Century-old flower garden blooms in C-Falls

When Barb Wallace sits out on her porch, she sees a beautiful history. The oriental poppies waving in the wind were planted by her grandfather more than 100 years ago.

Houses have come and gone on this plot of land at First Avenue East in Columbia Falls, but the poppies have remained through thick and thin.

Wallace is the daughter of Ed Hula, whose father, Joe, originally planted the poppies near the turn of the last century.

At the time, Joe ran a blacksmith shop, grew corn and owned most of the block. Wallace has a picture of herself as a toddler sitting in front of her grandfather's flowers.

The family still owns a sizable patch of the hill, but Joe's original house and the house Wallace grew up in have since been torn down. Wallace rebuilt a house on one of the lots three years ago with her husband Jim.

The house is a Craftsman-style, Jim said, with an old-fashioned box shape that gives it a lot of square footage per inside wall. The decor and design is such that even though the house is nearly brand new, it looks like it was built decades ago.

For about three years, Barb and Jim battled spotted knapweed growing amongst the flowers, which kills plants that grow near it. But with a wet spring and a little care, the poppy garden has really taken off this spring.

"They're almost a weed," Wallace said of the poppies. "It takes two years for them to bloom."