tree that put forth its first crop this year, along with raspberries. They are not the only edibles, though. A large vegetable garden provides most of the winter’s produce, which Doris freezes. She grows potatoes, corn, pumpkins and squash. Beans, onions and toma- toes all thrive under her attentive green thumb (“often black,” she laughs.) On dewy mornings, she wanders


among her flowers and picks bouquets for the house and for her church. The sturdy purple coneflowers last the longest; but she likes to add baby’s breath and, of course, she often cuts her cherished lilies, which do so well in a vase. She confesses to not having any


Above, scarlet crocosmia make a splash in late summer.


Below, a pond and a bird bath to please the non-human guests. Notice the avenue of 100-year-old maples.


particular favourites but she is care- ful to mention a planting of green and white Euyphorbia marginata beside some pink lavatera and it is clear that this


combination has captured her


heart this year. Not that she plants many annuals – nearly all her beds are filled with perennials. She plants a few petunias from seeds started indoors in her house and sows a few marigolds, but her heart is in the perennial patch. The garden is huge, demanding a lot


of work, but Doris doesn’t see it that way. “I enjoy it,” she says stoutly, of both the flowers and the vegetables. “I don’t consider it work. As soon as the ground dries up in spring, I am out there with my rototiller.” It keeps the weeds under control. Other than her biggest enemy, the


dandelions that persist in the lupin beds, Doris has it all perfectly in hand. There are very few rabbits and only the occasional deer. The ground- hogs are reasonably well-mannered. Her concern this year is with the wet weather in springtime which is making it hard for Maurice to cut fresh hay for his animals, but things are already looking like they will get back to normal. Life is good and Doris is content as


she whiles away the summer days in her glorious garden. h


12 • Home and Gardener Living www.localgardener.net


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40