New Job!

I'm happy to say that I'm finally on my way to beginning my career!  I'll be moving to Calgary mid-March to begin work as an engineer in training.  Now I have no idea what the means for my blog.  I'm thinking I'll bring and start seeds regardless but expect to be very busy.  I'll probably do a lot of exploring so stay tune for some fun posts over the next few months!

Garden Centre Recommendations?

I'm finding winter is really taking it's toll on me and spring just can't come soon enough! So to try and forget about all the white fluff covering the ground, I'd like to visit some garden centres. My favourite one in London, ON is Parkway Gardens. It's one of the largest in London and even has some large Eucalyptus, Ficus benjamina and Ficus elastica growing in the ground.

I'm hoping to find some large and luxurious (well wide selection of plants) greenhouses in South-Western Ontario. What are your favourite must-visit garden centres in Ontario? For that matter are there any great greenhouses or summer gardens you'd recommend?

Back in Ontario

Hey everyone! I'm still alive and now back in Ontario. I had to leave quite a few plants behind because I drove back through the US and had to ship them via plane because of the winter. They all survived but some are a little brutalised. Hopefully I'll be able to start some seeds within the next few days and start up some regular blog posting! Hope all it well.

Free Stuff for Local Gardeners

Hey everyone, I have some things I no longer need (and possibly some plants too). I'm offering them free to any gardeners in the Metro Vancouver area. I may even be able to drop some of the stuff off, depending on my schedule. Those clear plastic trays are about 20cm long and I've been using them as covers when germinating plants.

I have some pots, seed starting mix, seeds, seed starting trays, water gardening books, fertilizer, iron chelate, and more. Just let me know if your interested either through a comment or on twitter.

I'm also curious about shipping plants in cold weather. Had anyone done it before? Do you just need a heat pack and if so where do you get one? Thanks.

Etsy Shop

Hey everyone. Seeing as I take a lot of photos I figured I might as well open and Etsy Shop. I'm selling prints of flowers, landscapes and various other interesting objects I photograph. Some are true colour but many are enhanced or a combination of black in white with some colour for emphasis. I've only posted 11 so far but I'll be added about 10 per day. Out of my thousands of photographs I've narrowed it down to about 60.

Please take a look and thanks for any suggestions/tips you can offer!

LivingInspirations on Etsy

Happy Holidays!

Just want to wish everyone a happy and relaxing holiday! I'd also like to mention that Anthurium should probably be sold as often as poinsettias as a decorative holiday plant. They're just as festive and offer the unique waxy flower. Just saying.

Happy Halloween, Fruit, Food & Community Garden

Hey everyone, happy Halloween! I've been missing in action but I'm still alive. ;)

Today was the November work party for Cottonwood Community Gardens. I've been assigned kiwi duty so I spent most of my time there. The pruning has been finished for the most part so we've constructed as woodchip path through the area beneath the kiwi arbour and added some compost to fertilize for next year.

I also tried three new fruit today. The first one is called a Fuyu Persimmon. I've noticed dozens of these mid-sized trees across the city which appear to have mini pumpkins dangling from them (the one in the picture has less pronounced ridges than most). These are in fact a hardy variety of persimmon which is only ripe when it has a soft, mushy texture. It tastes like a cross between a pumpkin/squash and a mango. Not too sweet or fibrous, basically just right.

I also tried some tomatillos both raw and fried with butter. Very interesting. Sort of like a sweeter unripe tomato with a lemon twist. These were followed by some small 'grape kiwi' that were about the size of cherry tomatoes. They were delicious and taste just like the larger kiwi but don't have a hairy covering so you can eat them right off the vine. I had both a male and female plant back in Ontario but never ended up getting any fruit.

To finish off the day I'll be making some banana bread. I didn't have baking powder/soda so I'm trying to use yeast and I'll just let it sit for an hour or so. Hopefully it works and I don't end up with some banana brick! I'll upload the recipe and a picture if it turns out.

