A garden rooted in memory: Joan and Frank Quinn’s backyard retreat in Edmonton
By Joan Quinn
This garden story appeared in the 3rd issue of Canada’s Local Gardener.
As someone who grew up on a bustling farm, the idea that ‘you can take the girl out from the farm but never the farm out of the girl’ was impossible to skip! In 1975, with my husband Frank, we purchased our new home in South Edmonton. So, with no surprise, we chose a fair-sized lot and this became the makings of my ‘little piece of country’.
I recall riding in the back of a truck bringing home a sizeable assortment of birch trees and evergreens. This marked the start of filling the blank landscape with trees. Over the years these have been replaced with other species of trees, ever-changing shrubs, perennial and potted plants.
A love for planters and early-season blooms
Every April, I go to a local nursery’s ‘Basket Days’ where I buy their bedding plants. I then arrange and plant them in the many planters that I bring. They supply the soil, fertiliser and care for them in a heated greenhouse until the May long weekend. It is amazing how beautiful and lush they become with this head start in a controlled environment. In the late winter, I also order some hanging planters with my choice of colours from another greenhouse which also keeps them until the May long weekend.
There is a different view of the yard no matter where you sit. You could say that we are either chasing the sun or the shade here in comfort. Weather permitting, I spend every day with my morning coffee and breakfast out there, with the relaxing sound of water trickling down the water fountain in the background. It is always a pleasure to see flowers and trees bursting into bloom in the spring as winters in Edmonton can be quite harsh.
A lush deck garden
A deck running along the full backside of the house gives a view of the whole yard including a swing that provides views of the deck with its many flowerpots, water fountain, patio table and chairs and lattice trellis at the deck’s end. Growing behind the trellis are a variety of lilies and clematis vines that climb over the top. More lilies, monkshood and weigela grow alongside the deck. It is always dense, vibrant and lush.
There is a view of the Virginia creeper that has been invited to grow along one side of the garage with a collection of perennials beneath it. Hop vines climb along the fence. The lilacs bloom profusely at the end of the swing and beside another grouping of plants and bird feeders.
Planting lilies for long-lasting joy
When I retired, I decided to plant more varieties of lilies each year. They are hardy in this area and their foliage is lovely all season long. I enjoy perusing the gardening catalogues before ordering different varieties of lilies to plant each spring or fall. A few years after I started was about the time the lily beetles started munching away in our area, but using a variety of ways, I get the better of them every year!
Discovering the Secret Garden
Behind the garage is another swing from where you can view what I call my Secret Garden because it is hidden behind the garage and surrounded by fences. Beside it and at the end of the yard are two huge trees, a poplar and a willow. They have become enormous and had started to shade the garden, so I planted shade plants (mostly hostas) on the shadiest side. The other side gets enough sun for a vegetable garden with hop and clematis vines climbing on the fence.
Trees that tell a story
I have planted many varieties of perennial shade plants over the years but the hostas have outlasted most of the others. The willow tree came from a friend who gave me a branch that was planted sideways and grew into a multi-trunked tree. The poplar was planted because I wanted a tree that would grow fast. That it did, including the troublesome roots! The trees do cap off the yard to make it feel more country-like, but have required professional pruning several times.
The focal point of the front yard is a Japanese lilac tree with perennials, evergreens, shrubs and petunias lining the driveway with a backdrop of evergreens against the house. There are planters hanging off the fence by the driveway leading from the front to the back garage with more pots of flowers grouped at the end.
Family memories rooted in the garden
Our children Kerri, Colleen and husband Garry, family and friends have enjoyed many backyard gatherings. One of our family stories starts with my husband Frank dropping me off by my university campus office. As I was getting out of the car, Colleen, who was three years old at the time, exclaimed “Mom you forgot your hoe!” She had only ever seen me working at home in the house and yard and had never been inside my office at work where the ‘tools of the trade’ were quite different!
When Kerri turned sixteen years old, we surprised her with a backyard birthday party with her friends and a new portable fire pit, which is still used to this day. Grandchildren Izzy and Charlie use the open green lawn space to play games and have fun. A basketball stand has recently been added in the back, which could prove to be a danger to some plants, but it’s for the grandchildren.
Keeping the family farm alive in the garden
Tucked away around the yard are remembrances from the farm I grew up on, which had been in the family for 100 years when it was sold. These relics include bricks from the original chimney, rocks from the fields, crock jugs, wicker plant stand, bird bath, bird feeder, steppingstones from Mom’s garden and her big crock pot including the big white rock used for making sauerkraut.
The gardens have become a special place for everyone; we feel our roots while caretaking those that continue to grow and those yet to be sown.
