Mabel Bell’s replicated garden opens on 100th anniversary of her husband’s death

It was on the grounds of Beinn Bhreagh in Baddeck, N.S., that Mabel Bell tended to her gardens 100 years ago and now a Cape Breton University scientist is replicating them.

"It's an absolute honour just to be here and to look at how much history, and how much ecological importance she knew 100 years ago, that is still extremely important today,” said research scientist Alana Pindar.

Tuesday marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Mabel Bell’s husband, Alexander Graham Bell, who is most famous for inventing the telephone.

The first phase of Mabel Bell's recreated garden was planted in time for the commemorations. Tourists also teemed on the site of the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site just down the road.

"I think Alexander Graham Bell and Mabel Bell would be happy to see that the legacy that they started more than 100 years ago lives on here,” said Matthew Cook, a site manager for Parks Canada.

The idea behind Mabel Bell’s replicated garden is that what grows in it will teach others some of her messages about food sustainability.

"We have two plots of 700 square feet,” Pindar said. “That is the average size of a backyard in suburbia Canada today. It's to highlight what we can do in even a small space."

It helps that some things on the Bell family’s famed estate haven't changed over the years.

Some of the original food sources, such as flowers, plants and shrubs, which Mabel Bell originally planted, still remain.

“We have raspberries, we have lupins, we have hydrangeas, we have apples, we have pears. We have all sorts of particular wildflowers. Astors. All of those things are native to Nova Scotia and to Cape Breton, and they are being replanted and are growing in the recreation,” said Pindar, who continues to work away in an effort to share the lessons from long ago.

"Sustainability at its core is simple, and we can all do it,” she said.

Bell family descendants officially opened the new garden to the public on Tuesday.