Every November, I bring out my father鈥檚 attestation papers, filled out when he ran away from naval college in Halifax to sign up for service in the army, and combat. He back-dated his time of birth by two years. The 鈥渁pparent age鈥� on his medical evaluation is 17 years. He was 15. I remember him, too, as I trim a听mammoth Springwood Pink heather in the spring and pick wavy-petalled pink nerine lilies in the fall. The heather plant and the nerine bulbs are from his garden in Sidney.
There鈥檚 remembrance embedded in other long-established garden plants. I remember Jim Lister, a lovely neighbour who one day came across the street bearing plants for my family鈥檚 garden. There was a rooted piece of an old Japanese flowering quince (Chaenomeles japonica), and a small patch of yellow wood violets.
The violets have spread over the ground beside a gate into the back garden. They鈥檝e been there for many years now. It鈥檚 time to expand their horizons. In the spring, I鈥檒l move small starter portions of the planting into a听few shadier and more moist spots in the garden.
Jim鈥檚 flowering quince resides beside the path to the greenhouse. It鈥檚 a low-growing, sprawling deciduous shrub with bowl-shaped, orange-red flowers in March. I love the simple charm and sturdy, care-free endurance of this plant, though now there are far fancier versions. An example is 鈥楥ameo,鈥� a flowering quince that bears thick clusters of soft apricot pink, semi-double blooms. It grows to around 90-centimetres high and 150-cm across 鈥� the same size as my plant.
Jim鈥檚 plants remind me of his gracious presence in the neighbourhood and many times at my dinner table.
I remember Molly Bealy, a听tall, gracious English woman who grew choice perennials on the gentle slopes of her large lakeside property near Vernon. In the move from the Okanagan back to Vancouver Island I brought two plants I鈥檇 purchased from Molly.
One is a low, spreading Gypsophila (baby鈥檚 breath) with tiny but fully double pink flowers. The other is a semi-prostrate, spreading shrub. Genista sagittalis (winged broom) grows just eight-cm high, with winged stems and yellow, pea-like flowers in late spring and early summer.
I remember John Trelawny and his beautiful Deep Cove garden. His daughter Daphne, a friend, brought me a memorable piece of her father鈥檚 garden several years before his death -- Hypericum 鈥楬idcote,鈥� a dense, bushy shrub that bears an abundance of large and luminous, deep golden yellow flowers in summer and early autumn. I follow John鈥檚 suggestion to keep the plant compact at around 120 cm for both a comely appearance and a concentrated show of bloom.John is remembered fondly by many in the gardening community here.
I remember Ruby Sinclair, a kind and energetic woman whose family I boarded with during my early teaching days in the East Kootenays. Her husband Bill hunted and fished regularly and Ruby ran a productive vegetable garden. The family was far from well-off, but I鈥檝e never tasted more delicious food.
Every time I create pie shells using the recipe Ruby gave me, I remember her. That鈥檚 often, as I make pies with the garden鈥檚 apples, blueberries, plums, pumpkins and squash.
Remembrance plants, garden-related memories, and the people connected with them are all blessings worth pondering occasionally, with gratitude.
听
GARDEN EVENTS
Peninsula meeting. The Peninsula Garden Club will met on Monday, 7 p.m., in the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney. Paul Allison, gardens and ground supervisor at Royal Roads University, will explore the cream of cornish gardens.
听
Hardy plants. The Victoria Hardy Plant Group will meet on Tuesday, 7 p.m., in听Knox Presbyterian Church Hall, 2964听Richmond Rd. Paul Allison will present The Gardener of Uppsala: The Plants of Carl Linnaeus. The restored garden of the famous botanist Linnaeus in Uppsala, Sweden, is arranged using the plant classification system he created in 1735.
听
Holiday workshops. Dinter Nursery, 2205 Phipps Rd. in Duncan, is offering wreath making workshops on two Saturdays, Nov. 26 and Dec. 3, both at听10 a.m. All materials are supplied for听participants to make their own wreaths. Cost is $25. Pre-register at听[email protected] or call 250-748-2023. Drop in to see what the elves have done to the store during the nursery鈥檚 open house on Dec. 3 from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
