A Little About Us
Ena Clewes
Ena Clewes is a Master Gardener and a graduate of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She studied Horticulture and dabbled in Psychology, being unsure of which path she really wanted to follow. The language of plants being more to her liking than the deep recesses of the mind, she studied to become the best gardener, she could be.
Over time, becoming more and more upset at the destruction of our environment, she decided to implement safe and chemical-free ways of achieving the same results in her garden as she would from commercial products.
She lives in Saskatchewan, the “frozen north” to some, and gets great pleasure in trying to grow plants that are semi-hardy in her area, when most of the gardening books say that they will not grow there. Sometimes they are right!
Ena gardens in the English style. Gertrude Jekyll, who wrote Color in the Flower Garden (1908?), gave her inspiration to be a better gardener than perhaps she could have been.
Organic gardening is very simple and does not require a college degree. It is safe for wildlife, which she can attest to with her two very healthy Golden Retrievers and three “Heinz variety” cats!
Ena has written many articles about organic gardening for local newspapers and magazines, and also for online magazines. She speaks at gardening clubs and holds classes in her own garden to teach her organic methods to others who wish to apply them in their own gardens.
Quote: “Don’t be downcast by adverse criticism, the person who knows it all is never so much at home as in someone else’s flower garden, where the principal labor is done with the tongue.”
__________ The Flower Garden, 1904.
Chris Molnar
Chris is a stay at home Dad and web designer from Winnipeg who saw a challenge upon buying his home - three quarters of the backyard was asphalt — “Great house for car lovers!” as it was described in the local real estate listing. He transformed his backyard into lawn, plants, a vegetable garden and trees, feeling great satisfaction in reversing the Joni Mitchell song.
With much of his time devoted to working with local environmental groups, Chris applies his philosophy to his house and home, using only organic lawn and garden care practices. Married to an Italian, his garden bursts with tomatoes every year, leaving little room for jalapenos and other hot peppers!