A few weeks ago, a friend suggested that I write a column about gardens in Castlegar, but there are far too many beautiful gardens and I thought I could not do justice to all of them.
The Castlegar Garden Tour (June 28) was unfortunately on one of the hottest days in the month. Elsie Lazareff’s garden in Pass Creek was one of the gardens I was able to see before succumbing to heat stroke. I was fascinated by not only her garden, but the story of how she had created it, so returned on a cooler day to have a chat.
Elsie Lazareff and her husband purchased the property in 1989, and set about creating a work of art from a basic house on an empty site. Elsie’s husband passed away ten years ago after a lengthy illness, leaving her to basically care for the house and gardens by herself with occasional help from her children. She is now seventy-eight years old and admits to a having few health problems that plague her during the winter; however, as soon as the growing season arrives she feels much better, as she is able to work outside and get her joints lubricated. Her companion is a tiny dog named Sudsy who makes sure no one enters the property without Elsie’s say-so. (Sudsy once challenged an elk that entered the yard, and got a good kick for his effort.)
Elsie is a self-made, fiercely independent woman. When I arrived, she was riding a mower around the lawn. We sat on the deck she had built with planks she had cut to size with hand tools. Behind us was a large stack of wood which her son in law had split, but that she had stacked and chopped, ready for the coming winter.
There are a few separate gardens in her yard. One section holds a vegetable garden on raised beds which Elsie built. She also dug the holes for the posts and built the fence around the garden to keep out the deer and elk. Next to gardening, she loves carpentry, and has built many of the fences, bridges and decks around the house and garden.
One area holds perennial flower beds and bushes, entered through an arched gate made of drift wood. Inside is a rusted windmill, a wooden well and a totem pole carved by chainsaw by her brother from a tree that had been cut down by her husband. At the end of that area is a covered section with lawn chairs on which to sit and enjoy a cool summer drink.
The showpiece, however, is a fish pond housing three large koi fish including Suchi, who is twelve years old. Water flows through the pond from a waterfall under a small foot bridge. Many unique lawn ornaments surround the pond. When it begins to get cold in October Elsie stops feeding the fish and cuts back all the greenery around the pond. The fish survive the winter with the aid of a circulating pump which keeps the water from freezing.
On the lawn is a power boat which Elsie had just taken out from the garage, as her son is soon arriving to take her fishing.
Life is good for Elsie Lazareff in Pass Creek. She has good neighbours, a family who does whatever she can’t do, a fierce guard dog, a son who takes her fishing…and a beautiful garden: an ongoing, living work of art.
