Pearl Lorentzen

Lakeside Leader

In northeast Slave Lake, Georgie and Pierre Gauthier’s garden has many edible plants. Georgie is the main gardener and finds it easier to get help from her husband and son if there’s food involved.

This lines up well with Georgie’s goals. As a professional cook, she thinks about food all day and one of her goals is improving the quality of ingredients she uses. One of the best ways to do this is to grow her own.

On her deck, she has a bay leaf tree, which she has wintered inside for many years.

Her greenhouse has three planters of basil for pesto. The herb garden is close to the bottom deck to be handy from the kitchen.

Other edible plants include apples, saskatoons, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries, and a vegetable garden in raised beds.

If you would like your garden featured in an upcoming edition of The Leader or can recommend another beautiful garden, let us know at 780-849-4380!

Georgie Gauthier with some of the plants in the front flowerbed. The lilies on the left aren’t open yet, but the foxglove is in full bloom. Each year, Georgie treats herself to one or two new statues, such as these mushrooms out front. Decorative grass and petunias add height in a tall antique-looking urn.
Snapdragons in bloom on the lower deck. In the background, there’s what appears to be an old outdoor pizza oven, which is being used as a planter. An apple tree is just visible by the back fence.
Ripe saskatoons on a bush in the back yard.
An astilble (aka. false goats beard) is one of the perennials in Gauthier’s back yard.
There’s lots to eat in the Gauthier’s garden. For example, raised vegetable gardens and a greenhouse with basil, peppers, and tomatoes. A few years ago, when the Gauthiers moved in, the raised beds were full of quack grass and the part behind was a dog run.
The white fence with a gecko on the side hides a water barrel.
Plants prefer rain water to treated water, says Georgie.
Some hen and chicks in bloom. The south side of the house is very hot and dry, so the perfect conditions for succulents like this one.