The Human Side of Gardening
Building the Quinte Botanical Gardens..."About Us" in a nutshell.
The “Who, What, When, and Where” of the Quinte Botanical Gardens (QBG) are on their respective pages. This page is for the “Why” and explains what we’re about. It is also the hardest question to answer.
Why would a couple of seniors, who should be thinking about retiring, decide instead to build a botanical garden? Answer: because these two seasoned gardening-geeks have first-hand experience about how gardens affect people and we need to let everyone know.
Many moons ago we moved to the country and started a landscaping business. (Cue music to the tv program Green Acres). Our work morphed from climbing the corporate ladder in Mississauga to being “one with the worms” in rural Ontario. Result? Less travelling…more laundry.
Fast forward to 2016, and after several winters of planning our long-term dream of creating botanical gardens, what started as “do we take the plunge and build the gardens?” quickly turned into “we HAVE to build the gardens – gardens help people!” Doing our homework on the viability of opening a tourist attraction, we learned about why people love visiting gardens. What an eye-opener!
Grabbing our drawings and plans, we started digging that day. It was a gut feeling (albeit a strong one) that we thought building something like this would be a good thing, but didn’t fully understand why.
People strolled through the gardens, sniffed roses, tasted herbs, rested on benches, read, painted, meandered, took photos, oogled flowers, and chatted with us. Their own experiences and funny stories about gardening (and life) were abundant! When the day was over, we both collapsed on a bench, stunned, with the look on our faces that silently conveyed “did this really happen?”
Something extraordinary keeps happening at the gardens. When people first arrive, they’re a little quiet, unsure of what they will experience. (Many stayed longer then they first anticipated – and that’s a fun observation in itself!) By the time they leave, they’re smiling, and laughing, and you can just feel a great peace about them. They’re relaxed and look rejuvenated.
Artists bring their lunches and spend undisturbed hours painting (although I’m dying to ask what happens when a bug accidentally wonders onto their masterpieces!). People are delighted when they witness the Bumble Bees fill their shopping baskets with pollen, or watch the Honey Bees enjoy their staycations in the Sunflowers.
By now we are all learning (I hope!) how gardens help people physically. To get up to speed help yourself to the list of articles we have on the Health Benefits page of our website. Email us for any of them and we’ll gladly share.
We also need to realize, AND SAY IT OUT LOUD, how this “little hobby” hugely impacts our state of mind. We witnessed these well-being episodes at the QBG, we saw them happen. These HUMAN stories are only two of them!One day a lady who arrived at the QBG burst into tears. Clearly, she was upset and kept apologizing for her crying. I wasn’t sure what to do so I instinctively gave her a hug. For the next hour we sat and talked in the gazebo as she explained how she just lost her daughter to cancer. We walked through the gardens, talking, listening, crying and even laughing. When she left – she looked as if a massive weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
Thinking for a long time, I harboured mixed feelings of sadness for this person who was experiencing such deep sorrow, humbled that our flowers offered her a minuscule break from her grief, and grateful that my own health would allow me to keep working. With such clarity, we understood from that moment on – this is why we built the gardens.An elderly gentleman visited the gardens with his family. As I greeted them, his daughter quietly explained that her Dad loves gardens but hasn’t been in good enough health to travel for many years. She also mentioned he doesn’t speak much these days. As they meandered through the gardens, they stopped at the Memorial Garden. (We built this as a tribute to soldiers and our own military parents.) The gentleman sat on the bench for a long time as the family patiently waited. When it was time to go the elderly man came up to me, shook my hand and said two words: “thank you.” I could tell by the looks on their faces, the whole family was surprised to hear him speak. His daughter then mentioned that he was a retired Airforce pilot who had witnessed unspeakable horrors during the war. But today he smiled.
Children visiting the gardens are mesmerized watching the butterfly’s flit around the Zinnias and giggle when they swoop near them. Elderly people marvel at the old-fashioned Hubbard squashes in the Edible Garden which they haven’t seen in a long time. A young couple were laughing as they returned to the gazebo – they both had pink pollen on their noses from sniffing the fragrant Lilies. And people of all ages laugh as they discover their “colour” character in the Colour Wheel Garden.Gardeners know how swathes of Lupins light up a landscape, and how Dianthus make you want to kick off your shoes and stay there forever. We also know life isn’t always a bowl of cherries. Positive balance, both physical and psychological, need to return to our lives. And gardens answer the call. So, plant a Petunia, frolic with Foxgloves, or meander through gardens. You’ll be glad you did. And there’s the simple but powerful emotional connection between gardens and humans…being happy…and the number one reason why we built the gardens.
Each year they give back to their community by volunteering a landscape or garden for those in need. Some of the projects they have helped with are Habitat for Humanity, Home Build for Health Care to raise funds for the Belleville and Trenton hospitals, Community Living Sensory Garden, and places of worship. Along with their landscaping work, they have now conceived, designed, created, financed, manage and maintain the largest project of their lives – the Quinte Botanical Gardens.