A sneak peek of the Carnegie Gallery Secret Gardens Tour
Out in the far reaches of Flamborough there is the garden of broken shovels. There’s no shrine, no display, but they live in Gord Taylor’s memory.
“Every shovel I put into the ground, I hit a rock,” he says without a trace of irritation.
That’s what happens when you buy a field and build a garden in it. Nearly 40 years ago Gord and Sue Taylor settled on a country concession road, built a house and started a garden. Their 1.1 acre parcel of land was surrounded by cash crop farms. They quickly made friends with the Jamaican migrant workers, who spent long days in the neighbouring fields picking up the infernal rocks.
“I asked them if they could pile some by the fence line so I could build walls in our garden. They were the nicest, hard-working people,” Gord says.
So the rock walls got built, the paths laid out, trees and flowers planted, ponds dug, and you’d think Gord and Sue Taylor might be running short on steam. But no, they power on, having just finished building a Japanese style tea house in time for their debut on the Carnegie Gallery Secret Gardens Tour this Sunday.
It’s the 25th anniversary of the gallery’s fundraising tour (www.carnegiegallery.org) and with 10 special gardens, it runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. rain or shine.
It was doing both the day I visited the Taylor garden, arriving after a lovely drive along the rolling hills of the 8th Concession near Strabane.
Their property is a little hilly, too. It makes for lovely vistas. The new tea house sits atop a ferny slope. Already furnished, it is one of a dozen places in the garden where the Taylors can sit and enjoy the view.
“We really do sit in all those places,” Sue says from perch No. 1, which is under an arbour overlooking the pond. “Around dinnertime the honeybees arrive. They fly in streams and visit the water hyacinths.”
Several years ago the farms were sold, the Taylors said sad goodbyes to their Jamaican friends, and Dutchman’s Gold Honey moved in. They’re good neighbours too, even though Gord is allergic to bees.
“The honeybees are fine, they’re not aggressive; it’s no big deal.”
That kind of unflappable attitude came in handy over the years of hard
work. The Taylors describe the yearly purchase of 300 to 400 bags of soil needed to improve their sandy, rocky terrain.
Then there were years when they grew hundreds of annuals from seed, and the many hours moving building materials around the garden.
“I call this my personal gym,” Gord says.
Whenever possible they like to use material that other people are getting rid of. The advent of Kijiji was a gift.
“I figure we’ve moved 165 loads of material thanks to Kijiji,” Gord says.
“Brick, stone, wood, pots — even furniture; some of it’s been free, and all of it a bargain.”
A walk around the garden takes in a lovely potting area furnished with a workbench, chairs, antique windows and a brick floor. In the lower part of the garden a vintage screen door is framed by a fir tree and a companionable rocking chair.
Playground equipment is tucked in for the grandkids, and the fire pit stands by for stargazing during cold nights.
In a sunny spot is Sue’s garlic collection — attractively fenced off and situated near long views of nearby fields.
This week they’ll finish some chores before the garden tour. Having both retired — Sue from HR work at Mohawk College, and Gord from his dispatcher job at Sun Canadian Pipeline — they can pace themselves for weeding.
“Garlic mustard and Norway maples, those are the worst,” Gord says. Few would disagree.
After the Carnegie tour they’ll be on semi-shutdown, Sue says. “We can sit back and enjoy but we’ll still be in the garden every day.”
It’s a lovely garden with a compelling story. Combined with the others on the Carnegie Gallery tour, it will contribute to a fine balance of urban, formal and country.