Today Pam Fraser is taking us on a tour of a beautiful garden where she volunteers.
I live in Ladysmith on the southeast coast of Vancouver Island, Zone 8, on the west coast of Canada. Today I would like to share some photos of a garden where I volunteer. The Doris Gallagher Memorial Gardens are located behind our community health centre and next to an extended care facility. In normal times, residents from the facility often visit and enjoy the gardens; hopefully (I write this in early June 2020) they will be able to do so again soon. We have noticed more visitors from the general public during the pandemic. As we gardeners know, visiting a garden is a wonderful antidote to all kinds of troubles.
The gardens are maintained by volunteers from the Ladysmith Healthcare Auxiliary, founded in 1909 as a support for the then-new hospital. Today our main activity is running a successful thrift store, which we are in the process of reopening. We donate the profits to local and regional organizations that support all types of community wellness, including our food bank, various support programs, search and rescue, hospice, and health care equipment. A bit of the money raised goes to buy supplies for the Memorial Gardens.
In the Memorial Gardens, we strive for year-round interest, but spring is the season of the real floral fireworks. The garden is nearly 40 years old, so many of the plantings are mature. The pictures are from this spring and others, and they take you through some of the highlights of the season.
The first of the flowering trees, the magnolias, are brief but spectacular.
Next are the cherry trees, which line many streets in our region. This is a later double cherry with the pompom blossoms (probably the variety Prunus ‘Kanzan’, Zones 5–9).
In April the tulips and the pink flowering dogwood (Cornus florida, Zones 5–9) in the background put on their show. Unfortunately, this picture is not from this year. The bunnies ate virtually all the tulips this spring. I have lots of empathy now for Farmer McGregor and much less for Peter Rabbit.
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Comments
Lovely and relaxing, surely bringing healing and comfort to many.
Such a beautiful garden with a beautiful reason for being brought into existence. Has to be gratifying to you to see your spirea doing so well and looking so spritely.
Well cared for and an inspiration, thanks.
This is all so lovely, Pam.
If you type Pam's name in to the search bar, you can find her own garden featured for GPOD.
Oh thanks "treasures mom" for that info I looked again and enjoyed again!
I think the importance of gardens being helpful in connection to the healing process is so overlooked in general.
All gardens in a way are "healing gardens", and every "care facility" or hospital should be required to have one.
This 40 year old garden with it's volunteers is such a fine example of how the whole world should behave.
Just love that sidewalk through the huge old Rhododendrons!
Everything about this is wonderful...
Oh how lovely!
As lovely as all the photos are, I think the best shot is the last one of the harbor. A view like that truly is inspiring and healing.
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