Former nurse plants more than 100 golf clubs in her Oak Bay garden
When Betty began transforming her backyard, her thumbs were far from green.
“It was just plain ordinary gardening,” the 88-year-old says. “And weeding!”
But over the decades, Betty’s garden has grown into an extraordinary array of blossoms and whimsy.
“There’s a little bit of everything,” she smiles, pointing out some of the teapots, teacups and ski poles rising amongst the dahlias.
There’s also the golf clubs, which Betty first found discarded at the municipal yard.
“There were a few there. They were free. I took them,” Betty explains. “And then people started giving them to me.”
And now there’s more than a hundred golf clubs ‘growing’ in her garden.
Although the clubs share the flower beds with those pots and cups, Betty’s puttering is more “tee-time” than tea time, more wedges than hedges, more birdies than bees.
It’s an un-fore-gettable, par-fect garden.
After considering golf/gardening puns, I ask what Betty’s golf handicap is.
“I don’t know. What’s a handicap?” she asks with a smile. “I don’t golf.”
Betty says she’s never golfed before. Since she was six years old, she had her sights set on just one thing.
“When the war broke out, [I decided] I’ll become a nurse,” Betty says. “I’ll join up. I’ll go overseas.”
Although the war ended before she became a nurse, Betty did serve on the frontlines of the polio pandemic during the early 1950s.
“That was very, very difficult,” she says.
But the most difficult thing was losing her husband Charles. That’s when Betty really started focusing on her flowers.
“It relieved the sadness and the stress,” she says.
And the nurse discovered that healing could happen beyond the hospital. Then and now.
“We’re living in a topsy-turvy world,” Betty says.
Which is why Betty keeps fertilizing her garden with fun — to inspire happiness and healing for all who pass it. Although there’s no hole-in-one solution to the countless challenges we face, Betty says it does help to cultivate joy.
“It’s good for one’s soul to go out and work in the garden,” Betty says with a smile. “And play in the dirt!”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
U.S. Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.