No More Wall of Shame at Sydenham HS

Wilma Kenny | Jul 01, 2015

The stepped concrete wall below the recent addition to Sydenham High has been transformed, thanks to the work of Darryl Silver of Silverbrook Garden Centre, just west of Sydenham. Soon after our article about the wall was published in the Frontenac News (May 14), Silver was approached by a school board representative who asked him to submit a tender for the job. He inspected the wall and researched wild parsnip before he tendered.

Once his bid was accepted Silver went to work wearing full protective gear including heavy rubber gloves. Working through what’s already the busiest time of year for a garden centre, Silver dug on the wall mornings and evenings to first get rid of the parsnip. He removed two and a half truckloads of the plants; “Some, especially on the north part of the wall, had already grown over a metre tall, and their thick tap roots were almost as long,” he said. Fortunately the weed had not yet blossomed or set seed so Silver piled it on his own property to compost down.

After that his summer employee, Kallista Smith, joined the work. She had only one slight brush with parsnip, but still has the scars to show for it.

Silver found that in some places there was more gravel than soil, and although a lot of good nursery stock was uncovered during the clean-out, very little thought had apparently gone into the actual placement of the plant material. He has filled in the bare spots with hardy perennials, and added groupings of celosia in the school colours for touches of brightness. Fortunately, his contract includes ongoing upkeep of the wall, for fresh weeds will soon sprout from the disturbed soil.

“I was amazed by the numbers of people who stopped and commented,” Silver said; “one man even offered to volunteer. People were so delighted with the results that it made my job feel worthwhile. The village really does have a lot of community spirit.”