Grandview Garden Club meeting, September 8th

Grandview Garden Club is meeting face-to-face on Thursday, September 8th. No Zoom this month! But please be sure to wear a mask. Drop-ins for non-members, $4.

Our speaker is Lori Weidenhammer ("Madame Beespeaker") who will give a presentation on Growing Herbs for Humans and Bees. She will focus on plants that are medicinal and appetizing for humans and our favourite pollinators. Many edible and medicinal plants are a boon for humans and bees. Find out how you can create an “herbaliscious” garden that fills your pantry while feeding pollinators. Lori will focus on some edible annuals that are easy to grow and some perennial “keystone” herbs which are an essential part of the infrastructure of a healthy pollinator garden.

Lori Weidenhammer is a Vancouver performance-based interdisciplinary artist and educator. She is originally from a tiny hamlet called Cactus Lake, Saskatchewan. It was in this place, bordered by wheat fields and wild prairie, that she first became enchanted with bees.

For the past several years she has been appearing as the persona Madame Beespeaker, practising the tradition of “telling the bees”. As a food security volunteer and activist Lori works with students of all ages on eating locally and gardening for pollinators. On occasion, she likes to dress up in silly costumes and talk to bees.

 

Lori's web site is Victory Gardens for Bees. Follow Lori on Instagram @beespeaker.

This is going to be an in-person meeting and Lori will bring copies of her book, Victory Gardens for Bees: A DIY Guide to Saving the Bees, published by Douglas and MacIntyre. The list price is $26.95. Please bring cash or a cheque if you think you might like a copy.

You're sure to enjoy this meeting. We will meet in the "LRC" — the Learning Resources Centre, which is downstairs from the Britannia VPL library branch. As you're walking west toward the library, veer left on the walkway, 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.

Please be sure to wear a mask for everyone’s comfort.

We will have tea and goodies and a few door prizes. Try to remember to bring your own teacup. 

As well, bring along your gardening friends who aren’t quite ready to join the club but want to come to the occasional meeting. Now that we’re back to meeting in person, we are happy to be reinstating our $4 drop-ins.

Questions? Send us an e-mail at grandviewgardenclub@gmail.com.

What’s beautiful or interesting in your garden this month? Please bring a sample of something from your garden.

So... Bring a mask, a cup, a friend, a cutting or plant from your garden. See you there!

Grandview Garden Club — Back to face-to-face meetings!

 We will be meeting masked-face-to-masked-face this month, June 9, 2022! No Zoom!

Our speaker is Ben Stormes, and he has agreed to present in person. His topic is Designing Resilient Gardens. 

Here’s his description: 

Heat domes, atmospheric rivers, and deep freezes have all come our way over the past year, testing us as gardeners and our gardens themselves. To help overcome these challenges, and the unknown extremes yet to come, designing your garden for resilience can help ensure success. This presentation will span theoretical concepts through to hands-in-the-dirt solutions, bringing together aspects of garden design, landscape ecology, and urban biodiversity to help support resilience in you, and in your gardens.

Ben is the Curator & Horticulturist for the North American Gardens at UBC Botanical Garden. He holds a master degree in public garden leadership from Cornell University, a Bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from The University of Guelph, and a diploma in ornamental horticulture from The Niagara Parks School of Horticulture. Ben has worked with a number of botanical gardens in Canada, as well as municipal arboriculture projects, public outreach and education programming, and private sector horticulture. A keen gardener from a young age, Ben always has some dirt under his nails, no matter how hard he scrubs.

You're sure to enjoy this meeting. We will meet in the "LRC" — the Learning Resources Centre, which is downstairs from the Britannia VPL library branch. As you're walking west toward the library, veer left on the walkway, 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.

Please wear a mask for everyone’s comfort.

We will have tea and goodies and a few door prizes. Try to remember to bring your own teacup. See you there.

As well, if you aren’t quite ready to join the club but want to come to the occasional meeting, now that we’re back to meeting in person, we are reinstating our $4 drop-ins.

Questions? Send us an e-mail at grandviewgardenclub@gmail.com.

What’s beautiful or interesting in your garden this month? Please bring a sample of something from your garden.

Also, a general announcement: The annual neighbourhood-wide Grandview Garage Sale is back this year, June 18, 10-2!

October 14th meeting

Hello GGC members,

The speaker I had engaged for our October meeting has cancelled and so far my efforts to find a last-minute replacement have failed.

I'm wondering if anyone among you has a gardening subject you would like to share with the rest of us. It doesn't have to be a lengthy presentation. If there are 4 or 5 people out there who would be willing to talk about a plant, a tool, a technique or a useful tip for 10 to 15 minutes each, that could give us a varied and enjoyable program.

I know we have many knowledgeable gardeners in our club and am hoping that there'll be at least a few of you who will respond to the opportunity to pass on a little of what you know already or have perhaps recently learned.

Please contact me at christineallen88@gmail.com if you can help.

Thanks,

Christine

July Tree Walk

Did you go on the tree walk that replaced our regular July meeting? Would you like a neighbourhood walk to be a regular summer event? If there's enough interest, there are many more trees, as well as some interesting shrubs, that we could highlight in future years. 

I know there are some people who couldn't do the walk on Sunday, but were able to do it later in the week. For them and others who may have missed it, here's a photo of the excellent conifer identification panel that Sandy and Janet created, which was on display on Semlin Street outside Sandy's house. The text is easy to read if you enlarge the image.

Thanks to Chris Wasylishyn for sharing it with us.

Posted by Christine Allen

Peonies to give away

I've just dug up a large red peony that is now in four pieces, all needing new homes.

If you are interested, please let me know today. I have nowhere to keep them and green bin pick-up is tomorrow

Christine

christineallen88@gmail.com

TWO EVENTS OF INTEREST

Hello Garden Club member,

At our Zoom meeting last Thursday, I mentioned these two Zoom events. They are are both offered by Master Gardener organizations, one in the Okanagan and one in Vancouver, but they are open to anyone who is interested.

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/okanagan-master-gardeners-spring-education-day-tickets-140717127717?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch

http://mgabc.org/node/2867

The Okanagan one is free. Linda Gilkeson is an excellent and knowledgeable speaker on a variety of sustainable gardening topics, but she is particularly good on vegetable growing. She lives on Salt Spring Island, so her information is relevant to Vancouver conditions.

The Vancouver one is a fundraiser for the Vancouver Master Gardeners and costs $50 for 8 hours x 7 speakers, which is very reasonable price wise. There is a good range of speakers on a diversity of subjects.

Posted by Christine Allen

Bird feeder danger

Warnings are going out among bird and garden groups about salmonella contamination in bird feeders. The risk is particularly great to pine siskins, which have been dying in considerable numbers, but other birds are also becoming infected. As a result wildlife  organizations are asking everyone who has backyard bird feeders to please remove them for a 14-day period. 

Here is more information about the virus:

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/tiny-b-c-birds-are-dying-from-salmonella-outbreak-linked-to-backyard-feeders-1.5262116?fbclid=IwAR1The3fnNO1ONiaHJe2mQ9WDjGzQyiit_L75eUCH0qNkb-X6kvWyC0kF14