Parkdale Horticultural Society

Jonathan Wong Dept: My best friend Jonathan Wong helped me start the Parkdale Horticultural Society 25 years ago. This was a concession for him because he grew up on a farm near Erin, Ont. He thought of gardening as standing in the hot sun with his brothers hoeing weeds in long, long rows of beans. But having a small downtown lot in Toronto helped reconcile him to the idea of plants as fun rather than just work. So when his parents were selling the farm to retire to Victoria, B.C., he took me along to dig out a huge old clump of the Poet s Daffodil, Narcissus poeticus. This wonderful old variety is truly fragrant and used in many perfumes . It was described by Greek and Roman poets thousands of years ago in its native Mediterranean home, according to The Star and if Mr. Kent s bloodroot does find happiness in my garden, it will always be referred to as Mr. Kent s bloodroot. Gardens can be a footprint of memories and friendships, as it is with Mr. Kent s own garden. Here he documents the personal story behind this stunning Poet s Daffodil. I think of Jon as a true modern Torontonian - born and raised here but with family connections in China, Guyana, and eastern Europe. He inherits the Jewish side of his family from his mother Bea nee Brill . She s probably the one who planted the Poet s Daffodils, and what makes that so interesting is that Bea had polio when she was in high school, missed several years of school, but was so determined to regain mobility and DO things that she began working for farmers near Georgetown. There s an old family picture of her climbing an apple tree during that time, with partly paralyzed back muscles! Jon and I dug his mother s bulbs and planted some in each of our gardens. Years later, mine are flowering and when they do, their fragrance makes me think of a young Bea, bold enough to marry new immigrant Minus Wong and strong willed enough to overcome a very bad back, move her family of four kids to the country, and help run a farm. Although Bea and Min are gone now, their dreams live on. Email Print Add to Favourites function Func ctl00 ctl00 cph contentBody cph leftContentContainer c bottom Template0 ctl00 CaseTemplate10 UserFavoritesButton1 funcName, param var p = param == undefined ? '' : ' if TD.Identity.IsAuthenticated var url = "/Toplets/User/UserFavoritesButtonPage?AssetUID=1165737" + p + " //alert url ; $.get url, , function data $ "#ctl00 ctl00 cph contentBody cph leftContentContainer c bottom Template0 ctl00 CaseTemplate10 UserFavoritesButton1 UserFavoritesButtonHolder" .html data ; ; Func ctl00 ctl00 cph contentBody cph leftContentContainer c bottom Template0 ctl00 CaseTemplate10 UserFavoritesButton1 'Func ctl00 ctl00 cph contentBody cph leftContentContainer c bottom Template0 ctl00 CaseTemplate10 UserFavoritesButton1' ; Report an error Rss var addthis share = templates: twitter: " title : url via @TorontoStar" div class=" (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.