BTW Does anyone know what this fruit is? EDIT: Barry Parker has determined it's a Common Medlar (Mespilus germanica). Apparently they're one of the few fruits to ripen in winter. It is related to the Loquat which is also hardy in Vancouver.

Also what variety of Ficus is this? I'm thinking a Ficus carica hybrid. I've seen both green and brown figs in Vancouver but nothing with leaves like these. EDIT: Identified by College Gardener as Paper Mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera).

Semiahmoo Library Greenwall Planting Complete

It took ten days, and the planting of the largest exterior greenwall in North America is now complete (at least my portion of it)! I ended up uploading a picture from the second last day because the weather and angle were both a little bit better. All the empty portions have since been filled in. At the time I left, some extra ground covers were just being added to deciduous patches. Eventually all the areas will grow in and the fabric will be difficult so see. The pieces that remain exposes will be colonized by mosses.

The area underneath will eventually be landscaped with a patio area so that everyone can enjoy the vertical garden. This will also prevent all the seeds/stems/leaves from sprouting a jungle beneath. It was a great experience and I would love to be part of more in the future!

It is also my first day off in over a week and I'm starting to go a little stir crazy. It's really hard for me to just stop something. So now I'm designing the backyard garden for my father's girlfriend. It's south-facing but blocked by some large maples for part of the day with sandy loam soil. I might even upload a few images to get your feedback, we'll see how it goes!

BTW there is a wealth of information on these walls online. You can start by taking a look at the wikipedia page. This wall was designed by Green Over Grey.

Meet Mochi!

A few days ago Mochi arrived! We adopted her from the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association (VOKRA). She's from a very strange litter and looks nothing like here sisters. It seems this litter had multiple fathers which is not uncommon with street cats. The adoption fee covers spaying, first shots, check-up, two de-wormings, flea-treatment (if necessary), and a small tattoo or microchip for identification.

She was a little sad for the first two days. Her foster home had about 8 cats and she felt a little lonely. We'll be here to fill in the void though! I should launch a sister blog and call it Cat Zone. I get the feeling there will be many pictures over the next few days. Probably years. Let's be honest.

The Three T(w)(o)os?

I was on my laptop last night in front of the TV that we purchased instead of a bed, sitting on an old couch we found in an alley, and something dawned on me. Something strange. Something that may be earth-shattering. Something that could change our very existence.

It all began with a simple response to an unrelated comment. In my previous Lynn Canyon post, Kenneth Moore mentioned he was listening to a certain band too much lately. I responding with, "You can never listen to too much of them." Things may have been fine if I had just stopped there. Unfortunately, I followed it up with, "Ew two t(w)o(o)s in a row."

Now writing that last sentence took me a good five minutes. I guess it technically should have been two to(o)s in a row, seeing as I didn't use the number version of the word. But I was scared of becoming trapped in an infinite t(w)(o)o loop! You see I used two t(w)(o)os twice in a row. The next sentence would have had to be the same. This would continue on forever as, "Ew, two t(w)[o]os in a row." The square brackets are there because I originally had them before the "s" but upon writing this post realized the first "o" should have brackets.

What is the correct plural form of the word when referring to multiple homophonic words (same sound, different meaning) and why has this never crossed my mind before? I guess this would be a noun.  As far as I can gauge, it's a bit of a mess without any clear answers:

To & Too - To(o)s or T(o)os - Any thoughts on whether the first or second "o" should have the brackets?

To & Two - T(w)os

Too & Two - T(o)(w)os or T(w)(o)os - I think bracketed "o" first to be alphabetical.

To & Too & Two - T(w)o(o)s or T(w)(o)os or T(o)(w)os - They all start with "T" and end with "o" so I figure the 2nd or 3rd option. The 2nd is probably best because it doesn't look similar to any other words. That being said I like the bracket symmetry of the 1st.

All of this is turning into a horribly complicated mess and I'm starting to get scared. I'm sure someone has thought of this before and there must be some kind of answer. If not we'll have to petition a dictionary to include a magical all-encompassing plural form/rule for homophonic words!

