Lucy Maud Montgomery: Canadian Writer and Gardener

November 30, 1874  
Today is the birthday of the Canadian writer and author of the Anne of Green Gables series Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Lucy was born on Prince Edward Island, and she was almost two years old when her mother died. Like her character Ann of Green Gables, Lucy had an unconventional upbringing when her father left her to be raised by her grandparents.
Despite being a Canadian literary icon and loved worldwide, Lucy’s personal life was marred by loneliness, death, and depression. Historians now believe she may have ended her own life.

Yet we know that flowers and gardening were a balm to Lucy. She grew lettuce, peas, carrots, radish, and herbs in her kitchen garden. And Lucy had a habit of going to the garden after finishing her writing and her chores about the house. Today in Norval, a place Lucy lived in her adult life, the Lucy Maud Montgomery sensory garden is located next to the public school. The Landscape Architect, Eileen Foley, created the garden, which features an analemmatic or horizontal sundial, a butterfly and bird garden, a children's vegetable garden, a log bridge, and a woodland trail.
It was Lucy Maud Montgomery, who wrote,

“I love my garden, and I love working in it. To potter with green growing things, watching each day to see the dear, new sprouts come up, is like taking a hand in creation, I think. Just now, my garden is like faith - the substance of things hoped for.”