It’s time once again for our fabulous Annual Plant Sale!

Start your seedlings, divide overgrown plants and share any surpluses you may have. Specialty plants are always welcome. Your donations will find a happy home in someone’s garden.

All proceeds from this major fundraiser support Bowen Island Garden Club programs.

If you are selling you must come early to set-up your plants on a table. You must manage the table during the sale. If you are not able to sell your own plants, please contact us and we will include them with another seller’s table.

TO KEEP EVERYTHING AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE:

• If you are selling your own plants, please bring your own table. You can also put plants on the ground or on a tarp.

• Label each plant with the name and price.

• We will process payments for the plants at a separate table.

• The sale will go ahead rain or shine. Umbrellas or canopies are helpful if it rains.

• You are responsible for removing your unsold plants after the sale.

Hi, my name is Jack Oostenbrink and I, with my family, operate a garden store called Fruits and Shoots Plant Farm, a boutique nursery in Chilliwack. The plant farm has a curated selection of edible plants (some unusual and hard to find), and a broad range of ornamental perennials and grasses, mostly grown on site.  When I'm not working with plants on the farm,  I am designing gardens for nature lovers in BC and beyond.   

I am excited to be sharing my experience in edible landscape design and permaculture at your February 17 garden club meeting.  It is a very broad topic so I will break it up into three heads.  I plan to begin with speaking about designing and planning edible gardens and how you can incorporate edibles into your landscapes.  Next, I will demonstrate some pruning techniques including how to train espalier and cordons for small space gardens.  Finally, I hope to conclude with some of my experiences in reducing pest pressure using natural and organic methods.

“This talk focused on tough, low maintenance plants that have sailed through both record wet/ cold and record hot/dry seasons in my two-acre Oregon garden, USDA zone 8a. As I worked for Joy Creek Nursery for several years and currently work for Cistus Nursery, my access to an amazing array of plant material with which to experiment is extensive.

“The presentation highlighted what has worked well and is both beautiful and tough. I also discussed winning strategies to cope with drought and winter damage issues. As native plants are a passion of mine there were selections from this category. As always, our aim is to garden not only for ourselves but for the chickadees, the butterflies, the bees, the frogs and all the critters that call our garden home.

Immediately after Tamara’s presentation, we showed a video presentation of footage from last August's Open Garden at the home of Steve Rosell and Chris Staples on Mt. Gardiner Rd.  The video combines glimpses of the garden and beautiful setting with owner interviews and chats with club members who were there.  If you missed this spectacular waterfront garden this was a chance to see it as well as hear what people who were there had to say. 

Click to watch the video on YouTube.

Glenn Lewis is a renowned artist, educator, and arts administrator from Vancouver, with expertise in various art forms, including pottery, sculpture, photography, video, and conceptual and performance art. He studied at the Vancouver School of Art, was a prominent figure in the avant-garde scene, and later became Head of Media Arts at the Canada Council. In addition to his work in the arts, Glenn also researched gardens around the world during the 70s and 80s, exploring their elements as paradise. In the 90s, he founded The Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden, and this talk will focus on his exploration of gardens as a universal concept and their symbolic stages as an allegory of the cycles of life.

Paul’s presentation touched on history and inspiration, design and construction, and of course some beautiful photographs of the plants best suited to this bold and adventurous style of gardening.

The high 80s in May? Watering in late October? It feels like each year we are hit with new climate records and garden design challenges. In Del’s presentation, water conservation was discussed, including different gardening practices to grow plants that prefer drier conditions. Del drew on his experience gardening at the Elisabeth Miller Botanical Garden and in his low-water home garden. The Miller Garden is by no means a low-water garden, but it does have a backbone of climate-adapted plants from the native trees, shrubs and groundcovers of the upper woodland to the Mediterranean and southern hemisphere native plants which help add interest throughout the whole year.

Sunday, June 12th the AGM was held in a meadow garden with opportunity to explore the gardens and socialize.

Soil Testing: What It Can Tell Us About Our Garden Soils with soil scientist Jo Tobias

Update July 2022: A recording of Jo’s presentation and the presentation slides can be found under ‘Educational Information’ in the Resources tab.

Zoom presentation, 7PM Tuesday May 31st

Do the plants in your garden look like they are struggling? How do you know if the soil in your garden is healthy? Do you wonder whether you should add something to the soil to help improve it? Soil scientist, Jo Tobias, will be the Garden Club’s next guest speaker. She will conduct microscopic biological analysis of soil samples collected from three garden sites on Bowen Island. Using that information, together with the results of soil chemistry tests, she will present her overall assessments to the Garden Club. Jo will discuss what defines a healthy soil, the current state of the soil at each of the three garden test sites, and any remediation that would help make those soils more productive. 

This presentation is available for garden club members only. For information on membership go to www.bowenislandgardenclub.ca

Bowen Island Garden Club Plant Sale

The Garden Club is holding its 2022 plant sale on Saturday May 28th, from 10 a.m. to Noon, in the Legion parking lot. This is the Club’s major fundraiser. Only cash or cheque accepted for payment. We hope to see you there.

Gordon started in the craft of horticulture as a young teen, working in urban gardens in and around Glasgow under the direction if his father, a professional horticulturist. He attended the two year program at Threave School of Gardening in southwest Scotland where plant propagation, arboriculture and alpine plants soon became huge sources of interest. This led to a further three years at Pershore College of Horticulture in the Nursery Stock production program.

Still with an interest in plants and propagation, Gordon has always been drawn to the world of arboriculture and he feels fortunate to be able to fulfill this ambition; the majority of his work in now in pruning fruit trees. Now living on Vancouver Island, he also teaches at the Pacific Horticulture College in Victoria. Gordon is an avid beekeeper and self-confessed collector/hoarder of dwarf conifers and alpines.

