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Membership $20 / year - Guests $5 (can be applied to membership)
Sept 18th SpeakerLaurelle Oldford-Downs Apples! Apples! Apples! Doors open at 7:00 pm Speaker begins at 7:30 pm Grow your own delicious, organic apples, even in small spaces or containers!  
Laurelle is a knowledgeable and engaging speaker. Her popular workshops include growing trees in containers, planting caring for fruit trees, dealing with pests and diseases organically, increasing fruit size through thinning and managing fruit loads, and grafting. She is a member of the BC Fruit Testers Association. On her small fruit orchard in Langley, home to over 120 heritage apple trees, she grafts heritage and connoisseur apples. She's been teaching home gardeners how to establish, train, and be successful maintaining their fruit trees for many years at VanDusen Gardens and UBC Apple Fest. Fruit trees is not her only strength, Laurelle is a Certified Landscape Designer and Horticulturist. She's owned and operated her own design and build company. She has a reputation for unusual and choice residential gardens for keen gardeners from White Rock to North Vancouver. Three of her gardens have been featured in municipal garden tours. Laurelle also writes articles for clubs and Art's Nursery website. She is a sought-after speaker, often rebooked by popular demand and has presented a few novelty workshops at Art's Nursery in Langley, like the Scary Fairy Garden.
Oldford-Down loves playing in her gardens and sharing her enthusiasm with all gardeners. | 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.
Sept Gardening To Do list By Angelika Hedley General Bare earth yields weeds, soil erosion, dead bees. Let plants die naturally and rot in place, returning nutrients to soil and sheltering beneficial insects. Plant Seed lawns, onions Bulbs, spring bloomers, container plants Prune Hedges Plant Health Fertilize: fall bloomers, strawberries Mulch trees
Water as needed Click here to see the entire calendar. | June Meeting RecapChris Janco Carnivorous Plants by Heather Fayers
What fun! After our June meeting I had to look up all of these wonderful plants on Google. The butterworts and bladderworts both have really pretty orchid-like flowers in the summer but are tough enough to spend the winter in an above freezing garage on a windowsill in a tray. They must be moist all year. Look up Pinguicula and Uricularia in order to see interesting videos and select your colours.  Our Show and Share table had Tedd Marynowski's large yellow Newfoundland pitcher plant - a member of the Sarracenia family. It too has an interesting flower and large insect catching pitchers with wonderful markings. Chris advised that these plants like full sun (but not baking) and consistent moisture as in a tray or kitchen window. The pitcher plant likes a sunny pond side or bog and can survive the winter here. Mulch or sink into mud to be safe. None require fertilizer. They catch fungus gnats and flies to feed themselves. Peat, sand and a bit of vermiculite make a good growing medium in a pot or decorative teacup for the butterworts. The fancy tropical Nepenthes grow at the end of leaves on a vine and generally require greenhouse temperatures and high moisture environments. They are capable of catching bigger insects and some really large ones can trap a mouse. Sundews (Drosera) species and Venus fly traps are other fly eating plants that are worth exploring if you have a pond or a free shelf in a sunny window. Some sundews can stay outside all year. Chris’s enthusiasm was infectious. I think I’ll have to try several carnivorous plants. A beautiful bug - eating low maintenance plant is hard to resist. |
