PERENNIALS IN THUNDER BAY - ONE

I have been asked to recommend perennials for local gardens and to do this, I start with a meditation on gardens of the past

OLD TIME THUNDER BAY
Contrary to what some people think, old Thunder Bay, the city of the 20’s 30’s and 40’s, was not awash in English style perennial gardens. Most people had a few flowering plants in a limited number of species.

My childhood home on Van Norman Street was typical. In our small front yard we grew two shrubs, a bridal wreath spirea and a Hansa rose, both city favourites still.

In the back, a long narrow perennial bed stretched beside the fence. The usual medium-tall delphiniums resided there along with a couple of monkshood. Both are still seen all over town.

Like everyone else, we had a peony. Ours was “Festiva Maxima” and today the same plant routinely produces over a hundred blooms each year even though it must be over 75 years old. A bleeding heart, an orange spotted tiger lily and a large chunk of dark blue bearded iris rounded out the garden bed. Some lily of the valley grew in the shade of the honeysuckle bush at one end.

Aside from cleaning out the weeds once or twice a year, no special care was given to any of these plants. They were never pruned, tied up or fertilized. In 1950, my father was given a small pink rose bush (name unknown) but this was the only addition to the garden bed in twenty years until a few amethyst phlox were added in the early 70’s.

My parents did not grow the two most favoured Thunder Bay flowers, gladiolas and dahlias. The reason? Our small basement was too warm. At one time, dahlias bloomed all over the city, but with the onset of oil heating and finished basements, the cold storage room disappeared so it was difficult to over-winter the bulbs. Glads met the same fate and both lovely plants have declined dramatically here.

In those far off days, few people bothered with annuals. My mother bought a pack of nasturtium seeds and planted them in the wooden boxes beside the front steps. When new cement steps and an iron railing were constructed, the nasturtium planting ended.

I will mention one other common perennial of old. In a narrow strip between the side drive and the house, a tall pink-flowered plant grew vigorously. Most people then called it Policeman’s Helmet, but today, the same plant is given other names such as Himalayan impatience, wild snapdragon or Betty’s orchid. Tall as sun flowers, with reddish veined stems, this toughie flings up hundreds of small pink snapdragon-style flowers and, after a time, pops out thousands of black, very fertile, seeds. With a little effort, the seedlings can be held in check and in the right place, this is an attractive tall plant.

Stay tuned for a list of personal favourites plus a second list of perennial flops.