Allison, her husband Ken, and their dog Jack began visiting Baltimore Valley this spring. A little while ago, Allison contacted us with what she lovingly called her “Love Letter to Baltimore Valley.” In it, she shared her thoughts and experiences of the garden centre, along with some beautiful photos that Ken captured during their visits.
We wanted to share an extract from her letter with you. Thank you, Allison, for your incredibly kind words and for allowing us to share them.
Every Friday, I gather up whatever the garden has given me that week and turn it into Allison’s Flower Fridays. What began as a simple way to share what was blooming has grown into flower arrangements, garden projects, little discoveries and the occasional adventure. Baltimore Valley became one of those adventures.
For years, my husband Ken and I travelled Highway 45 on our way to visit my parents in Hastings. Every so often I would say, “We should stop in someday,” but somehow someday kept getting pushed further down the road. Twenty-seven years after moving to Campbellford, one afternoon this June we were returning home from visiting my mom in Port Hope when we finally decided to stop. I had absolutely no idea what we were about to discover. That first visit quickly found its way into Flower Fridays, and after returning again, Baltimore Valley became part of my summer garden adventures. I thought you might enjoy seeing your garden centre through my eyes.
Our first visit was enough to make Baltimore Valley an instant favourite, so it did not take us very long to return. This time Ken had his camera ready, and we came with a plant-shopping mission From the highway, Baltimore Valley Garden Centre looks like a typical roadside stop. Then we crossed the little bridge… and everything changed.
These photographs were taken on our second visit, during one of the hottest days of July. Even in the middle of a heat wave, Baltimore Valley felt several degrees cooler and wonderfully peaceful beneath the trees. Ken brought plants over for me to consider while Jack and I relaxed in the shade. We arrived with two missions: finding plants for our new Ramp Garden and choosing plants for another new garden beneath our black walnut tree. Trees, shrubs and flowers seemed to appear naturally throughout the woodland, as though they were simply waiting for someone to invite them home. And then there were the ferns. They were ginormous and absolutely everywhere, rising from the water, weaving between the trees and filling every shady corner with green.
One of the things I appreciated most was how accessible the garden centre was for me. The wide, firm pathways allowed me to move safely and confidently through almost every corner, which meant I could actually enjoy exploring rather than worrying about where my wheelchair could go. What stayed with me most was the atmosphere. I found myself winding through shady woodland paths, surrounded by streams, bridges and pots arranged so naturally among the trees that it felt less like plant shopping and more like spending a beautiful afternoon in the woods.
Baltimore Valley may be small in size, but it is not a place to rush through. It makes you slow down, look around and forget for a little while that you came there to shop for plants at all. I can already tell we have 27 years of missed visits to make up for.
