SPEAKERS
We aim to have interesting speakers on a variety of garden related topics.
FIELD TRIPS
We like to go on field trips to gardens both on and off the island. There is an extra cost for these trips if they are off island.
COMMUNITY
We use some of our funds, time and effort to give back to the Mayne Island Community.
NEXT EVENT:
June 20, Three Gardens Tour, details below
UPCOMING: Hanging Flower Basket Sale – June 1st at the Saturday Farmer’s Market, details below
Mayne Island Garden Club Events 2019
A sight for ‘winter weary eyes’. The garden club will car pool to take a tour of the beautiful spring blooms at the Butchart Gardens in Victoria. Tour the gardens at your own speed and whim, but we’ll meet at The Blue Poppy at 11:45 a.m. for lunch together and to compare ‘floral notes’.
A tour of Christina’s Garden is always a treat! An added bonus on this visit, Christina will give a presentation on ‘Planning Ahead’. She will give us food for thought on the whole process of planning our gardens from menu to harvest. Christina’s Garden is located at 340 East West Road. There is some limited car parking at the bottom of the driveway, although parking on the road is recommended. The presentation will start at 1:30 p.m., a Q & A session and tour will follow. Garden Club memberships will be available at the event.
These baskets are full of lovely, colourful, healthy plants and we even have a few pure white-themed baskets for anyone interested (white shows up so beautifully in areas that are a bit shady). These stunning baskets will sell quickly so pop by early for the best selection.
Check out the gallery page for photos of the volunteers preparing the flower baskets in April.
“Little Jewels” is the theme of a special brief mini-tour of little garden gems. Fifteen minute glimpses of the gardens of Libbie Blake, Elisabeth Whitelaw and Nancy de Pfyffer, will be followed by a Pot Luck Picnic Lunch at the Japanese Gardens.
We are delighted to confirm that Brad Jalbert of Select Roses will give a presentation to the Mayne Island Garden Club on Thursday, September 19th, 1:30 p.m. at the Ag Hall. His presentation is entitled “Easy Care Fragrant Roses for Today’s Gardener”. Brad breeds amazing roses that have won awards world wide. He has co-authored two books on roses, written numerous articles in gardening magazines, and won BC Landscape & Nursery Association’s Garden Communicator of the Year. Be sure to circle this date on your calendar.
Our genial Robyn Yeldon will lead our garden club members in a green wreath-making workshop for the holidays. Also on the menu is our annual (and most delicious) Christmas Pot Luck Lunch.
Mayne Island Garden Club Events 2018
As the days warm up, it’s time to think about summer salads and fresh garden tomatoes. Learn about new tomato varieties, potting up, care of your new plants and saving seed from master gardener Kristin Crouch. Kristen as been growing heirloom tomatoes for a seek bank for five years.
Phoenix Perennials is among the first nurseries in Canada to offer new cultivars developed by the best international breeders. Gary will give you the inside track on recent new cutting edge garden plants and talk about where plant breeding is heading in the future. If you love new plants, you won’t want to miss this talk. Gary will be bringing along some of these hot new plants for sale!
FYI – Vancouver Island Rock and Alpine Garden Society Spring Show 2018
Although this will not be a planned Mayne Island Garden Club tour, we can highly recommend you take in the much anticipated VIRAGS show and plant sale on April 20-21, 2018. It will be held at the Cadboro Bay United Church, 2625 Arbutus Road, Victoria. Go to the VIRAGS.com website for complete details.
Judy Lashley of the Lynn Valley Garden Club will lead us through creating attractive pots and small planters. Hypertufa refers to a technique of mixing cement, peat moss, and perlite to create rustic, textured planters that look like natural volcanic rock. The workshop will be held at Home Hardware, who have kindly agreed to provide us space, tables and equipment for the workshop.
There will be a minimum of 6, maximum of 18 participants for this workshop. Cost for materials is $5.00 for members, $10. for non-members. For further details contact Lynda Smyth at lmsmyth@shaw.ca Registration will be required, starting May 1st.
Hope you can pop over to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday June 9th to peruse and hopefully buy one of our beautiful hanging baskets! Lovingly crafted by our own Club members, there are 14 inch and 16 inch as well as a few assorted containers of gorgeous plants that will make a splash on any deck or beside any door. Buy for yourself or as a unique gift for someone (maybe as a Father’s Day present?). The 14 inch baskets are selling for a minimum of $35 and the 16 inch for a minimum of $45.
Two wonderful farm gardens to tour, and both our hosts are open to your questions on growing supreme vegetables! Meet at 1:15 p.m. at master gardener Linda Beer’s farm, 540 Fernhill (outside the barn), for a guided tour of Linda’s market garden operation. We will pause for a brief “tailgate tea break”, before heading to Hardscrabble Farm for a tour hosted by Amber Albrecht. We will allow approximately one hour per visit. If possible, we’re suggesting carpooling with friends, to keep the number of cars to a minimum. Open to members and guests … no charge.
Bring your favourite dish to share, and we will dine ‘al fresco’ on the patio of the Ag Hall. Garden Club Chair, Julie Schueck, will give an informative presentation on “What the Judges Look For” when it comes to prize veggies and flowers. Just in time to prepare for the Mayne Island Fall Fair!
