Life comes full circle for garden columnist By Nathan Howes OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF John Simkins was a familiar face in The Oakville Beaver for many years as he shared his garden expertise and passion for flowers -- especially peonies -- with readers of his column, In Your Garden. Mr. Simkins passed away in September at the age of 92. His writing career began in 1965 and he retired in early 2006. His weekly articles first appeared in the Oakville Journal Record until 1981 and then he began submitting columns to The Oakville Beaver. Mr. Simkins started writing for the papers thanks to his oldest daughter, Janice. At the time, she was writing parttime for the Oakville Journal Record d. After a couple of weeks, Janice approached the editor on behalf of her father. "She said, `You don't have anything on gardening. My dad is going to write a column for you,' and poof he's writing the column the next week. That sort of just kept on going from there," said Jennifer King, Mr. Simkins' other daughter. "I think it was one of those things where, back in the day, you didn't have a lot of credentials, you just started writing as long as people read the column and you filled your space. If you had interest... and an audience -- that's what people cared about," she said. Mr. Simkins mostly tackled general gardening issues in his column -- what and when to plant. He loved orchids and begonias. However, his specialty was the showy peony, King said. Mr. Simkins served as president of the American Peony Society, and helped form the Canadian Peony Society with two others, nearly 15 years ago. He took peony plants everywhere from Alaska to New Zealand, to test their growth in different climate conditions, and seeds have been sent to botanical gardens around the world including China, Japan and England. King said her dad was also a "big green guy before green was popular," and they had gardening experiments in their backyard all the time. Mr. Simkins also wrote for gardening magazines, and joined the American Garden Writers Association, where he lectured annually on 10 different topics -- mostly about peonies -- to various gardening organizations. However, he was well known locally for his weekly articles. `These are the things you would get in his column. `We went to the show and here is what we got this time and this is why you use it and why you care.' It was very much a practical, what do I do with this? Or, what's the difference between two types of plants?" said King. "In the winter he would do greenhouse stuff or indoor pots, pretty much what you would expect from a gardening column. He often interjected things about home life." Born in England in 1919, Simkins came to Hamilton in 1927, and then enlisted in the Second World War serving in Europe. After the war, he moved back to Hamilton, graduated from McMaster University and married his wife of 65 years, Violet. He worked at Shell Oil as a chemist until retiring in 1984. He moved to Oakville with his family from Montreal in 1961. "Gardening was a conscious choice of `I need to find a hobby, and I need diversity in my life,' and that's sort of where he ended up," said King. Mr. Simkins' son, Jon, said his father enjoyed working in soil, having things grow and be pretty and he liked encouraging people to do the same. "Basically he was an evangelist for gardening, especially peonies. That was his goal; people would enjoy gardening as he did. I think it was that simple and I don't think he thought about it t consciously co sc ous y as much uc as he e just did d d it," t, said sa d Jon. Jo . reader of his column then," said Jon. "I'm absolutely not a gardener. Neither one of us have continued on in his tradition, nowhere near to the extent." What Jennifer does remember, though, is the behind-the-scene action that went on prior to the article being written. She gave an example of her dad going out in the field to propagate peonies. "I remember one year, we're out in this field where you cross pollinate them, like a bee, and then you go back and pick out all the seeds and try to keep them straight and, of course, we never did," said Jennifer. "You put all the seeds into a plastic bag with some vermiculite and you roll them up." The avid gardener was also recognized for his contributions as a volunteer in the community and as a lifelong and active member of St. Jude's Anglican Church. 23 · Thursday, October 13, 2011 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com GOVERNMENT REBATES ARE BACK! RECEIVE UP TO $1,690 IN GOVERNMENT REBATES $700 OFF HI-EFFICIENCY CENTRAL AIR $2000 OFF HI-EFFICIENCY DC MOTOR GAS FURNACE (96% EFF) $ WAS SUBMITTED PHOTO $ C MATCH PRICE A TEE. . GUAR N DETAILS R O F L L A NOW IN YOUR GARDEN: Former Oakville Beaver r columnist John Simkins passed away at the age of 92. Mr. Simkins was writing his weekly columns while Jennifer and Jon were children, so they don't recall a particular favourite article. "The only one I remember at all is the worms one, where he said `Who should raise worms?' Worms are very common and things like that. 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