Skip to content

If variety is the spice of life, this is one spicy garden

Communities in Bloom national judges touring Barrie this week, and Janis Hamilton is more than happy to share her hard work

Janis Hamilton loves the blooms, the bees and the butterflies.

That’s why once again this year she has taken part in Communities in Bloom (CiB), an annual program that fosters civic pride, beautifies the city and helps the environment and is wrapping up this week.

It challenges communities to enhance green spaces and that’s exactly what Hamilton does in her gardens.

This is Barrie’s 22nd year participating.

Hamilton has had a garden of one form or another for more than 30 years and has been more than happy to let CiB judges peruse her efforts.

“It’s is a nice way to give back to the city,” she says while surrounded by her hard work.

“I think it’s really important that people who have gardens say, ‘Yes, you can come and visit my garden’. The city gets points for it and I don’t mind taking them around the yard,” Hamilton says.

“People are here (in cities) and we’re making a huge footprint so we need to change that,” she adds. “To me, (the program) means the community is doing something beneficial for the earth and that’s very important.”

Hamilton has several gardens on her property near Bayfield Street.

Garden aficionados will appreciate a sampling of some of the varieties: 10 different types of clematis, including standalone clematis, more than 100 different hostas, bears breeches (it has shiny leaves in the spring and right now it’s just starting to bloom), a white jack-in-the-pulpit she started from seed (it took seven years to grow and has just finished blooming), an elderberry shrub, annabell hydrangeas, a dwarf bain bush, trilliums, pink and yellow lady slippers, and lots of ferns.

A highlight of the main garden is the pond which was dug by her son and late husband, Brian, who spent a summer chipping the stones so they would all fit together. Later, a waterfall was added.

In the pond there are eight different types of water Lillies, from miniatures right on up, as well as an oxygenator for the goldfish.

The woodland garden along the side of the house is very colourful and planted in soil from the pond.

In the front yard is a rock garden with 13 kinds of rocks.

It’s not your typical garden, Hamilton says.

“I’ve interspersed zero-scaping plants which require very little watering. That seems to be the way to go because I’m trying to be low maintenance,” she says, adding it’s similar in that regard to the creeping thyme lawn.

“It’s the kind that’s right to the ground and it’s invincible,” Hamilton says with a chuckle. “We’ve had a drunk drive over it and the grandkids ride their bike over it.

“You just have to pull out a few maple keys once in a while and when it’s in bloom it’s covered with bees and wasps, she says adding it’s important to help them.

“I get enjoyment from them and we get food from them because of the pollinating,” Hamilton says. “A garden is an excellent way to be creative and give back (to nature) for the butterflies and bees and whatever animals tend to visit.

“It’s just a good space to be in.”

Her garden is actually Canadian Wildlife Federation Certified as a wildlife friendly habitat. Birds which enjoy dropping in include orioles, nut hatches, cardinals, finches, blue jays and, of course, the grackles. 

Hamilton’s gardens are pretty much works of art, according to Mona Boyd, who has been with the city’s horticultural department for more than 33 years and oversees Barrie’s CiB efforts.

“It really does bring the community together,” she says of the program. “That’s what it’s all about. Without the residents, Communities in Bloom wouldn’t happen.”

More than 300 communities take part from around the world and right across Canada.

Boyd said there is a “big buzz” for the community during this year’s program.

“We’re very happy to announce that we are going to be presented with a dedication of being the 30th Canadian municipality to be called a Bee City, which means we are really concentrating on increasing the bee population,” she says proudly.

“Backyard gardens are a great help in that regard by planting native plant material, which are great pollinators,” Boyd adds. “More and more you see residential, and even commercial properties, enticing the bee population and the butterflies and you’ll see multiple properties working around the milkweeds so that it’s left for the butterflies.

“It’s a natural fit. It’s about the environment and also about young people learning about that responsibility,” Boyd says, adding the CiB program doesn’t necessarily have to be pretty, although Hamilton’s gardens certainly are.

“It’s about the mechanisms behind it all. We’re planting native plant material which is important to keep this going for our kids,” she says.

To learn more about Communities in Bloom, helping the bees and environmental responsibility, visit the city’s website.