V is for Victoria, BC, and Suzi Beber’s Secret Not so Secret Garden. Although I have never been to this place, I feel part of it, since our Nutmeg Designs art is there, starting with the sign on the garden gate. Suzi made the gate with parts of an old headboard. It is magical.
Her sweetie Tommy made this birdhouse in the back of the house.
Suzi commissioned a mosaic bowling ball, and it travelled all the way from Pennsylvania to Victoria, to a beautiful welcome from the flowers. This is its one year anniversary in the Secret Not So Secret Garden.
Suzi is an artist, and her work blossoms forth in the garden.
Suzi is the founder of the Smiling Blue Skies Cancer Fund to help end canine cancer, in honor of Blues, her Golden Retriever who died of lymphoma in 1991. Blues was a companion to Suzi as she dealt with chronic illness, and the human-animal bond was part of her healing.
Hydrangeas are my favorite flower and Suzi has sent some stunning photos of the ones lucky enough to be in her garden.
I was in Victoria in 1987, and remember the beauty of Vancouver Island. Suzi has added immeasurably to the beauty.
Smiling Blue Skies Cancer Fund
This has inspired me!!
I was always amazed at the garden next to my aunt’s house in Elizabeth, NJ, and wish that she was still around to tend it.
Thanks for this–made my day.
XO
Pen
I’m glad you found a bit of inspiration here!
The bike, the beautiful bowling ball, the gate… what’s not to love about this post! I took my kids to Butchart Gardens back in about ’98, and I long to spend days there again. Days, not hours!
I went to Butchart Gardens at age 7 or 8, and it was like nothing I’d ever seen.