All Point Bulletin, Newspaper of Point Roberts, Washington and Delta, British Columbia

IN THE GARDEN

By Caroline Collins

Spring in Point Roberts is apparently a glorious time for gardeners. It’s my first spring here, and it has been a mopey one at times, but there’s no ignoring the life bursting out of the ground. In my yard, there are things that were here when I got here, and things I planted in what are referred to quietly as the dark days (January through March), when those among us with little innate optimism thought they’d never see green again.

In sorting through our new home in January, I found a miniature rose in a small pot. I re-potted it and fed it with Algoflash, and it now sports fat buds. Big money is on red (that’s my husband’s bet) but sneaky sepal-peeling on my part, a vice I can’t abandon no matter how many times it leads to disaster, allows me to predict yellow or white.

We’ve got a fantastic collection of weeds and other volunteers around here, and can hardly keep the yard machines in shape to whack it all down. Watching the grape hyacinths (until my husband accidentally mowed them down) and ferns unfurl has been a great pleasure, and it was a happy surprise to discover a forget-me-not in a shady spot under our back porch. We have two balsam poplars that smell wonderful and rustle in the wind. Their fragrant sticky pods adorned our dogs and made them smell better for a while. We have another tree whose leaves, silvery white underneath, create a shimmering show as the breezes move through them. I don’t know what this tree is, so I am hoping someone will recognize it from the description and let me know. My own plantings have been somewhere between meager and silly, hampered by ignorance about the new terrain. We battled the blackberry roots out front with a Mantis tiller (it was not always clear whose side the tiller was on) and cleared a bed for wildflowers. I tossed in some seeds and am now being rewarded by scads of baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii), with many more species to come. Those who frequent APA Road will see me scowling as I pull new blackberry shoots from this bed. I’m only scowling because I am wishing my arms were longer, though, so please stop by and say hello.

I stuck two sticks that were labeled as transparent apples into the earth behind the house. They have leafed out beautifully, and the one whose growth leader I absentmindedly (but with affection) rubbed off with my thumb while gazing admiringly at Brian Calder’s truck collection has already forgiven me. I am told it will be a few years before they fruit, but I consider it worth the wait. I also have raspberries doing nicely, given to me by Brian. My original location for these seemed clever, but once the nearby willow leafed out, turned out to be full shade. Some fancy spadework and a wheelbarrow trip later, they are thriving in full sun and already blooming.

Snicker all you like, but we newcomers learn just about everything from those with local knowledge, and I have surely demonstrated my need for help. Please drop me a line at the All Point Bulletin and tell me about your gardening adventures in Point Roberts.