Hello! I'm currently a stay-at-home mom who loves to garden with my daughter. I enjoy learning new things, working hard and spending time outdoors which makes gardening the perfect hobby! My garden is Zone 3 on the Canadian prairie so the gardening window here is fast and furious!
What inspired you to start gardening?
I grew up with my mom gardening and loved playing in the garden and helping, but it was becoming a mom myself that gave me the push to start my own as an adult! Going from work to staying at home was a hard but rewarding transition and meant getting to know a new version of me. One day, I grabbed the shovel and began digging up the lawn with my then toddler. Sod chunk by sod chunk and plant by plant, we’ve created something special to us.
Describe your garden.
Our yard is very average urban size, standard with most cookie cutter style homes (AKA small). No gardens existed when we bought our home, so everything was added/planted since 2017/2018 and on. Thanks to my trusty shovel, some sweat, and a few blisters, there are now three primary flower gardens and three raised beds built by my husband that we use for growing vegetables and herbs.
The flower gardens all have flowing borders with organic shapes, and I like to keep the grass edging crisp and clean! Being in zone 3 with long winters, an ongoing goal is trying to add more winter interest. I love conifers, so dwarf varieties have come in very handy.
What has been your biggest gardening fail?
Definitely ignoring plant tags! From trees that were too big for their space to mixing annuals with different water/light needs, I have unnecessarily tortured my share of plants. I hereby pledge to do better.
How have you used Wave Petunias or Cool Wave Pansies in your garden?
I have used Wave Petunias since I started gardening and just tried Cool Wave Pansies for the first time last year.
I primarily like to use Wave Petunias in ground at the front of my garden beds and Cool Wave Pansies in containers although I have done vice versa as well. I have used white petunias and many varieties of pinks and purples, but my absolute favourite will always be Easy Wave Plum Vein! They look awesome mass planted which is what I did in 2020 in my front garden by the sidewalk. The neighbors really loved it and I had people stopping and rolling down their window weekly to compliment the show!
This year I flanked my garage urns with extra urns of just Cool Wave Pansies and a bit of creeping jenny. They filled in so thick to the point they became "spillers" and added a cheerful touch.
What’s one piece of advice you would give a beginner gardener?
Embrace your mistakes! Learn from them, but don't let them bring you down. Move forward.
What would you tell someone who has never heard about Wave Petunias?
These guys are going to get BIG so pay attention to the proper spacing on the plant tag. Also, if someone had only used traditional petunia up to this point, I'd be excited to share that these do not need deadheading. More blooms and more time for other things.
Your bio on Instagram says, “Enriching at-home mom-life by gaining new skills and always learning.” How has gardening fit into this?
Gardening is a never-ending journey of learning and improving, just like life. Gardening enriches my mood and body, and also my mind. A few things I've learned about along my garden journey: Latin (scientific) plant names, plant families, features for plant identification, care, breeding and genetics for new plant varieties, soil, pollinators, invasive species, native and non-native plants... I will never run out of things to learn so I expect gardening will continue to be a rewarding hobby as I grow older!
Do you change your garden at all each year? What is the latest addition to your garden?
Because my garden is still relatively new, to this point most years are quite different because it's been expanding and I've been slowly adding permanent garden plants like perennials, shrubs and trees. From 2023 on much of the garden will start to look the same and that's why I will always leave room for annuals at the front of beds so I can switch up colours and textures yearly!
The latest addition are three hydrangeas I found on sale this summer and a native anemone my brother started from seed and gave to my garden helper.
What part of flower gardening brings you the most joy?
Both the sense of calm that overcomes me as I sit at the kitchen table looking out at the garden, and seeing my daughter transported to another imaginative world picking bouquets, finding ladybugs and making cupcakes from flower petals.
Because I share my garden on social media, I am very conscious of internal versus external motivation in the garden and make sure to keep gardening for the right reasons (i.e., not "likes"), but I have to admit it also makes me pretty happy to hear feedback from neighbours that my garden makes THEM happy.
Do you have any other hobbies?
Cooking! I like to eat good food but I love cooking for others even more. It brings me great joy to make people happy with food. Even better if it’s served in the backyard surrounded by the garden. In university as a cash strapped student, I’d still cook for friends – I made everything from herb stuffed whole fish to lamb and beef kofta. When alone, I’d revert back to student food - tuna straight from the can while hovering over the kitchen counter like a gremlin.
I also really enjoy aviation and used to work in that industry - now I get my fix from museums and plane spotting with my family. I love being outside and am always looking for birds and plants to identify.
Any pets?
We have an orange shelter cat named Bob. He despises all the squirrels and birds that visit our garden and glares at them from the comfort of a warm windowsill.
Do you know any gardening jokes? If so, tell us one.
I do, but they are all too dirty.
Tell us something that most people don’t know about you.
Those who follow me on Instagram may have noticed this was an uneventful year in my garden. Sometimes gardens have to wait and their resilience is tested. It was a tough summer full of complicated and mixed emotions and events, with an immediate family member passing and shortly after welcoming a new baby into our family. A garden is a fitting metaphor for the complexity of life. Leonard Nimoy once shared that “A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory."
Anything else you’d like to share?
I couldn't have created my garden as it is without the support of my husband. When I first told him I wanted to dig up many feet of lawn around the whole backyard he was quite ambivalent but still supported me. Now he loves it. He’s always there with muscle power and building skills to do things I can’t, or just to step in and water or plant something when it needs done. He’s awesome.
Thank you, Wave, for noticing my humble little garden and inviting me to be a Pink Pot Ambassador!