Taking a trip down memory lane
Next week we turn the calendar page — it’s almost June and I haven’t taken a single road trip this year to explore my favourite gardens. Since we are all homebound these days, I thought you might enjoy a virtual road trip to the Bruce Peninsula.
In June 2019, we headed up to the Southampton/Port Elgin area, now known as Saugeen Shores, along beautiful Lake Huron; I was giving a talk to the local horticultural society, and we decided to tack on a few extra days of R&R to explore the lakeshore and Bruce Peninsula ahead of the summer crowds.
We followed Hwy. 6 up to Tobermory, with several stops along the way to photograph spring flowers.
As you get away from the built up areas, sand dunes give way to woodland and finally expansive farmers’ fields. Grazing cattle, horses, flowering hedgerows and abandoned barns populate the fields. A wind farm, punctuated with towering turbines, slices the peninsula roughly in half.
It had been a cool, wet spring and the growing season in the Bruce runs a little behind Niagara — I was hoping our mid-June visit would catch the flowering of lady’s slipper orchids.
The orchids can be found along the sideroads, if you slow down and watch for patches of yellow among the mosses, lichens and flat rocks just beyond the gravel shoulders. This is a job for two people: One to drive, the other to keep an eye out for colour.
When we stop, Paul puts on the hazard lights and keeps an eye out for traffic as I concentrate on taking a few pictures.
We turned off the highway a few miles south of Tobermory and headed toward Dyer’s Bay, I had found yellow lady’s slipper orchids and columbines (Aquilegia canadensis) or lady’s bonnets along this stretch of road several years before. After exploring the ditches and getting my shots and being eaten alive by blackflies (note to self: douse with bug spray before getting out of the car), we continued east in search of a spot to turn around.
As we did so, an abandoned farmhouse and meadow appeared at the next crossroad — serendipity delivered a little magic.
Beyond the ditch and rusty mesh fencing, an expansive meadow of yellow buttercups, wild grasses, and dandelion ‘wishes’ surrounded a humble farmhouse engulfed in lilacs. As I explored the property with my lens (from the safety of a sideroad), the old house began to tell a story.
A hedgerow of purple, lavender and rose-coloured lilacs nearly concealed the side and front corner of the house, softening the harsh, weather-worn exterior, giving it an almost romantic feel.
The old place had been loved at one point. Tar-paper red brick siding, now more than 50 years old, had been added to freshen up the original wood siding, and there was evidence of the trim and doors wearing a fresh coat of white paint.
On closer inspection, the siding had started to peel back at the corners, and the greying sheets of plywood boarding up the windows indicated the place had been abandoned for years. The lilacs seemed to be stretching their arms to cover up and protect the old farmhouse, as if out of respect for the gardener who once called this place home.
Gate posts marked the entrance to a gravel driveway, now carpeted with buttercups and grasses, the unused drive had been swallowed up by the meadow. An apple, or maybe pear tree, covered in white blossoms decorated the driveway, seemingly oblivious to the fact no one was in residence to enjoy the show.
I couldn’t help but wonder, who had planted this tree? Did children once climb its sturdy limbs? Did the fruit help to feed the family through the winter?
I scanned the meadow for evidence of a garden. A sprinkling of vibrant red, pink and yellow tulips stood out among the buttercups.
This area is well known for its sandy, well-drained soil — this soil would be conducive to the tulips naturalizing. Closer to the front windows I discovered tall stems topped with fat, round buds rising through the tall grass.
Like lilacs, peonies often outlive the gardener who planted them. I wouldn’t be surprised to see orange daylilies growing by the gateposts later in the summer.
In days gone by, it was common for a young bride to be given slips of hardy peonies, daylilies and lilacs to plant around her new house as a reminder of home. You can see old stands of lilacs, peonies and daylilies in full bloom on abandoned farms, long after the houses have been torn down.
Around the corner, brilliant orange/red poppies painted a pretty picture in a vacant lot. The poppies were just beginning to flower, they would make a spectacular showing in a few days.
There was evidence of the foundation of a small farmhouse and loosely paved driveway in the meadow — buttercups and grasses were claiming the abandoned space as their own. Violet and lavender lilacs towered above the telephone lines along the laneway.
With the camera’s disc filled with images, and my mind filled with romantic notions about who lived in the abandoned houses and planted the old gardens, I headed south along the highway toward town.
Hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane …