An unexpected guest - a former owner of our house and an avid gardener

It was a quiet Friday afternoon when the doorbell rang. I expected it to be someone looking to buy antiques. I say this, because the previous owner, from 1999 until this past spring, sold antiques from the house. We've been getting two or three people a week, dropping by the house, expecting to find Daniel, the antique dealer. Instead, they found two Americans, who speak little French and aren't selling antiques.
Today was different. And a big surprise. The previous owner of our house, from 1973 to 1999, was at the door, wanting to get a glimpse of his former house. It was interesting to hear Evon talk about the house - it was built as a one classroom schoolhouse with upstairs living space for the teacher. He also pointed out several changes that Daniel, the antique dealer, had made.
We also learned that Evon, and his wife (now deceased), were avid gardeners. They planted the large spruce, sugar maples, quaking aspen, paper birch and other large trees which form the bones of the current garden. Evon mentioned that fill dirt from construction of the adjacent highway comprised much of the soil around the house. To facilitate creating a garden, he added several truckloads of better soil to the site.
Looking at the many large trees and other plants they planted, it was obvious that Evon and  his wife had done a ton of work on the landscape. I thanked him for it. He, in turn, was happy to sense that my partner and I will be good caretakers of the landscape.
The photos below are just a few of the trees that Evon and his wife planted in the last quarter of the 20th Century.

Evon and his wife likely planted this paper birch

Other trees in our garden