Friday, December 1, 2017

No December or January meetings! Next meeting Thurs Feb 8th!

We won't be having a regular GGC meeting in December or January.

Our next regular meeting will be on Thursday, February 8th. Write it in your 2018 calendar.

In the meantime, do have a lovely winter holiday, and I'll post a reminder with some details about our February meeting early in the new year.

Cheers,
Penny

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Our November Meeting — Thursday, November 9th, 2017, 7:00 p.m.

Hello Garden Club folks,

Well, there's good news and bad news. First, the bad news: The speaker we had been expecting, Brad Jalbert, from Select Roses in Langley, has just let us know that he's unable to come and speak to us at our meeting on Thursday.
But now the good news: Christine Allen, our club leader, is also an expert on growing spectacular roses, and she has agreed to do a talk for us on Thursday. So... if you were looking forward to a talk on roses, your hopes will not be dashed. And Christine knows about roses. Her former garden in Langley contained over 150 rare and antique roses. She is a Life Member of the Master Gardeners' Asssociation of BC, a Past President of the Vancouver Rose Society, and author of the book Roses for the Pacific Northwest.

She will talk about:

  • The different types of roses
  • Choosing the right rose for your garden
  • Planting and maintenance
  • Pruning 
  • Pest identification and treatment
  • Environmental and other potential problems 
This should be another super Garden Club event — a delightful way to spend a wintry fall evening.

As usual, we will meet in the "LRC" — the Britannia Learning Resources Centre, which is under the VPL library. As you're walking west toward the library, veer left, walk alongside it, and you'll come to a ramp entry to the LRC on your right. We start at 7:00 and end before 9:00.

Bring your gardening questions and concerns ... and your ideas for topics or speakers for upcoming meetings.

We always have tea and goodies and a few door prizes. See you there!

Monday, October 16, 2017

The Grandview-Woodland Community Seed Library


If you have seeds to spare, consider donating some to the Grandview-Woodland Community Seed Library. Please package your seeds in a clean and dry container, glass or plastic, and label it clearly, including the following information:
  • Your name and contact information
  • Type of seed (e.g., tomato, pea, bean, basil, marigold)
  • Variety (e.g., Black Trim, Alderman, Scarlet Runner)
  • Genus and species (optional)
  • Year the seed was harvested
  • Seed source of parent plant
  • Other plants that the parent plant was grown near and risk of cross-pollination
  • Info on provenance, growing, flavour, etc. (e.g., tomato is determinate or indeterminate)
  • Results of germination testing (if performed; optional but recommended)
  • Other notes

Sunday, October 1, 2017

October Meeting — Janis Matson

Our meeting on Thursday, October 12th, will feature Janis Matson speaking on "Designing with and Growing Herbs".

As Janis says, herbs have been used and enjoyed by people for centuries. They've been harvested for culinary, medicinal, scullery, and craft purposes. As well, they're a wonderful and beneficial part of the landscape. They can be part of your garden, integrated in with ornamentals and vegetables. They can be used as frames, hedges, topiaries, and borders. They can attract beneficial insect, including bees and other pollinators.
Come and learn more about herbs!

Janis is a delightful speaker. She enjoys the challenge of making garden spaces look good and feel good; she worked at Murray Nurseries in the Southlands from 1988–1993; she was owner and operator of Shoreline Landscape Design for over 20 years; she is a faculty instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Langley with the horticultural diploma and apprenticeship programs and a contract faculty instructor with Burnaby Community Education with the Horticultural Hardscape Program, and is an adult education instructor at VanDusen Gardens.

This should be a super event — a good way to spend a fall evening.

As usual, we will meet in the "LRC" — the Britannia Learning Resources Centre, which is under the VPL library. As you're walking west toward the library, veer left, walk alongside it, and you'll come to a ramp entry to the LRC on your right. We start at 7:00 and end before 9:00.

Bring your gardening questions and concerns ... and your ideas for topics or speakers for upcoming meetings.

We always have tea and goodies and a few door prizes. See you there!


Grandview Seed Library!

