Summer has left the island and much-needed rain has arrived to begin refilling our water cisterns and to give the parched grounds a good drink. I enjoy seeing the plants and seeds Ive collected or had sent to me by other green-thumbed lightkeepers all surviving: hollyhocks from seed collected while we worked at Chrome Island, rosemary sent up by Carmanah Point, a little holly tree we found hidden with its siblings in the willows at Quatsino, Paperwhite narcissus from Nootka, Japanese anemones from Estevan Point roots, lovely orange dahlias from ? somewhere before my time and which are really doing well this year. 110 years of lightkeepers and determined gardeners have left such a legacy of beauty here. But my favourite is the David Austen tea rose planted by former lightkeeper Iain Colquhoun in front of our kitchen window, which blooms three times a year and has a fragrance from its 100+ blooms that stops me in my tracks. Nose in nearest rose. Aromatherapy. I wish computers could bottle fragrance but forthwith, some memories of a lovely summer on Lennard Island.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 18:10:32 +0000
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