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 it was to chat over a coffee with members old and new after all the Zooming everyone has been doing over the last two years.
After a few words of welcome from Julie Paul, our chair, Andrew Fleming spoke to the group. Andrew is a graduate of Kwantlen Polytechnic University and a Red Seal Horticulturalist. He joined the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation in 2015 and has been the subforeman at VanDusen for the last three years. He explained some of the challenges presented by last summer's drought, last fall's winds, and the number of days of snow during the winter of 2021-22. Drought and wind caused a lot of damage to rhododendrons. The garden lost twenty trees to slushy snow that froze on branches. And there are no longer any eucalyptus trees in the garden
New plantings in the garden include some hydrangea plants that will reach 20 ft. tall. Apparently hydrangeas are all the rage these days.
Andrew shared some of VanDusen's sustainability practices, such as the electrification of most equipment, underground sprinklers where necessary, water retention from using decomposed bark mulch in beds of perennials, the limited use of pesticides, and a decision not to propagate plant material from the garden, because of the ongoing presence of fire ants.
He explained that this cold spring's temperatures have put plants about three weeks behind and, as a result, peppers and tomato plants have not been planted out in the vegetable garden yet.
After Andrew's presentation and Q&A session, I chatted with lots of people I had never met before, including two original members who joined the master gardener organization in 1984, Derry Walsh and Marilyn Mount.
Shirley Wheatcroft who received her twenty-five-year-service award and five members who received their ten-year-service award this year were in attendance: Shauna Gifford, Paula Grasdal, Jane Lepinski, Celeste Roberts, and Judy Sullivan. I chatted with Aline Burlone, recipient (along with Susan Crawford) of an Outstanding Service Award for the excellent presentation of the Basic Training for students on Zoom. Anne Boyle who received her Outstanding Service Award this year was also in attendance.
In my walk around the garden after the meeting, I especially enjoyed two highlights. The first was seeing the Serbian spruce (Picea omorika), from a distance a rather sombre tree, exhibiting so much colour and appealing texture contrasts: green to blue-green older, stiffer needles; soft, spring green new growth, the tips still covered here and there with an orange cap; orange-brown pollen cones; and rose-pink female cones.
I was not the only one at my second highlight. I chatted briefly with VMG members Deborah, Karen, and Doreen.
In fact, crowds of people had flocked to the arched walkway created by the hybrid laburnums, also known as golden chain trees (Laburnum x watereri 'Vossii'). Cameras came out, both large and small, as did models and new spring fashions.
Article by VMGs Nina Shoroplova and Julie Paul
