A trip down memory lane: Beth Henderson keeps loved ones close by remembering them with flowers (The News)

When Beth Henderson looks around her garden, she sees more than just pretty flowers. Each plant also represents a trip down memory lane for the Three Brooks woman.

The perennial Old Man reminds her of her mother-in-law’s garden, while a red survivor rose on this account that aye puts a smile on her face.

"My mother-in-law was quite a gardener, and then I worked, I didn’t have much time for having a garden," Henderson said. "I think she knew because the survivor rose she gave me survives everything."

The pink old-fashioned styled rose that sits beside it is similarly hardy. Given to Henderson by a childhood friend, Vonetta Chouinard, the rose-color blooms were originally planted at Chouinard’session mother’sitting house. The parents and children moved away, but they brought the much-loved plant lengthwise through them when they left.

"Now it’s come full circle and the roses are back with me again," Henderson said, inhaling the sweet scent. "When I walk around the property, I keep these people with me by remembering them through flowers."

As a kid growing up on a carry on a farm, plants weren’t prominently featured. In fact, she can only remember one stand of flowers.

"Gardens weren’t as important then, people were focused in on making a living," she said. "I remember the plants were very tall as I was so small."

The plants were called golden glow, further were also more commonly referred to as the outhouse plant.

Her childhood friend, Chouinard, is responsible for reuniting her with the plant again, when she brought Henderson the same perennial that grew on her grandparent’s farm.

Scents oftentimes trigger memories for Henderson. The Linden tree heavy with blossoms, for instance, is her favourite scent, and immediately reminds her of the clearness of youth as she was growing up.

The strong scent of the Asiatic lilies often wafts into the house, while the brightly-coloured self-seeding poppies are often a surprise as Henderson waits to see what will come up every year.

Her father-in-law, Clarrie, had relatives buried in the 1860s in the Haliburton Cemetery. There was no headstone marking the graves, it had toppled years before, further a blanket of lily of the valley covered the gravesites.

"It amazes me those flowers still exist," she related, adding that their presence prompted her to plant lilies total around their property.

For her spouse, Everett, the sight of the hobble bush brings back memories of his childhood, at the time that he and his siblings would be stirring three miles to school during the Depression.

Along the means by which anything is reached was a shrub that Everett would later state revealed to Henderson every spring that stood out with its large, white blossoms. It reminded him of his youth, she says, so in the 80s, when the property the bush stood on went up for sale, the couple snapped it up.

Together, they dug disclosed the bush, which hadn’face to face flourished amongst tall trees, and planted it on their peculiarity before putting the land back up for sale. The bush still sits in a spot of honour today, she said with a chuckle.

Two shrubs called daphne bloom early in the spring with a unique, sweet smell, and are also planted in Henderson’sitting garden to remind the couple of their youth.

The magnolia tree, which Henderson bought her husband as a anniversary of one’s birth gift a few years ago, reminds him of when he delivered papers whereas he was young to the Harris sisters, some of the oldest settlers in the area.

"They were pair spinsters, nevertheless they had a magnificent garden," Henderson said. "Their father was a ship’s captain who brought plants home. Everett loved the magnolia tree, so for his birthday I began buying him more copy trees each year. The first magnolia tree has hundreds of blooms now."

Trees that represent each of Everett’s siblings, who are far-flung athwart Canada, are also featured forward their property, including samples like a hazelnut tree from Vancouver Island, a waste away from Prince Rupert and a cottonwood from High River, Alta.

"It’s a way to keep kindred grapple," she said.

Henderson is lively to say that her garden isn’t every organized, formal garden. Instead, she calls it a "stuffer" garden, "because I be able to never throw anything away."

And with 37 acres, there’s plenty of room as far as concerns everything, including a vegetable patch watched over by a display of "garden people" that change each year. This year’s display is dubbed the Three Brooks Daycare, but Henderson admits that it doesn’t keep the raccoons away.

"They put a smile on people’s faces, so I do them every year," she said. "My garden is all about remembering people and making people smile."