We three avid gardeners set out at dawn upon a glassy calm sea on a mission. We picked up the 18 foot rental van in Nanaimo and began our 1.5 hour drive to a wholesale nursery on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. At one point we took a wrong turn but we suspected we had returned to the correct route when we found ourselves behind the same hearse which we had been following for miles.
Under clear skies and with mild temperatures we wandered the huge acerages of a wholesale nursery CH frequents with her gardening design business. The three of us were in need of botanical supplies for our daunting island landscaping projects.
We filled the trailers on four golf carts with plants and trees and took them to the rental van to be invoiced and loaded up for home. There were deer resistant (no guarantees) smelly plants. (Rosemary and Lavender). There were deer resistant prickly shrubs (Berberis) trees (Hawthorne) and Mahonia. There were large native trees (Dogwood) and a Magnolia Grandiflora (because I like them)… Seventy nine plants of all shapes and sizes purchased by we three. Nineteen for my property. Three for the fenced garden and sixteen for the driveway garden. I have gladly reallocated my wine dollars to the gardening column of my monthly budget, for a few months at least.
We got back to the harbour, unloaded the truck, loaded the boat, returned the truck to Nanaimo and set out again on calm seas at dusk in a very fully packed boat. We calculated that by the time we actually get these plants in the garden they will have been lifted and moved ten times, at least.. Gardening on this island is not for the faint of heart.
The plants are here, safe and sound. There is nothing more rewarding than sharing a day with two other women who consider this a completely rational way to spend our time, energy and money.
Probably best we did it without the supervision of more rational souls like our husbands. I suspect that the woman, if it was a woman in the hearse we followed yesterday very recently told her husband how much money she spent
At the nursery
Off the Grid Islander 
Ian, This reminds me of your Mother’s nursery trips. Warren used to roll his eyes, have a bit of a freak out and pay up. We ‘d sit on our deck and have a chuckle.
Ron
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Indeed Ron, Sheila and I commented a great many times during the day “Helen would be pleased”
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Ian, This reminds me of your Mother’s nursery trips. Warren used to roll his eyes, have a bit of a freak out and pay up. We ‘d sit on our deck and have a chuckle.
Ron
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Indeed Ron, Sheila and I commented a great many times during the day “Helen would be pleased”
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Now THAT’s what I call a boatload!!! Hard to believe you squeezed it all in.
Looking forward to seeing it in place.
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It was extremely entertaining!
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Now THAT’s what I call a boatload!!! Hard to believe you squeezed it all in.
Looking forward to seeing it in place.
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It was extremely entertaining!
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Looks like you had a productive and fun day. Tough choice in the budgeting department – plants or wine!
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Shows you how much I like plants 🙂
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Looks like you had a productive and fun day. Tough choice in the budgeting department – plants or wine!
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Shows you how much I like plants 🙂
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Nothing better than a truckload/boatload of plants ! Can’t wait to see the fruits of your labour (oh oh, starting to spell like a Canadian LOL)
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Hopefully in a year or two it will be worth the risk….
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Nothing better than a truckload/boatload of plants ! Can’t wait to see the fruits of your labour (oh oh, starting to spell like a Canadian LOL)
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Hopefully in a year or two it will be worth the risk….
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You are right, my wife would do that. She’d complain about lifting 2×6’s into the truck but would gladly lift potted trees and bags of soil. And, even more than you, we lift everything at least ten times, too (remote island, no roads, boat access only, no dock, rocky beaches). The only reason I say little is because it is ALL so irrational. And yet, so rational at the same time….
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It is a pretty harmless vice……..My back is killing me!!!!
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You are right, my wife would do that. She’d complain about lifting 2×6’s into the truck but would gladly lift potted trees and bags of soil. And, even more than you, we lift everything at least ten times, too (remote island, no roads, boat access only, no dock, rocky beaches). The only reason I say little is because it is ALL so irrational. And yet, so rational at the same time….
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It is a pretty harmless vice……..My back is killing me!!!!
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