Every Thursday after preschool, three-year-old Monty Smith visits the Bowen Island Flower Shop to pick out a flower.聽
鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 want ice cream, he doesn鈥檛 want toys or TV, he wants to go to the Flower Shop and get a flower and come home and plant it,鈥� said mom Erin Perry. 鈥淚t鈥檚 number one of the things he wants to do.鈥�
In his, now very full, 10 foot by 10 foot garden on Miller鈥檚 Landing, Monty diligently works away. 鈥淗e climbs in there himself and he鈥檚 really careful not to step on anything,鈥� said Perry. The youngster weeds, deadheads the flowers, waters and hunts for slugs.聽
鈥淗e鈥檚 very dedicated and determined that everything鈥檚 done right,鈥� said his mom.聽
鈥淗e loves the colors and he loves that they grow and you can take care of them,鈥� said Perry.聽
Monty loves red flowers. His garden has had poppies, day lilies, rockroses, cosmos, echinacea and some perennials that he really likes including geraniums and petunias.聽
Monty鈥檚 younger brother Julius (who鈥檚 turning two in August) too likes the garden but sometimes he picks the flowers when he鈥檚 not supposed to. 鈥淏ecause they鈥檙e so beautiful, which, I don鈥檛 blame him,鈥� laughed Perry.聽
Perry hadn鈥檛 been planning on doing a garden this year as the family had a lot of other house projects to get done.聽
鈥淏ut it became his passion,鈥� said Perry. 鈥淵ou want to follow your kids鈥� passions and encourage them.
鈥淎lso with the COVID, we suddenly had a lot of time on our hands and it was definitely a thing that was feeding our souls and also filling the time.鈥�
As COVID restrictions have loosened enough for Monty to return to Montessori, every week after class, the young gardener visits the Flower Shop (just down the street from the preschool). He quizzes owner Caroline Walker and, as Monty knows the difference between a perennial and an annual, he鈥檒l ask if the flowers will come back.聽
鈥淐aroline gives great recommendations so she has helped us choose the right ones that are easy to grow,鈥� said Perry. 鈥淓verything that she鈥檚 helped us with is flourishing and doing well.鈥�
Monty comes by his gardening talent naturally: his grandmother is an award-winning gardener. While Monty spent some time last summer helping his grandmother water her plants and flowers, it wasn鈥檛 until this year that his green thumb blossomed.聽
鈥淗e鈥檒l have whole conversations with his grandma about gardening on the phone,鈥� said Perry.聽聽鈥淪he鈥檒l take him and show him her entire garden for 20 minutes and he鈥檒l show her his garden for 20 minutes.鈥�
Monty鈥檚 grandmother, however, lives in Ontario. They used to see one another every two months, but now separated by distance, they鈥檝e found another way to connect.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 a nice thing,鈥� said Perry. 鈥淓ven though we don鈥檛 get to see her, he gets to have this very special almost daily talk with her about flowers.鈥�
