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Looking for Colour Outdoors in February

When I walked on rainy, cloudy, windy, grey, and/or snowy days in Vancouver this February, I relied on bare branches, peeling bark, bunches of berries, and popping buds to provide myself with botanical interest.   But when I started to write this article, I noticed a faint...

Thursday, March 2, 2023 - 18:22 in Vancouver | Read more
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Spring Forward 2023

It’s a new year with lots of fresh gardening ideas to be excited about! Seven local experts will share their knowledge on What’s New in the Gardening world. After 3 years, we are back in-person!  It’s a great opportunity to see old friends and make new ones. You can attend in...

Friday, January 27, 2023 - 11:43 in Vancouver | Read more
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Book Review: Linda P. J. Lipsen and Derek Tan’s Pressed Plants: Making a Herbarium

Book Review: Linda P. J. Lipsen and Derek Tan’s Pressed Plants: Making a Herbarium, published in February 2023 by Royal BC Museum, Victoria, British Columbia One of the hobbies I enjoyed as a girl was pressing wildflowers. My friend Rosemary lived in a house that backed on to...

Thursday, January 26, 2023 - 18:03 in Vancouver | Read more
Articles

Winter Blooms

Were it not for the introduction of plants from around the world—from China, Japan, and Korea in East Asia; from the Himalayas; and from Europe—Vancouver’s plants would look rather drab in January. After all, a young ginkgo tree I saw (below)was showing only promise in its...

Thursday, January 26, 2023 - 00:00 in Vancouver | Read more
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MGABC AGM Sunday October 2nd - Resources!

Reminder: MGABC”s Annual General Meeting & 4 Great Speakers Hosted by VIMGA (Vancouver Island Master Gardeners)  Agenda:  9:15 Link in to Zoom  9:30 Welcome  9:35 Linda Gilkeson: Where have all the insects gone?  10:45 Gwen Odermatt: Backyard Ponds to Welcome Wildlife  12:...

Thursday, September 29, 2022 - 19:51 in Vancouver | Read more
Articles

Paulik Park Tree Tour

On Saturday June 25th I attended the Paulik Park Tree Tour in Richmond with my husband, daughter and 11 month old grandson. It was a beautiful day and the park was easy to find with lots of street parking available. 33731CCD-D877-4913-9904-A2ED85D46E98.jpeg...

Tuesday, June 28, 2022 - 13:46 in Vancouver | Read more
Articles

VMG Gathering at VanDusen Botanical Garden

Forty or so Vancouver Master Gardeners gathered in the atrium at VanDusen Botanical Garden on Monday, May 30, 2022. At this first official gathering since 2019, members entered the warm and bright room and were almost giddy with excitement to see each other. What a welcome time...

Tuesday, June 7, 2022 - 17:35 in Vancouver | Read more
Articles

Douglas-Fir ~ Its Features and Its History

April 5: Today I notice that Douglas-fir evergreens have been freckled yellow with pollen cones for a while, probably since early to mid-March. Usually the lowest branches of a Douglas-fir are so high off the ground that it’s impossible to see these male cones up close. I am ...

Sunday, May 29, 2022 - 16:39 in Vancouver | Read more
Articles

Spring Is Officially Here—It’s the Equinox

Emerging from the winter of 2021-22, I am more eager than ever to notice signs of spring. This Vancouver winter seems to have been longer than ever; after all we live here because we don’t want to shovel snow. Once again, we didn’t travel outside Canada, giving ourselves the...

Sunday, March 20, 2022 - 18:25 in Vancouver | Read more
Articles

Signs of Spring

Three weeks into the new year, with snow merely a chilly memory, rain holding off, and the sun hiding behind grey clouds, I set off for a walk in my local park, Stanley Park, looking for signs of spring. I am especially in search of flowers.  In January? I realize that January,...

Tuesday, February 8, 2022 - 11:47 in Vancouver | Read more
Articles

Chinese Windmill Palm

When is a tree not a tree? When it’s a palm, a single-stemmed monocotyledon. 0D8EC0AC-3CF3-4B35-B394-5F84D491E9E0.jpeg Along with every other member of the Arecaceae family of palms, the windmill palm is a monocot; its seeds sprout with only one...

Tuesday, January 18, 2022 - 12:56 in Vancouver | Read more
Articles

Remembering Trees of Christmas Past

As I walk around my West End neighbourhood here in Vancouver, I see some little evergreens planted between the sidewalk and the road. They remind me of the trees of Christmases past. Growing up in post-war Wales, I became used to Christmas trees that were no more than, perhaps,...

Sunday, December 19, 2021 - 15:59 in Vancouver | Read more

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