Gardening – Page 4 – Cynthia Reyes

A Good Home, Blessings, Canadians, Couples, Family Stories, Gardening, Garlic, Home, Inspiration, Love letters, Loving Acts, Vegetable Garden

“If you are reading this, it means….”

August 5, 2014August 5, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

Our friend Jacqui phoned.

“Are you going to be there in a few minutes? I’m coming for a visit.”

I smiled. It was almost exactly what Paddy used to say. Minutes later, he and his wife Jacqui would be at our door.

Married for decades, they were always together, these two.

Our family loved their visits.

But Paddy died from cancer earlier this year.

We wondered if Jacqui would continue the impromptu visits. I was very pleased with her call.

As usual, I let her in through the kitchen door, and we hugged.

We sat at the harvest table.

It was the same table that just last October was laden with produce from the garden — including the lone Jamaican pumpkin that grew from a seedling that Paddy and Jacqui had given us that spring.

“Come for your share of the pumpkin harvest,” we’d phoned them, laughing.

When they came, we handed them a bag filled with herbs, garlic, tomatoes and half of the Jamaican pumpkin.

Now, 8 months later, Jacqui and I sat together at the table for the first time without Paddy.

We sipped our tea.

She’d been going through Paddy’s belongings, she said. Deciding what to give away, and identifying matters that needed her immediate attention.

She opened Paddy’s briefcase.

She saw an envelope addressed “To My Wife”.

She ripped it open and started to read:

“My dearest Jacqui.

So faithful and true!

… Without you, I would have had nothing. It was due to your sacrifices that we survived. You gave so much and demanded so little. Thank you for being so much to me over the years….”

“I want you to read it,” Jacqui said now, handing me the long white envelope. She had torn it open at one end, but the writing on the front was clear: “To My Wife”, it said.

I reached into the envelope, pulled out the letter.

I got goosebumps.

Paddy’s letter to Jacqui ends with this paragraph:

“If you are reading this, it means that I’ve passed on. Don’t be sad. Our life together was good! Although I won’t be here in body, I will always be at your side in spirit.

“Good bye my love!”

Moved by his love for her and their daughter Donna — and by this considerate act – Jacqui cried.

But here’s what surprised her most: the letter was dated August 9, 1999.

Paddy wrote it 14 years before – and put it in his briefcase, where he knew Jacqui would find it.

The impact on Jacqui was so positive that on a subsequent visit, as we sat on the verandah, she agreed to let me share excerpts from the letter.

The lesson here:

There’s no need to wait. You can write that letter to someone you love right now.

A Good Home, Canadian Gardens, Couples, Family Moments, Ferns, Flowers, Gardening, Homes, Hostas, Jamaican Gardening in Canada, July Garden, Life in canada, Lifestyle, Outdoor Living, Shade Gardens, Summer Garden, Tropical Gardening in Canada, Tropical Plants

In the Garden with Gail and Sam

August 1, 2014August 1, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

Right away, you can tell that two avid gardeners live here.

These gloves don’t stay idle for long.

Gail and Sam have lived in their home in a city east of Toronto for 25 years.

Theirs is a mature, complex garden that is tended conscientiously every day. It has trees, vines, ponds, statuary, gazebos, and plants that grow in the ground and in a multitude of containers.

Of course, a gardener’s work is never done. If you’re a gardener, you’ll relate to this moment:

The camera comes out and Gail spies a weed — way, way at the back of the garden.

“Wait!” she says. “Let me remove that weed!” As she pulls one, she finds one more. And one more.

A Canadian who was born and raised in Jamaica, Gail has fond memories of the island.

This garden helps her to keep connected to it.

“We come out here and we’re in Jamaica!” says Gail.

The garden is also a tribute to her mother, who died several years ago.

Gail is a passionate gardener. Luckily, her husband Sam, of Italian-Canadian background, also loves gardening — and Jamaica.

To see them in the garden is to see a team that works well together.

He does the building and hardscaping (paths, gazebos, trellises, stone walls, ponds, decking, etc.) while she chooses and takes care of the plants.

