Flowers – Page 5 – Cynthia Reyes

A Good Home, Canadian Gardens, Canadian life, Family Stories, Flowers, Gardens, Homes, Inspiration, Japanese Maples, Trees, Tropical Gardening in Canada

A Family’s Labour of Love

September 19, 2014September 20, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

Photos by Hamlin Grange

One of the most beautiful gardens I’ve ever seen grows behind a very modern house not far from Toronto’s downtown.

A lush, hidden garden in a world of its own.

A place where tall trees loom into the sky, water flows peacefully, plants thrive and a discovery waits around every corner.

The garden is the ‘labour of love’ of Mary and Bob and their family. (Mary is on the right, below.)

While there’s no doubt that Mary provides the driving passion behind the garden (and loves nothing better than working in it) Bob and daughter Adrianne also play central roles.

“Bob built the arbor and pergola and has been so supportive of my passion,” Mary says.

“My Adrianne has been a big part of the creation. She is an incredible artist and we love when her time permits for us to work together on the garden.”

Mary describes the garden as “a canvas on which we have the privilege of unleashing our creativity”.

And what a work of art.

Japanese maples of different kinds – more than two hundred of them – weave through the garden, as do Japanese forest grass, hosta and other interesting plants.

Their foliage and colour contribute to the texture of the garden from spring to fall.

Hundreds of tropical plants thrive in the pool area, seeming completely at home.

Water features add to the feeling of peace here.

There are ponds.

Waterfalls.

And a water wall.

It is surprising to find a garden of this size and kind so close to downtown Toronto. Equally surprising: this garden is less than 6 years old.

The family was fortunate to have very large trees and more than an acre of land, but they had to start the garden from scratch.

Under the shade of the trees, and in many sunny spaces, the garden changed and evolved over those years.

You can see it many times and still find something new to admire every time.

New plants, new trees, new structures.

Which may explain why friends beg to tour the garden every time they visit.

And gardening magazines love producing features about it.

Mary talks about her family’s creation with a gardener’s passion. There’s wonder and delight in her voice and on her face when she stops to look at a new development.

A late-season rose.

A passion-flower, giving one of its first blooms near the end of summer.

The fragrance of a gardenia.

“I love this garden!” Mary says. “It comes from our family’s heart.”

Dedicated to the artist in all of us.

A Good Home, Family, Family birthdays, Family Moments, Flowers, Gratitude, Relationships, Sisters

FLOWERS FOR MY SISTER

September 18, 2014September 18, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

Today is my younger sister’s birthday, and these flowers are for her.

I was the older sister, and for most of our lives, the more accomplished. She looked up to me, as I looked up to our older sisters.

But for some time now, I’ve been the one who’s looked up to her.

My little sister has quietly become one of my heroes.

She’s overcome many painful challenges.

Her marriage dissolved.

She went back to school while the children were still young. Went back to earn new qualifications that would pay the bills.

She raised her three sons, mostly on her own. Three beautiful young men.

Today she’s also a loving grandmother of two.

My sister’s faith and optimism are a joy to behold.

I’ve leaned on that strong faith in recent years. Hers and my other siblings’.

Through frequent phone calls from the U. S., where she lives, my younger sister has helped keep me afloat during tough times.

She talked to me at times when I couldn’t even hold a conversation.

Over and over, she called. Encouraging. Assuring me that there would be brighter tomorrows.

But it’s what she’s done for others that’s moved me most profoundly over these several years.

She established scholarships — in our parents’ names — for children from poor families in the Jamaican countryside where we once lived. She started with two – twin girls – providing money for their high school fees and other expenses.

Then she asked the rest of us to contribute if and when we could.

Today, those scholarships have helped 8 young people. All of them are bright children from poor families – much poorer than we were.

My sister delights in their progress.

And she never lets the rest of us forget that through these scholarships, we are changing lives.

Helping others to get an opportunity that changed our own lives.

An education.

Happy birthday, Jackie.

And thank you.

God bless.

A Good Home, Anemone, Canadian Gardens, Canadian life, Flower legends, Flowers, Gardens, Life in canada

Ever Heard Of An Emony?

September 16, 2014September 16, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

I hadn’t seen one, just heard the name.

Then I saw the written word somewhere: Anemone.

Kinda like the first time I saw the word “Cotoneaster” and called it a “Cotton Easter” shrub — to the amusement of experienced gardeners nearby. One of them explained: “It’s an aster. Cotone aster.”

Yeah, sure. But in my mind, it’s still “Cotton Easter”.

What can I say? People like me hail from a strange planet.

Which may explain why we can’t cook or bake or knit.

Or make nice floral arrangements.

But I digress.

The anemone flower, a member of the buttercup family, has magical origins.

If you believe the old legends, anyway.

And you should…. if you’re a gardener.

Because I understand that gardeners are really magicians and witches, and that if you see them in the moonlight — at exactly one minute after midnight — you’ll notice that their fingers are an iridiscent green and tendrils grow from their hands and feet…..

But I digress. Again.

Anemone is said to have sprung from the earth when the goddess Venus shed tears of grief over the loss of Adonis and flowers grew where her tears fell.