Christina Mak is a volunteer with the Grandview Woodland Food Connection and she's starting up a seed library. She'll come to give a brief announcement about it at our October meeting and she will be happy to take donations of seeds to get things started. Please, if you bring seeds, label them (what they are, when they were harvested, what sorts of conditions they prefer, etc.).

Xmas Garden Club Potluck?

We're thinking that for our December meeting we won't have a formal speaker, but we will have a potluck supper. Think about that and we'll talk about it at our meeting. We might need to change rooms for that evening so we have running water and a few kitchen amenities.

Membership!

In case you aren't a member of the Garden Club yet and would like to join, we're making a special offer. If you join at the October meeting, we'll give you the rest of 2017 and all of 2018 for $25. Regular membership is $20 for the year. If you're already a member, you're also welcome to renew now or soon for 2018, $20. Meeting drop-ins are still $4.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Our September Speaker! Casey Werfl "Planting for Successful Growth"

Our first meeting of the school year — doesn't September always feels like a new beginning? — is Thursday, September 14th. 

Our speaker is Casey Werfl, a head gardener at VanDusen Botanical Garden. 

His topic is "Planting For Successful Growth" and he'll tell us how to give plants the best possible start in your garden, and how to set them up for years of healthy growth. 

Casey will explore best practices to encourage strong root growth, help plants get through summer drought, and more.

We'll learn why it may not be optimal to overly enrich the soil prior to planting, how to wean plants off water, and the best time of year for specific plantings.

He'll also give us a great overview on how to plan your fall plantings, with specifics like perennial division and mulching, as well as which garden preparations are best done before winter arrives. 
 
Casey has worked in private and public gardens all over Vancouver and has over 15 years of experience in the industry. He holds a Horticulture Certificate from Capilano College and is a certified Journeyman Landscape Horticulturalist. He enjoys teaching foundational methods in an interactive workshop setting, aiming to inspire those who wish to enhance their knowledge and skills in the gardening world.




This should be a super evening — a good way to start off the fall season.


As usual, we will meet in the "LRC" — the Britannia Learning Resources Centre, which is under the VPL library. As you're walking west toward the library, veer left, walk alongside it, and you'll come to a ramp entry to the LRC on your right. We start at 7:00 and end before 9:00.


Bring your gardening questions and concerns ... and your ideas for topics or speakers for upcoming meetings.

We always have tea and goodies and a few door prizes. See you there!

Friday, September 1, 2017

Safers Japanese beetle traps

Susan Lockhart sent this message:


Attached is a photo of a Safers Japanese beetle trap.  We got the message from the Grandview Gardening club about watching out for Japanese beetle infestations.  These kits are regular $10 but the Rona store on Grandview Highway has lots and they are clearing them out at 50 cents each!  Can we get a message out to the gardening club?





Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Japanese Beetle invades Vancouver!

From an e-mail advisory from Phoenix Perennials: 

It is important that we spread the word so gardeners can be on the look out for the presence of Japanese beetle in their gardens. Japanese beetle is an invasive species that can do considerable harm to a wide range of garden plants. My horticultural colleagues in eastern North America speak of gardens ravaged by this hungry pest. Japanese beetle is about the size of the nail on your index finger and can be shiny green or shiny black. It has invaded eastern North America but is not yet on the West Coast. Until now. Japanese beetle has recently been detected by Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in the False Creek area of Vancouver. It is not known how Japanese beetle arrived in Vancouver. It could have come in on infected nursery stock or soil or adults could have hitched a ride on trains or cars traveling from the east.
If you live in Vancouver, please be on the lookout.
There’s more information on the Phoenix Perennials website.
If infested debris or soil is transported out of False Creek, Japanese beetle could pop up in other neighbourhoods.
I think it also wise for gardeners elsewhere in the Lower Mainland and BC to be aware of Japanese beetle so please have a look and also forward to your gardening friends and neighbours so you can be on the look out.
We do not want this pest in BC! On the off chance that you were ever to discover a beetle that looks like Japanese beetle in your garden or in a park, please contact CFIA immediately!




Monday, July 10, 2017

Our July Meeting

For Our July Meeting... THURSDAY, July 13th, 2017, 7:00 p.m.


