Plant Sale May 4

Are you ready for The Garden Club's Annual Plant Sale! 

This Sunday, May 4th. 1 to 3 pm. It's at the Curling Rink in Cranberry. (Cranberry St at the corner of Crown Ave)

There will be perennials, vegetable starts, annuals, succulents, herbs, fruit bushes, house plants and flowering bushes...

You'll find plants that grow well locally, and knowledgeable Garden Club members to help you choose. 
The Master Gardeners will also be there to answer your garden questions.
Good prices, great choice, and friendly helpful people, what could be better? 

               

                         

FYI the parking lot is reserved for loading purchases only. There will be attendants to help you.

Garden Visits and Hot Picks

Garden Visits this Saturday, April 26, 10 till noon, rain or shine.

--The very established garden of Sandra. It is jammed full of colour and plants and includes a greenhouse that grows some of the largest tomatoes you will ever see.

--Vicki is adding her own touch to what was a bit of an overgrown yard. Some of the garden is very established and some is new.

Members should have received an email with the addresses and directions. Thanks to Marcie, Sandra and Vicki for organizing this.


A few of Gary's hot picks from our last meeting.

'Rise and Shine' geranium has masses of white-eyed dark blue/purple flowers with magenta veining. As the flowers age they take on a rich pinkish shade. It's low spreading habit makes it an ideal choice for the front of border, or cascading over the edges of a pot.

Helleborus Anna’s Red. Marbled foliage. Dark pink-red buds open to pink-red flowers with a contrasting ring of chartreuse nectaries. The flowers age to a darker red.

Kniphofia 'Mango Popsicle'. Spikes of mango-orange bloom continuously summer into fall. The short grassy foliage looks neat all summer. Drought tolerant, deer resistant.

There is a handout with a long list of recommended recent plants. 

Next Meeting

Happy Easter

southern living

Our next meeting is just two days away. Gary Lewis from Phoenix Perennials in Richmond will talk about Hot New Plants. 

Gary bought Phoenix Perennials Nursery when he was only 28, in 2004. He has greatly expanded the nursery to include one of the largest and most exciting selections of perennials in Canada with over 4000 different plants each year. He strives to include cutting edge new perennials and tried and true garden stalwarts. He holds a Masters of Science degree in Plant Ecology from UBC. To add to his credentials, he has gone plant hunting in Chile and Taiwan and is also a member of the Great Plant Picks committee, based in Washington state. 

Gary will give you the inside track on recent new cutting edge garden plants and talk about where plant breeding is heading in the future. If you love new plants, you won't want to miss this talk! 

He is packing his truck with plants so bring some cash just in case you can't resist trying something new.

Sprouting Calla Lilies

A note from Sheila: I wintered over my Calla lilies in a brown paper bag with some wood excelsior (that I save from my Botanus orders). I kept them in my laundry room cupboard. Pulled them out last night and to my surprise, they were already sprouting! So today I potted them up and they are in my greenhouse ready to put out in a sunny spot on my porch when the weather gets a little warmer.

Fruit Fly-Neglected Trees

From Margaret:
 Cherry Blossoms
May is coming when the fruit flies will start getting active.  Here's a hint:
Very soon you will see the white blossoms of cherry (fruit) trees all around town, and into the hills.  Take a minute to look around and note where wild and neglected cherry trees are growing - just so we know where they are.  Blossom time is the best time to identify them.  That may be useful information for the future.

Rainier blossom

From WikiHow: The trunk of an ordinary cherry tree is stiff and grayish brown. A cherry’s trunk is never green or flexible, and its bark tends to be reddish brown with horizontal stripes that turn gray as the trees grow older.
There are 5 petals on each flower. When a cherry tree is in full bloom, you usually can’t see anything but the blossoms. Notice the bark of the tree. It will be smooth and purplish-brown. The bark on old cherry trees is a very dark purplish-brown.

Cherry tree leaves are partly shiny green on top with a very fine downy texture on the underside.

60 yr old tree

Tree Following

Tree following seems to be the in thing these days. You chose a tree and commit to observing it for the next twelve months. On the 7th of each month take a picture of it and describe what you see. If you would like to join in I'll start a page for the pictures. Just email the blog with your name and the tree you will be following along with an image for April. If you would like to add your tree to the international site there is still time.
Click on this link http://looseandleafy.blogspot.ca/p/what-is-tree-following-and-list-of-tree.html. Read to the bottom of the instructions and you will see you do not need a blog to join in, just email the administrator.

Here are a few pictures from the site

birds on silver birch

moss on bramley apple tree

female flower-hazel tree

Making It Work

Have you picked up your fertilizer yet?  These friendly folks are keeping it all straight.

Sandy, Laura, Marcie

Thank You, Ladies.

source

The Joy Of Hostas

At our March meeting, Liz gave an excellent talk on growing hostas in containers. She finds she gets good growth in pots, the slugs are less likely to cause damage, and she can create different arrangements every year. Liz suggests making use of the shade provided by the house and other structures and trees. Pots can soften the hard edge of a sidewalk or driveway and can also temporarily fill in holes in beds and borders. We got a good overview of the myraid sizes, shapes and patterns hostas have to offer. Shade loving companion plants like the beautiful Hakonechloa add further variety to colour and texture. Hostas in containers certainly offers flexibility and scope for creativity.

Hosta Striptease

Left to right at rear  - H. Patriot, H. Pearl Lake, H. Paul's Glory

Front  Hakonechloa macra 'aureola', H. Touch of Class