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Huron Expositor, 2006-08-09, Page 7News The Huron Expositor • August 9, 2006 Page 7 Geddes garden puts down roots in EgmondviIIe. Susan Hundertmark The following is the fifth in a series of stories about Seaforth-area gar- deners, celebrating Seaforth's first year of participation in the Communities in Bloom competition. When Sheila Geddes started planting her garden at Ann- ,Street and Kippen Road in Egmondville, she was putting down roots in more ways than one. "We had never had gar- dens before because we've done a lot of moving. I decided I was not moving again," she says. She and her husband Don Rueger„ a carpenter by trade, bought an old Ontario cottage they thought they could restore seven years ago but ended up having to tear it down after discover- ing rotten beams. _When .they built their house on the property, they brought in 500 loads of fill and sat down to draw sketches of how they wanted the land- scaping to look on their three-quarters of an acre lot. "Don's creative. He does all the building and the grunt work. I just plant what everybody gives me," she says. "People hear you're gar- dening and they drop by bags of perennials. That's the way we started," says Sheila. Sheila and Don decided they wanted to create a terraced garden in the backyard. Don built a split rail fence and arbour at the top of the terrace and retrieved the stones from an old barn foundation to ring the garden at the bottom of the slope. "We did it all by hand. It took a full day rolling the stones by hand down the hill. We had it mapped out and went from there," she says. A peastone path bisects the gardens through the arbour and the gardens are filled with perennials. "I like easy perennials. I'm not much for trying things that are tropical or fancy. I'm kind of a lazy gar- dener," says Sheila. At the bottom of the yard, three raised vegetable gar- dens are filled with enough vegetables for the two to eat and share with friends. A beautiful old pear tree is fully laden with Bartlett pears, a reminder of the farm that used to be located on the property. "It's an old tree and I keep trying to baby it along. The pears are wonderful," she says. And, because the tomatoes didn't like living at the back of the yard where evergreen trees have made the soil a little too acidic, a kitchen garden is located in the full sun just below the back deck, filled with tomatoes, basil, and chives. A circular rose garden. surrounds a wooden pedestal topped with a hemispheric sun dial between the house -and the R RE top of the terraced garden. A workshop built close to Kippen Road three years ago provides more privacy for the garden and another backdrop for more perenni- als. Sheila also loves bird baths, which are positioned throughout her gardens. And, because of her aware- ness of West Nile virus and possible breeding places for mosquitoes, she empties and refills the birdbatis every day. A split rail fence along the side of the house is the set ting for yet another garden full of perennials. Sheila's favourite time of year for her gardens is spring when the peonies and lupines are in their full glory. "I think my spring garden is magnificent," she says, adding that one of her best "scores" is the gift of five old peony plants in five differ-. OF THE WEEK OVATION AND HOME SPECIALISTS! ' GREAT FOR GROWING FAMILY • PLAN NO. 73-93O MAIN FLOOR PLAN 859 SQ. Ft (79.8 M2) WIDTH 40' - 6" (12.9M) DEPTH 53' - 6" (17.5M) MISTER tuxtt 3s4`. wr W IA Wei Sheila Geddes ent colours. And, while there is still plenty of lawn on the prop- erty, Sheila says she's creat- ed enough gardens for now. "This is it. It's enough for us," she says. Excavating Inc. Ike Derrick VanDriel 522-0609 Simon VanDriel 482-3783 UrI i,fur ,. CalI us for1... 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