Scotty Gave our
Rock Garden His Life
Paul Wilson
(Journalist with The Hamilton
Spectator)
wrote the following
article in today's Spec.
(excerpts only)
They're running a contest at
the Royal Botanical Gardens that's linked to the $20-million rebirth of the
Rock Garden, which was really the beginning of the RBG more than 80 years
ago.
Margaret Long, now 84, stated
that her father, David Graham Brunton who grew up in a Scottish coastal town,
earned no degree in horticulture, but came to know every flower and shrub. Scotty sailed
to Canada
in 1926 and soon got on with the Hamilton Parks Board. He saved his money and
within three years was able to send a diamond ring and a one-way first-class
boat ticked to Anne Campbell, his girlfriend back home. She landed on his birthday. Five days later they married. So 1929 ~ the year of the great stock market
crash ~ was turning out to be a banner year for Scotty.
It got better yet on November
13 of that year, when they placed the first stone for the new Rock Garden.
The project was the idea of
T.B. McQuesten, a visionary Hamilton politician. He thought the old gravel pit at the
city's western entrance did not make a good first impression. A world-class garden would. And Scotty was made foreman of the
project.
In the spring of 1930, Scotty
got to work in earnest. He kept a
journal of each day's activities. From
June 16, 1930 he wrote: Planting geraniums
in rockery...finished carpet beds on east side...laying water pipe on top of
rockery...team on water wagon (team of horses, that is)...trucks hauling stone
from the escarpment. Scotty had pencil
sketches in his journal too, plans for displays in the garden which looked like
stained windows.
Margaret remembers her father
sitting at the table in his house beside Cootes Paradise (a 2-storey brick home
that came with his job where the 403 highway now exists) and doing those
sketches. She remembers walking over to
the Rock Garden with brother Bill to see Dad at work. Sometimes, he would hand them a trowel and
watch them plant while he sipped his tea. She also recalls watching her Dad and
his men put the water lilies away for the winter and covering them with
straw. Come spring, they were returned
to the garden pond. It's all described
in father's journal which Margaret has kept safely in a cedar chest on the farm
in Canfield (near Cayuga) in the house where she's lived for nearly 60 years,
ever since marrying Joe Long.
The RBG is still trying to
raise funds for the Rock Garden. Ottawa
kicked in $7 million and so has the province.
The RBG approached Hamilton
late last ;year about a $1.75 million contribution. The City is still thinking about it. You can
learn more about plans for the Rock Garden and how to donate ~ at www.rbg.ca/rock.
The old Rock Garden closed
last year. The new one opens next
year. Margaret hopes there's room
somewhere for a plaque that mentions her Dad.
He was still on the job at the Rock Garden when he died of a heart
attack in 1960, age 60. “I never went
back there after that,” Margaret says.
“Too many memories.”
Albert Einstein said it best:
“Look deep into nature and then you will understand
everything better.”
“Flowers have an expression of countenance so much better than man or
animal. Some seem to smile, some
have a sad expression; some are perverse and diffident; others
again are plain and upright like the broad-faced sunflower and
hollyhock.” (Henry Ward Beecher)
The Royal Botanical Gardens, today, is a Nature-Mecca displaying
gardens, shrubs, many trees and a presentation centre to enhance our botanical
knowledge and appreciation.
Plant a Tree for Tree
Day…September 25, 2014
Trees play an important role in our world
and we need them more than we think.
1 LARGE tree
provides a day’s worth of oxygen for 4
people
It takes 98 TREES
to absorb 1 ton of carbon dioxide every year..
Trees provide
SHELTER and FOOD for many birds, mammals, amphibians and insects.
Kathy Renwald writes about
Dahlia-Land
“These cheerful, cosmic flowers poke their heads high in the sky…some
as small as ping pong balls and others as big as dinner plates at a
steakhouse. Dr. Mike Parrish states,
“There is something about dahlias that guys love. Most of the members of the
Hamilton & District Chrysanthemum and Dahlia Society are men.” September 20
and 21 is its 50th Anniversary Show at the RBG. Dahlias each have personalities and they’re packed with
energy. The speed at which they grow is
spectacular.”
The “Dahlias” send you this Invitation…
(and they don’t need flowery words to do so.)
Come visit Cornell,
a deep maroon, ball-type
with petals placed
in a mathematical precision.
Come visit Max,
a showstopper
with a fringe of
petals exploding from the center.
Come visit Pooh
that turns its big face to the sun
like a polar panel ready for charging.
Bring a vase or a
bucket…and prepare to fall in love with us!
“Flowers are a proud assertion that a ray of
beauty
outvalues all the utilities of the world.”
(Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844)
“Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going
to bloom.
They just open up toward the light and that
makes them beautiful.”
(Jim Carrey)
Merle
Baird-Kerr...written August 5, 2014
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