Author: Vancouver
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Mason Bee Tip Sheet
Worldwide, Insect and Bee populations are in decline. We rely on these important pollinators for our food! In North America, our Native bees are facing survival challenges caused by loss of habitat, predators, parasites, pesticide use, and many other factors. Why raise Mason Bees? What’s involved in raising Mason Bees? Everything you need to know…
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How We Must Drop One Paradigm to Accept the Next, According to Zoë Schlanger
“Can plants really communicate?” It was April 6 and I, Nina Shoroplova, was leading a tree walk. The person asking me was one of the participants. He looked closely at me, a Vancouver Master Gardener, as I answered. “Of course,” I said, suggesting he might enjoy reading UBC forestry professor Suzanne Simard’s book, Finding the…
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Gardening with Native Plants to Promote Native Pollinators
An Interview with Josh Thompson of Plan Bee Native Plants Jen: I am here at Plan Bee Native Plants Nursery in Langley with owner Josh Thompson. Josh, can you tell me what inspired you to start a native plant nursery? Josh: What really started me off was a few years ago, I started learning about…
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So Much for Mulch
By now, if you have saved any leaves that fell from your trees last fall, they will be mulch around your precious perennials or your tree trunks or your hard-hit-by-this-winter’s-freezing-spells evergreen shrubs, shrubs that may have given up the ghost. Luckily for me, the leaves I saved from last fall are not mulch, but instead…
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Book Review | Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse by Dave Goulson
What a gift to have someone as experienced as Dave Goulson, award-winning entomologist, conservationist, and biology professor write this important book on how to become aware of the world of insects all around us. I am now intrigued by how important insects are to all of nature, including ourselves. As a boy growing up in…
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SPRING SEMINAR 2024 Gardening Well in Today’s World
We had a terrific time at our March 2024 Spring Seminar. Mark your Calendars for March 9th 2025 where we will once again invite the public and our members to our annual day of learning & laughter. Michael J Fox Theatre, Burnaby within easy walking distance of Royal Oak Station | Expo-line Too hot. Too…
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The Autumn Leaves
“The autumn leaves” was one of my mother’s favourite songs. Whenever it came on the radio, she would sing along romantically. So I decided to look at some leaves this autumn. Here is the first group from A to G by scientific name to keep genera together. (My next article in the new year will…
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Where Are the Colours?
Where are the colours! They are everywhere.Whether we are looking at fall colours from a distance or close-up, fall’s palette is truly magical, a blend of blue mountains and waters, summer and winter greens, gentle reds, and fading browns. Red sumac leaflets hang down like rows of identical pennants. They are stunning against the ultramarine…
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Fall+Winter Hummingbird Feeding Tips
Feeding Hummingbirds in Fall & Winter Did you know: Only feed with regular white table sugar, not brown or organic sugar. The molasses, and the iron it contains, may be toxic to hummingbirds. ✋Do not add food colouring to the water, they are attracted to the red feeders, not the red syrup. ✅The usual mix…