It's hard to imagine where Renate Kuhling might find a spot for another rosebush or another perennial in her St. Albert garden, but no doubt next spring, she will.
Presently her large garden features hundreds and hundreds of blossoms, but just this spring she sacrificed the rain barrel's spot so that another flowerbed could be added.
"It's addictive and every year we add a little more," Kuhling said.
Kuhling explained that she and husband Gerd have been adding new flowerbeds to their property for more than 40 years.
The couple emigrated from Germany in 1958. They lived in a basement suite in Edmonton for a few years before purchasing this home, where they still live.
"This yard was a dream. We never gardened before, but we learned on our own and every year we added another section," she said.
When they purchased the property it featured five big poplar trees, which Gerd removed to make room for the garden. He built a shaded patio area adjacent to the house and the rest of the area was devoted to flowers. Over the years he added numerous woodworking projects, including a bench and a stand for two statues as well as birdhouses and birdfeeders.
This couple did all the landscaping and building themselves and while the garden became an ongoing four-decade-long project, it was also vastly rewarding and provided an inexpensive hobby.
"In the beginning, it was expensive, but not now," Kuhling said.
The perennials that were planted in years gone by, such as daffodils, dianthus, poppies, day lilies, bee balm, climbing clematis and shade-loving hostas, put on a show and provide pleasure from spring until fall. Every day, from late April until September there is something new to investigate and care for as each perennial begins to flourish. The perennials save money because they serve as a beautiful backdrop in the garden and they come back year after year. They also add interest.
Early start
Kuhling prolongs the work as much as she can by starting the gardening season in March, inside the house. She starts some flowers, such as dahlia tubers on the kitchen table and then transplants them outside when the danger of frost has passed.
"Winter is boring. This garden is our second home in summer," she said.
Perennial hardy roses are tucked into every corner of the yard and Kuhling admits they are her pride and joy, but her husband's main interest is tea roses.
The brick planter at the north end of the garden is reserved for these delicate varieties of roses, which Gerd treats as annuals. Every fall he digs them up, rather than trying to overwinter them, and in the spring he plants new ones. This way he always has different roses to admire early in the spring, without having to wait for them to start growing later in the summer.
"We don't do any winterizing and in the spring we shop around and buy inexpensive roses, for perhaps $10 each," Kuhling said.
It's the hardy perennial roses, however, that fill the air and this garden with scent and with glory. An eight-foot tall John Davis climbing rose is smothered in pink blossoms from the ground up and because Kuhling placed it in a sunny location beside the patio, its delicate fragrance wafts over the deck area all summer long.
It's just one rose among many planted throughout the garden, so that on any given day, if she cared to, Kuhling could easily pick herself a dozen roses.
"I don't keep track, but along with Gerd's tea roses, there are probably 70 rose bushes or more in the garden," she said.
Despite the size of this big yard, there isn't one tomato or lettuce plant to be seen.
"There's nothing edible growing here. I can buy vegetables," Kuhling said, adding that she would rather tend the flowers any day.
"I probably spend four or five hours out here in the garden," she said. "It's hard work. But it's happy work."
