Page 19 - Jo Ann Gardner & Heirloom Gardens

ISSUE : Issue 63

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1993/6/1

K • J 'P'T'-ai ??H''a'-. ' m' 1 C ! Tena (above): "Haymaking time around the early 1930's. My mother, my aunt and myself, and a young boy who was with us at the time. You might no? tice towards your left hand a trellis there, probably for more holly hawk or golden glow. Dahlias and cosmos were there at one time too. That's been a long while ago as I try to think back now." Tena (right): "'Gee but I'm sleepy!' Flo Jones, a friend of ours. Dahlias were always planted by the front door to? wards the south west end of the house and at the west end. 1930-31." worked so hard from dawn to dusk to eke out a living, in which every member of the fam? ily had to contribute, like a factory, in order to produce all their needs. And these are people that planted ornamental gardens. This is what I set out to find.... And you've got to understand--I'm living in the back woods. No phone, no vehicle, no access to any library except my own. And at that time I was lucky. We had this relationship with the Mulgrave Library--they would send me books back and forth. (Since then) they cut their budget and that's all gone. But anyway, I started to establish a net? work with people all over North America that were interested in this, that might be in organizations to preserve old Roses, that knew about Iris. People in Canada, people in the United States, who shared their information with me. "The Inn with the View" 'h "Duck Cove Irux On the Cabot Trail Margaree Harbour .i Nova Scotia, Canada il BOE 2B0 Phone (902) 235-2658 But I started in Cape Breton. I started at my doorstep. I started with the plants that grew right in my yard, literally. Then moved--because of my association with the Village--moved out to the peninsula, to wherever I could get a ride. Like, we have a friend who's a forester. And he noticed the Foxgloves growing on Skye Mountain. And I'd heard about these Foxgloves from other people. Well, if there's Foxglove growing there, people lived there. They didn't just happen there. Okay, we've got to go over to Skye Mountain and see the Fox? glove. Well, you know, for us, that's not very easy. Purple foxglove Digitalis purpurea So the following spring, our (forester) friend came back. And it's really a steep mountain; they do logging and stuff there. And so he takes me to the site, and it's really incredible. You look over by the side of the road, and it's just weeds. I mean, there's nothing there but weeds. There's brambles, there's weeds. But you look down close in the ground, and you see a clump of little soft velvety leaves. Just little clumps here and there and eve? rywhere. And those are first- and second- year plants--it's a biennial. So the first year it's going to just put out a little rosette of leaves; it's not going to flow? er. The second year, that rosette of leaves is going to sprout a stem. And by July, it's going to be just laden with A&W; 539-7222 Mark's Work Wearhouse. 539-0441 Agnew Surpass 562-3129 Metropolitan 562-1134 Balloon City 562-7620 Munroe's Barber Shop Bank of Nova Scotia 539-6760 Olympic Shoe Repair 564-8112 Bill's Pet Centre 539-2243 Quick Break 539-1908 Bi-Way 539-8860 Radio Shack 539-4617 Bojou 539-5596 Reitman's 562-3177 Candy and Things 562-6292 Sam The Record Man Carlton Cards. 564-6531 Shoppers Drug Mart 562-1144 Cole's Book Store 539-6053 Sobey's 562-1762 Don's Fish & Chips 564-0002 Sony Store 562-8811 Fun Villa Arcade Sport Card Corner 562-3531 Gals & Guys Hairworks . 539-1811 Sports Experts 539-2320 Gem Photo 539-2288 Super Touch Fashions.. .539-4454 Goldsil 539-7273 Suzy Shier 539-5538 Heather Bowling Centre. 562-2695 Tim Horton's 539-4287 Jeans Experts 567-1217 Uncle Chow's 564-6487 Kentucky Fried Vanelli's Mrs 539-7882 Chicken 564-6322 Zeller's 539-5600 HOURS OF OPERATION: Monday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. -10:00 p.m. MALL OFFICE • PRINCE ST., SYDNEY, N. S. BIP 5K6 • 539-6912 HEAD OFFICE 115 KING ST., STELLARTON, N. S. BOK 1S0 ?? 755-4440

Cape Breton's Magazine