A13

Bill Robb

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Henry Mitchell, writing in "Gardening Is A Long Road," said that gardening is a long road, with many detours and way stations, and here we all are at one point or another.

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Bill Robb/This Week

A colourful display of zinnias brightens walks through our public gardens.

"It's not a question of superior or inferior taste, merely a question of which detour we are on at the moment. Getting there (as they say) is not important; the wandering around in the wilderness or in the olive groves or in the bayous is the whole point."

His words prompted me to abandon my normal weekly walk of a city street just this once, and instead stretch out to walk through public gardens this week.

If this is not your holiday time and you can't get away, at least try for a noon hour stroll through the lovely flower beds of Victoria Park or along the waterfront trail or even along Assumption Boulevard or Main Street.

If you have a week off and feel like a little drive before your walk, I encourage you to visit Kingsbrae Garden in St. Andrews, which is now at its peak, or the New Brunswick Botanical Garden, which is just this side of Edmundston in St. Basile and which certainly deserves to be better known because it is delightful.

Walking through gardens on warm summer days isn't just good for your mind and your body, it's good for your soul. It's a learning experience if you want to take the time to remember the names of the various plants.

Even if you don't, it's a chance to see the most beautiful, most peaceful parts of our province, and restore yourself for the many months of work that lie ahead before year's end.

It takes about 2 1/2 hours to get to Kingsbrae and about 4 1/2 hours to get to the botanical garden, if you are leaving from Moncton. Both can be done in a day if you rise early for the latter, and still allow you lots of leisure time.

I feel I need at least three hours in the gardens to make my visit enchanted, but you could spend more or less time depending on your energy level and interest.

Then, when you return home and resume your walks along city streets the following week, your steps will also be enhanced because you will look at front gardens in neighbourhoods in a newly-appreciative way.