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All the snow over the past couple days has been rough on our city’s trees. But perhaps the worst of it is that Van Dusen Gardens, a 22-hectare botanical garden in the heart of Vancouver, has suffered extensive damage. The Garden is reporting damage to over three dozen species of tree, both native and exotic.
The Garden has been forced to close for the week due to clean up efforts. Their annual Festival of Lights has also been delayed until December 15.
If you want to help, make a donation here.
My back patio this morning.
Let me tell you about Vancouver. Viewed in light of the Canadian stereotype (igloos, sled-dogs, cops on horseback dressed in red, people saying “aboot” instead of “about,” Celine f*ing Dion playing on every stereo), Vancouver is the antithesis. (Actually, I’m not sure any part of Canada meets that sad criteria, but bear with me.)
But I think what sets Vancouver apart is its mild climate. It snows maybe once a winter, and is washed away within a day or two, so we don’t share that bond common with the rest of Canada. Eastern transplants always make fun of us native Vancouverites because of it – snow falls, and we all freak out. No one is ever prepared – no salt, no winter tires, nada. Which is why I’m at home today instead of work. Work was cancelled because of the snow! I don’t think that would ever happen in Halifax or Toronto.
So, here’s a word to my Vancouver-area neighbours: remember to knock the snow off the limbs of your trees – they can break under the weight.
The Fagus sylvatica across the courtyard from me needs some help.
It seems some celebs can’t go anywhere these days without exposing their no-so private bits. While no one really needs to see that, we admire flowers, while tending to forget that they are essentially a plant’s reproductive organs.
Lysa Bromaroff reminds us by snapping Mother Nature in all sorts of compromising positions. Her company, Fertile Images and Design, is founded on capturing the alluring, sensual side of flora. And she does it exceptionally well. Many of her images carry me off to a warm spring day of lazing under a tree, lulled by the breeze and the sun peeking through the branches.
On her website, Lysa says ” I never would have known I was a photographer or a designer if I hadn’t quit my job and gone for a walk.” Although she has been “dragged by the eye toward photography” all of her life, Lysa has no formal photography training. Most of the art in her home is photographic in nature, however, and she worked with photographers in her capacity as writer/creative director in the ad world.
It was the little Lomo Action Sampler, bought on a trip to Amsterdam, that started it all. The “first few rolls were very dull and disappointing,” she says, until she took the Lomo “to the Napa Valley and caught some cherry blossoms doing their thing.”
“The photo looked like a Chinese screen,” Lysa says, “and the home decor potential hit me then and there.”
Indeed. I am totally coveting her work, and her mad skills with the camera. So, I asked, “if a gardener asked you for some photography tips, what would your advice be?”
“Shoot in any light,” Lysa says. “Bad weather makes for good photos. Get on the ground. Plus, leaves and limbs have beauty too.” Well said, Lysa. And thanks for sharing!
Stocking stuffer alert! The Matchstick Garden, available at the Curiosity Shoppe, is a cute invention that may even be useful for those who don’t have a lot – or any – room to store gardening equipment or tools. Each of these “matches” holds a few seeds. Rip it out, insert it into a pot of dirt, add water, and voila!
Set of two includes one mixed herb seed matchbook and one wildflower seed matchbook.
How cool is this growing business card? It’s for a landscape architecture firm called Tur & Partner. It appears that it is embedded with seeds that, when watered, grow up through the landscape blueprints like little trees. Love it!
Via Apartment Therapy.
Check out these funky retro planters from Pastense.
First manufactured in postwar 20th century America, the planters reflected the era’s fascination with all things “space age” and “modern.” The Retro Bullet Planter is faithful to the vintage originals in shape, color, and the distinctive texture of compression-molded fiberglass.
Available in three heights and many colours (I love that turquoise!), these would be perfect in a living room decked out mid-century modern.
Apologies to commenters that had to wait four whole days to see their comments up – I was unable to login all weekend. This post was meant to be posted on Friday for some slacker fun, but hey, it’s a short week. Start it off right with a peek at my friend Jer’s blog:
This is really neat. Click on Petals: Fine Flickr Flowers (under Recent Projects, top right) then type in a search word. The program searches Flickr and comes up with a photo with a tag that matches. Voila! You’re on your way to creating an online garden.
That should brighten your day.
My ears are burning. Someone must be talking about me…
If you haven’t seen it, check out the article by Renee of Wolfie and the Sneak and the You Grow Girl blog, The Dirt, in which I’m interviewed and talk about being stranded on a Greek island, AC/DC logos, and of course, gardening.
And finally, a very special welcome to You Grow Girl readers. [Queue Kermit-like arm flailing and yaaays.]
Vancouver, in the summertime, is a lovely place. Most of the year, I am thrilled to live in this beautiful city. During the summertime, (especially summers like the one we just had) when water shortages and restrictions are common, it’s almost possible to convince yourself that you must have imagined the unrelenting Vancouver winter rains.
But then this. Over 100mm (4in) in 24 hours. Wet, wet, wet.
My garden is like, “ehn!” Flattened.
But before I can complain (too much) about the rain, on my walk to the grocery store I note that, judging by the moss-and-fern-bedecked street trees (which strangely I’ve never noticed until now) I do live in a temperate rainforest climate after all! And it’s what makes this city so beautiful. So, I tell myself, “quit yer whining, girl,” and am grateful for my new gumboots.
An unexpected e-mail from an old friend and former roommate (hi Tara!) has brought back memories of one of my first gardens. I was living in Victoria at the time, just across the Georgia Straight on Vancouver Island (and, Nelumbo, an incredible Zone 9 because Victoria is further south than Vancouver). Tara and I had been living in a cute-but-crowded attic apartment and she harboured Martha Stewart-esque fantasies of a Real House. She found what she wanted – a big yellow house with a big yard – and we moved in, gaining two roommates in order to afford the rent.
It was the Garden of Trial and Error – and there were many trials, and many errors. Starting with our choice of roommates: two very attractive but emotionally unavailable and – it turned out, mentally unstable – brothers. The house was situated smack in the middle of the lot, with a narrow bed against the foundation that lacked foundation plantings. There was a big raised bed in the back that had once been a vegetable garden but was almost entirely overgrown with weeds and strawberries.
I learned several things through trial and error in that garden – for example, that mint is invasive (good thing it was a rental!) – and I always think of the lessons learned whenever someone claims not to know how to garden. Trial and error is always a good way to learn, as long as you’re not using expensive plants. And since it was a rental, nothing I bought was expensive – from the clearance-priced clematis to the wildflower-and-herb seed mixtures (still the only time I’ve been able to grow dill from seed).
What are your memories of gardens past? What’s the best lesson you’ve learned via trial and error?
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