The St. Clair Garden is blessed with neighbours who celebrate the stewards, share stories of their favourite plant and even at times bring their own pruners to lop off an out-of-control twig or two.
One woman told me that her mother (now deceased) loved the garden as if it were her own. Every day, she walked over to admire our work and say hello to the Sweet Oxeye (Heliopsis helianthoides).
At our June work party, our dedicated garden stewards toiled away to bring shape and form to our garden. With all the spring rain, many of our plants badly needed trimming and pruning. It took almost an hour to get the elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), grey dogwood (Cornus racemosa) and fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica) back under control. In addition to a serious trimming, the highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) needed to have a number of suckers nipped off.
Our garden has a pathway and now, with the addition of two stones, it runs end-to-end. Getting those stones in place required some serious elbow grease - digging, pulling and pushing so that the new stones would be level with others along the path. This was a project from last year that we were eager to complete.
And we weeded. And mulched. And weeded. And mulched some more.
We mulched around the stones in the path, in an attempt to keep the weeds under control. But we also used the mulch to create a protective barrier for the plants at the base of the Joe pyeweed (Empatorium purpurem). We’re hoping the yarrow (Achilea millefolium) and little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) will now have a decent chance of surviving the peril of lawnmowers.
If you drop by the St. Clair Garden you’ll be able to quickly identify the plants, as we installed nameplates using common names.
As we were working, the garden neighbours dropped by to cheer us on. Some took the time to share their relationship to the garden. They spoke of changes they had seen from last year, their favourite plants – and the ones they spoke to.
One of our long-time neighbours is Kathy Carter (81) and her dog Tiny (a shih tzu pomeranian). Kathy and Tiny live in an apartment building overlooking the garden and they visit every day.
Kathy has been watching the garden since it was first started four years ago. She takes great pride in the work of garden stewards often shooing away unwanted dogs. She’s been known to bring her own garden sheers to help with a bit of pruning or cut some flowers for her apartment.
As our work party was coming to an end, I grabbed a bunch of the pruned elderberry (Sambucus candensis) flowers that had been sitting in water. As I was walking down the street – a woman excitedly asked ‘Are you going to eat those – the elderberry flowers?’
I must have had a skeptic look. She then proceeded to give me her personal recipe of stir-fried elderberry flowers. A little bit of butter with garlic. Delicious she said – you’ll love it! Ha! Ketchup anyone?
If you’re interested to see and learn more about our St. Clair Urban Forest Demonstration Garden, drop by Thursday, July 27th between 6:00 and 8:00 pm! We will be hosting a #BeesLoveTrees pop-up event, which includes mini tours of the garden and lots of great info about how native trees and shrubs support bees. Join us to learn more and fall in love with our little urban paradise.
Heather Robertson lives near Wychwood Barns with her partner Nick and their dog Cruiser. They are great supporters of the urban environment experience, admiring their neighbour’s native gardens and tending to the silver maple in their front yard.
LEAF’s Urban Forest Demonstration Gardens are supported by Ontario Power Generation’s Biodiversity Program and the Toronto Transit Commission.
