It takes desire to grow Begonias

By Richard Wagamese
Summers at our mountain home can get pretty hot. We live in the B.C. Interior where it’s generally hot and dry without much rain and our house sits on a south-facing slope. There are no trees where the deck looks out over the lake and some days the heat is intense.
In terms of growing seasons it’s a Zone 3. That means pretty dang near drought conditions, leaning towards desert-type weather. Once July hits the grass stops growing and withers into brown. Same goes with most things. You can almost hear everything slide to a stop in the relentless sun.
But my wife and I both love gardening. We like to get out there and get our hands dirty in the spring and get our flowers in so we can watch them bloom and grow. Some people say it’s not an Aboriginal thing to do but to me it’s all about connecting with the land and that’s about as Native as it gets.
Plus there’s a teaching in it – and that makes it pretty Native in my book. See, in a Zone 3 there are certain things that can’t be grown. Some plants just don’t do well in desert-like conditions. Gardeners learn to adjust to that.
For instance, we both love Begonias. There’s something in the thick lush blooms that attracts us. But we were told when we first moved here that “You can’t grow Begonias in a Zone 3.” Disappointing, but we just chose not to listen.
Instead, we scouted our yard and flower beds for areas that most resembled places begonias like to be. We found places that had a lot of hours of shade between onslaughts of full sun. We took care to water them appropriately. We learned to fertilize them.
We’ve had big lush Begonias every year. When we give direction to people who haven’t been to our place before, we say “Just look for the old wringer washer in the corner with all the Begonias.” So far everyone’s been able to find us.
So what’s the Native teaching? Well, the elders say that desire is the energy of what’s possible. If you want something rightly enough, your desire makes it possible. But you have to take the first step. You have to plant the seedling.
It’s not a Native thing to garden. Right. And you can’t grow Begonias in a Zone 3.