COVID-19 has put a halt to in-person gatherings, including fundraising bazaars and plant sales – but gardens just keep growing, and gardening enthusiasts like Donna Wice are already busy, cleaning up flower beds, culling over-abundant plants, and dividing perennials like Hostas.
Wice has been potting up some of her extra plants, with an eye to sharing with family, neighbours, and the community at large.
“I was actually hoping that St. James' (United Church) garage sale would go ahead, or the Painswick Horticultural Society plant sale,” she said. “I always have plants for both events.”
But she acknowledged that with the ongoing pandemic, this spring looks as bleak as last year, when it comes to in-person events.
Still, as a gardener, she is ever hopeful and has been setting aside potted plants for future fundraisers.
Some of her culls have already been bespoken. “My brother snapped up all my raspberries,” Wice said, but she still has Narcissus, three kinds of Lamium, and “Hostas galore,” among the plants awaiting a new home.
There is Lily-of-the-Valley – planted in her garden out of sentiment, but now an issue as it spreads and invades the lawn. “I never once thought that Lily-of-the-Valley would be 'death of a valley'," Wice said, admitting, “I’m not a good planner of gardens. I spend a lot of time ‘undoing’.”
There are also pots of Giant Blue Hyssop (“Fabulous, showy, if you want to attract butterflies.”), decorative grasses, Geranium, pioneer-favourite Lovage (an herb related to celery) - “I have so many, and I love to share!” Wice said.
The Wice home is located on her grandfather’s pastureland in Innisfil, which he split into five 10 acre lots that were divided among family members, and Wice enjoys the thought that she is continuing a family tradition, as she tends the gardens that surround her home.
As for her potted ‘extras’, Wice continues to keep her fingers crossed that St. James United Church in Stroud will be able to hold its fundraising garage sale within the next few weeks, if the lockdown is lifted.
If not, she says, “I will be doing pop-up plant sales for the Painswick Horticultural Society,” possibly ‘cross-pollinating’ with another of her interests: Wice is also involved in the Innisfil Historical Society, and plans to sell Innisfil Historical books at the same time.
Anyone looking for home grown hardy plants for the garden should keep an eye on the Painswick Garden Club Facebook page or St. James United website for updates.
