by Lisa Mulder
Are you a Renfrew walker?
It is impossible to walk around Renfrew and not notice the amazing trees and gardens throughout our neighborhood. Pre-COVID, I did most of my walking downtown from my office. This year, I’ve had the greater pleasure of walking Renfrew. What I’ve really noticed is how Renfrew changes from week to week as spring progresses into summer.
In April, the miracle is in the small things that are emerging from under the winter frost! Renfrew pops with color as the tulips, daffodils, and crocuses spring up from under the snow. You know that spring is here when the elm and poplar buds are swelling and ready to burst forth in leaves and those soft green needles emerge from the tips of evergreens.
The month of May brings Renfrew to full color as the trees flush out their flowers in a symphony. First out, the Mayflower trees whose heady scent wafts through the neighbourhood. Then the lilacs in white and purples, apples, saskatoons, double flowering plums, hawthorn, and cherries bloom white and pink, followed by the ornamental trees in shades of bright white to pink to purple.
The show continues through June when clouds of windflowers and irises appear in so many unnoticed corners. I’ve been loving the 50+ year old tough and humble flowering honeysuckle bushes in so many front yards. Stunning classics and newer varieties of peonies, bleeding hearts, allium, and poppies are shockingly beautiful! Now is when you see annuals coming out, adding amazing exotic colors to planters and beds around town. By the end of June, the ash and oak trees have completely leafed out and the town is a bright, verdant green.
July in Renfrew means roses in red, mandarin orange, pure whites, and yellow. Mock orange and clematis start showing off. The amazing, newly introduced hydrangeas are flushed out and ready to flower. Vegetable gardens are appearing in front yards and the hostas are in their full glory!
Walking Renfrew in August is full of promise. As I walk, I can’t help appreciating the love and effort that our neighbours have invested in their yards and gardens. This month look for blooming hydrangeas, raspberries ripe for the picking, and towering sunflowers. What are your favourites?
