Seeds tossed casually aside from the outdoor table take root in a riot of bloom, garage sale castoffs into handsome wood furniture, a dusty box of gears and springs turns back into a clock, birds raise families in custom-designed houses. Just another spring day in the garden at the home of Brian and May Vince Smith.
“When we moved here nine years ago, there wasn’t a blade of grass. Now we have an excess of plants,” said May, who grew up on a farm in Manitoba, worked in customer service and is the former co-owner of an antiques store.
Brian also comes from a country background, his father worked as an estate manager for Sir Winston Churchill in England. Brian served in the Royal Air Force and came to Canada in 1964 to work in the aircraft industry.
“I’m a $10 Canadian,” he joked, referring to the cost of his citizenship papers.
The couple had an acreage in Alberta and brought all their energy and enthusiasm, and even some of the plants, to their smaller property. Now they work together restoring furniture; they do all the sanding by hand, Brian rebuilds as needed, including clock repair, and May is the paint and upholstery expert.
“Between us, there’s not much we can’t do,” said May. “Most people who retire die an early death because they have nothing to do. This keeps ours hands and minds busy.”
They have a garage sale a couple of times a year to clear things out so they can start on something new. They see possibilities everywhere, sometime stopping to pick up something from the side of the road to turn into a new treasure.
The garden, watered by 10 rain barrels, shelters plants that are rarely seen in the area. A redwood tree had to be cut back, ginkgo biloba, mulberries and flowering cactus flourish. Harry Lauder’s walking stick, a contorted hazel wood made famous by the Scottish comedian, keeps growing and buckthorn, blue bean and wild blackberry take their place in the mixed hedges.
May is always looking for seeds and plants and people give them to her, happy to see them thrive with her touch.
“The seed for these tomatoes was smuggled from Italy, the grapes and apples we grew from seeds. We grow a lot of vegetables and give away what we don’t need. I love plants, they don’t often disappoint you,” said May. “There’s still one thing I’d like to grow. I paid $39 for four monkey tree seeds and not one grew. I really wanted them.”
Her indoor garden is just as fascinating. Huge African violets started as two leaves, orchids bloom for months, there’s a crown of thorns plant that someone brought as seed from Jerusalem. She’s not sure what the seed from Cuba will grow into but she’s watching the plant with interest.
May is also an artist and her paintings and drawings decorate the walls of the house. It’s a comfortable place with two chairs arranged for reading with end tables made from the drawers of an old desk which had a ruined top.
Back in the yard, May admires Brian in the workshop putting the finishing touches on a dresser for an upcoming garage sale, and looks around.
“There’s something in bloom most of the year from the daphne in February to the old-fashioned roses in October. If we were younger, we’d have a bigger yard, but we find enough to keep busy here,” she said, smiling.
