by Barb Green
As we are all spending more time these days thinking about what makes HHBH the kind of community we want to live in and how new zoning and local area plans may change it, it’s a great time to emphasize that more than land use designation, more than the green spaces, what makes a great community is its people.
And a rock-solid reminder of that fact sits at the southeast corner of 14 Ave and 19 St NW: the marker bearing our community’s name, and the garden surrounding it.
Longtime community resident and volunteer Carol Sandahl championed the design and installation of the neighbourhood marker and, true to her well-established pattern of being willing to put some sweat equity into the community improvements she wanted to see, she also spent several years tending and weeding the little garden surrounding the rock, often with a friend and neighbour by her side.
The community and her legacy in it were important enough to Carol, that local friends got together for a visit in Green Park, and then a visit to the neighbourhood rock and garden shortly before she died in 2021.
Since then, longtime community volunteers Brenda Domeij, Sharon Trottier, Bonny Pratt, and Laura Morrison have continued to embellish and beautify the space, sometimes with plants from their own gardens.
“A group of us — Carol, Bonny, Laura, Sharon, and myself– worked hard at removing the landscape fabric as the dandelions and weeds had taken a solid hold of the soil,” Brenda recalls. “We had to dig up everything and relocate the blue salvia, pink yarrow, catmint, day lilies and some of the grasses.”
“The first year we added bigfoot geranium, coral bells, dianthus, autumn joy, creeping jenny, pussytoes, sedum, globe flowers, fleece flower, calendula and some spurge,” she continues with a list that is almost an incantation, full of magical plant names, colours, and textures. “We have had to replace, relocate, or trim back plants as time has gone along, as some flourish and others don’t. We are also remediating the soil (from the city free compost) because the soil has a lot of clay.”
“Ultimately, we are trying to create a garden of various perennials with different heights that bloom throughout the summer,” she concludes.
Sharon Trottier gives Domeij credit for leading the yearly gardening sessions, which have become easier year by year. “The plants in there are more self-reliant, drought-tolerant and hare resilient (sometimes), with the objective of having something of interest in the bed throughout the seasons and complement the rock,” she explains.
If you have spare perennials you would like to see planted at the Rock, please give Brenda a call at 403-289-4050. “We’d be happy to pick them up to see if we could place them in the Rock Garden or find them a new home,” she says.
Great to see some neighbourhood volunteers taking independent initiative to do some spring gardening cleanup around our community rock sign last week! Taking pride in our community is the best compliment that we can pay it! Thank you so much!
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