I started to think a little harder and things became even more ugly. What happens when you want to refer to "there", "their" and "they're"? Is it something like this:

There & Their - The(i)r(e)s

There & They're - The(y')res

Their & They're - The(i)(y')r(e)s or The(y')(i)r(e)s

There & They're & Their - The(i)(y')r(e)s or The(y')(i)r(e)s

Now things are starting to look like some weird phonetic dialect. At least there aren't any other awful groups of words. Certainly not:

For & Four - Fo(u)rs

For & Fore - For(e)s

Four & Fore - Fo(u)r(e)s

For & Four & Fore - Fo(u)r(e)s

Here something terrible has happened! The last two both have the same pluralized spellings!!! How will people know if someone is referring to "Four & Fore" or "For & Four & Fore"? My pluralization formula has failed!

Is this some paradox that will destroy the universe? A once-in-a-lifetime world changing revelation? Something easily solved with a clear answer which my extremely limited and lazy googling cannot bring to light?

Please help. I've opened Pandora's Box and I can't close it.

Confused... Frightened...

Lynn Canyon Park

We LOVE Lynn Canyon Park! It's located in North Vancouver and is about a 15 minute drive from where we live. The place is amazing. It includes a barbecue area, suspension bridge, rapids, waterfalls, trails, boardwalks, swimming in pristine glacial melt water, and more. All completely free!

We've been there a few time already but we have a friend down from London, Ontario and figured we'd take another trek. I took 51 pictures today but I figured 3 would be enough to upload. They really do not do it justice. It's an amazing place!  If you don't live in Vancouver, you probably should.  Just FYI.

Tomorrow it's off to Whistler. We'll probably to some more hiking (over three hours today) and possibly some kayak rentals. I'll probably upload some photos of the other amazing places we've been over the next few days as well.  It's also James' birthday tomorrow!!!

Strathcona and Cottonwood Community Garden Open House & Plant Sale

Just a quick update:  I've been hired to work part-time as a painter.  This will really help out with the money as I keep looking and will get me better acquainted with the city.  So if anyone needs some painting (primarily interior) take a look here.

This weekend is the big open house at the oldest community gardens in Vancouver.  Last year it was estimated that between 500 and 600 people turned out.  This year they are getting even more coverage including a front page article in the Vancouver Sun!  I'll be acting as a floater (doing whatever they need me to) all day on Sunday in the Cottonwood Area.  There will be a chili lunch, plant sale, info session of chicken keeping, permaculture and much more.  Drop by and take a look!

You’re Invited to

Magical Gardens in the midst of the city

Sunday, July 11, 10am to 2pm

Visit eight magical acres, sway to live music with Tambai Marimba, learn from free gardening sustainability workshops, see one of Vancouver's oldest off-grid solar houses, eat scrumptious goodies, sample local garden honey, snatch wonderful plants at bargain prices, & celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Vancouver's first community garden and the opening of Cottonwood's new garden that is the first community garden fully accessible for seniors and people with disabilities! Everyone is welcome!

Strathcona Cottonwood Gardens Annual Open House

Prior/Hawks * Raymur/Malkin

Info: (604) 608-0384 or (604) 253-3384

info@cottonwoodcommunitygardens.ca

www.strathconagardens.ca or www.cottonwoodcommunitygardens.ca

Open House Events

Live Music! Tambai Marimba! Fiddlers!

Sway to the music of awesome fiddlers or dance your socks off with Tambai Marimba, Vancouver’s great youth Marimba Band.


Tambai Marimba: Cottonwood Garden, 10:30am to 1:30pm.

Fiddlers: Strathcona Garden, 11am to 2pm.


Free Gardening & Sustainability Workshops

How to Keep Chickens in Your Backyard for Complete Beginners: Sunday, July 11, 10:30am: Cottonwood Garden

Thinking about having your own chickens and fresh eggs? Jordan Maynard, Manager of Southlands Heritage Farm, will help you understand the basics of keeping chickens in your backyard. You’ll leave this workshop with the confidence to buy, care for, and enjoy your own backyard hens. Workshop organized by Village Vancouver.


