Category: Article
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Thank You Darlene Cross and All the Best
By Caroline Hill We are sad to say farewell to Darlene Cross who has been with Okanagan Master Gardeners since 2004. Darlene has been an incredible supporter of the Okanagan Master Gardeners for its entire existence. She was a participant in the original 2004 Class and has always stepped up to assist. It is an…
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ASK A MASTER GARDENER
Have a Gardening Question? ASK A MASTER GARDENER! Are you curious about vegetable gardening? Puzzled about what flowers to grow? Wondering what is the best way to get rid of those yucky worms in your cherries? “Lettuce” help you answer your gardening questions. Our website Our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MGTSMGA/ Email us directly at tsmastergardeners@gmail.com The…
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Members Morning at VanDusen
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…
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🪲PEST ALERT: Japanese Beetle | What You Need to Know
The best defining characteristic of this beetle is the six tufts of white hairs running down either sides of the abdomen– no other beetle in BC has this pattern. Japanese Beetles have 12 white tufts of hair IDENTIFY & REPORT via ISCBC CLICK HERE FACT SHEET JAPANESE BEETLE LOOK ALIKES ID: Adult beetles are around…
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Douglas-Fir ~ Its Features and Its History
I think of the First Nations myth about a Douglas-fir cone’s bracts resembling the rear end of a hiding mouse. The grooves on Douglas-fir’s bark are deep enough to afford a tiny mammal a place to hide from a forest fire. Indeed this thick, corky covering protects Douglas-firs from fire, while also benefitting their fallen…
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Our favorite websites of 2022
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Chinese Windmill Palm
When is a tree not a tree? When it’s a palm, a single-stemmed monocotyledon. Along with every other member of the Arecaceae family of palms, the windmill palm is a monocot; its seeds sprout with only one cotyledon; that is the embryonic leaf that grows before the first true leaf. Which is why it isn’t…
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Ginkgo biloba
The tallest Ginkgo biloba I’ve ever seen is growing in the northwest corner of Paulik Neighbourhood Park at 7620 Heather Street in Richmond. Take a look before its leaves fall overnight; that will be any day now. This tree’s ancient heritage takes us back to China at the time of the dinosaurs. Its species name…
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Identifying a Mystery Tree
The tree’s trunk is braided, fluted, and made of sculptured vertical hills and valleys, some thick. The moment I see the photograph of the unusual trunk of this mystery tree and I notice the email’s subject—“Tree Identifying Help?”—I am hooked. This is a mystery I want to solve. The local gardener who wonders which tree…
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Vancouver’s Blossom Parade in the Rosaceae Family
Forty thousand street trees in the Rosaceae Family romance Vancouverites in a blossom parade every year. Rose family trees provide a sensory gift with their aromatic, delicate, white, pale pink, ruby red, and vivid crimson buds and blossoms and their leaves that range from pale green through to forest green. Like so many others, I…