AALD GARDEN TOUR – Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia – September 6-8, 2024

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
September 6-8, 2024

 

Some arrived by boat, some by car and others by foot, but in total 14 to 16 people attended our 2024 garden tour at the historical Annapolis Royal at the southwest tip of Nova Scotia.

Our first visit was Friday afternoon to Niki Clark and Ian Curry’s shrub and perennial garden and their organic self- sufficient vegetable and fruit garden in Granville Beach, west of Annapolis Royal. (www.nikiangardens.com.) Nikian gardens began in 2002 and started out as an organic nursery and landscaping business. Their focus is on biodiversity on their 25 acre farm and they practice permaculture gardening. They also have a mail order business for perennials, woody plants, edibles along with the rare and unusual, annuals, and rice from their very own rice paddies! Some unusual plants we enjoyed seeing were American groundnut (Apios americana), Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) and the Japanese snowbell Tree (Styrax japonicus), and the Toothache or Eyeball plant (Spilathes oleracea).

Some of us bought some rice, some of us bought some plants to take home.

For supper that night we landed at Bob and Dessie Howards home and gardens, where we enjoyed a sumptuous buffet homemade supper. Thank you Bob and Dessie!

Saturday’s weather promised heavy rains which we needed but, being the tough gardeners, we dressed for it. Our morning visit was to Elizabeth and Pat Pelham’s personal arboretum and birch wood stroll garden. Pat was the first Horticulturist at the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens. This garden features 28 pines, 17 spruce, 15 firs and 10 False Cypress as well as many deciduous trees and shrubs.

The next tour was to the popular and beautiful mature public garden- the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens that features 17 acres with a Victorian Garden, Rose Garden, Native Garden, a Winter Garden along with extensive tree and shrub collections. (Visit www.historicgardens.wordpress.com)

The rain subsided somewhat for this tour and we actually saw some spots of sunshine! Some of us hadn’t seen this garden in many years so it was great to see how it has developed and matured. We had an extensive garden tour by two horticulturists. Some notable plants were- the self-seeding Verbena barbaiensis, a Paw Paw tree which is pollinated by flies, and a blooming Heptacodium miconoides or the Seven-son Flower. There were lots of perennials, heathers and hydrangeas still in bloom along with the huge annuals in the Victorian garden. The ornamental grasses were in their glory! On our way to the café for lunch we admired the huge Kerr Elm which was shading the patio.

After lunch and with heavy rain, we headed to the town centre to visit Kathy Brooks and Rick Ketcheson’s garden. This is a permaculture garden which features sub-irrigation beds and many interesting vegetable and edible shrub varieties. Of interest was Aronia with its black berries- very high in anti-oxidants and Winged Beans from Thailand which are ornamental as well as edible. They used a composting method called the Bokashi method which involves anaerobically fermenting food using Bokashi bran- a combination of beneficial bacteria and yeast- and an air tight container with a spigot. Rick recommended a book by Adam Footer- Bokashi Composting: Scraps to Soil in Weeks.

Our final tour of our busy day was a visit outside the Town to the Beswick-Longtin garden. Lorraine was a flower arranger and she used her own gardens as a supply as well as an inspiration for her arrangements. It is a country garden with a cottage garden feel and features many interesting plants.

Some plants we admired were Anemone tomentosa, Rudbeckia subtomentosa “Henry Ellers”, Weeping Dawn Redwood, Dragons Claw Willow, and a Redbud.

After drying off, we headed to the Garrison House for a superb dinner and conversation with our group.

Sunday proved to be a bit brighter so our group headed to Bob and Dessie Howards home for an in-depth tour of their gardens. They have many cutlivars of hydrangeas and rhododendrons plus dahlias and dwarf conifers in a beautiful rock garden.  Some plants of note were Mitchella or partridgeberry, Panicum “Cheyenne Sky”, Hydrangea ‘Blue Bird.’

Our last but definitely not least was a visit to Jill Covill’s Bunchberry Nurseries in Upper Clements. Bunchberry began in 1995 as a wholesale nursery but now has a very successful retail business. They specialize in alpines, heaths and heathers, dwarf conifers, rhododendrons, grasses and perennials. The climate is lovely here so they can grow many Zone 6 and 7 plants. I saw many trunks and back seats filled to the brim with plant materials to take back home!
(www.bunchberrynurseries.ca)

On the way back home some of us ventured to a well-known watering hole, Frank and Dora’s in Cornwallis, NS. This restaurant is not only known for its freshly made food, but it’s Route 66 feel with its unique décor!

A sincere thank you goes out to the organizers and the tour hosts for this year’s successful fall tour!

 

Jackalyn Darling