To no-one’s surprise, there’s a banana tree, rescued when the friend who had it was having trouble caring for it.

It’s among umpteen tropical plants growing in containers spread throughout the garden.

Most of them would be quite at home in a Jamaican garden.

There’s even an old copper gallon-jug which was originally used to measure rum at the Appleton estate in Jamaica. It belonged to her father, and, thrilled with the historical significance of the jug, Gail was very pleased when her dad gave it to her for her garden in Canada.

Gail’s an active volunteer in Canada’s Jamaican-Canadian community. She was a member of the Toronto committee celebrating Jamaica’s 50th anniversary in 2012 with a variety of cultural events, including concerts, author readings, an art show and other activities. That project is over, but when Gail wants to feel a connection to Jamaica, all she has to do is to step into her garden.

Thanks, Gail and Sam, for allowing me to visit with you in your beautiful garden.

A Good Home, Canadian Gardens, Garden Humour, Gardening, Gardens, Wild Carrot, Wild flowers

Her Royal Lacy-ness

July 30, 2014February 28, 2020 Cynthia Reyes

There is a place

For Queen Anne’s Lace

In nature’s open garden.

“But not in mine!”

Gardeners decline

And – oh, their hearts they harden.

Tis true, Lace will

Self-seed — and still

I love her gentle beauty

But gardeners think

That in one blink

She’ll multiply their duty.

I spied the Lace

Her pretty face

Not showing in the open

She hid herself

In clever stealth

With mint in our herb garden.

She stayed alive

Two years survived

Unseen by Garden Minder

Till recent days

He cast his gaze

And was quite shocked to find her.

Her stem he gripped

He pulled and ripped

And stared at her in horror

And thought he had

Removed it all

For he’s a true weed warrior.

I found her in

The compost bin

— This tale is not fallacious —

No-one about,

I pulled her out

Aggrieved that one so gracious

Should be thrown down

With newly-mown

Grass, in a heap of greenery

I picked her up

And filled a cup

Of water to redeem her.

And here’s the grace:

She’s fine, our Lace

She flowers now at leisure

Indeed, she blooms

Inside our rooms

For Gardener’s “viewing pleasure”.

If he’s aware

– Our Gardener Dear –

That Lace is what is blooming

He has said nought

Of what he thought

And there has been no fuming

But hold your glee

Don’t “hooray” me

For trouble’s yet a-foot

The Lacy weed

Has done the deed

And left behind a root

Though Gardener Dear

Does not know there

Is still a small plant thriving

In his herb bed

The weed so dread

Is quietly surviving.

Dedicated to people who love wildflowers.

–AND with a smiling apology to my favorite gardener–

There’s more information on the wild carrot AKA Queen Anne’s Lace, at:

http://ontariowildflowers.com/mondaygarden/article.php?id=169

A Good Home, Canadian Gardens, Clematis, Flowers, Gardening

Clematis a-bloomin’

July 22, 2014July 23, 2014 Cynthia Reyes

I promised a blogger-friend that I’d post pictures of clematis in bloom.

But the gosh-darn rabbits ate almost every clematis right down to the ground last winter and spring, so I didn’t know what would come back and what was a goner. We had a few casualties, indeed. We lost the gorgeous white clematis. And the beautiful pink one that graces the arbour on the cover of my book, A Good Home. But there’s much to be thankful for. Now, it’s not all smooth sailing. A few are really struggling, and insects have also attacked them. But the point is that they returned. And others came back in full force. This shy little red clematis decided to spread its wings — er, vines. This one below escaped the rabbits and is full of blooms now. Now, don’t go asking me all their names. Some days, I don’t even remember my own….. But I hope you are suitably impressed – I know I am! Several of these vines were bought for a few bucks at end of gardening seasons in years past, and planted by my Better Half.

I’m especially impressed with this bloom below- usually the first to flower, this clematis missed its moment because the rabbits ate the whole vine and it had to start up again from its roots underground.

But now it’s sent out a single bloom!