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Feb 18th SpeakerDavid Sellars Chaos in the Rock Garden Doors open at 7:00 pm Speaker begins at 7:30 pm David Sellars is an award-winning photographer and a former President of the Alpine Garden Club of British Columbia. Together with his wife, Wendy, he is developing an extensive alpine and woodland garden in coastal British Columbia. He is an avid mountain hiker and maintains the website www.mountainflora.ca. David’s particular interests are rock garden design and construction, alpine plant photography and using video to illustrate mountain landscapes and alpine plant habitats.  He has written articles on rock garden design and alpine plant explorations for the NARGS Rock Garden Quarterly, the International Rock Gardener, and the Saxifrage Magazine. A selection of his photographs was published in the recent book Alpine Plants of British Columbia, Alberta and Northwest North America. His images are also included in a 2019 edition of Arthur Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest and will be included in a new book on Crevice Gardening to be published in 2020. In his presentation David focuses on rock garden design and how it relates to natural landscapes and preferred plant habitats. The principles of chaos theory are introduced together with the way nature can be described by fractal geometry and the principle off self-similarity. The talk is illustrated with images from the European Alps, the Pyrenees and mountain ranges in North America. The presentation concludes with a practical application of chaos theory in the Sellars Garden. Join us for a fascinating and beautifully illustrated expression of how nature behaves and adapts to its surroundings.  | Gardening StuffThe Bees Need Your Help!!
Neonicotinoid pesticides are slowly killing bees. 75% of the world's honey is now contaminated with bee-killing pesticides. Please educate yourself and make sure you are not part of the problem.
Jan Gardening To Do list By Angelika Hedley General General - Water esp. under eaves, evergreens if rainfall is low. Plant - Start: tuberous begonias, hardy annuals - Pot up geraniums, take cuttings - Sprout early potatoes - Plant: sweetpeas, rhubarb, shallots, broad beans, peas, leeks, radish, parsley, fruit trees & canes, shrubs, roses Prune - Fruit trees & canes, blueberries - Cut back old leaves: Hellebore - Cut at 15 cm: buddleia, summer-blooming clematis Plant Health - Spray fungicide if not done in January - Moss control: aluminum sulphate - top dress perennials, - In-ground fertilize ornamental & fruit trees - Fertilize berries - Aerate soil if not waterlogged Club members, see your News in Bloom monthly newsletter for more things to do. Click here to see the entire calendar
| Nov Speaker RecapBotanus Fall in Love with Unusuals by Heather Fayers
Pam Wendy and Elke (who supervised and changed the slides) assured members at the November meeting that unusual did not mean difficult. They wanted us to extend the display of tulips and daffodils with plants like anemones, snow drops, allium and fox tail lilies. Their lively presentation was much enjoyed by everyone. They went through their list alphabetically, beginning with everyone's favourites, the Allium. We were reminded they come in large and small size and colours of purple, yellow and white. Some self seed vigorously, but we were reminded that they are easy to pull out. The Earliest blooming season extenders are snow drops (Galanthus) and winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis).The latter are known as low growing bright buttercup shaped flowers with a green ruff of foliage. Both of these February bloomers like moist woodland situations and go dormant in the warmth and drought of summer Clumps of the very short Iris reticulata will provide bright colour and some fragrance. They are popular in pots and rock gardens. Next come the woodland anemones (Anemone blanda) in shades of white, blue and even yellow with black foliage. These too are ephemerals. I plant them on a mound under a snowball viburnum and mulch them every fall with the leaves. Next come the woodland anemones (Anemone blanda) in shades of white, blue and even yellow with black foliage. These too are ephemerals. I plant them on a mound under a snowball viburnum and mulch them every fall with the leaves. Fritillaria, from the huge imperialis, to the medium deep mourning purple persica to the even smaller chequered meleagris and fairy sized yellow and brown michailovskyi bloom from May into late June and provide show stopping, conversation-starting flowers. In June, around the time lupins bloom the huge Eremurus (foxtail lilies) dominate the flower border. They range from six feet down to four feet in height. Their spider looking corms need full sun, excellent drainage as provided by a cone of coarse sand at planting time and good humus rich soil. In the heat of summer, the spent leaves disappear. They come in shades of orange, gold and white, and are attractive to bees and humming birds. The dried flower stems are popular with flower arrangers. These plants will not tolerate being shaded in summer, nor cold wet winter soil. For more details, members, please refer to our newsletter. |
