Centennial News
100 Tulips Planted to Celebrate Centennial
November 9, 2011
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Mayor Barbara Desjardins plants the last of 100 bulbs at Sailor's Walk in Esquimalt. Former Parks Supervisor Henry Sherwood (right) donated 150 bulbs to the Township for its centennial year. Centennial Committee Chair Janet Jones was on hand for the ceremony. |
Henry Sherwood, an Esquimalt parks department employee for 25 years, and parks supervisor from 1985 to 2001, donated 150 tulip bulbs to the Township of Esquimalt at a planting ceremony on November 9th. One hundred of these bulbs were planted at Sailor?s Walk near the site of the old municipal hall. They will be in bloom and provide an explosion of colour during our centennial year.
Mayor Desjardins was on hand to assist with the planting of the final couple of bulbs at Sailor?s Walk, located at the site of the old Memorial Hall. Also in attendance: Centennial Vice Chair Janet Jones, current parks supervisor Shaen McRae, Henry Sherwood and his wife Margaret, and Parks Gardener Heidi Gisin.
The tulips, red in colour and about 3? high when in full bloom, are similar to the tulips which once grew in Memorial Park. A single tulip of this type was found growing near the cenotaph earlier this year, and was thought to be a remnant from a planting done in 1972.
Mr. Sherwood had the bulbs shipped from Holland by a friend, Onno de Vries, who provided the bulbs for free. The bulbs for the 1972 planting also came from Holland as a symbol of that country?s gratitude to Canadian soldiers who liberated the Netherlands in 1945.
