Garden Design, Garden Makeover, Garden Coach
"Arrival Sequence" is an expression used by some designers (not me I'm afraid, I'm far to common for that) to refer to the approach to your house--how you get there, what you see as you're getting there, and what you see and experience once you're there. That's my artsy way of introducing this bee. This is... Continue Reading →
Winter interest part 2 I mentioned in the previous post that ways to create winter interest in our garden is to "think of the aspects to the garden that you like through the rest of the year, and then find winter tolerant providers-- texture, colour, movement, smell". So a quick note on "movement". Wind causing movement... Continue Reading →
CHAFER BEETLE DAMAGE Female chafers lay 20-40 eggs over their lifespan. They are laid singly, 5–10 centimetres (2.0–3.9 in) deep in moist soil, and take 2 weeks to hatch. The grubs hatch by late July. In frost zones, the grubs feed until November, then move deeper into the soil. In frost-free areas, the larva will... Continue Reading →
Mosquito Prevention--5 Things I don't get a lot of mosquitos where I live, in fact, several of my windows don't even have screens on them. But I hate a mosquito bite as much as the next person, so I was interested in a recent article about mosquito-repellant plants. Preventing an invasion, tho', starts with knowing... Continue Reading →
Steve Whysall (Vancouver Sun gardening columnist) wrote a great article in Friday's paper entitled Six Ways To Keep Your Garden Looking Great. He interviewed Egan Davis, the chief instructor of the Horticultural Training Program at the University of B.C. Botanical Garden, but formerly at Van Dusen Botanical Garden, and one of my Master Gardener instructors. So I'm... Continue Reading →
Squirrel at the BIrd Feeder: I worried that a lot of rodent activity at the bird feeder would dissuade the birds from coming around. But with this kind of "rodent activity", I think I can relax.
Design Your Wildlife Garden We've had an overview of the Wildlife Garden with "How to Design the Wildlife Garden". That covered a lot about Birds. Next were a bunch more B's--Planning Your Wildlife Garden--Bees, Butterflies, Beneficials. Finally, let's look at ponds and bogs. I've linked to NatureScape BC several times, and this is no exception: here's... Continue Reading →
Real Life Garden Solutions 