A love for planting and appreciating flowers

If you knew my Mum, Doris Hollands, you will remember her dedication to growing, arranging, showing and judging flowers. You are probably a friend who didn’t leave Mum’s house without a rose or a small bouquet. Since I was “thinking spring” a few days ago, I enjoyed looking at one of her journals, “The Creative Gardener’s Companion.” There, she recorded the preparation for spring planting in the year 2000.

On May 8, she and Daddy toured I.C. Greenhouses (19 of them), Home Hardware, The Plant Place, Smiddycroft where she had vouchers worth $23, Huron Landscaping where she had a $15 voucher from a 1999 fair, and Robson’s Greenhouses.

“We bought six lovely Snowmass white geraniums at I.C., six Sassy dark red geraniums at Robson’s and a hanging variegated double rose Impatiens which we hung above the step. We planted four French pansies in the bed over the septic tank. The purple Violas and a few pansies are very showy.

“At Huron Landscaping, we bought two silver mounds and at Smiddycroft we got two white campanula which we planted at the east end of the big bed in line with a blue one I got there last year and got another blue one. We got a mauve Scabiosa, two Dianthus and an armload of rhubarb, and a perennial Mrs. Smith couldn’t identify with small pink flowers.” Now that is supporting local merchants!



One flower bed at Lake Range Drive, 1997; photos courtesy of Ruth Anne Hollands Robinson

I am always astounded to read that in April, 1966, when Daddy and Mum moved from the Southline to Pine River, they moved 50 roses. Willy Keyes had helped dig the beds and take loads of sand and earth to fill them before the planting.

It is no wonder that people delighted her by saying that they drove to Kincardine via Highway 21 and later Lake Range so that they could enjoy her flowers. It is also not surprising that she noted in October, 1994, that she had given flowers to Laura Hendry, Frances Elliott, Annie Scott, Ada Pengel, Sadie, Christine, Evelyn and Helen Moore.

After Kincardine, Ripley and Tiverton Fall Fairs, she gave flowers to Marian Avery, Ann Valentin, Helen Moore ... Her friends must have faithfully returned the vases, since she always seemed to have one handy. Then there were the decorations prepared for weddings and other special events.

Fall Fair and Horticultural Show days also required a great deal of preparation. The prize lists were studied with care and creative ideas were jotted down. Tags were prepared. Containers were collected. Tables were set up in the garage. The night before, pailfuls of flowers were cut. By five o’clock in the morning the arranging was under way. Meanwhile, Daddy was getting creative in his plans for fitting all the entries into the car, ready for safe transportation to the showhouse.



Eileen Stewart (left), Hilda Ekblad, Barb Kester and Mum (Doris Hollands), all set up for the judges, Kincardine Fall Fair, 1998

After each event, a notation in a diary or journal listed the number of entries, the various prizes won and the special awards received. Baking, preserving and seniors’ classes would be included in the tally.

In 1998, the list for Kincardine Fall Fair reads: “I got 14 firsts, 17 seconds and seven thirds. I was tied with Barb Kester for most points in flowers. I got a $15 voucher from Quinn’s, $10 from Schneider’s, $10 from Ontario Seeds, $20 from Katie’s Mennonite Furniture, and a book by Jim Powers - ‘A Record of Achievement’ from the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture. My cheque was $73.25.”

Grandma Pollock must have handed down her good gardening genes, and Mum gave to Gail and me the same love for planting and appreciating flowers.

March, 2022
Ruth Anne Hollands Robinson