Co-ordinator: Terry Hanak
A magnificent London plane tree dominates this garden and provides shade for early spring bulbs and a variety of hellebores, primulas, skimmia, brunnera, epimediums. and other shade-loving plants. Herbaceous perennials including geraniums, artemisia ‘Powis Castle’, iris pallida, romneyas, and peonies are planted in sunnier areas. The rocky slopes are also home to assorted euphorbia species and a mass planting of potenilla ‘Abbotswood Silver.’
Shrubs include the rare acnistus australis, an unusual southern hemisphere plant adorned with bluebells every summer. Drought-tolerant plants are used extensively here as lower rainfall influences plant choices. The foliage of variegated eleagnus and golden choisya brightens the shade and are deer resistant. Purple allium giganteum bloom in early summer, followed by the dark blue flowers of salvias and sweeps of calla lilies and schizostylis.
Hi Ho The Flower Arrangers:
Government House gardens were abuzz with activity for Mother’s Day bouquet sales.
For their annual Mother’s Day floral arrangements, 12 volunteers harvested 30 buckets of floral materials which were then conditioned and stored on the Cottage porch overnight.
The next day, 18 volunteers began transforming these garden finds into 30 vases and six teacup arrangements. Says Liz Thompson, Floral Arrangers Cutting Garden coordinator,“We are never certain of what flowers will be available because of the unpredictable spring weather. However, this year’s offering exceeded all expectations with stunning results.”
The volunteers used fresh, bright greens, lilacs, candelabra primulas, blue bells, hellebores and many more plants to create their bouquets.
The bouquets are taken to the Bruce Pavilion for the customers who have pre-ordered them.
Says Liz, “We were thrilled to share these beautiful arrangements with our regular, and many new, clients. It is a great start to this year’s garden bouquet offerings.” Fresh cut flowers will be available on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the Tea Room.
Floral (Ar)Rangers Final Campaign
Flower Arrangers Cutting Garden volunteers created the season’s grand finale of 30 outstanding garden-style Thanksgiving arrangements.
Crab apples, heather, grasses, hydrangeas, dahlias, asters and mums plus cuttings from the nursery, Rotary, herb and cottage gardens were used during three days of activity to create bouquets that reflected the Pacific West coast.
A huge thank you to the busy bees who helped with the process. Sales of $600 added to a season’s total of $6,473 for the Friends.
The Little Shed That Could and
The Volunteers Who Did
The project began with a casual conversation says Liz T. “Patricia B. and I walk our dogs on the same route and we noticed a fellow on Oscar St. taking down his house. I mentioned this to Pat and she asked if he had some spare wood to build a garden shed for the Government House gardeners. She took charge of removing the boards for the shed’s construction.”
That conversation, plus the dedication and passion of volunteers, and a budget of only $1,000, created a temporary building for the Floral Arrangers Cutting Garden. The temporay shed, held together with screws, will store garden tools and multiple floral arranging supplies to create bouquets for sale, the Tea Room, and Mews. A wall of shelves will hold mason jars and containers. It will be the storage area for dahlia tubers and corms of ranunculus over the winter season.
Learn how and who accomplished this remarkable project here.
Sitting Down on the Job
Margaret, along with three other volunteers, spent their day digging up the plants in the Flower Arrangers Garden. Once these were spread on a tarp, the mix of plants was sorted. The astilbe were saved and replanted amongst the large roots of the Empress Chinese Tree (Paulomeria), the alliums were not needed, and the colchicum was reduced and moved to another location. Any weeds or wild onions were tossed as well.
“While the messy bed may have gone unnoticed for several years, once our volunteers tackled this chore, the results were a remarkable transformation,” said co-ordinator Liz Thompson. “I am forever grateful for their willingness to take on tough challenges that make a difference and will create easier harvesting for our flower arrangements in the future.”
Margaret, our newest volunteer, happily sorting the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Visitors Delighted With Custom Flowers
These four visitors were thrilled to end their tour of the gardens with bespoke bouquets made by the floral designers. While residents of Victoria, this was their first – but definitely not last – visit to Government House grounds. There may even have been some discussion about becoming volunteers themselves!