Belchertown gardener David Bressette adds flowers to vegetable duty

BELCHERTOWN - For years, David Bressette would take care of the vegetable garden and his wife, Susan, would work on the flower gardens at their home.
But when a back injury left her unable to do the work required this year, Susan was relieved to see David step in and keep things going with the flowers.
Their multiple gardens at their Old Enfield Road property have a combination of perennials and annuals with a concentration of perennials. They have multiple varieties of hosta, iris, lilies and other plants throughout the front, back and side yards.
Susan Bressette became involved with flower gardens as a little girl, paying attention to her grandfather and her father as they worked their gardens. Her father let her take care of one small garden outside the window of her mother and father's room.
Susan and David Bresette moved to Old Enfield Road 23 years ago.
At first their front yard was done more traditionally, but over time the varieties of flowers have spread. When she stayed home with her children, Susan Bressette would put in about 25 hours each week working in the garden.
These days she works at the Belchertown Senior Center. While her job deals with programs, not the grounds at the Senior Center, Susan Bressette was responsible for getting flower gardens planted there.
It is an area that has been important to her since her early days with her father and grandfather.
"It is a form of art with design and color," Susan Bressette said.
Despite her lifelong involvement with flowers, she was ready to have her husband turn three-quarters of the plants at their home under because she figured she would not be able to stand looking at them this year in the shape she expected them to be in without her taking care of them.
But David Bressette took over.
Part of the motivation was that their youngest daughter, Jill, was getting married in June, and David Bressette wanted the yard to look good.