Lesley Shepherd will discuss how to analyze your garden and adapt or tweak it to suit your lifestyle and gardening habits. October sees the start of the ‘real’ gardening season on the Lower Island, and many projects you can do over the winter months will make your garden healthier, more water efficient, and easier to… Read more »

Rob Cannings, Curator Emeritus of Entomology at the Royal British Columbia Museum, reveals the value and delight of water — ponds, streams and smaller features — in a small local garden. Rob focuses mainly on insects that water attracts and supports, especially dragonflies and damselflies, but for good measure, includes butterflies, birds and other creatures.… Read more »

Here is Lynda’s Edible Flower List. Nancy’s instructions for Cement Garden Art. VHS Member Lynda Dowling, owner of the Happy Valley Lavender and Herb Farm, provides tips and hints on adding edible crops to ornamental gardens. Lynda shows how to have both blooms and beans with plant combinations boosting productivity. Here is Lynda’s Edible Flower List.… Read more »

May’s speaker is Master Gardener Nancy Keehr. Nancy will discuss a project to identify, inventory, and document the collection in the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific’s new Bonsai Garden. The site, one of only two bonsai gardens in Canada, is the nation’s largest in both area and number of specimens (53 plus). Nancy will explore… Read more »

Our April Speaker is Elizabeth Cull, owner of Dig This—Oak Bay (1990 Oak Bay Ave 250 598 0802) and now the Pacific Horticultural Centre gift shop. Elizabeth will discuss: selecting the latest lightweight containers; creating complete vegetable gardens on patios & balconies; and designing ornamental containers that never fail to impress. The passionate self-taught gardener… Read more »

Bob & Verna Duncan, owners of Fruit Trees and More, discuss stone fruits—apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches, & plums. Mr. Duncan has 40 years’ experience growing fruit trees on Vancouver Island, and 35 years’ experience with the Canadian Forest Service. The trained botanist/entomologist, with wife Verna, cultivates a demonstration orchard and specialty nursery with over 400… Read more »

Rachelle McElroy from the Coastal Invasive Species Committee will survey the host of beautiful, but environmentally destructive, species home gardeners have introduced into landscapes for decades. These invasive species include terrestrial, semi-aquatic, and aquatic plants. Alternative choices, both native and non-native, in the Grow Me Instead program, will be considered. In the case of popular… Read more »

December’s meeting is our Christmas Event—no Pre-meeting Workshop. The guest speaker (back by popular demand) is stand-up florist and comic, Rob Jennings. Rob will entertain us with amusing but informative decoration-making demonstrations. Visit this talented florist at Jennings Florists Home & Garden www. jenningsflorists.com A variety of Awards—including the Whiteoak Trophy, Unsung Hero, and Open… Read more »

Annual General Meeting The VHS is looking for new members for the Executive – five new members are needed. Please contact president@ vichortsociety.org to volunteer or for more information. The new executive for 2014 will be elected during the AGM. SPEAKER: Lorian Roberts, “Art of Ikebana”. Lorian Roberts, is a local Ikebana artist and teacher… Read more »