DUTCH TREAT Corner Tulip Display Soothes the Soul

Mann House, after Owen Mann, one of its notable residents.

“We fell in love with the house the moment we walked in,” says Clinton. The original mahogany woodwork, crown moulding, coffered ceiling and so many pristine original features sealed the deal. But the grand old house needed a lot of attention.

“Basically the first five years were spent making the place livable,” Michael says.

Removing the Forest

What to do with the overgrown yard was a daunting question. “We took out probably 40 trees, old wormy apples, Manitoba maples; volunteers had sprouted everywhere. You could stand in the backyard at noon and not see the sun.”

Once the trees had been thinned out in 2015–16, a fence was added the next year. They chopped and stacked wood and thought some flowers would be nice. Six truckloads of topsoil were brought in and plans were hatched about stone pathways, retaining walls, a centre courtyard with a gazebo.

That fall, Michael planted 300 locally purchased tulip bulbs on the east side of the house. They liked the idea of hosting pollinators; Clinton disliked the monoculture that is grass. They put some thought into what else they’d like to grow, colour schemes and pollinatorfriendly flowers.

Bulbs in Bulk

In late summer 2020, the pandemic was well underway, so Michael and Clinton were staying close to home. Tragedy struck in early August when Michael was in a car accident. As he began to heal and recuperate, they made a connection with a wholesale horticultural nursery in British Columbia that, well, got the “bulb” rolling. With time on his hands—and knees—realizing that the planting stance was pain-free for him, Michael began ordering. They planted, and planted, filling the front, side and back yards with thousands of bulbs, rhizomes and seeds. Over 3,200 tulips (mostly) and daffodils were planted in Fall 2020 in the front and east sides of the house.

The once-overgrown landscape was transformed as Michael took on planting as a way to rehabilitate himself. Another 8,500 tulips (mostly) and daffodils went in during the fall of 2021 in the front yard. The corner lot was well on its way to be the floral mecca of the neighbourhood, if not the city.

One of Michael’s university colleagues had a daughter living in Australia. She came across a photo of a dazzling field of spring tulips and called her mother. “I saw this on the internet. It says there is some tulip festival in Saskatoon?” It was the Mann House front yard; though not a festival, it is festive, and it does attract a lot of attention.

Flower Power

Regular visitors include residents of the Luther Tower seniors’ complex, and people visiting family and friends at the nearby hospital stop for a bright pick-me-up. Besides passers-by who stop with enthusiastic compliments, there are thank you notes in the mailbox. One admirer gave Michael and Clinton a needlepoint of the Mann House festooned with tulips.

Some of the shared passerby stories are poignant. Health care workers, during the worst of the pandemic, would stop to see the flowers to “get centred” before their shifts. Some would stop after work to decompress before they went home to their families.

One woman and her husband would often stop by; the husband had been an avid gardener but had to give it up because of failing health. Dementia had taken his speech, but stopping at the Mann House seemed to spark his spirit. His voice would return, his wife said, and they could have a conversation, even for a short time, in the presence of the flowers.

A Lifeline

When Michael and Clinton began to transform their property, they had no idea the impact it would have. Besides being a literal healing journey for Michael after the accident, the flowers have had a lifealtering impact on others. Many passersby shared the positive impact that visiting the garden has had on the mental health of visitors.

“There’s one story we feel profoundly privileged to have been given,” says Michael. One visitor shared a struggle with severe depression. Just walking by to visit the garden had a literally life-saving effect. There were buds yet to open, the bees and hummingbird moths were at work. The flowers offered hope.

“One day that person saw me planting more bulbs and decided to see what would come up in the spring.”

That person still comes to see the flowers.

Karin Melberg Schwier

Flowers By The Number

AS OF AUTUMN 2022, MICHAEL AND CLINTON’S FLOWER COLLECTION INCLUDES:

11,000 tulips and daffodils (that’s not a typo)

1,200 lilies

2,500 gladiolas

125 day lilies

65 bee balms

25 lupins

25 balloon flowers

25 anemones

175 hostas

125 iris

50 astilbes

75 sedum

15 peones

100 dwarf allium

25 giant allium

25 globe thistle

A sea of ornamental poppies on the MacKinnon Street boulevard. They call it “Flanders Fields”.