From Over the Hill: My Back Yard by Peter Bloch-Hansen
have long taught their young this, but we moderns, so fond of sneering at ancient lore, are finally catching up. I love trees, these almost miraculous beings, who give us so, so much: first, offering charm and grace to our city: they’re so beautiful, especially when they flower (they all do); they give us cool shade, and the lovely sound of breezes and winds in their leaves; their branches sway rhythmically in those same airs. They bring us songbirds, which consume annoying insects; they shelter animals – some don’t like squirrels, but they are a delight to watch scampering about. Trees help regulate temperature and humidity and shelter many kinds of shade- loving plants. I’m always sad to see a tree cut down, like the two gorgeous maples at Mondamin and Scott Street destroyed to make way for a traffic roundabout nobody needs. Trees make vast, vast quantities of oxygen. And the bonus? One mature tree can sequester between 10 and 20 kg of carbon into the soil each year. For free! What has clearing hectares of woodland to make way for our EV battery plant done to our local carbon footprint? So my backyard is a haven away from it all, except the lawnmower chorus, of course. I share it, as do many, with songbirds, squirrels and, of course, a few raccoons. There’s a skunk around somewhere – apparently – also prowling cats. I even saw deer nibbling on the bushes one dark winter night. So, this written, I’m going outside to sit on my deck with a coffee and enjoy my backyard. If you’re fortunate enough to have your own backyard or even just a balcony where you can set out some flowers or grow a tomato, please take care of it, use it, and appreciate to the fullest what it offers.
I love my little backyard. First, it’s just the right size for me, my garden patch and my little ELECTRIC lawn mower (how virtuous of me!) And it’s beautiful, my own mini-Eden. It’s private. The right side is hed- ged with tall flowering shrubs and a juniper tree, the other side by a yew,
a crepe myrtle, my neighbour’s apple tree, plus a flowering Japanese cane. Across the back runs a six-foot board fence, stained cedar. Lilies and ferns border it and wild raspberries are slowly covering it, with flowering aegopodium slowly advancing. I’ve installed two flagstone paths going charmingly, nowhere in particular and have blueberry bushes edging my handsome deck, presently festooned with flowers. Two magnificent black walnut trees standing on the property line crown my yard. (St. Thomas is a walnut grove with a city inside it.) They are gorgeous in the early morning, the rising sun shining through their leaves. I fancy them the mother and father of my yard flora. Thanks to UBC prof., Dr. Suzanne Simard, we now know (I’ve long believed it) that trees talk to each other through chemical signals in their roots, forming, as it were, a kind of community, almost a single entity. Our native peoples
Boomers and Beyond Elgin October 2024 cover Dancing the day away at the Seniors Picnic in the Park.
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Page 12 Boomers and Beyond – Elgin • October 2024
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