Graced by grandma’s rose
Debbie Toth inherited a garden and made it her own
Debbie Toth didn’t just buy a house five years ago, she bought the garden that came with it.
It was (and still is) “full-frontal” on the street side and an established perennial garden in the back. She’s added to it and changed a few things. Her experience — “inheriting” someone else’s garden — is not uncommon. What is more rare is that she has fully embraced it — taking on someone else’s creation, making it her own, and, last year, opening her garden for Hamilton Spectator Open Garden Week.
In a telephone conversation, she talks about her garden, a rose with special significance, and her nemesis: tulip-hungry squirrels.
Rob Howard: Tell us about your garden.
Debbie Toth: When I moved into my house about five years ago, I got the garden I’ve got. It was a lovely garden to start with. It was in really good shape. The front yard doesn’t have any grass on it. It’s all ground cover. The majority is pachysandra and then there’s lamium and there’s ferns. In the back is a small piece of property. It’s a casual English garden border kind of thing. Just a mixture of flowers.
What plants do you have in the back flower borders?
There’s quite a mixture in there. Anything from peonies to iris and lilies. Columbine. I’ve got a nice monkshood, I’ve got phlox. There’s bleeding heart and hostas and Solomon’s seal.
Have you added much in the five years or was most of that there?
I’ve brought in a few things, added some lilies. I actually brought a rose that was in my grandmother’s garden. It’s a pink climbing rose. It’s got to be about 80 years old. It was in my grandmother’s garden, it was in my mom’s garden, and then five years ago, I got it into my garden. To take something from the garden for your garden is lovely. My mom was 95 when she died a couple of years ago and she was in the same house for 75 years maybe. I wanted some things from our garden because that’s what I grew up with. I couldn’t get the whole root. I took a slice off it so I didn’t know if it would survive but it did. It flowered last year and it’s going to flower again this year.
Do you grow an edibles, any vegetables?
I’ve tried that but the squirrels are such a menace here. I bought a lovely cherry tomato and I had it in my garden less than 12 hours and the squirrels ate it off right at the bottom. I’ve had strawberries and they just eat them. I think they sit up in a tree and watch me plant any bulbs and they come down that night and eat the bulbs right out of the ground. I’ve kind of given up.
What are some of your favourite flowers?
I like the monkhood when it comes out in the fall. I like the colour of it. It’s a dark bluey-purple. And I like the peonies. I’ve got a white one in bloom right now pure white, this beautiful smell. And I just had two that were kind of a ruby reddish pink colour. There’s a pink one still to open. I think those are my two favourites.
What would you say to somebody who wants to start making a garden?
I’d probably say start small. Just start small because it can overwhelm you. It looks small until you’re working on it. Start with good soil because that’s really the basis for everything.
Do you have something you consider your biggest success, something you like to show in your garden?
I’d probably say my grandmother’s rose. I’m glad that came back ... it’s touch and go with roses, especially old ones.
Something in your garden that is a challenge?
Yeah, my squirrels. That’s definitely a daily challenge. There’s just so many around here. There’s lot of trees around my property and there’s a school down the road that has walnut trees. There’s just so much food for them that they’re multiplying. And they enjoy life and they enjoy my garden.
(Everyone is laughing now.) It’s pretty hilarious. I don’t hate them because they’re wildlife. But they just frustrate me no end. So that’s definitely my biggest challenge in the garden: the squirrels.
What have you learned from the other gardeners you’ve had a chance to get to know?
You know, I think sharing plants and just going into other people’s gardens and having garden tours, it’s a good social thing. It is a passion — just a joyous thing. When you’re planting things, it’s hope for the future. You think things are going to come up and you keep going. In the spring, it’s always exciting to see those shoots coming up.
(This conversation has been shortened and edited for clarity and conciseness.) Rob Howard lives and gardens in Hamilton and has been writing about gardening for more than 30 years. Find him on Facebook at Rob Howard: Garden writer or email him at gardenwriterRob@gmail.com