Lynne and the Garden She Built for Everyone
by Titash Choudhury
We’re beginning 2026 with the story of Lynne.
January in Calgary is one of the hardest and coldest months. We survive the coldest weeks while quietly dreaming of spring. Most of us are still shaking off the weight of the holidays. The ground is frozen, and garden season is still four months away, but planning season has already begun.
That’s what makes this story perfectly timed. We’re opening the year with a garden story, because even in the depths of winter, long before the first seed ever touches the soil, something else always comes first: Intention. For Lynne, that intention began with the view from her apartment window.
When Lynne arrived in Killarney three years ago, she came with a full life of adventure behind her and uncertainty ahead. She moved into Silvera Apartments, where her unit overlooked a partially built garden. A third-party company maintained it for the building, with neat rows of low-maintenance perennials, clean lines, practical, and tidy. It was fine. But it didn’t feel alive.
At a moment when she was looking for a new beginning, the garden kept returning to her as something unfinished, something that needed care and intention. Slowly, it became her reason to begin again.
Over the next three years, season after season, she worked steadily at it. Through rain and heat, she gave it her time, her energy, and resources. She bought flowers and soil. Some planters were scavenged. Others were donated. Neighbours began stopping by with fertilizer, pots, and helping hands. Little by little, the space changed. What had once been a generic front garden became something else entirely, a shared place of pride. She named it “The New Life”.
The instinct to build something from nothing didn’t start with the garden. It’s rooted in Lynne’s life. She was born in Nova Scotia and later moved to Montreal, where her father worked for TCA. She spent time moving between Montreal and her grandmother’s home. Years later, her father settled near the ocean in St. Margaret’s, where she also spent time.
In 1980, when her mother moved to Alberta, Lynne joined her. School never held much interest for her; she dreamed instead about art and creativity. Despite many hardships, she carried forward a strong personality, independence, and resilience. She worked in retail and fashion, industries shaped by instinct and presentation. She has always had a way of seeing beauty where others pass it by. She has found treasures in alleys, refurbished old furniture and lamps, and painted pots. That same instinct now lives in her garden.
Lynne was diagnosed with ADD later in life. She laughs when she says it helped explain many lifelong struggles. Despite health challenges, Lynne is full of life and laughter. She is spiritual, and she believes the garden saved her.
After travelling and living in different parts of the country, Lynne believes Calgary has been good to her. However, not having a vehicle makes simple things harder in a city like Calgary. Carrying bags of soil, plants, and supplies across transit routes isn’t easy. But this is one of the reasons Lynne values Killarney. The neighbourhood is accessible. Garden centres, grocery stores, and essentials are all within reach by transit. She makes the trips with whatever she can carry, soil, pots, plants, one trip at a time.
Although the garden sits at the front of the apartment building, Lynne is clear that it does not belong solely to the building. It belongs to the neighbourhood. People stop every day to admire it. Over time, the garden has done what she hoped it would: it has brought people together. Through it, she has built community. She now feels like she truly has a home. When asked what one life lesson she would share, she doesn’t hesitate. She repeats the words her father used to tell her: “You can take anything and make it pretty.”
She also knows the garden may not always look the same. As she grows older, she is realistic about what she can continue to take on. Others will need help. Others will need to take over. “It’s not mine,” she says. “It’s yours.”
For anyone thinking of starting a garden in their community this summer, she keeps the advice simple. She says it just comes down to time, patience, and caring enough to keep going, and being willing to get things wrong along the way.
Thank you for taking the time to read our series, Humans of Killarney. To share your story, your neighbour’s story, or the story of an inspiring community member with Humans of Killarney, email Titash Choudhury at [email protected].
Click here to the Killarney-Glengarry Community News home page for the latest Killarney-Glengarry community updates.
