Richmond Garden Club

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1 Richmond Garden Club Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Welcome Winter Solstice Mark your calendars December 1 - January 7, 2018: VanDusen Festival of Lights. For more information visit December 12-20th, 2017: Happy Hanukkah December 16, 2017: Longest Night, Richmond Nature Park, 11am-4pm, create lanterns to light up the night, New! Jingle Bell Market, purchase naturerelated gifts from local artisans and vendors. December 25, 2017: Merry Christmas President s message As the door begins to close on our Canada 150 celebration year, it is a great time to reflect on our contributions to this amazing celebration! Kicking off the year, Richmond Garden Club partnered with Peace Labyrinth at St Albans and was awarded almost $10,000 with a combined grant from the City of Richmond and a federal grant. The project entailed creating a garden around an existing untended brick labyrinth to marry the beautiful existing mural on the wall of the church. The project was slow to start because of the very late spring. We started with digging up a very unhealthy lawn filled with chafer beetles to our final product this fall of a space filled with drought resistant plants, 100+ spring bulbs, columnar richmondgardenclub@gmail.com 1

2 beech trees, a gurgler water feature, huge boulders adding seating options and two church inspired arbours! There will be a press release of the partnership in the near future. Winter garden container recipe In a large mixing bowl.just a minute in a large rectangle outdoor pot, fill with organic potting soil, making sure the pot has proper drainage. Plant a dwarf golden spruce right in the middle of your pot. Take two luscious pink winterflowering heathers and plant them at either end. On either side of the golden spruce, plant two blue-green coloured dwarf conifers. In front and in the back of the golden spruce, plant pretty pinkypurple flowering cabbage. Now fill the rest of your container with purple and yellow winter pansies. Be generous. Do not plant too deep. Protect against wind and rain. Water when the soil dries out. Provide as much sunlight as possible. ( ) Feeds your soul through the long dreary winter months. The folks at Richmond Public Library approached us to help create gardening education series for the community. There was some doubt from the Library whether these sessions would be accepted by the community. It has been an overwhelming success. Richmond Public Library, under the umbrella of the City of Richmond, Sustainability & Environment, has expanded the program to include a variety of speakers. We are continuing to contribute each month in In June, we held a successful city-wide garden tour. We partnered with the City of Richmond as part of Canada 150, showcasing 7 beautiful residential gardens and Paulik Park gardens. Other Canada 150 initiatives included: British garden writer, designer Noel Kingsbury presentation Steveston Salmon Festival, Horticultural Show, free booth HarvestFest, free booth What a year! Many of our amazing partnerships created this year will continue into Richmond Public Library garden series, Steveston Horticultural Show, HarvestFest. Stellar s Jay This fall, while working in the gardens at Paulik Park, a strange bird call drifted through the park sounding like an old-fashioned pump handle. We caught glimpses of bright blue as the birds landed closer to where we were working. They loved when we turned over soil. To our delight, we have attracted a flock of Stellar s Jays. richmondgardenclub@gmail.com 2

3 December 2017 November 29, 2017 They are extremely brave now, covorting on the ground with the local squirrels and sitting in trees close by us to tell us to find worms. Steller s Jays primarily live in coniferous forests and in low to moderate elevations. They are apparently quite common in residential and agricultural areas. They can be found in the western half of North America from as far north as Alaska and down to the northern part of Nicaragua. They typically live in flocks of greater than 10 individuals. In autumn, they love to visit oak woods when acorns ripen. Their diet consists of 2/3 s plant matter and 1/3 animal matter. Along with seeds, nuts and berries they also will eat small reptiles. Steller s Jays can be attracted to your backyard feeder with black-oil sunflower seeds, whole raw peanuts (their favourite!) and suet in the winter season. This delightful entertaining bird, who has taken up residency in Paulik Park, is also the provincial bird of British Columbia! November Garden Club contest winners We had a contest for our members to guess what plant we saw blooming in VanDusen Botanical Gardens late October. Cleone Brown ( winner) and Betty Reilly (mail winner) correctly guessed Nerine bowdenii (Guernsey lily). Betty had many of these beautiful graceful flowers just at the end of their blooming in her front yard when her prize was dropped off! In June, pick up dormant bulbs and pot them up in gritty compost. Leave one third of the bulb showing out of the compost in a 3 inch pot. In September, begin weekly watering. The flower spikes emerge in October but take care not to overwater. Feed the plants every two weeks and keep them frost free. Dormancy actually begins in April when the leaves die back. Watering should cease then, and the leaves removed. A single watering at the end of July should richmondgardenclub@gmail.com 3

4 December 2017 November 29, 2017 be enough until September. Repot when needed, usually between May and August. Congratulations Betty and Cleone! Watch for more contests in the near future. Ginkgo biloba One of our most favourite trees in Paulik Park, the ginkgo tree or the maidenhair tree, is the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta, with all others being extinct. The leaves of our tree can be found in fossils dating back 270 million years. Gingkos are large trees reaching a height of feet. It is deeply rooted and resistant to wind. In the fall, the leaves turn a brilliant stunning yellow! It can be seen vividly from Heather Street in Paulik. richmondgardenclub@gmail.com 4

5 Remember to visit our website often to find out about upcoming events, photos and other information - On behalf of the Richmond Garden Club, we would like to wish you Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and all the best of the season. richmondgardenclub@gmail.com 5