Jan. 3, 2017 By Richard Burke Finding green on a white, wintery day is difficult, especially if you’re a passionate gardener who can’t wait for spring. At the end of last season, which was really just over a month ago given the remarkable November we had here, we had already started a list of things…
The recent mild, even hot November weather has given us added time to complete outdoors projects, such as painting window frames, pressure-washing the deck, garden-bed clean-up and garlic planting and winterizing the greenhouse, where a few tomatoes are still ripening on the last plant. The cane yucca and agave continue to survive outdoors, although they…
July 15 By Penny Dodd, photos by Drusilla Pearson We should visit Pincher Creek at least once a year. The Oldman Rose Society has created an attractive, interesting and informative rose garden on the grounds of Lebel Mansion. A large circular garden is filled with approximately 30 rose plants, all hardy shrubs that are healthy,…
June 25 By Penny Dodd Thirteen may be an unlucky number, but that number of people experienced only, the best on our June 18 walk in the Wild Rose Conservation Site. Fifteen kilometers southeast of Spring Coulee, this large property on the Milk River Ridge is being managed to promote the health of its foothills…
By Richard Burke A spring day in the garden can lead just about anywhere – even if you have a plan for what needs to be done. Thursday, I awoke planning to take in a box I had built last week for the patio under the Evans cherry tree, beside the dwarf Norland apple tree…
February 20, 2016 By Richard Burke I’m constantly amazed at what can come from a garden. Here, in the middle of February, the day after we sat in our little corner of the world (a protected patio which has its own micro climate) warmed by solar heat, I’m stirring the brew in my basement. It started…
By Judy Matlock During my last trip to Calgary, I stopped again at the Reader Rock Garden, which I hadn’t seen since very early Spring. This hidden gem was bigger than I’d realized. I never actually knew it was there until some other members of the Horticultural Society took me there in April, when only…
By Richard Burke Purple is supposed to suggest royalty, or a sense of mystery connected with the supernatural, but is relatively rare in nature. It can also symbolize magic, spirituality and creativity, according to colour matters.com. Or, it’s just a pretty colour. The colour of the flowers is just one way of choosing perennials (or…
Richard Burke One of the constants in a garden is the changing colours, if you plan it that way. The dominant colour in our backyard these days is yellow, but splashes of purple, red, orange,white, pink, and, of course, green offer contrast and complement. The peace rose is one of my favourites. It was developed…
Penny Dodd Non-gardeners may look at us in wonder, but we know an opportunity to see a big garden show is worth an early start. And that is what four of us did last Saturday morning—we headed out in the Lethbridge wind to attend the Calgary Horticultural Society garden show. This two-day event, held at…