Bloom Where You are Planted: Revisited

On June 19, we posted Isabel's "theme" ~ "Bloom where you are planted". That's a discussion topic of Isabel and her new neighbour as they enjoy the abundance of flowers that have emerged each week in the terrace garden. Friendship has grown between these two gardeners week after week as the summer progressed. The terrace garden is a moment's "wheel" from Mum and her neighbour's rooms.

The window sills are wide in the residents' rooms at Wascana, and in addition to the beauty of the terrace garden, Isabel and her new friend have enjoyed many bouquets from the gardens of family and friends. We have learned of the flower-farmer at the Regina Farmer's Market, and bouquets from this Qu'Appelle entrepreneur have also found their way to Isabel and her neighbour's rooms.

There is one particular Saturday morning story that begs telling.

We were part of the hustle and bustle of the Farmer's Market, and quickly chose a colourful bouquet for Isabel, and two 20-blossom lilies ~ one for Isabel and one for her neighbour. There was a long line-up of shoppers for the flower-farmer's stall and we didn't dawdle. When we reached the car, we decided that the bouquet was too beautiful to have purchased only one, and back we went for a second for Mum's neighbour.

We were surprised to find that the line-up at the stall had disappeared, and the flower-farmer and her assistant were carefully creating more bouquets. We told these two women about the two gardeners at Wascana. The flower-farmer took a deep breath upon hearing the stories of Isabel and her neighbour, and responded, "I must make a special bouquet for Isabel's neighbour." And for five minutes, silence seemed to descend on the market, and no customers interrupted her task. And so she carefully chose 20 uncommon flowers ~ one from each of 20 pails from her garden. We recognized only a few, and she didn't know some herself.

And so two bouquets and two large lilies found their way to Wascana. And later that morning, Isabel and her neighbour sat beside their own terrace garden and studied the bouquets, and in particular the one with the uncommon flowers. We watched in awe as Mum's neighbour with a voice hardly above the whisper of her ventilator, named each of the 20 uncommon flowers by their Latin and common names. When she was stuck for a moment, we "googled" a possibility on the internet, and in 20 seconds 10 brilliant photos of a Russian perennial appeared on the screen, and she said "Aha"!

We were in the presence of a Master Gardener.

And now in these mid-days of September, many of the 1200 multi-coloured gladioli from Isabel's neighbour's garden in rural Saskatchewan grace the rooms of Wascana. The gladioli garden is tended by her husband and daughter as this Master Gardener and Isabel together enjoy their own garden at Wascana and muse on what it means to "bloom where you are planted".