No space is no problem for this gardener
James Honey has created a garden oasis in his tiny front yard
After a month of watching people toss garbage in his front yard, James Honey had enough. “It looked gross,” he says.
So last year he bought some flower seeds and started a beautification project in his four-feet-deep front yard. Four feet is all you get on Wellington Street North: the rest of it is traffic, four lanes of it.
Last year, the 22-year-old moved into an apartment in a string of Victorian row houses on Wellington between Wilson and King William streets. The buildings have symmetry and charm but weren’t getting much respect.
For Honey, though, an apartment to himself was a treasure after living in group homes and fending for himself since age 16.
“Gardening makes my mind more peaceful,” Honey says, describing what keeps all gardeners going. That is why he built his beautiful little garden, and why’s he made four more for other tenants in the row houses.
Petunias hang beneath the hydro meter and cascade out of the concrete blocks he used to get just a few more inches of growing space. Hibiscus and roses are in bloom, and Popsicle-coloured coneflowers are in peak shape.
He’s put his herbs in a burlap bag and suspended them from a tree to keep them away from animals, and even the tiny windowsills are lined with pots.
“They need to be watered every day,” he says. But there’s no tap in sight, so how does he do it? He runs a hose from the kitchen in his second-floor apartment, down the stairs and out to the street.
That’s the sort of determination needed to garden on this stretch of Wellington Street.
“Some people do come by and steal things or break things,” Honey says. “The way I look at it, they are stealing happiness from all others.”
So Honey keeps gardening and making people happy. There’s a seniors apartment building next door, residents walk by and complement him and give him advice.
He’s a knowledgeable gardener, identifying plants by their Latin names, planting for a continual show of colour, and deadheading to produce more blooms.
His work is not going unnoticed, the owner of a rental property across the street has asked him to make garden magic in front of his building.
Talk to Honey and you’ll discover he is wise beyond his years.
He used to hate the rain but now he loves it because it is watering his gardens. He also learned a basic fact of urban living: if you take care of something and strive to make it beautiful, others will respect it and the litter and graffiti wanes.
As we stand on the sidewalk, people walking by slow down and look and smile. And Honey is accomplishing another goal — “I want people to know good people live here.”
I hope he wins a Trillium Award. This is what it’s really about, not a weed-free lawn or a crisply-trimmed hedge or a regulation-height fence. It’s about turning neglected space into something beautiful and sharing it with all.
Honey is already thinking about next year’s garden. He’ll be planting more tulips and daffodils so Wellington Street will get an early swath of colour. This fall he’ll add mums to keep the flowers blooming into November.
Some might call this horticultural therapy, but that’s too clinical. I suspect for James Honey it’s deeper and more spiritual.
“I look at the garden and think, this is what I want my life to be — neat, tidy, clean.”