Category: Article

  • Hydrangeas in July

    Hydrangeas in July

    The warm days of July seem to bring out the best array of hydrangeas: white, cream, pale pink, deep pink, light and dark blue, and light and dark purple. So many colours!

  • Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

    CLINIC REFERENCE – VMGA – July 10/2026 A native pest of Asia, the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) has been in NorthAmerica for 25 years and in British Columbia for the past 10 years. First seen in Chilliwack in2016, it is now established in urban areas of southwest British Columbia, including Vancouver,the Fraser Valley,…

  • Catalpas Are Blooming

    Catalpas Are Blooming

    These maps show where some of the 425 Catalpa bignonioides trees have been planted as boulevard trees in Vancouver. Each green icon shows where a tree is. This map can be generated at https://opendata.vancouver.ca/explore/dataset/public-trees/map. Then you zoom in on the area that interests you. There are many along West 10th Avenue on both sides of…

  • Go for Gold: A Crispy Lawn Can Be a Smart Summer Choice

    Go for Gold: A Crispy Lawn Can Be a Smart Summer Choice

    With dry conditions across the Okanagan, the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen is encouraging residents to rethink what a “good” summer lawn looks like. Through its Stay Gold Water Conservation Contest, RDOS is inviting eligible residents to let their lawns take on a golden colour instead of watering heavily through the hottest part of the season.…

  • “A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet”

    ‘Twas a yellow rose,By that south window of the little house,My cousin Romney gathered with his hand Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, Book VI. And I will make thee beds of roses,And a thousand fragrant posies. Christopher Marlowe, stanza 3 of The Passionate Shepherd to his Love. But ne’er the rose without the thorn. Robert…

  • Holiday Cactus

    When does your cactus flower? Thanksgiving? Christmas? Easter? When hers bloomed at Halloween, Patricia Covington, MG 2017, turned to the Gardener for Canadian Climates to identify what she was growing. She summarizes what she learned in this article.

  • The Light Eaters

    Charlotte Lundeen, MGiT 2026, reviews Zoe Schlanger’s deep dive into the science of plant intelligence and the plant world’s message to us humans. If you are a plant nerd, that enjoys geeking out on nomenclature, plant facts and cool trivia on plant communication, this is your book. To quote Charlotte, “This book was saturated with…

  • What might climate change mean for Prince George?

    Gardeners more and more struggle with accurately predicting their plant hardiness because weather and climate seem to be more unpredictable and extreme. In this article, Patricia Covington, MG 2017, explores a recent update from Natural Resources Canada on Plant Hardiness zones in relation to our northern gardens. Learn more about the update at planthardiness.gc.ca

  • Red Maple on the Hill

    Prince George is now the home of the most northerly botanical garden in Canada, with the opening of the Khasdzoon Yusk’ut Botanical Garden in June 2025. Khasdzoon Yusk’ut Botanical Garden (Dakelh for Red Maple of the Hill) is a communal project led by the David Douglas Botanical Garden Society in collaboration with the Lheidli T’enneh…

  • You Asked Us – April 2026

    Q. Why did my two-year-old Dogwood tree not flower last year? Do I need to fertilize it? It would make a difference if the tree is actually two-years-old, or if you acquired it two yearsago and the age is unknown. Dogwoods can take one to five years to start flowering, perhapseven longer depending on your…