Category: Gardening

My love of gardening started when Sir Randol I moved  into our first home in the 1950s. Our small garden in McPherson Street had mango and avocado trees,  and many  flowering hibiscus and gardenia plants.

When the family moved  to John F. Kennedy Drive in 1966,  I found myself with a huge tract of land to cultivate.  For nearly fifty years now,  I’ve found much joy in supervising the landscaping of the property.

So many of the trees in my garden have sentimental value. I have given hundreds of cuttings and plants away and likewise so many persons have given  to me from their gardens.

The photograph at left shows the  front yard of “La Campanella”  at Christmas time.  “Snow on the Mountain Top,” was a gift from Mrs. Miriam (Keddie) Saunders, my daughter Rosalie’s godmother.  Every time it blooms we remember her.

 

 

Lady Jacqueline Fawkes

Link to Sir Randol Fawkes

I began gardening at age 11 years when my chore was to keep the family yard.  In those days there were no lawns; only dirt, rocks and fruit trees.  My job every Saturday was to sweep the yard with a broom made from tree branches.  At that time most yards had  native rose bushes, gardenias, ferns, aralias and croton trees which were planted from cuttings, and I was fascinated to watch them grow.

My garden is divided by hedges into ‘rooms’, hence the name “Secret Gardens” and visitors are often pleasantly surprised when they enter behind the hedges. Gardening is very therapeutic and I enjoy watching the stages of growth and blooming of the various plants. As a member of the Horticultural Society of The Bahamas (HSB) and also having served as a past president of the organization, I have gained invaluable expertise in horticulture through the lectures and demonstrations at meetings in members’ gardens, shows, field trips and attendance at various conferences abroad. My knowledge of horticulture was also enhanced when serving as a clerk at various shows and listening to the judges’ comments and observations, added to which I have often been on the classification team at HSB and other local garden shows.  I am passionate about my lifelong hobby which I turned into a successful lawn care and gardening business.

 

 

 

 

Eric Butler

I was a gardener for many years and always  liked to see how things grew. However, I must give credit to Marina Greaves for inviting me to join The Horticultural Society of The Bahamas (HSB). Being a part of this organization helped me to learn more about plants and horticulture, and it has made me what I am today with regard to gardening. One of the greatest pleasures of the HSB is visiting the gardens of other members for monthly meetings where we have interesting speakers, demonstrations on different methods of propagation, and exchange ideas.

I grow all manner of flowering plants including desert rose, (adenium) hibiscus, bougainvillea (in many colours), orchids, hibiscus and crotons; fruit trees: sapodilla, ju jubes, sugar apple, soursop, plums, avocado and mango,  just to name a few.  Or as the saying goes “I grow from soup to nuts”. I propogate by seeds, clippings and air layering get much pleasure from watching these methods developing into mature flowering or fruit bearing trees. This is where my belief in God comes from when I can see how things grow and produce from year to year and on time.

Errol Strachan

 

I fell in love with plants at an early age. During the summer, my brother Stephen and I spent time in Aunt Clara’s garden watching and helping her with her plants. As a child, her garden became my favorite place.

Eventually, I grew my own garden with Bachelor Buttons and Marigolds at first. My garden was full of flowers, each one with its own peculiarity and personality.

Then I met Sarah Bardelmeier, Founder of the Horticultural Society of The Bahamas; my garden   began to bloom and, as the saying goes: “the rest was history”.  I enjoy attending the monthly meetings at members’ gardens, where we exchange tips and also get expert advice from various speakers. Gardening is a joy to me and bromeliads are now my favourite plants.

Ona Bailey

 

My love of gardening stems from the biblical verse in John’s Gospel Chapter 15: “The Vine and the Branches.” This analogy tells of the gift that was passed to me genetically by my beloved mother the late Mrs. Sybil Coakley-Strachan who shared a similar gift.

Gardening has been my passion all of my life. I prefer plants rather than gifts of gold and rubies. I choose rich soil to cultivate plants that I share with love among  my family and friends. As this is the commandment of the Lord: to love each other as he has loved us is so clear in my daily life.

It’s with these thoughts that I continue my passion for gardening as I remain cognizant of my rich roots and heritage.

 

 

 

 

 

Michaella Strachan

My brother Eric Butler had invited us to join the Horticultural Society of The Bahamas for many years but Swithun and I were not very interested in bromeliads and, since I was working full time, I made the excuse that I was too busy.  However, when I retired in 2005, Swithun and I decided to give it a try.  We attended our first BSI World Bromeliad Conference in San Diego, CA in June 2006 and we have attended almost every one since then because we enjoyed the conferences so much.  It really got us “hooked” on bromeliads.  We had always enjoyed gardening but were interested mostly in orchids, roses and perennials.  Now we have added a variety of bromeliads.  We particularly like the ones we purchased at the International Conferences because many of them are “first timers”.