Hello!
Our final meeting before a short summer break will review the East Van Garden Tour with photos taken by our two official photographers.  Commentary will be provided by you, the participants, and we also hope to have several of the gardeners whose gardens were on the tour present to answer your questions. If you missed the tour, this is your chance to enjoy a wide variety of clever ideas, intriguing plants and inspired combinations.

There will also be brief reports on the tufa trough workshop and our successful plant sale.


As usual, we will meet in the "LRC" — the Britannia Learning Resources Centre, which is under the VPL library. As you're walking west toward the library, veer left, walk alongside it, and you'll come to a ramp entry to the LRC on your right. We start at 7:00 and end before 9:00.
Bring your gardening questions and concerns ... and your ideas for topics or speakers for upcoming meetings.
We always have tea and goodies and a few door prizes.



Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Grandview Garden Club Plant Sale!

The weather promises to be absolutely perfect this weekend.

And it's a good thing, because:

Saturday is our Grandview Garden Club Plant Sale, a fundraiser for the Grandview Garden Club, on Rose Street. (Rose Street is only a block long, and our sale will be in the middle of the block. If you can find Rose, you won't miss the sale!) It's part of the Great Grandview Garage Sale, which runs from 10:00–2:00 all over the neighbourhood, and we'll have a huge assortment of terrific plants for sale at very reasonable prices ...

And Sunday is the East Vancouver Garden Tour ...
The tour is on Father's Day, Sunday, June 18th. Like other years, this year's tour will be comfortably walkable for most people, and we have already lined up about a dozen delightful gardens for your horticultural pleasure!
If you haven't already gotten your tickets for the tour, now would be a good time! Tickets are only $15 per person. For details and a link to the eventbrite site, where you can buy tickets online, check the East Vancouver Garden Tour website.





Thursday, June 1, 2017

Our June 8th meeting: Bees!

Please join us on June 8th, 7:00, in the Britannia LRC.
Allen Garr has been a beekeeper in Vancouver for more than 20 years. He currently keeps bees at VanDusen and UBC Botanical Gardens, on the roof of the BC Convention Center and at his home in Kitsilano. He holds a Beemasters Certificate from SFU and the Provincial Ministry of Agriculture. In 2015 he was awarded the city of Vancouver’s Greenest City Leadership award of excellence for his years of work as an advocate for urban beekeeping leading to bylaw changes that now allow the activity in Vancouver, Burnaby, North Vancouver City and Richmond. He is also allergic to bee stings.
Allen will be speaking about the life of the Honey bee and its relationship to man as well as the role of native bees including mason bees and bumble bees. Weather permitting he will bring some bees  to the meeting.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Maples on sale

UBC Botanical Garden sends the following:

"During this coming holiday weekend, May 20, 21 and 22, all Japanese maples will be on sale at 25% off regular price.  We have a selection of trees in 1 gallon, 3 gallon and 5 gallon containers ranging in regular prices from $35.00 to $59.00.  Some examples of available maples are
 
                    Acer palmatum Amber Ghost
                    Acer palmatum Ara kawa
                    Acer palmatum Calico
                    Acer palmatum dissectum Berrima Bridge
                    Acer palmatum dissectum Dr. Brown
                    Acer palmatum Red Autumn Lace
                    Acer palmatum Katsura
                    Acer palmatum Peaches and Cream"


Posted by Christine Allen

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Garden Club, Thursday, May 11th

For Our May Meeting... THURSDAY, May 11, 2017

Douglas Justice
HIKING THE HOANG LIEN SON MOUNTAINS: A BOTANICAL EXPLORATION OF NORTHERN VIETNAM


What is it like to go plant hunting in wild and mountainous terrain?  Douglas Justice, Associate Director and Curator of Collections at UBC Botanical Garden, will take us on an incredible and sometimes harrowing journey through remote stretches of Northern Vietnam in search of rare and wonderful plant specimens.

