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03/02/2023 - 18:22 in Vancouver | Read more
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...03/02/2023 - 18:22 in Vancouver | Read more
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01/26/2023 - 18:03 in Vancouver | Read more
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...01/26/2023 - 18:03 in Vancouver | Read more
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01/26/2023 - 00:00 in Vancouver | Read more
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...01/26/2023 - 00:00 in Vancouver | Read more
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06/28/2022 - 13:46 in Vancouver | Read more
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...06/28/2022 - 13:46 in Vancouver | Read more
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06/07/2022 - 17:35 in Vancouver | Read more
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...06/07/2022 - 17:35 in Vancouver | Read more
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05/29/2022 - 16:39 in Vancouver | Read more
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 ...05/29/2022 - 16:39 in Vancouver | Read more
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03/20/2022 - 18:25 in Vancouver | Read more
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...03/20/2022 - 18:25 in Vancouver | Read more
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02/08/2022 - 11:47 in Vancouver | Read more
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,...02/08/2022 - 11:47 in Vancouver | Read more
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01/18/2022 - 12:56 in Vancouver | Read more
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...01/18/2022 - 12:56 in Vancouver | Read more
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12/19/2021 - 15:59 in Vancouver | Read more
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,...12/19/2021 - 15:59 in Vancouver | Read more
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12/01/2021 - 20:39 in Vancouver | Read more
Baldcypress—Taxodium distichum
Taxodium distichum is commonly known as baldcypress (one word), which is a useful name that describes its habit, saying it looks a bit like a cypress that goes bald. In other words, it is a deciduous conifer with needles, and it is in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. Leaves on...12/01/2021 - 20:39 in Vancouver | Read more
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11/15/2021 - 17:11 in Vancouver | Read more
Touring Paulik Gardens Neighbourhood Park in Richmond
~ Touring Paulik Gardens Neighbourhood Park in Richmond ~Vancouver Master Gardener Jill W, showed me some of the highlights of Paulik Gardens Neighbourhood Park on Halloween 2021. With my lens being trees, we ambled through the Circle Garden, past the Perennial Garden...11/15/2021 - 17:11 in Vancouver | Read more
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08/24/2021 - 08:12 in Vancouver | Read more
Butterflyway Lane in North Vancouver
On a hot and hazy-blue day in mid-August, I ventured to the District of North Vancouver (DNV) for a Vancouver Master Gardeners tour of a Butterflyway Lane. Shoroplova_IMG_8957_cedar_b-fly_sign.jpg I wasn’t sure what to expect and it ended up...08/24/2021 - 08:12 in Vancouver | Read more
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07/04/2021 - 12:49 in Vancouver | Read more
Identifying a Mystery Tree
The tree’s trunk is braided, fluted, and made of sculptured vertical hills and valleys, some thick, Shoroplova_IMG_7754_muscleswood.jpg The moment I see the photograph of the unusual trunk of this mystery tree and I notice the email’s subject—“...07/04/2021 - 12:49 in Vancouver | Read more
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06/23/2021 - 16:54 in Vancouver | Read more
A Pollinator Garden at Riley Park
When Riley Park Community Centre was torn down in 2012, a team of community gardeners-cum-activists lobbied the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation for the space to be returned to the community. With the requisite complementary skillsets, such as soil science, horticulture,...06/23/2021 - 16:54 in Vancouver | Read more
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06/04/2021 - 11:51 in Vancouver | Read more
Vancouver’s Blossom Parade in the Rosaceae Family
Photos and text VMG 2021 Student Nina S. Forty thousand street trees in the Rosaceae Family romance Vancouverites in a blossom parade every year. Rose family trees provide a sensory gift with their aromatic, delicate, white, pale pink, ruby red, and vivid crimson buds and...06/04/2021 - 11:51 in Vancouver | Read more
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05/14/2021 - 12:36 in Vancouver | Read more
Marcescence in a Young European Beech
When fall arrives for most deciduous trees, the plant hormone ethylene regulates senescence, the aging and withering of leaves. Dead leaves naturally fall to the ground through a process known as abscission. Sometimes though, deciduous leaves stay on a tree through fall, winter...05/14/2021 - 12:36 in Vancouver | Read more
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04/23/2021 - 14:22 in Vancouver | Read more
A Row of Prunus ‘Snow Goose’
A row of Prunus ‘Snow Goose’ creates the southern border of Ceperley Meadow in Stanley Park. Shoroplova_1_IMG_8200_prebloom_bud.jpg Shoroplova_2_IMG_8201_Snow_Goose.jpg They reach prebloom in early April;...04/23/2021 - 14:22 in Vancouver | Read more
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02/11/2021 - 13:35 in Vancouver | Read more
SPRING BACK 2021 thank you to all our guests and wonderful speakers
Thank you to everyone who Joined us for 2 mornings of renewal & reconnection ( Pacific Daylight Time ) We hope you enjoyed rewatching the lectures over the 2 week time period allotted. STAY TUNED FOR 2022! with 7 presentations by gardening experts and more! Saturday...02/11/2021 - 13:35 in Vancouver | Read more
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07/21/2020 - 11:17 in Vancouver | Read more
Anatomy of a Modern Mediterranean Garden
Anatomy of a Modern Mediterranean Garden Before and after the hardscaping..(2)..jpg The Challenges [photo 1: before the renovation – front yard garden] Lose the summer-browned front lawn and replace it with a colourful, fragrant, easy-care...07/21/2020 - 11:17 in Vancouver | Read more
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06/13/2019 - 12:25 in Vancouver | Read more
ATP Renewal Days 2019
Vancouver Master Gardeners Advanced Training Program: Renewal Days 2019 VanMG Advanced Training Program's new initiative 3 different Renewal Days targeted MGs who had taken the full Advanced Training Program. Enthusiastic students, a mix of graduates from our classes...06/13/2019 - 12:25 in Vancouver | Read more
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12/08/2017 - 12:05 in Vancouver | Read more
FROST HEAVES: Cause and Prevention
Cause: Frequent temperature cycles above and below freezing cause water near the soil surface to freeze, expand, and pull up more water from underground. This causes desiccation underground and, due to pressure, compaction. The ice layers near the ground surface create pressure...12/08/2017 - 12:05 in Vancouver | Read more
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05/30/2017 - 17:32 in Vancouver | Read more
The Girl Who Liked Strawberries
Master Gardeners have now completed two years volunteering at Ronald McDonald House (RMH) in Vancouver. In 2015, a new facility opened accommodating 73 families from outside Vancouver who stay for a few days or several months while their child receives treatment at the nearby...05/30/2017 - 17:32 in Vancouver | Read more
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05/12/2017 - 15:58 in Vancouver | Read more
Increasing Biodiversity in the Garden
Increasing Biodiversity in the Garden – notes from our recent lecture by Egan Davis Currently, it’s considered desirable to bring a bit of wildlife into city gardens; to look at the ecological role of trees & shrubs; to consider native species which are adapted to local...05/12/2017 - 15:58 in Vancouver | Read more
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03/08/2016 - 17:43 in Vancouver | Read more
I Love Tree Peonies
This is a story of my experience with peonies, particularly tree peonies. I have found them to be well suited to the Pacific Northwest. Summer drought tolerant, deer resistant, (in my world deer proof plants are those inside yards with large dogs and surrounded by 7 foot fences...03/08/2016 - 17:43 in Vancouver | Read more