We have made our mistakes in purchasing plants that were not particularly suited for our climate but we have learnt and cannot adequately express the joys of planting, transplanting and caring for our varied assortment. Swithun enjoys this great therapeutic activity so much that he now does most of the gardening while I enjoy purchasing and choosing unusual bromeliads.  We are so happy that we are bromeliad enthusiasts and encourage anyone who has a passion for gardening to get into this species of plant life.

Lorraine Burrows

I enjoy living at my family enclave, “The Heritage”, surrounded by most of my children and some of my grandchildren. I also enjoy preparing and serving breakfast at my home for all on Saturday  mornings.   However, one of my greatest joys is gardening and now that the children are adults I spend most of my time working in the garden and talking to my wide variety of beautiful plants, but the orchids are my favourites.  Gardening is a very therapeutic activity and brings me nearer to God when I see his creation in the beauty in nature that surrounds me. Gardening is my life and I absolutely love it.

 

Sheila Pessoa

My love of the outdoors, trees and flowering plants was developed in early childhood, when I enjoyed rambling through “Matthew’s Bush”, the wooded area near our home in Over-the-Hill, New Providence, The Bahamas.   All of the neighbourhood children enjoyed picking and eating pigeon plums, tamarinds, and other fruit that grew in the area.  Because of the abundance of fruit and wild berries, Matthew’s Bush was also the home for many beautiful birds.

Mother kept a lovely flower garden and we also had a variety of fruit trees such as avocado, orange, grapefruit, banana, cherry, coconut, juju and, guava.   Mother taught us how to make use of all of the fruit grown in the yard; she made guava and cherry jams, orange marmalade, guava and coconut duffs.  We also drank a variety of teas made from the leaves of plants that grew in the garden.
My love of gardening was intensified after my cousin, Eric Butler, invited me to join the Horticultural Society of The Bahamas (HSB) and I attend its first show in 1983.  I was immediately drawn to the beauty of the Adenium (desert rose) and bromeliads.  I purchased my first desert rose plant and a few bromeliads at the show and have been cultivating them since that time.  Years later I had the great pleasure of serving as President of the HSB. One of the most interesting aspects of the HSB was the field trips to gather native orchids and tillandsias which are now very difficult to find on the Island of New Providence and also some of the Family Islands because the habitats have been bulldozed. Fortunately, I still have a number of these plants attached to the trees in my garden. My late brother Percival (Perce) was also a source of inspiration and served as my gardening consultant, as was my late friend Veronica Higgs with whom I spent happy times in New Providence and the Family Islands searching for plants.

I find gardening very therapeutic and relaxing and I love to grow plants from clippings and seeds and watch them develop… God’s wonder!

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Rosemary C. Hanna

 

 

 

 

We moved from the West to Camperdown over 20 years ago and suddenly discovered that we had a whole acre to play with.  Shortly after moving I joined The Horticultural Society of The Bahamas and there began my passion for gardening.

We had never heard of a Bromeliad or Orchid but it wasn’t long before my addiction for plants began. We started small, built two shade houses along the way, filled them to the brim, and now we have a beautiful garden that we can both enjoy all year round. Every day is filled with surprises when something new comes into bloom.  At various times of the year Camperdown is alive with beautiful displays from many of our neighbours who are also avid gardeners.

Gordon and I really look forward to our weekends in the garden; we love the peace and tranquility and we can always find a project to do with all the plants that we have around. We also really enjoy sharing our plants with others as we simply have too many!!  But there is always room for something new! We like to encourage our friends to spruce up their yards and gardens by offering plants and advice as to how to grow and care for them.

We have found that gardening gives us so much satisfaction and keeps us active in mind, body and soul.

                             Cindy Wilde

 

The most beautiful time of the year is November when all conditions for gardening seem so perfect.  For me there is nothing more relaxing or rewarding than gardening at this time.  From the fresh aroma of herbs in the morning to the sweet fragrance of jasmine at eventide, this hobby or pastime brings great satisfaction – for as I pursue my love for gardening, I realize the joy of bonding in relationships with family, friends and other garden lovers. 

My passion for gardening evolved some fifteen years ago after my three children had come into their own and followed their career paths.  This allowed me to spend more time outdoors appreciating creation in all its splendour. While most of my attention is directed toward the cultivation of orchids and bromeliads, I continue to be amazed at the bursts of colour from the cattleya orchid (though short lived) and the flowering plants which may sometimes be considered common or ordinary (the hibiscus, the croton, the wild rose bush and the periwinkle).  The enjoyment I gain experiencing these wonders, together with the solitude I derive resting beneath the banana trees viewing the turtle and coy ponds after a full morning of weeding, clipping, fertilizing, potting, re-potting, etc. brings the ultimate aura of peace and well being – a time for meditation.  From time to time a butterfly appears – the beauty of nature and the creation.  I feel truly blessed.

                                                                    Rosalie Hall