The church building is quiet, but nature and the church garden do not stop – – and so the gardening team continue the work of tending it, to keep it looking beautiful. A few members of the garden group are around every Sunday morning at 10.30 am to check out how things are coming along – cleaning up garbage, weeding, pruning or whatever needs looking after.
At least a dozen mid-summer flowering plants are brightening the garden right now:
- Roses of Sharon
- Japanese Anemone
- Russian Sage
- Bee Balm
Interesting fact about the Beach United Church garden is that it needs very little watering – in fact virtually none, with only rare exceptions.
How come? All the plants are naturalized to Southern Ontario conditions – hot dry summers and plenty of moisture over the rest of the year. They send down deep roots to the water table. And the new parking lot probably helps too – its surface is designed to allow rain and snow to percolate down rather than run off into the drains like a regular asphalt surface would.
Exceptions?
- the vegetables in the raised beds – they need watering because of course they can’t reach down to underground water
- some recently planted items, like the Hosta along the south wall, which were hit with the July heat shortly after being planted, and before having time to adjust to their new location.
The success of the Mahonia Oregon Grape is an interesting example of this approach. Although originally a native of west coast rain forests, it has adapted well to our hotter and dryer environment. This spring it grew a new set of bright green leaves. An evergreen, it keeps its beautiful foliage throughout the year, and brings colour in mid winter.
The big project last fall was landscaping along around the parking lot. That included the area where the south wall meets Wineva Ave, which is also a bus stop where people are, of course, waiting for a bus.
- To protect the plantings, we put up a temporary barrier of coloured string. And we are rewarded with Joe Pye Weed in flower right now, with its purple flowers brightening the sidewalk at the bus stop.
- In addition, paving stones are placed where people might sit and await the bus.
An Invitation: The gardening team, (Sally Evans, Geoff Vernon, Matt Canaran, Hastings Withers, Jennifer Chin, Lyn Barger and Barbara Brown, Dayna Browne) welcome any one to join in, whether a member of the congregation or not. Call the office for more information, or, JUST COME ALONG!!!