{"id":17596,"date":"2017-06-21T16:57:18","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T20:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=17596"},"modified":"2017-06-21T16:57:18","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T20:57:18","slug":"think-youve-seen-it-all-on-the-aurora-garden-tour-think-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/think-youve-seen-it-all-on-the-aurora-garden-tour-think-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Think you\u2019ve seen it all on the Aurora Garden Tour? Think again!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are few things Diane Jenner finds more therapeutic than grabbing her sheers and diving into her flower beds for an hour or two of deadheading.
\nBut does what was once a gardener\u2019s tried and true method of relaxation take on the tinge of \u201cwork\u201d when you\u2019re preparing to make your own oasis ready the curious eyes of hundreds of gardeners?
\nMaybe for some, but not for Ms. Jenner and John Thomson.
\nJenner and Thomson, both recent retirees from York University, have done all the heavy lifting for their Hill Drive garden, now they have a few days to relax before they welcome people from far and wide taking in this Sunday\u2019s Aurora Garden Tour, hosted by the Aurora Garden and Horticultural Society.
\nEvent organizers Judy Ryan and Hilka Parker first set eyes upon the Jenner and Thomson garden last year and immediately asked them if they would consider being one of seven featured gardens on this year\u2019s tour.
\nAt that point, however, Ms. Jenner had not yet planted an unexpected gift of eleven rosebushes which required a significant overhaul of their front garden, but the Garden Club members knew they had a sure winner.
\n\u201cWe tell our gardeners \u2013 and we are really, really clear about this the previous year \u2013 we chose your garden based on how it looks today, so please don\u2019t undertake anything strenuous or out of the ordinary to get it ready for the tour next year,\u201d says Ms. Ryan, before adding with a laugh, \u201cOne year and not one gardener has ever listened to what we said! In some respects, the pressure is on and in another respect it is, \u2018Well, we have been wanting to do this for a while now that is the shove we need.\u2019\u201d
\nThe couple, however, didn\u2019t need much of a nudge.
\nTheir eclectic garden has been a labour of love since they moved to Hill Drive over 25 years ago.
\nAt that time, Ms. Jenner describes the area as not much more than a \u201cdesert\u201d with some grass and an old swing set. Over time, it has evolved into lush flower beds, quiet corners of calm, punctuated with bursts of colour.
\nFaced with that \u201cdesert,\u201d the natural-born gardeners knew they had a lot of work to do, but \u201cwork\u201d is all relative.
\n\u201cI used to live in an apartment building and we had plants on the balcony and off the rails, on the floor,\u201d says Thomson. \u201cI had an allotment garden when I was out living near the university and no tradition of gardening in my family. That first year I grew lots of peas, beans and green stuff. Of course, we would trade tomatoes for chard and mess around with other people. We ended up with far more than the two of us could eat so we were giving a lot of it away.
\n\u201cThis garden (on Hill Drive) started because I wanted to put in a vegetable patch!\u201d
\nSo much for the veggies. The peas, beans and chard have given way to colourful varieties of flowers, many of which were specifically selected to flourish in the shade \u2013 shade generated from particularly enthusiastic trees on their neighbours\u2019 properties.
\n\u201cOne thing we try to do is get something to bloom throughout the summer,\u201d says Jenner. \u201cIn the spring we always found that the garden looks great and then it sort of got very ratty towards the middle and end of summer. We tried to make sure there is always something blooming throughout the summer.\u201d
\nNow, people can see for themselves.
\nMs. Jenner says she and John have wanted to be on the Garden Tour for a long while. They particularly enjoy seeing how people interpret their individual styles of gardening to their own unique spaces, whether they are backing onto an industrial unit, contending with a hillside, or dealing with a generally \u201cquirky\u201d shape.
\n\u201cWe have never seen two the same,\u201d says Mr. Thompson.
\nAnd that, in the end, is just what the Aurora Garden and Horticultural Society strives for.
\n\u201cOne day at the Farmers\u2019 Market, a woman came up to us when we were selling tickets and she said, \u2018Oh, yeah, I have been on your tour and I have already seen the gardens.\u2019\u201d Recalls Ms. Ryan. \u201c\u2019No, you haven\u2019t,\u2019 I said, \u2018because we try not to repeat a garden in ten years!\u2019\u201d
\nThis year\u2019s Annual Tour of Gardens takes place this Sunday, June 25. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased in advance at Caruso & Co. (15210 Yonge Street), King\u2019s Black Forest Garden Centre (15445 Keele Street), Aurora Home Hardware, and this Saturday at the Aurora Farmers\u2019 Market.
\nTickets may also be purchased on the same day at the first garden on the tour, located at 15 Pine Needle Drive.
\nFor more information, call 905-713-6660.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are few things Diane Jenner finds more therapeutic than grabbing her sheers and diving into her flower beds for an hour or two of deadheading.
\nBut does what was once a gardener\u2019s tried and true method of relaxation take on the tinge of \u201cwork\u201d when you\u2019re preparing to make your own oasis ready the curious eyes of hundreds of gardeners?
\nMaybe for some, but not for Ms. Jenner and John Thomson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/2017-06-22-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4zO","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 13:26:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}