Even if you’re as passionate about your garden as my loyal customer, Donna George, it doesn’t mean you have to go it all alone. I’m happy to welcome Donna as a guest author. Donna is a retired gardening enthusiast or as I affectionately call her, “my gardening from the deck lady”. She shares with you her story and how we have successfully worked together for several years.
Do you garden according to a nursing care plan? I do! I assess, plan, implement and evaluate.
When I retired in 1997, my first TO DO thing was to do my own gardening. When we lived in Aylmer, Ontario we had a very large garden, an arbour, a 3 pool pond, fish, a raised garden bed and lots of work to plan.
I had a potting shed, my potting table, and lots of thought about how to work.
I went to Lee Valley Tools in London and bought all the very best gardening tools! I had my serviceable gardening gloves, my gardening straw hat, gardening clogs and I was ready!
I amassed 19 garden books by pre-eminent authors who knew and explained to the neophyte everything there was to know about gardening and gardens.
The first book that I bought had been “Chatelaine’s Gardening Book” by Lois Wilson (1970). We still lived in an apartment but I could think ahead to the DAY.
From 1972 to 1987 we lived in our townhouse in Agincourt and that only had a small private front garden. Not much work but I planted a bridal wreath spirea, a second spirea bush and some four o’clock plants.
In 1987 we moved to Aylmer, Ontario.
In 1994 we bought a house. I wanted a garden!
A friend from the College of Nurses where I worked in Toronto gave me a split from her peony bush that had been her grandfather’s originally and I was ready to start!
In our 1995 garden installation there were sloping pathways and 6 distinct garden areas. There were perennials, annuals, bushes, trees and we backed onto to a conservation area that made the garden look even larger that it really was!
However, things changed. I had a sudden onset of rheumatoid arthritis in 1998, was on homecare for 2 years and all my plans were dashed. We had a beautiful sunroom built at the rear of the house and sitting on my green wicker plump cushion chaise lounge, I could only look out over that garden.
In 2005 we moved to Whitby and by 2006 I wanted a smaller garden, one that I could look at and one that someone could manage for me!
I met Joanne Shaw who worked with me to realise my garden dream.
The rest as they say is history. I still cannot walk on uneven ground or use any garden tools. I threw out my Lee Valley clogs and now l garden from the elevated deck, taking notes for Joanne and sending her pictures of plants, spaces and trees. We have worked together for 6 years now developing my gardens that I watch over from the deck.
Joanne always says “Great Landscapes start with a great plan”….this is true even if it’s a nursing care plan and Joanne understands!