POTS & PLANTS
/The community garden at Davie and Burrard.
(James Oakes Photos - click any image to enlarge)
THE GARDENS WE LIVE IN
by Peter W. Gribble
The south-bound MacDonald bus zips right past and each time I knew someday I would have to get off and take a closer look.
For years the northeast corner of Burrard and Davie Streets had been a gas station. Now it’s a verdant multi-plot gardening extravaganza.
James Oakes, a friend of many years and a professional landscaper, wanted to take me on a brief tour of some of his favourite gardened and landscaped parts of the West End – an offer I could not refuse. We planned to meet at Burrard and Davie. This time I got off the MacDonald bus.
The Davie Village Community Garden is impressive not just because it’s a sizable piece of real estate but because of what the community has done with it.
It’s hard to list all that’s growing there. Tomatoes of various sizes, dill, chives (going to seed), a weeping birch possibly a remnant from garage days, squashes, nasturtiums, an eight-foot wall of scarlet runner beans, a solitary medium-sized rhodo in a pot, oregano everywhere, some nearly five feet tall, lilies about to bloom, the annual blue salvia, mullein, geraniums, crocosmia, cherry tomatoes plants 6`high, and one Amazonian gunnera just because.
Gardeners are an approachable, friendly bunch. As I was taking notes, Todd, quietly watering sections, approached and took the time to show us around. When I asked what he was growing on his balcony, he explained, “Ì don’t have a balcony. This is my balcony.”
Knowledgeable and dedicated, Todd showed us his small plot. Already his second harvest of carrots was coming along and he has hens and chicks and crocosmia in bloom. He pointed out a neighbouring plot where someone was growing “African greens.” It was nothing I recognized. It isn’t the Amaranth used for Caribbean callaloo. Nor does it look like Chomolia from Zimbabwe or the Ethiopian covo – this latter which can only be grown from cuttings – both plants called “African Kale.” This five-foot-tall plant has the open look of a variety of kale but with six-inch-long, flat, runcinate (ragged), otherwise lanceolate leaves of a blue-grey-green colour. Does anyone know what it might be?
Sadly, this may be the last season for this lovely community space, as it is slated for development.
While we were talking, a South Asian husband and wife, tourists from Toronto, were amazed such a large community garden was possible in the middle of some of the priciest land in North America. We agreed and left them in Todd’s capable hands.
Gardening columnist Peter Gribble peruses the gardening options at Home Hardware.
James and I walked up Davie and popped into Home Hardware, which has everything a gardener needs: two standard racks of West Coast Seeds, fertilizers, soil, tools and more.
At the intersection of Davie and Thurlow, a mature mallow shrub (Hibiscus) was blooming at each corner. James described a period in his life when he was “a guerrilla gardener” and felt it his duty to weed these and other neglected areas of the West End neighbourhood. The mallows look better for it.
Turning right (northeast) onto Thurlow and at the corner of Pendrell is Mole Hill where heritage houses have been renovated and upgraded for a broader range of incomes. However, close by at 1116 Pendrell a large “Development Application” sign announces the proposed building of a 53.3 metres tall tower for the property. Locals worry the long shadow it will cast will make growing sun-loving plants including vegetables challenging.
Welcome to Mole Hill!
Slightly farther up on Pendrell’s opposite side is an archway draped with wisteria. We went through onto a gravel pathway leading to Jepson-Young Lane where a small book lending kiosk is at eye level. Here gardens stretch out on both sides beyond house fences, around parking spaces greening up the lane. There’s enough room for single courteous cars to navigate southwards.
On each side of Jepson-Young Lane is a separate community garden: “Mariposa Garden” and “Ladybird Garden” Both are like private alcoves or garden anterooms, yet a woman watering her herbs was happy to talk with us. Last winter the old boxes were replaced with numbered planter boxes, generously sized, well-built and filled with excellent soil and full with vegetables nearly ready for harvest.
The footpath resumes on Jepson-Young’s northeast side but through a narrower archway into a lush green world with low pruned yews on your right but on your left, half-hidden by leafy plants, are a fish pond, a flowing stream and a pond upstream with a bubbler. It’s a secret intimate marvel.
The footpath comes out at Comox Street with a row of pretty houses fronted by low picket fences, some interspersed with complementing boxwood hedges edging and looking out onto Nelson Park across the street. There’s an air of small-town neighborliness to the area.
A bubbling fountain in the peaceful oasis at Nelson Park.
The Nelson Park Community Garden plots have been there at the western edges of Nelson Park for years, but the two strips of attractive well-tended plots have an established feel to them now. Amid all the food growing plots was one standout: bright with daisies, poppies, campanula and Rudbeckia Goldsturm, it was a mini-English cottage garden confident in its statement that not all gardens are about food. The playground in the Lord Roberts School Annex and the popular dog run close by adds to the lively, cheerful atmosphere.
At the southern end of Nelson Park is the large, round smooth stone gurgler, which has quietly bubbled up its water for decades. It was once a favourite of mine years ago until it was resituated and re-landscaped, diminishing its curious power. There was a more spacious aspect then, with clean sight lines and converging axes allowing the stone to exert its calm, irresistible pull – it was gravitational – even from a distance.
European cities celebrate their fountains. So should we, even the quiet meditative ones. A well-placed fountain will draw not only the locals but appreciative tourists wandering off the beaten paths and it will magnetize their memory. Mine still is.
On the walk up to Bute and standing like two wayside shrines are two beehives surrounded by a locked but bee-permeable fence. I always pulled my chair close to my hives and enjoyed having bees nonchalantly land on me on their final three-foot flight to home. The smell of honeycomb on warm days is one of nature’s richest incenses.
Crossing over to Bute at Nelson is a row of beautifully maintained heritage houses. One stands out: the cheerful yellow Ashby House Bed & Breakfast. James knew the owners Robin and Marion who were out on the porch. We stopped to chat and admire the garden. Caelte, the Scottish terrier, came down the steps to say hello. As restrictions ease, Ashby House is taking reservations again.
Farther along Bute, James pointed out the Dutch Tulip trees and the brick pavement beneath them sticky with aphid aftermath. He asked what a potential solution would be. At this stage, jetting water up into the leaves to knock off the colonies is a little late as it would also dislodge the ladybugs up there feasting at the aphid buffet. Releasing more ladybugs doesn’t always work either as they tend to disperse away from the site. The multi-spotted Asian ladybug (Harmonia axyridis), introduced in Washington state in the 1920s to combat aphid infestations, is now the most common ladybug in South Coastal BC. Native ladybugs have declined or gone extinct in many habitats because of the Asian ladybugs aggressive spread and nature.
Around Bute and Barclay Streets the solid, dark basalt stonework edging the boulevard is the work of Wolf Schmitz, a master stonemason who James trained under. Off Bute’s corner on Stovold Lane, the parking space was a hazard until local petitioners had it removed. Once liberated, Wolf built the stone raised bed in its place that now guards a thriving banana tree.
Whether from a wander or a guided tour, it’s a pleasure to be taken unawares by all the green surprises in just this small part of the West End.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Peter and James will be doing more West End garden walkabouts in the future. If you have or know of a special garden spot you’d like to point them to, make a comment below and we’ll pass it along.
