A grand garden

Brad Everett
Times Contributor

 

Quitting farming 10 years ago, freed up time for Erwin Hoelscher to focus on his first love—gardening.
“I didn’t enjoy tractor driving,” he said.
So while he takes care of St. Rita’s church yard and cemetery in Rockyford, as well as a couple of other yards and acreages, Hoelscher can spend most of his time in his own yard, located six miles north of Highway 1 on Range Rd 233.
It takes almost three full days to plant all the flowers in the yard, usually around the beginning of May, but he continues to add flowers throughout the summer as greenhouses and garden centres have sales.
Hoelscher also plants a large vegetable garden, which includes corn that he starts in his greenhouse.
“I stagger the plants so we can have six weeks of corn,” he said.
“Mom liked this stuff and so she got me started working with her,” said Hoelscher.
His father bought the farm in 1938 and he has spent his whole life there, over the years expanding the garden, adding trees and this spring having a waterfall put in.
“I saw a display at the home show in Calgary and thought it would work well in the space between the house and trees,” he said.
Hoelscher isn’t the only one pleased with the new addition to the yard.
“The robins love it and use it as a birdbath,” he said.
Maintaining the flowers takes a fair bit of time for him and his wife Mary Jo.
“But it’s worth it. We so enjoy the flowers and being able to have others come and see it as well,” she said.
An important aspect of the garden’s success is the shelter provided by between 300-400 evergreen trees and approximately 150 birch and Swedish aspen. This allows the plants to take full advantage of the heat and rain, as well as offers a measure of protection against storms.
If he can get a couple days of good weather, Hoelscher hopes to get some brickwork laid around the waterfall this summer.