Article and Photos by Monika Smith
As my mom descended into dementia last year and could no longer live in her home, I had to sell her property. As with so many older residential properties on the market, many of my mom’s and baby boomer generation had gorgeous gardens.
I needed to save a few token plants that she had tended over the years. They had brought her joy and a funny and often acrimonious relationship with Joe. Joe was born into a farming family, and although he became citified, he was a proud vegetable grower. But flowers? Heck no. He’d occasionally get into a mood and just rip out my mom’s hard work, because they were not food.
Just before the new owner took over, I had a moment of, “I have to bring some of mom’s plants to my place!” She had been growing them for decades. I broke a number one rule: if you get a plant, there’s a hole in the ground ready for it! I basically dug out a big bunch of plant shoots and roots and dumped them into a bucket of soil.
What did I take home, dig in, and promptly forgot about? Primroses (Primula auricula), bergenia (Bergenia crassifolia), and leopard’s bane (Arnica cucanlis).
There’s another very good rule about plants, ‘right plant in the right space’. However, plants want to survive and will make an effort. Just don’t expect anything lush or healthy looking.
I was surprised in late May by a few leaves emerging in strange places, like near my Colorado spruce. What is that? Primroses! Ok, so that’s where I put them. They were shorter than normal and looking a bit stunned. That’s what a spruce tree and lean soil will do. We did have a wet-ish May that helped, and June has coaxed more plant out of the ground.
Mom had a big row of bergenia that I chopped apart and shovelled into a bucket. A gorgeous umbel of pink flowers emerged in the spring where I didn’t remember putting them. Those famous big leaves were small! Another super hardy and evergreen perennial, if conditions are right.
Last but not least is leopard’s bane. Such a cheerful yellow and the earliest blooming daisy. None of these plants are ‘native’, but that got me to thinking of maybe leaving those plants in a ‘cultivated’ zone? Not large—as I prefer native plants—but these are from my mom’s garden, and I needed something that is more than a piece of jewelry, art, or her favourite baking pan.
My message is simple. Save those old garden plants! If they are your grandmother’s, aunt’s, family members’, or an aging friend’s that has to move, ask if you can dig up a few favourites. Or chat with the developer if the house is sold. They don’t care as long as you are not in the way or trespassing.
If you’re new to gardening, these old plants are time tested to grow well. Find out how to remove a batch from a knowledgeable friend, or contact Calgary Horticulture, or even myself.
Keeping these hardy and old-fashioned plants lovingly tended to by my mom is a special legacy which I honour.
Thanks mom, your plants will remind me of you and wonderful memories of gardening and growing up.
This lovely pink umbel is one of the early flowering bergenia. An old fashioned, but lovely addition to any yard.
The yellow leopard’s bane daisy is such a cheerful addition in a garden.
You’ve all seen this kind of primula. It’s super hardy and will brighten a spring day.
