On Monday morning, close to 11 a.m., I’ll be standing in front of the television watching the Remembrance Day ceremonies and thinking of my father, who wrote this column before me.
As did many young people of his time, he back-dated his age by two years and was on the battlefield, trained as a sapper, at the age of 15.
Many material remembrances of him remain with me in the form of his inherited garden tools — sturdy old tools made to last, including an iron rake, hoes, a digging shovel and fork, and a wonderful all-metal Melnor hose-end nozzle with “Made in Canada” etched on it.
Lingering still in the garden, after decades following his death, is a Springwood Pink heather that I brought from his Lochside Drive garden. I swear that plant will endure forever, despite many size reductions, to continue spreading a carpet of colour every year to announce the transition from winter to spring.
Remembrance. Whenever I think about honouring the memory of those who have died, the plant that comes first to mind is rosemary, whose pungent scent lingers.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia speaks the much-quoted plea:
“There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.
“Pray you, love, remember.”
Because of its traditional link to remembering and honouring the dead, I sometimes add ribbon-tied sprigs of rosemary to cards and gift baskets for those who have lost someone beloved to them.
The flower most strongly associated with Remembrance Day is the “Flanders poppy” (field poppy, corn poppy, Papaver rhoeas), familiar for its scarlet flowers with a black centre. We wear fabricated duplicates on our lapels this month, in remembrance.
The name Flanders poppy is from the Canadian military physician John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields — a poem often recited in Remembrance Day ceremonies.
The plants themselves are 75-cm tall annual flowers that, in my experience, self-sow in modest fashion, enough to create, from year to year, a few vivid exclamation marks of remembrance in a garden.
Another powerful Canadian connection with war, and remembering in gratitude, is the tulip.
Every year, the royal family and the people of the Netherlands send thousands of tulip bulbs to the Ottawa region, in gratitude for Canadians’ significant role in the liberation of the Netherlands near the end of the Second World War.
The country’s gratitude was amplified by the refuge Canada offered to Dutch royal family members during the war.
The sweet bay (bay laurel, Laurus nobilis) trees that many of us have in our gardens bear aromatic leaves prized in cooking. Those leaves are rich in historic associations with awarding achievement and victory in battle.
In ancient times victors in athletic and artistic competitions, and in war, were awarded laurel leaves worn as a crown or as a garland around the neck. The leaves were a symbol of strength, achievement, courage and victory. Statues of Julius Caesar, who lauded himself for swift victory in battle with “Veni, vidi, vici” — I came, I saw, I conquered — depict him wearing a crown of laurel leaves.
The significance of those leaves remains. We still use the term “laureate” as in “poet laureate” to denote respect and accomplishment in attaining a position of eminence.
We still hear the warning not to “rest on one’s laurels.” It’s a caution not to be so satisfied with past achievements that no further effort is deemed necessary and no more improvement is needed.
We certainly cannot take that attitude in our gardens. Clean the garden into perfect order and beauty and stand back. No more to do.
We all know that is fantasy. No resting on past “laurels” in gardening.
This month we ponder war, and peace.
May these plants and their histories be reminders to pay attention to current situations, near and far, and to be wary of complacency.
GARDEN EVENTS
Floral arts Victoria. The Victoria Floral Artist Guild will celebrate with an end-of-year party at their meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 12, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Garth Homer Centre, 812 Darwin Ave. Charlotte Yardley, manager of Brown’s the Florist in Sidney, will demonstrate several seasonal designs. Information at victoriafloralartists.ca.
Mid Island floral arts. The Mid Island Floral Art Club will meet on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 2 p.m. in St. Stephen’s Church, 150 Village Way in Qualicum Beach. The afternoon will feature a Christmas themed design using “Texture: Demo & Create.” Information at 250-757-8969 or [email protected].