Gordon’s presentation included:

• Winter versus summer pruning

• Why we winter prune: apples and pears are our focus

• The cuts explained: tip prune, reduction cut, spur prune and removal cut

• Introduction to Compartmentalization of decay trees (CODIT)

• Tree forms eg. tall spindle, espalier, step over etc.

• How much should we prune and when do we know when to stop?•

Gordon showed lots of images of poor pruning versus good pruning, how to avoid the pitfalls of poor pruning and some myth busting mixed in. He covered an intro. to the CODIT system which is important to mention with regards to fruit trees, and also mentioned Alex Shigo and his work on this tree decay model.

He also discussed a few of the main pest and disease problems on fruit trees on the coast, along with mentioning the various rootstocks used which will determine the mature size of your apple or pear tree.

Did you know it can be too hot for tomatoes? Is your soil too acidic for beets? Linda Gilkeson will give the Garden Club a Zoom presentation on Monday, January 17 at 7 p.m. which will cover how plants actually 'work', what stresses them and what they need, from nutrients and microbes in the soil to irrigation and protection from temperature extremes. You will learn what causes growth disorders and how to prevent them, including premature flowering, blossom end rot, button heads, sunscald and other other problems caused by poor growing conditions.

Linda Gilkeson, author of “Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest”, has a Ph.D. in Entomology from McGill University and is a keen organic gardener with over 30 years of gardening experience on the West Coast. She is a regular instructor in Master Gardener programs and gives courses and workshop on organic gardening and pest management.

This is a Zoom presentation open only to members of the Bowen Island Garden Club

For information on membership, go to www.bowenislandgardenclub.ca

In the dry summer drought do you ever think about all the rain that falls on Bowen most of the year? Have you ever considered water collection and water conservation?

Please join the Garden Club on Monday, November 15th at 7 p.m. for the second in our "Home Grown" speakers series. Doug Elliott and Cathy Robertson explore seven different Bowen Island gardens and ask their gardeners how they collect and conserve water. Garden Club members David and Aubin van Berckel, Peggy Blackwood, Phil Gregory, David and Ainslie Manson, Virginia Penny, the Vyner family, as well as Doug Elliott, showcase their methods of collecting water, ranging from large tanks to drip irrigation to regenerative agriculture. Following the 20-minute video there will be a brief Q and A period where you can ask the owners questions and get ideas. All of this from the comfort of your own home via the magic of ZOOM!

Your garden is home to many kinds of beneficial insects that pollinate your flowers, control pests and enrich your soils. Bowen Island naturalist Will Husby will share some of his prize winning photos and share some stories of the tiny creatures that help you create beautiful and bountiful gardens

Over the summer months, the BC Council for Garden Clubs presented '“Gabbing About Gardening” Zoom Gatherings. The Garden Teacher for August is Gordon MacKay, Professional Arborist & Pruning Expert.

In this presentation, we learned all about:

1. How to summer-prune your fruit trees.

2. When to summer prune for best results.

3. Why summer pruning is useful.

4. Which trees respond best to summer pruning.

About Gordon MacKay

Gordon started in the craft of horticulture as a young teen working in urban gardens in and around the Glasgow area under the direction of his father, a professional horticulturist.

A further pre-college year at Scotland’s largest retail garden centre was further inspiration to follow in his father’s footsteps and attend the two-year program at Threave School of Gardening in southwest Scotland. He felt privileged to be under the tutelage of Threave head gardener, Magnus Ramsay, and plant propagation, arboriculture and alpine plants soon became huge sources of interest.This led to a further three years at Pershore College of Horticulture in the nursery stock production program.

Still with an interest in plants and propagation, Gordon has always been drawn to the world of arboriculture and he feels fortunate to be able to fulfill this ambition; the majority of his work is now in pruning fruit trees.

He also teaches at the Pacific Horticulture College in Victoria and is on the relief staff as part of the Horticulture Therapy Program at Providence Farm.

Gordon is an avid beekeeper and self-confessed collector/hoarder of dwarf conifers and other unusual and unattainable plants!

The Bowen Island Municipality held a "Climate Conversation" in collaboration with the Bowen Island Garden Club, on the topic of water conservation innovation. One of the speakers was our very own Kathy Leishman who provided some practical gardening ideas for water conservation. Another Bowenian, Kim Stephens, from the Partnership for Water Sustainability also spoke.

We were excited about our first in person Open Garden since 2019! Kathy and David Leishman kindly offered their lovely seaside garden for us to visit.

Kathy says “Our garden has developed into two areas, with each having a different focus. The seaside area was planned to be drought tolerant and deer resistant, and has certainly been the most interesting area. Lots of testing and learning going on, even after 23 years! Right now we look out onto a relaxed and seedy space, punctuated by evergreen shrubs like Ceanothus. It’s buzzing with bees, who are still happy to forage amongst the lavender and Teucrium, and the Buddleia is still attracting swallowtail butterflies.”

“The north side of the house is fenced, and more conventional in planting. I’ve collected a range of plants which thrive under the canopy of the firs: Hebes, Olearias, Camellias, and small ground covers like Saxifragas, hardy Begonias.”

Bowen Island Garden Club was delighted to welcome Brian Minter into our homes.  Brian spoke about the current thinking of gardeners today: how we can work toward the best outcomes in our gardens and our environment.

This was the first in our "Home Grown" speakers series, starring five Bowen gardeners: Doug Elliott, Cathy Buchanan, Marcel Bally, Rafal and Diana Izdebski, and David and Aubin van Berckel. Each gardener produced a short video in which they showcase their greenhouse, talked about design, how they use them, and why they were built the way they are.