Permaculture/Vancouver Permaculture Meet-up Group: Sunday, July 11, 10:30am; Cottonwood Garden

Permaculture is an important way of letting the earth take care of itself. Learn basic permaculture techniques from the Vancouver Permaculture Meet-up Group. Workshop organized by Village Vancouver.


Winter Gardening/Grants Gourmet Gardens: Sunday, July 11, 1pm; Cottonwood Garden

Want to have fresh vegetables from your own garden year round? Certified organic farmer & edible landscaper, Grant Watson, will teach you the basics of what/when to plant, so you can harvest from your garden in the coldest season. Workshop organized by Village Vancouver.


Corsage Making: Sunday, July 11, 12-2; Cottonwood Garden

Learn how to make corsages from flowers and leaves picked that morning at Cottonwood. You can have a corsage custom-made for you, make your own, or choose one that has been made.


Compost Making/City Farmer: Sunday, July 11, 10:30am-2pm; Cottonwood Garden

Learn how to make compost from City Farmer’s Compost Hotline Staff.


Birdhouse Making for Kids: Sunday, July 11: Cottonwood Garden

This hands-on workshop teaches kids how to make their own birdhouse. Each participant will be able to make and keep a wooden birdhouse they have made.


Bee-keeping demonstration: Sunday, July 11, 10-2

Bee-keepers from each garden will demonstrate basic bee-keeping techniques and teach people about bees and their needs.


Solar Eco-House Demo: Sunday, July 11, 10:30am – 2pm, Strathcona Community Garden

See Strathcona’s wonderful solar house. This garden house generates its own power with solar panels, re-uses all its water with a grey-water recovery system, was built with recycled materials, and has a licensed composting toilet. Built over 20 years ago by teenage women learning carpentry skills, this is one of Vancouver’s oldest off-the-grid houses.


Magical Oasis in the Midst of the City: Garden Tours

Please join us for tours of Vancouver’s oldest community gardens, as we celebrate 25 years of community building, local food production and sustainability. Recipient of a City of Vancouver Heritage Award, Strathcona and Cottonwood Community Gardens feature eight magical acres with 350 individual garden plots; countless varieties of native and exotic perennials; one of the largest collections of heirloom apple trees in BC; thriving honeybees; a solar house that generates its own power, recycles water, and has a licensed composting toilet; beautiful water gardens, terraced gardens, oval gardens, fragrant gardens, reflecting ponds; an Asian garden, native garden, permaculture garden, wetlands; cherry, apple, plum, mulberry, fig, pear, persimmon & Asian pear trees; blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, currants, Saskatoon berries, gooseberries, grapes & kiwis; eight types of bamboo; nut trees; and many ornamental trees and shrubs. There are two solar greenhouses; toolsheds; extensive composting; and many species of birds, butterflies and hummingbirds. A pair of bald eagles nests overhead. Garden Tours: 10:30am to 1:30pm, at Strathcona and Cottonwood Gardens


Cutting Edge Sustainability: Solar House

Strathcona’s Eco-house is a model of sustainable building. This garden house generates its own power with solar panels, re-uses all its water with a grey-water recovery system, was built with recycled materials, and has a licensed composting toilet. Built over 20 years ago by teenage women learning carpentry skills, this is one of Vancouver’s oldest off-the-grid houses. Learn how the eco-house was built, principles of grey water recovery, solar power: 10am to 2pm, Strathcona Garden.


Opening of New Garden Fully Accessible for Seniors and People with Disabilities: 11:30am

Join us as we celebrate the opening of this new ¾ acre inclusive garden that is designed to enable everyone, regardless of age or physical ability, to garden. Based on the principles of universal design, the garden features raised beds that are high enough for seniors and people with disabilities to garden from a seated position; pathways 3-4’ wide and surfaced with a firm surface appropriate for persons with walkers, canes, strollers and wheelchairs; water taps at a convenient height for people who have difficulty bending and close to raised beds so that carrying a hose will not be needed; a tool shed with easy access and reachable tools; meeting spaces with wide-enough, smooth surfaces.


