Don't sleep the summer away! Come out to the engaging and informative talks at the Means of Production Garden! This summer MOPARRC has partnered with Evergreen to give some fabulous talks at our garden. We've had two so far and there are two more to come. They are informal, in depth talks with plenty of opportunity for dialogue, so to tempt you to come to our August talks, I will present some sneek peeks at what's gone on so far.
(BTW this is a mystery plant that's popped up in one of our beds. Anyone have any idea what it is? It's sprawling and over five feet tall.)
Erin, a student intern from Evergreen presented a talk on growing your own sprouts at home and she brought us some tasty treats and the recipes.
This is the correct angle to tip the jar while growing your sprouts.
This was a delicious sprouted hummus we got to try. We also sampled some incredible bliss balls made with sprouted almonds. Helen from Evergreen is going to be blogging in depth about the talks, so I will post a link to those blog posts soon.
The talks are from 6-8 pm in the garden and people are encouraged to bring a picnic supper if they like.
Those who come early can pick ripe berries from the garden!
You can watch the summer mason bees carry mud and pollen to their condos.
You can relax to the sound of the honeybees in the blossoms.
Last week we had a fantastic presentation by Todd DeVries who is an accomplished cedar weaver.
Todd told us about his journey of discovering his art through a special vision and meeting other weavers and Haida elders.
I gave him some New Zealand flax from the garden and he quickly braided it and twisted it into a small rope.
Hats take about a month to make, and are finished in unique ways that are a part of the artisan's and the tribe's signature.
This hat was made with two contrasting tones of cedar.
I love this contemporary application for an ancient skill--the water bottle holder.
As I walked home from Todd's talk I took some photos of the linden trees blooming on Broadway while a crow warned me away from her nest.
There you go! Now don't miss our final two talks:
August 4, 6-8 pm, MOP Garden
Travis Warren Landscape designer Travis Warren will be discussing ways of increasing habitat for birds through plant choices, what different bird species add to biodiversity and how to foster a variety of birds in backyards and community gardens
Aug. 11, 6-8 pm, MOP Garden
A Greener Vancouver – Native Plants and Creative Restoration: Stephanie Levy, Project Manager at Evergreen, will give a presentation on the native plants of Lower Mainland, the creative solutions Evergreen has used as part of its restoration work, and provide some thoughts on how to make Vancouver a greener city.
This past Thursday evening as the August sun was creating patterns of shadown in the MOP Garden, we had the final talk in a series created between MOPARRC and Evergreen. The speaker was Andrew Appleton, who is the Regional Project Manager of Evergreen in Vancouver. Evergreen is an organization that creates, supports and implements urban greening projects and school greening projects. Andrew has years of experience ripping out invasive species and planting native plants in areas such as Jericho Park, and Still Creek in the Grandview cut. He gave us some great advice on which native plants good to plant inVancouver and how to deal with some of those nasty invasive species in our gardens.
First of all, Andrew explained that it takes about three years to establish many native plants. In the first years they may look less than robust, but you just have to have patience and faith that they will eventually look healthy. Of course, you have to match the plant with the right location in your garden, and sometimes even a couple of feet can make all the difference. Evergreen seeks to plant small areas with a diversity of species, a community of plants that work well together to promote biodiversity.
With the help of volunteers from the community they install shade plants, flowers and berries, bushes and trees. Some favorites include Red Flowering Currant (be sure you get the native Ribes sanguineum as the nurseries will only have cultivars in stock), Mock Orange (Philadelphus lewisii), Pacific Ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus), Oval Leaf Blueberries, Red Osier Dogwood, Rosa nutkana and bald-hipped roses (Rosa gymnocarpa). The three most popular ground covers are Fringe Cup (Tellumia), Piggy Back Plant (Tolmea) and Foam Flower (Tiarella).
For some of the troublesome invasive plants such as lamium and goutweed, Andrew recommends putting down sheet mulch--cardboard or paper and bark mulch and digging right through those layers to do your planting. Some of the more tenacious plants like broom require special treatment--removal with root wrenches and vigilant removal of any seedlings because the seeds are viable for up to 30 years. One of the plants that was just declared a noxious weed is yellow flag iris, a European transplant that colonizes bogs with its huge root systems. Evergreen holds work parties where volunteers don rubber boots and dig out the iris rhizomes.
Once native plants are established they require less water and care than exotic plants and they support the native birds, insects and specific pollinators. Urban environments often contain a variety of cultivars which often contribute to biodiversity, but a wide variety of native plants makes for healthier city ecosystems. Climate changes mean that Andrew keeps an eye on the micro-climates Evergreen targets for their restoration projects. He says they no longer plant Red Cedar, our provincial tree because it has become generally too dry to have a successful survival rate here. Andrew also took a look at the native garden at the MOP. One plant that he says is not doing too well because it needs more water is our elderberry tree but our Arbutus tree and Ocean Spray (holodiscus) are thriving.
Evergreen works with the community and they are always looking for volunteers. They also work with offices and businesses to create team-building exercises with their urban greening projects. If you are interesting in helping out, check out the Evergreen BC web site. The best way to get a free education is to volunteer. It's good exercise and you can think of it as a form of horticultural therapy! Evergreen supplies the tools and snacks. In fact you can come to Jericho Park this Sunday (August 13) to lend a hand from 9 am to noon.
