Terisa with Bruce Robin, a bird she rehabilitated. “If I like it, I take it home. If it looks unique, I take


it home,” she says. Terisa buys what makes her happy; isn’t that exactly what plants are meant to do? But, don’t dismiss Terisa as purely an impulse shopper, she preplans as well. It’s not her fault she’s easily distracted by other pretty petals. She can hardly wait to get into the garden. By early


spring her kitchen table is filled with flowers she has started from seed. Last year, just before Mother’s Day, she happened upon a garden centre still setting up. “I was their first shopper,” she says proudly. In the spring when the weather is unpredictable, she


brings her plants outside during the day and then puts them to bed inside the gazebo for the evening. According to Terisa, a perfect day would be spent cruis-


ing greenhouses with a friend and stopping for coffee before taking home her purchases to spend time in the garden. Sounds like the ideal day for most gardeners. When asked if her husband helps in the garden, her


immediate reply is, “No, I don’t let him in.” Gardening is her therapy. Quiet time spent in the garden is a great stress reducer and her time to relax. “The only one who helps out is Spike,” she says. Spike is her schnauzer and constant gardening companion. Terisa loves her roses, and her lilies, and “pretty much


everything else,” she adds. Petunias and geraniums she buys aplenty because they are foolproof. Last year she was particularly fond of the black petunias she purchased. She also loves to plant calibrachoas, they are perfect for containers and so pretty, and who can blame her. “Seri- ously though, if I had to pick one it would probably be the Winnipeg Parks roses. They are hardy and are such a nice pinky-red colour. Best of all they bloom from spring through to fall,” she says. Her yard, surrounded by heavenly beds over-flowing


with brightly coloured lilies, roses and lupines among other pretty blooms and lush greenery, is also home to several statues of angels and fairies. Over the years her yard has offered respite to injured birds. It seems that almost every year Terisa is nursing injured birds back to health. “If they’ve hurt themselves I let them catch their breath before they fly away again,” she says. She has even nursed baby birds that have fallen out of their nests. Feed- ing them with a dropper and watching over them as a substitute mom until they are old enough to fly and fend for themselves. This is Terisa’s fifth garden and she has been working on


it for five years now. Will the garden gypsy move again? Not this time; she says it may be time to do some travel- ling instead of moving. q


localgardener.net Lupines are an elegant herbaceous perennial. Spring 2015 • 11


Adorable statues add beauty and a sense of whimsy.


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