Grab your sunhat for an autumn treat in Victoria that has been planned for garden club members. Car pooling, we’ll head out on the early morning ferry to Swartz Bay, and visit the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific. We’ll visit these lovely gardens from 9 – 11:30 a.m., and have a bite of lunch at their little cafe, Charlotte & the Quail. Afterwards our group will carry on to Russell Nursery on Wain Road near Swartz Bay, where we’ll have time to browse their terrific Fall Sale for some great bargains, and to have a short presentation on fall gardening from owner, Laurel Rassenti. The day wraps up with a leisurely ferry ride home to Mayne Island in time for dinner.
We are pleased to have Bob Duncan of Fruit Trees and More Nursery & Demonstration Orchard in North Saanich give a presentation to the Mayne Island Garden Club on Growing Citrus and Sub-tropical Fruit Trees in South Coastal B.C. Who knew?! Who knew we could grow lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit, kumquats, yuzu, sudachi, avocado, pineapple guava, pomegranates and loquats on Mayne Island! He will cover the selection, planting, care, harvesting of fruit, pruning, and wintering of these exotic trees.
Bob and his wife, Verna, will bring along a small variety of trees for sale, as well as homemade marmalade.
Our wrap up for the year will be the traditional scrumptious Christmas potluck to be held at noon at the Ag Hall. Our special guest will be Mark Dickerson of Garden Coach Solutions in Victoria. He will demonstrate how to create attractive seasonal outdoor planters that can be transformed for the festive season and later for spring. You’ll head home inspired to spruce up your doorway for the winter!
Mark develops and grows succulent plants as well, and he will have an assortment available for purchase at the meeting.
Mayne Island Garden Club Events 2017
January 2017 – No meeting
February 11, 2017 (Saturday) – Participation in “Seedy Saturday” 12:30-4:00pm at Ag Hall
March 20, 2017 (Monday) – Brian Crumblehulme, Presentation on Growing Herbs – 1:30pm at Ag Hall
Brian Crumblehulme is an energetic gardener who moved to Mayne Island in 1978, starting the first commercial herb garden in the Gulf Islands. His vast horticultural experience and entertaining style finds him in great demand for presentations and newspaper articles.
April 2017 – April 21 – 23 (Fri, Sat, Sun) – Participation in The Active Pass Festival
May 15, 2017 (Monday) – Kristin Crouch – Create a Year Round Successful Kitchen Garden – 1:30 pm at Firehall Meeting Room; please note change of venue!
Kristin Crouch is a passionate 25 year master gardener, active in promoting community gardens and garden education. She currently blogs on her website ThatBloominGarden.com , and writes for several newspapers and magazines.
June 19, 2017 (Monday) – Field Trip to Vancouver! We will be privileged to tour the personal garden of Claude LeDoux, considered “an urban sanctuary in New Westminster” by B.C. Living Magazine. Claude, Parks Horticulture Manager, New Westminster, will then give us a guided tour of landscaping development sites in Glen Brook Ravine and Queen’s Park. After a tailgate picnic lunch, we will head to prestigious Select Roses Nursery. Owner Brad Jalbert will give a special presentation on roses, after which we will be able to browse and make purchases. We catch the evening ferry back to Mayne. Car pool arrangements will be organized for the day trip. Further information to be posted at a later date. Please respond to Julie ASAP!
July 17, 2017 (Monday) – Garden Club Al Fresco Luncheon at Robyn and Ellen’s place (756 Kippen). Eleanor and Allan Evans have kindly agreed to a tour of their beautiful garden prior to the luncheon. Garden Club members are invited to come to their place at 721 Wilks at about 11 am, then depart just before noon to carry on to the luncheon. Stay tuned for more information.
August 2017 – No meeting
September 18, 2017 (Monday) – Linda Beer – The Garden in Autumn – 1:30pm at the Firehall – note change of venue
There is a cornucopia of pleasant tasks to keep a gardener occupied throughout the fall. Linda Beer will be sharing information on what she is harvesting, and what she does to ensure her garden is prepared for winter. Enjoy and informative mini seminar on seed saving, sowing garlic, lazy winter greens, early spring sowing and preserving the harvest.
Linda Beer is a well known Mayne Island Organic Master Gardener, and provides very entertaining and knowledgeable presentations on various garden topics.
October 16, 2017 (Monday) – John Eckfeldt – Micro-Irrigation Systems – 1:30 at the CHURCH HOUSE on GEORGINA POINT ROAD – Note New change of venue
Tired of watering by hand? Come find out about irrigation systems for your garden. John Eckfeldt of Pender Island will display and discuss irrigation equipment, drip versus spray, in gravity systems, or using pumps, how to lay it all out, setting up with control systems and timers…
November 20, 2017 (Monday) – Christmas Pot Luck Lunch at noon at Ag Hall, with guest speaker Paul Spriggs speaking at one
For the potluck, please bring along food to share, either for lunch or dessert (with serving utensil), and your own dishes and cutlery. You are welcome to attend if you are not a member, please also bring a dish for potluck (if arriving for lunch and not only the speaker) and consider making a donation at the door or signing up for 2018. We will be accepting membership payment for 2018 at this meeting.
Paul Spriggs is an avid rock gardener, plant explorer, photographer and mountaineer, owner of Spriggs Gardens Landscaping Company, and current VP of Vancouver Island Rock and Alpine Garden Society. Paul specializes in a new style of rock gardening called Crevice Gardening, having learned from some of the European innovators of the style. He has a passion for all wild plants, especially those of dwarf stature. His talk will focus on the basics of rock and crevice gardening, with the hopes of converting some members from regular gardeners into rock gardeners!
December 2017 – No meeting