bear, like blackflies. localgardener.net

Buddha, through the arbour. Issue 2

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Clematis weaves through an armillary sphere before blooming.

It looks like this plough got caught here and the garden grew up around it.

Although they are supposed to be the earliest of the flesh-sucking insects, she says: “At one point I can affirm that there were mosquitoes, black flies and deer flies that were all fighting and you think you're going to lose your mind!” But she dons a bug shirt and carries on. What else can you do? They confess that it’s worthwhile, though. It may seem like they live in the middle of nowhere, but there are

others who live nearby. Maybe not a stone’s throw, because neighbours aren’t that close in the country, but just down the road a bit. And they all know each other. Besides that, Margie loves to watch the sky. “That’s one of the best parts about living here,” she sighs. When the moon comes up and you can watch the phases of it—that’s when they feel most at home. o

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Scan me To see more of Margie and Donnie McAlear’s garden scan here! https://www.localgardener.net/garden-of-margie-anddonnie-mcalear/

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They lived happily ever after!

Hoses for Donnie’s pumping system. localgardener.net

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The Year of the Garden in Canada 2022

anada’s Local Gardener is very honoured to be the official English language magazine of the Year of the Garden in Canada 2022. We know how important the action of gardening, both indoors and out, has been to all those who have been confined by COVID-19 for the past two years. We have tried to be part of your solace through this time and now we are thrilled to be part of the celebration that we got through this together. That this celebration is happening is due to the remarkable optimism and joy vested in one man: Michel Gauthier, known in Ottawa as the Tulip Man because he was the force behind Ottawa’s Tulip Festival for 16 years. The Tulip Festival brand still distinguishes Ottawa in so many ways even though its support was abandoned by the city some years ago.

By Dorothy Dobbie

Michel has marshalled an army of enthusiastic supporters from what he calls “The Garden Family” all across the land, all of whom have embraced the concept of gardening as the best way to express our joy in being and in the continuity of life, no matter what the odds. He reminds us that 2022 also

commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association which represents so many of the remarkable achievements of our gardeners and horticulturists of the past. Stay tuned for news of the exciting programs and events that will mark this year, the first of its kind in the world. We will be updating you through your magazine and its web pages, Facebook pages and groups, and Instagram as the programs are announced in January and rolled out over the year. For now, plan to plant RED! next spring to signal your support. And help us celebrate the joy of gardening in Canada! o Dorothy Dobbie is the Founder of Canada’s Local Gardener and is a Member of the YOTG Advisory Committee.

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Canada's Local Gardener Volume 3 Issue 2 2022

Articles inside

Beautiful Gardens - Margie and Donnie McAlear, Matawatchan, Ontario

Beautiful Gardens - Pat Uptegrove, Victoria Cross, Prince Edward Island

Beautiful Gardens - Jonny Faykes, St. Andrew’s, Manitoba

Beautiful Gardens - Maggie and Mike Connell, Durham Bridge, New Brunswick

Beautiful Gardens - Lorna Woods, Moosomin, Saskatchewan

Beautiful Gardens - Todd Boland, St. John’s, Newfoundland

Beautiful Gardens - Garry and Brenda Hedberg, South Surrey, BC

Beautiful Gardens - Denis Diotte and Richard Sarault Gatineau, Quebec

Beautiful Gardens - Colin and Leona Van Buskirk, Edmonton

Beautiful Gardens - Greg Auton, Brookside, Nova Scotia

Dear gardeners and garden dreamers

a gardener’s colour guide

Why do plants grow better in a greenhouse?

The Year of the Garden in Canada 2022

seed catalogues—ready, set, dream