‘All of a sudden, ties were appearing’: B.C. couple’s dying tree blooms with neckties

On CTV Your Morning Vancouver, Adam finds out the connection between a man who ran a marathon in a suit and a tree that's growing ties.

VICTORIA, B.C. — When it comes to tying ties, Bob Lamb doesn’t need to look in a mirror.

“Once you do this a couple thousand times,” Bob says, while looping the ends of fabric into a knot. “You can do this in your sleep.”

Bob first learned to tie a necktie when he was little, and mastered it after becoming a banker.

“Wore a tie every day I worked,” Bob says. “For more than 60-odd years.”

Bob also wore a tie when he married his wife of 47 years, Marnie Lamb.

“(At the bank) he had to fit into a very conservative business role,” Marnie says. “But he was secretly a rebel.”

When wasn’t wearing bold neck ties, Bob was conspiring with his co-workers to wear bow ties every Thursday, which earned him the enduring nickname, Bow Tie Bob.

Bob also ran the Boston Marathon while wearing a suit and tie.

“You can do it the hard way,” Bob smiles. “Or you can do it the fun way.”

When Bob retired, he gifted or donated many of the more than 50 ties he no longer needed, until a flowering tree that was pruned too hard, left them with a bunch of bare branches in their front yard.

“So, Bob came up with this idea; let’s hang ties on it,” Marnie says of the dead tree. “And it blossomed from there.”

Although there were few floral print ties in Bob’s remaining collection, he and Marnie ensured the tree proliferated with plaids and paisleys and bloomed with rainbow bow ties all year round.

“So, the ties brought (the tree) back to life,” Bob smiles.

But then — thanks to strangers walking by — the tie tree took on a life of its own.

“All of a sudden, ties were appearing,” Bob says. “People would stop by, and I would encourage them, just add to the collection.”

They’ve ranged from other seniors celebrating retirement, to a private school student marking her graduation.

“It’s been a source of joy for us, but also people walking by,” Marnie smiles. “So, I think the tree is happy.”

And like this one tie Bob has kept — featuring the lyrics to John Lennon’s Imagine — he hopes the “All the people will some day join us.”

“Just share the love and the joy,” Bob smiles.

And realize that while some may see a tie as constricting, it can also be transformed into something uniting.