Official Opening of New Accessible Garden: 11:30am: Cottonwood Garden.


This new part of Cottonwood is along Raymur, at the corner of Raymur & William, across from the Food Bank, on the east side of Strathcona Park.


Honey! Local Bees!

Honey sales from our own bees, who thrive on the diversity of flowering plants in our gardens. The honey is fresh, local, and delicious. Come early! The honey usually sells quickly.

Honey Sales: 10am at Strathcona Garden and at Cottonwood Garden.


Wonderful Plant Sale! Bargain Prices! Great Plants!

Strathcona & Cottonwood’s Annual Plant Sale features an incredible variety of plants at bargain prices including perennials, vegetables, heirloom fruit trees & berry bushes, bamboo, flowers, shrubs, native plants, shade lovers, sun lovers & more! All of the plants are grown by our gardeners or donated by local nurseries. Prices are awesome and the range is impressive. Over 600 plants at bargain prices.

Plant sale starts at 10am, Sunday, July 11, at Strathcona Community Garden (corner of Prior & Hawks).


Silent Auction
If you haven't been to our Silent Auction before, you're in for a visual treat. Beautiful hanging baskets with fuchsias in full bloom, heritage apple trees, and a stunning Passion Flower vine, to name but a few of the entries we've had -- all generous donations from local nurseries and gardeners. Come and check it out and maybe you'll go home with a spectacular plant to highlight your garden or patio.

Sunday, July 11, Strathcona Garden, 10am to 1pm.


Native Plant Tour
Come to the Native Garden at Cottonwood and we'll show you which BC native plants you can grow to replace some of the invasive plants that have come into BC.

Cottonwood Garden 10-2.

Location:

Strathcona Garden & Cottonwood Garden are sister gardens located next to each other in and next to Strathcona Park, on the east side of Vancouver, on Prior Street, between Main & Clark.


Strathcona Garden is located just west of Strathcona Park, on Prior & Hawks.


Cottonwood Garden is located along the south side of Strathcona Park, on Malkin, between Raymur & Hawks.

The new accessible garden expansion is on Raymur, opposite the Food Bank (1150 Raymur).


The two gardens host the Open House together

Wordless Wednesday (Vancouver Aquarium)

I also grabbed some Trachycarpus fortunei seeds from a chained off area.  :)

Mouse & Trowel Awards Nominee!

I found out a few days ago that I had been nominated for the Mouse & Trowel Awards!  I have never heard of these before but I've only been blogging for about 10 months.  There are many different sections and I'm in the 'best indoor gardening blog' portion.  If you enjoy this blog, please take a look and vote for me.  Also look through the other categories and vote for your favourites there.  Voting is open until 11:59 on May 17th and the winners will be announced on May 18th.

On another note, Vancouver is incredible!  Walking through the streets is like being in a garden.  There are palm trees, bananas, rhododendrons, camellias, monkey puzzle trees, and vegetable gardens everywhere.  It's simply amazing.  I'll take some photos when I get more settled in.  I honestly only recognize about half of the plants I see.  This is really odd for me.  I used to know just about everything.  I've got a lot of learning to do!

Operation Relocation - Day 6 - Jasper to Kamloops to Vancouver

Today we started out in Jasper.  From the picture it may be hard to tell, but the Rockies are basically two chains with some large hills dividing them in the centre.  Our plan was to stop in Kamloops but we ended up going all the way to Vancouver.  We're finally here!

The journey to Kamloops was filled with beautiful scenery and some really tall mountains.  The mountain in the third picture is Mount Robson which is one of the highest points in the Canadian Rockies at 3954m.  You can't even see the top because it is covered with clouds.  As we got closer to Kamloops, the sky began to clear.