The Hoang Lien Son Mountains are known for their great beauty and high diversity of flowering plants, including magnolias, maples, and rhododendrons, but, as in many such places, the rich diversity of native flora is under threat from forest clearing, farming and increased tourist traffic. In the spring of 2016, an intrepid group of botanists set out to catalogue and preserve as many specimens as they could from this endangered habitat. We will enjoy the thrills — without the discomfort and risks — at our meeting on May 11.



As usual, we will meet in the "LRC" — the Britannia Learning Resources Centre, which is under the VPL library. As you're walking toward the library, veer left, walk alongside it, and you'll come to a ramp entry to the LRC on your right. We start at 7:00 and end before 9:00.

Bring your gardening questions and concerns ... and your ideas for topics or speakers for upcoming meetings.
We always have tea and goodies and a few door prizes.

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Garden Club Plant Sale June 17th

We'll have a Grandview Garden Club Plant Sale on June 17th. It's also the day of the Great Grandview Garage Sale that covers the whole neighbourhood. And our plant sale will be right in the middle of the sale neighbourhood, on Rose Street (between Napier and William).

If you have plants to contribute to the sale, please e-mail grandviewgardenclub@gmail.com and we'll let you know the details!

At the Grandview Garden Club Plant Sale, we'll also be selling tickets to the East Vancouver Garden Tour, which happens the very next day, on Father's Day, June 18th.



Thursday, April 13, 2017

Sunday, April 9, 2017

For Our April Meeting, Thursday, April 13, 2017, Egan Davis!

We are so lucky that the entertaining and passionate Egan Davis has agreed to come back to speak at the Grandview Garden Club. This month's talk is about how to recognize what is eating your plants and what you can do about it.


Egan is a leader in the professional horticulture industry, a qualified Red Seal Horticulturalist. He is the chief instructor for the Horticulture Training Program at the University of British Columbia and is a delightful and knowledgeable speaker.

With past experience at VanDusen Botanical Garden, Park & Tilford Gardens, and the Mendel Floral conservatory in Saskatoon, Egan has a unique background focused on public and on botanical gardens. For his entire career, Egan has also run a residential garden consultation, design, and build company. As a board member of HortEdBC, Egan has contributed to the industry and has a keen interest in promoting the Red Seal certificate in BC.

As usual, we will meet in the "LRC" — the Britannia Learning Resources Centre, which is under the VPL library. As you're walking toward the library, veer left, walk alongside the library, and you'll come to a ramp entry to the LRC on your right. We start at 7:00 and end before 9:00.


Do bring your friends, your gardening questions and concerns, and your ideas for topics or speakers for upcoming meetings. We always have tea and goodies and a few door prizes.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Upcoming Events - March & April 2017



UBC HORTICULTURE TRAINING PROGRAM INFORMATION SESSIONS
Everything you wanted to know about the 
2017–2018 Horticulture Training Program
When: March 15 and April 12, 6:30–7:30 pm
Where: Campbell Building, UBC Botanical Garden
More information at
http://botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/learn/educational-programs/horticulture-training-program/ 
or call 604-822-3928

••••

VANCOUVER ORCHID SOCIETY SHOW & SALE
Where: Floral Hall, VanDusen Botanical Garden
When: March 25, 9 am–5 pm
& March 26, 10 am–4 pm  
Admission: $7 adults; $6 students and seniors.
Contact Wayne Riggs for more information at 604-761-5709 or email wayne.riggs@ubc.ca

••••

ALPINE GARDEN CLUB SPRING SHOW AND SALE
WhenApril 1, 2017, 12:00–4:00 pm
Where: Floral Hall, VanDusen Botanical Garden

Not good at starting plants from seed? Let experts do it for you. Lots of unusual and interesting plants at great prices. 

••••

VANCOUVER DAHLIA SOCIETY
SALE OF TUBERS
When: April 8, 2017, 10 am–4 pm
Where: Floral Hall, VanDusen Botanical Garden

••••


And: Save the Date for our April Meeting
Thursday, April 13th, 2017

"IDENTIFYING INSECTS BY THEIR DAMAGE"
The always-popular Egan Davis, Chief Instructor in the UBC Horticulture Training Program,
will return to GGC to give us a presentation on 
how to recognize what is eating your plants and what to do about it.