Gardening on Hornby Island has always been a big part of peoples' lives and the culture of being in nature. From ornamental gardens to food forests, Hornby residents do it all. They also love sharing the joy their garden brings which is why we decided to showcase a handful of gardens in 2021 as a response to access limitations due to COVID-19.

From Anne Ngan:

"When I was growing up my father tended a vegetable garden. As a kid I liked to play with mud and stones making rivers, dam and lakes. At eleven years old I tried to grow my own garden but wasn’t too successful, and I waited until I had left the big cities and moved to Hornby at age 27 to garden again. Most people were gardening here so it was easy to learn, and my dad had prepared me. I even had and still have a very old french gardening book from before the war that he gave me. I am an old woman now, and I learned a lot in so many years, trying various methods, and I am still experimenting and learning. I could say that by now I have learned to simplify and support nature to do as much as possible. I like to eat good food, so organic vegetables fresh from the garden are essential. I have flowers here and there, they help attract beneficial insects, their colours and shapes delight me and have inspired my painting. There are also fruit trees which are so beautiful when they bloom in the Spring and so abundant with fruits in Autumn. My back was acutely hurting last Spring and gardening was forbidden. One sunny day I went out with my little foam pad, knelt down on it, and started carefully to pull some little weeds. It gave me such an intense pleasure that I think my back benefited from it. Anyway that’s to tell that I still like to put my hands in the mud."

More episodes of Art Of Gardening:

Pam Gordon    • Art Of Gardening: Pam Gordon  

Eva Wetzel    • Art Of Gardening: End Of The Road Garden  

Goya Ngan    • Art Of Gardening: Goya Ngan  

Indika Gnanaratna    • Art Of Gardening: Geoffrey Gardens