President's Letter September 2020
Leigh Fabens
Greetings, Garden Friends!
September will be just around the corner when this newsletter reaches you, and I have been reflecting on the experience of Summer 2020, the Covid summer. Because the US/Canada border remains closed we have been unable to enjoy our summer place on Georgian Bay, where we would ordinarily spend most of the summer, from the opening-up trip in late May until the closing after Labor Day, with June and July breaks in Cleveland. My Cleveland garden has never looked better. Despite my efforts to create a no-fuss, low maintenance garden, I failed. Gardens need gardeners.
However, in Nares Inlet, 150 miles north of Toronto and halfway up the Bay, we have a no-maintenance landscape. We’re on granite, shaped by plate tectonics and glaciation, with outcroppings of quartz and basalt, no topsoil – only the acidic accumulation of rotting pine needles, dead leaves, dead wood. The Northern White Pines are bent to the east by the prevailing winds coming off the Bay. Oak, maple, birch and aspen are in the mix, with an understory of juniper, blueberry bushes, moss and lichens. I have attached a few photos to give you an idea of what it’s like. I grow herbs and flowers in planters on our decks, and that’s the extent of my horticultural efforts. The name of the game is stewardship, not cultivation.
Weeding? What’s a weed? The local stewards look out for invasive water plants like phragmites, but we haven’t found any on our property. Pruning is generally irrelevant, unless the path to the dock is obstructed – our only access is by boat. Every year we look for signs that beavers have been at work “pruning” our trees and shrubs. Wasn’t there a young oak tree there? Yes there was, but now it’s a twelve-inch pointed stump, table height for an adult beaver sitting up on its haunches… They are industrious, determined, and very good at what they do.
So here I am in Cleveland, dealing with mini-rodents (chipmunks) instead of the big guys that help themselves to oaks, pines, flowering shrubs, maple saplings. I’m watching fireflies instead of dragonflies and listening to cicadas instead of loons and whippoorwills. I’m walking my dogs, surveying the neighbors’ gardens, instead of opening the door and letting the dogs run out to bark at beavers and other creatures. I’m enjoying an abundance of local fruit and vegetables from the North Union Farmers Markets, an easier shopping trip than the hour it takes by boat and car to get to the market in Parry Sound. (Ontario peaches and veggies are very good, but it’s a trek. Picking our wild blueberries is tough work – see photo.)
Summer is good anywhere, and I hope you have enjoyed yours. We have much to look forward to in the Fall season!
Leigh