The Cornwall garden of Bert and Reina Ruest


A view from above shows the well-planned layout of the garden in the early morning sunlight. You can see the pond and stream, the Centre Court, and, in the far background, the area where Reina has her veggie patch in raised beds.


Photos by Bert and Reina Ruest Story by Ontario Home & Gardener Living staff “R 6


eina is the gardener. I just work the ground,” Bert Ruest says modestly.


Reina disputes this and she gener-


ously refutes Bert’s statement. “He also does the designing,” she says. “I just do the shopping.” It’s that kind of joint venture, the


pretty garden in Cornwall, Ont., where Bert and Reina now devote much of their time to their labour of delight. Last year, Reina retired from her work in marketing for the local college, but Bert left his career with the college about a decade ago. “It started off being my garden, then Bert retired and took it over,” laughs


WINTER 2013


Reina. “Now he’s the vice president of the Cornwall and District Horticultural Society!” Not that she minds his hand in the garden. As she said, she does most of the buying and choosing of plants; he does the building, and they both do the moving of plants as they discover what works best where. They also have very different styles in


the garden. Bert loves to showcase each plant separately, leaving space between them and labeling them so he’ll remem- ber what they are and so his guests can self-inform. Reina, on the other hand, kind of enjoys the more free-wheeling type of growth where things run and tumble together. “I like it full,” she says.


Bert wins the discussion on this


front, though. The garden is meticu- lously ordered, a salute perhaps to the early part of Bert’s career in electronics where precision is critical. For Reina, the garden is about more


than plants and hard features. “Garden- ing has become the thread that links the generations of my family,” she says. “My love of vegetable gardening came from my days on the farm with my grand- mother and the memory of fruit and vegetables picked and eaten fresh from her garden. My love of flowers comes from my mother who, every Saturday when she did the housecleaning, placed a couple of fresh flowers in a small vase


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