Kamloops is one of the oddest places I have ever been.  It looks like some Mediterranean area approaching desert.  Although we went through the city it was very commercialized and seemed somewhat cookie-cutter.  There were major brands and big box stores everywhere with little in the way of a local culture.  The most interesting part of the city was the scenery surrounding it, visible in the picture below.

We continued on to Vancouver on what was the craziest drive of our lives.  Each valley and portion of the journey was completely different.  It could be any combination of sun, rain, snow, coniferous trees and deciduous trees with or without leaves.  The experience was surreal.  At one point we were surrounded by snow banks as deep as 3m (10ft).  As we got closer the trees became much larger than I had ever seen before and vibrantly green.  The picture below looks like something from an inspirational quote.

We ended up going through Surrey, New Westminster and Burnaby before ended in Vancouver.  Below you can see a picture of part Surrey.  I was on map duty so I didn't end up taking any more.  This city is like a botanical garden.  There are flowers and unique trees everywhere.  One this street I have seen many different species of bamboo, palm trees, and plants I can't even identify.  I'm excited to get out and see more of the city!

I'm a little exhausted and we need to get settled in.  At this point we don't even know where to buy groceries.  Thanks for following along and there will be much more to come!  I have a plant collection to rebuild!

Operation Relocation - Day 5 - Saskatoon to Edmonton to Jasper

The original plan for today was to go to Edmonton and stay there for the night.  You can see from our route today that we ended up in Jasper.  I think this may have been the most eventful day of my life!

Once again, we spent most of our journey under clouds.  As we continued driving we started to notice accumulated snow on the ground.

Operation Relocation - Day 4 - Winnipeg to Regina to Saskatoon

The original plan for today was to only go as far as Regina.  We felt industrious so we ended up in Saskatoon.  This will shorten our trip to Edmonton tomorrow so we can spend some more time at the greenhouses there and in the West Edmonton Mall!

The day started out with partial clouds in Winnipeg.  This quickly became rain which stayed with us for most of the drive to Regina.  For some reason when people said this area was flat, I envisioned a plane stretching on to infinite.  This isn't the case and there are some slight contours to the area.  That van in the last pictures is just plain impressive.  There were actually several vehicles like this along the drive.

In Regina the rain stopped but clouds remained.  There were a few sunny breaks and we visited the Legislative Park area downtown.  All of these prairie cities have had Dutch Elm.  I had no idea how great these trees looked because they have been more or less wiped out in South-Western Ontario.  There is much more after the page break to click 'Delve Deeper'.

Operation Relocation - Day 3 - Thunder Bay to Winnipeg

Today we finally left Ontario and made it to Winnipeg in Manitoba!  This is actually a great city and stole the show for the day.  It is well planned and we moved through downtown during rush hour with no trouble at all.  For a city with over 633 000 people, this is quite the feat.  Below you can see the route we took for the day.

The trip to Winnipeg was surprisingly uneventful.  The scenery was relatively nice but it rained most of the time.  This area is dotted with hundreds of lakes.  Below you can see a few of the more interesting sites.  We've both decided that we are thoroughly city people and although small town are fine to visit, we need our urbanity.

Within a few minutes of crossing the border it the rocks were gone and the landscape was entirely flat.  It was almost uncomfortable.  The 50/50 split coniferous and deciduous gave way to nearly entirely deciduous forests.  In Winnipeg we went through downtown.  There were large trees everywhere!  It was really delightful.  We also saw the Royal Canadian Mint but it was too small in the picture so I didn't upload it.

Next we decided to take a look at Assiniboine Park.  This is a great area that includes many different gardens and activities.  Below are some photos of the park including the sculpture garden and zoo.  These areas would be simply gorgeous in the summer!  The first picture below is a large building in the centre of the park.

Leo Mol Sculpture Garden & English Garden (there must have been over 50 sculptures in total)

Zoo.  A peacock in Winnipeg?  Apparently.  Too charming.

Tomorrow we're not entirely sure what's happening.  We're either going to Regina, Saskatoon or both.  It depends on the sites in each city and we'll figure it out later tonight.  This is by far the funnest day this far!