At peace among the plants
Chris Schofield is growing great new concepts in one of Canada’s oldest municipal cemeteries
We are talking about gin and tonic in the gardens at the Hamilton Cemetery on York Boulevard.
“Put a chiffonade of borage leaves in a gin and tonic and it takes the acidity away,” says Chris Schofield.
Schofield is the cemetery gardener.
He started with the City of Hamilton in 2013 after turning in his chef’s apron for gardening gloves.
A graduate of the Stratford Chef’s School, Schofield worked in highend restaurants in Toronto until the job started to consume him.
“If I was going to work 110 hours a week, I decided I’d rather be working outside.”
A plant lover since he was a kid, Schofield went to work for a tree service, Connon Nurseries, and now the cemetery.
“We’ve been working to transform the ramparts,” Schofield says as we approach the earthworks constructed by the British troops during the War of 1812.
The steep sandy hills have been planted with hydrangeas, ornamental grasses, rhododendrons, beeches and hemlocks.
“I want it to look more like a fort,”
Schofield says of the area where prominent Hamilton families including the Tucketts of the tobacco trade and the Watkins builders of The Right House have vaults.
The Hamilton Cemetery, dating to 1850, is one of the oldest municipal cemeteries in Canada. A classic garden cemetery, it is rich with this city’s story. Schofield, in his thoughtful way, is shaping gardens that are in scale with its history.
At the stone commemorating the mass grave of cholera victims, Schofield grouped large plantings around the marker to give it prominence.
“It’s really about scale,” Schofield says. “This stone looked lost before.”
The beautiful stone gatehouse built in 1855 now serves as the administration office for Hamilton’s 70 municipal cemeteries. The stately building is a wonderful backdrop for the robust gardens cared for by Schofield and other cemetery staff.
“We planted this clematis tangutica three years ago,” Schofield says, looking up at the weathered stone wall. “When the frost comes, these seed heads will look like feathered pin cushions.”
In the heritage gardens around the office building, Schofield is testing the hardiness of striking crepe myrtle trees, and building up the cemetery lily collection.
Tropical bananas and elephant ears add mass to the annual and perennial plantings near commemorative benches. Giant cardoon, also called globe artichoke, is overwintering in the beds, though it is native to warmer climates.
And throughout all the gardens, Schofield is striving to use more plants that come back from seed, withstand drought, and fight off disease and insects.
“We all have to think about a more sustainable way to garden,” he says.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the new pollinator garden created this year. It’s planted at the edge of a slope, in an awkward area to maintain. In what used to be a weedy no man’s land, asters, sunflowers, verbena, daisies, castor beans, poppies and lobelia now populate the landscape.
It’s a beautiful experiment that has been a hit with the many people who stroll the paths here.
Next year, Schofield will take note of the sustainability of the pollinator garden. The information will be used to help plan Hamilton’s first “natural cemetery” to be located at Mount Hamilton Cemetery on Rymal Road. The new approach embraces no grass, no markers, no chemicals.
Since he started working at the cemetery, Schofield has noticed more people walking the grounds. Now that the fence along York Boulevard is coming down, he expects to see more.
“The whole historic background of garden cemeteries is that it’s not for the dead, it’s for the living. They were built as a calm place, a green place in the city.”
Yes, a place where the living and dead are at peace among the plants.