Top 10 Tough Perennials for Alberta Gardens
A backyard garden space can be elevated to the next level with hardy perennials for Alberta and it’s difficult climate. Perennials are plants that come back year after year. While annual flowering baskets and planters can bring instant colour and pizzaz – perennials build structure and interest in the shoulder seasons as well. The two […]
Growing Peonies: An Easy Care Gardening Guide
About Peony Plants Peonies are iconic garden plants that have been in cultivation since the time of Confucius. There are approximately 33 known species of this favored garden staple! Peonies were originally cultivated for medicinal purposes and for flavouring foods like tea or salads but modern gardeners are growing peonies for their outrageously stunning and […]
Plant List: Plants Deer Choose Last
Deer – one of the most challenging garden pests to control. While some gardener’s have found success using deterrents like PlantSkydd or Bobbex, those solutions require diligence, and they come with their own downside (um, no one loves the smell). For a more ‘natural’ approach, many gardener’s choose to design their yards with trees and […]
Bug Series: How to Deal With Slugs
Let’s be honest, it’s not awesome when you reach down to gently pluck a new leaf from your lettuce plant and you end up with a handful of gooey slug-mush instead. Slugs typically aren’t a gardening-favourite, but these icky molluscs are easy to deal with, and usually not the end of the world. Why They’re […]
Bug Series: How to Deal With Birch Leaf Miner
Ah yes, the enemy of the Birch Tree! These crafty little larvae are originally native to Europe, but migrated to certain parts of Canada sometime in the mid-1900’s. Most entomologists agree that it’s not reasonable to expect the eradication of Birch Leaf Miner here in Canada, but many of our own native species have adapted […]
How to Properly Plant Trees & Shrubs
Don’t have time to read all the words? The quick and dirty: Dig the hole no deeper than the root mass and 1.5 – 2 times as wide. Place the plant in the center of the hole. Back fill with amended soil. Add some form of nutrients or fertilizer. Water really well! (You want water […]
Growing Vegetables in Cochrane and Seed Starting Tips
Time to start thinking about what will be growing in our gardens this year. We get a lot of similar questions around different types of seeds, i.e. GMO, organic, heirloom, etc. as well as what grows well here in Alberta. At this point we have received all our seeds for the 2018 gardening season. All […]
