POTS & PLANTS
/BUILDING MANAGERS AS GARDENERS
by Beth Lopez
Walking in the West End we can enjoy the beautiful gardens around the big apartment and condo buildings. Some of those gardens have been created and maintained by the residents like the Secret Garden on Pendrell and the gorgeous plantings around 888 Bute. Some buildings employ landscaping companies who maintain the lawns, clean up leaves and weeds and trim the hedges. But many of those gardens are maintained by the building managers.
Building managers live in the buildings they work in and are employees of the owners. Besides ensuring the maintenance of the building, collecting rent, and communicating with residents, some managers also create and maintain the gardens around the building. I met two different managers with different circumstances and styles, but both maintain gardens that receive compliments all through the growing season.
Mike grew up next door to an elderly woman who had a garden. As a young boy he would help her out, being able to bend and stretch to reach things she could no longer manage. He also helped his own mother in the garden. He learned from them some of the basics of gardening and knowledge of plants, but he also learned to love gardening.
Years later Mike was a resident of a building at Comox and Bute and would help the building manager with the garden, until ten years ago when he became the manager and it all became his responsibility.
The Entrance courtyard in full bloom at Stanley park Manor.
Mike has no budget from the owner for the gardens and has found many ways to maintain a beautiful and varied garden. He often receives plants from fellow gardeners in the neighborhood. The recent plantings of yellow irises are from his mother when she divided her bulbs. He buys plants from the garden center when they are discounted, and brings them back to health. He has his own garden on the roof. When plants become too big for their pots, or when he is ready for something new, he transplants them to the garden outside.
He will find items that he sees creatively as a garden addition. An old wooden tool box found beside the dumpster became a perfect place to grow ivy, flanked by the wrought-iron fence and a large rock. Mike expresses his whimsy with dollar store additions like the colorful metal sculptures in the boulevard garden.
The building is on a corner lot, so he has two sides to maintain. On top of that he has taken on the boulevard garden at the front after the people who signed up for it disappeared. He has all the regular maintenance work of lawn-mowing, snow-shoveling, leaf-raking, pruning, and weeding on top of the creative job of making the garden beautiful. He is rewarded with many compliments that he hears from residents and pedestrians passing by.
Camellias in bloom at 1915 Haro.
Lyn is the building manager at the beautiful heritage building at 1915 Haro, The Stanley Park Manor. She grew up in Toronto and has memories of gardens from her childhood filled with currant bushes and peonies. She watched with fascination the work of ants crawling on the buds, nibbling to open the peony flower. She also remembers going with friends, equipped with a container of sugar, taking rhubarb from the neighbor’s plant and dipping and eating them in secret.
Lyn took on the management of the building many years ago. At that point, the front was all lawn with a steep slope to the sidewalk. A maintenance company came in with noisy gas-powered machines to mow the lawns and blow the leaves away. The dirt around the foundation of the building would splash up onto the walls, which were newly painted.
Lyn worked with the owners to create a garden worthy of the beautiful heritage building. With a $10,000.00 budget and the help of designers, she created a garden that blooms from spring until late fall.
The lawns were removed. A border of river rock now surrounds the foundation of the building; they channel away water and keep the walls clean. Retaining rocks hold back the soil on the slopes and provide space for the bushes, trees and perennials. Small touches make a wander through the garden a journey of discovery. A couple of fireplace grates, which were original in the 1929 building, now stand near the walk-way entrance flanked by flowers. A small watering can and stone sculptures are some of the treasures tucked among the plants.
Lyn had to have a large hemlock tree removed. It was taller than the building and posed a threat. A city bylaw says that a tree must be replaced with another tree if it is removed and Lyn is looking into putting in a dogwood. A row of heather and of course peonies, are part of the grand display. Look carefully and you may see lilacs, a rose, and hibiscus blooming in succession.
Lyn also regularly hears compliments from residents and pedestrians. She sees many passers by stop and take pictures before they continue their walk.
Since the initial remodeling of the planting around the building, Lyn has maintained them herself, with the much-appreciated help of some residents. Now, a company comes in to take care of the heavy tasks of snow removal and spring clean-up.
After years of service to the building Lyn is retiring. In a few months she will be moving out of the manager’s suite but will continue to live in the west end.
Spring is around the corner. As I walk through the West End I will continue to study the many beautiful displays. I will look for ideas. I will try to figure out how they did that and why they did that. Mostly I will just find the joy in beautiful gardens and feel gratitude to all the gardeners who brighten my day.
DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL GARDEN?
Do you have a garden in the West End or Coal Harbour that you would like to share - a curb garden, a boulevard garden, a round-about garden, a building, roof, or patio garden, a community plot, or something entirely new? If you would like me to write about your garden, please contact me at beth.twej@gmail.com.
