Flowers! An Icebreaker.

Poster By Alvesgaspar, Tony Wills (10) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

My friend, an exasperated groom, once remarked, "There's no ugly flower!"  This did not help his bride-to-be choose her bouquet, because though none are ugly, there are certainly more beautiful ones in the eye of the beholder.

At last meeting, we found out just which flower struck each member's fancy. 

Here's our list with some online photos. 

Enjoy these blooms as we head through icy times.

• Daisies

• Siberian Iris

Siberian Irises from Canadian Iris Society

• Lilies

• Milkweed

• Peonies

• Poppies

• Old English Roses

Can you match the member (Dionne, Erica, Janice, Lana, Lori, Margaret, Vivianne) with their floral favourite?

Lilies from 2009 Lily Festival By Shahnoor Habib Munmun - Own work, CC BY 3.0 

Monarch butterflies on Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca from Make Way for Monarchs

'First Lady' peonies by Tracy Cox from Canadian Gardening "Peonies on Parade"

Icelandic Poppies from Decor8 blog

"Golden Celebration" from David Austen Fragrant English Roses

Soil Carbon Cowboys

Plant diversity, carbon capture, soil, and ranching?  All linked with pollinators too!  Vivianne had us intrigued at our last meeting when she talked about "Soil Carbon Cowboys".

Here's the video:

SOIL CARBON COWBOYS from Peter Byck on Vimeo.

The whole thing is fascinating.  For more on how this can transform the way we combat climate change, read Fast Company's article "Restoring Global Soil Quality Is One Of the Best Things We Can Do For Climate Change"

Thanks for sharing, Vivianne!

January - For the Birds

January's meeting kick-started event and activity planning for the year.  Exciting things are certainly ahead!  

After sharing our ideas for themes and possible tours, we created pine cone bird feeders.


Lori brought the supplies (along with some treats for us!):

- Pine cones
- String
- Unsalted peanut butter and lard mixture (2:1)
- Knife or spoon for application
- Plates and plastic bags for transport  

We then:
1. Tied string to the pine cone
2. Dipped the pine cone into the unsalted peanut butter and lard mix, and used a butter knife to get more into the cracks
3. Set the coated pine cone onto a plate and placed it outside in the cold to set

After another cup of tea... voila!  Our bird feeders were done.

The whole craft was easy and fun to make (only slightly messy).  And a perfect treat for all the birds we've been seeing out and about!



Have you a variation on this simple bird feeder?  Send in your stories and photos.

Celebrate the Season - Final meeting of 2015

Festive wear and festive treats helped us to ring out the Club's year. 

Audrey and Barry hosted us in their beautiful home.  We spoiled each other with holiday baking and other goodies to share. 

A quick recap of our year revealed just how busy we've been as a club and soon we were talking again about plants and our garden plans for the new year.

Until our next meeting (check our events calendar here) : Happy Holidays!   

(Below: One way to preserve the harvest into winter -- delicious root vegetable chips!)

Community Gardeners Mix & Mingle

Join the conversations at this informal session. . Get the information you are looking for, from people who have experienced building a garden from start to finish.

Local community gardeners, COE and Sustainable Food Edmonton staff will be available to answer your questions on a variety of topics including:

• Get started 
• Core Group Organization 
• Volunteer & Time raising 
• Funding/Grant Applications 
• City Process 
• Community Partnerships 
• Community Engagement 
• Safety Benefits from gardens 
• Tour of the Sunshine Garden 
• Composting

WHERE: Fulton Place Community Hall, 6115 Fulton Drive
WHEN: 6:30 pm—8:00 pm, Monday, November 30th  

Light Refreshments served

RSVP by November 26th to rufaro.munetsi@edmonton.ca or call 780 496 5857

Arranged by The City of Edmonton, Sustainable Food Edmonton and the Fulton Place Sunshine Community Garden

Doug Muir of Mystic Wild Craft: Local Artist at Work

Out of sight, in the backyard of a Highlands home is an open air wood workshop.  It is here where Doug Muir of Mystic Wild Craft takes reclaimed wood and uncovers wooden faces and sculptures. 

He graciously let Highlands Garden Club members tour his work space and answered our eager questions about his art and process. 

Some completed pieces were able for sale, and knowing that each one was varnished and weather-proof (perfect for outdoor display) Club members happily adopted some for their gardens.  (Below: See some of the friends we made!)

A more detailed account of his work and our visit will feature in a future Highlands / Bellevue Highlights. Keep your eyes open! 

Side note: Doug is also a carpenter by day.  Give him a call if you need a bespoke wood piece for your garden or home. 

2015 Community League Day

Community League Day started a bit chilly and quiet, but as the weather warmed, more people came out to Highlands Park to visit the community clubs' and vendors' booths.

The Highlands Garden Club table was a hit!

The Club gave away "seed bombs" (seed packets of Margaret's Mystery Garden Flower Mix) and plants divided from Audrey and Margaret's gardens.

People were excited about the giveaways and stuck around to chat about gardening and bees!  We were proud to show people the beautiful plants we could grow in the area without using pesticides.

It was a fun day and we hope to see more of these faces from the community at our next events soon!

A bouquet of Margaret's garden flowers.