Calgary Garden Coach

some of the winning gardens in the Calgary Hort Society garden competition

I had a lovely day yesterday viewing some of the gardens in the Hort Society's annual competition.  As usual, I am humbled by other people's gardening creativity!!  Will post some pictures soon...

--

And here finally, here they are! 

These are only a few pictures from the Huitema garden which won 1st for Perennial Garden, 1st for Water-Wise Garden, and 2nd for Plant Lover's Garden.  All I can say is, wow!  A deck, gazebo, pond, vegetable garden, multiple seating areas, and a front and back yard jam-packed with plants.  I can only hope that in 10 more years my garden will be as nice...

The Keith garden won 2nd for Novice Small Garden.  What I liked most were the greenhouse lean-to's built on the south-side of their garage.  What a great idea!  With hard, clear plastic on top, and plastic sheets that can roll up on the side, this seems like a totally easy way to extend the growing season by a few months.  I must put this on my project list...

The Hogg garden won 3rd for Open Mid-Size garden.  I was very impressed and inspired by all the creative touches added to this garden - an artist definitely lives here!  Left to right, top to bottom: crossing paths cut into the front lawn complete with archways; the arches from a different viewpoint; a very cute little hideaway in the back corner of the yard; a wall made of trellis with roll-down outdoor fabric for when you want more privacy; a firepit with mosaic around the base - love it!; a tunnel of arches to the back gate; a sun painted in gold paint on a semi-circular patio; roses growing in their own little arbour, with glass balls and other decorations too!

And finally, the Scott garden won 1st for Open Large Garden, 1st for Container Garden, 1st for Curb Appeal, 3rd for Shade Garden, and 3rd for Water Garden.  In spite of the great plantings and colour, what stood out for me were Yvonne's fabulous metal sculptures.  How cool would it be to have a garden to display your own artwork?  I especially like the circles that look a little like gears (second row, left) and the triangular-shaped one (second row, middle).  Hmm, time to start saving up because she sells her work too!  Her website is www.yvonnescott.com.

view winning gardens this week-end

Looking for a little inspiration?  It's the winning garden tour week-end for the Calgary Horticultural Society's garden competition.  I highly recommend going!  Some pictures I took from winning gardens last year are here, here and here.

More information can be found on their website.

Calgary Horticultural Society's Garden Competition

I am tempted to enter this year but due to holidays (not to mention kids, etc) I don't really have the time to get the garden up to show quality in the next month.  Plus I still have unfinished things going on and a few new spots in the garden I would like to let mature a little first.  I'm definitely thinking next year!

But in case you're interested, here's the e-mail I just got from the Hort Society:

Do you have a beautiful garden, or know someone who does?

 

If so be sure to enter the Calgary Horticultural Society's 2009 Garden Competition!

 

Join in a fun, friendly event that celebrates Calgary’s best amateur gardens. You’ll receive great ideas, suggestions and praise from a community of like-minded gardening enthusiasts.

 

Winning entries will also have the opportunity to win great prizes donated by our generous sponsors!

 

Enter your garden or a section of your garden into any of the following categories:

 

• Small Garden
• Mid-Size Garden
• Large Garden
• Senior’s Garden
• Container Garden
• Curb Appeal
• Newly Landscaped
• Outdoor Living
• Perennial Garden
• Plant Lover’s Garden
• Rose garden
• Food Garden
• Water Garden
• Water-wise Garden

Hurry! Entry deadline is July 3, 2009.

 

Judging: July 10-12

Passports on sale: July 17

Viewing: July 25-26

 

Details, competition guidelines and entry forms are available at  http://calhort.org/events/gardencompetition.aspx

front yard gardens revisited

I wrote this post on my almost-finished-front-yard-garden-instead-of-grass for Gardening Gone Wild's monthly design workshop this month.  The wrap-up is posted so check it out if you're looking for more front yard inspiration!

Calgary Horticultural Society Spring Plant Share

Saturday May 23
9:00am - noon
208 50 Ave SW

You need to be a member of the Hort Society to take advantage of this plant share, but membership is well worth it for this event and several other reasons... which someday I will blog more about if I can ever find the time...

more details here

Calgary Rock and Alpine Garden Society Spring Plant Sale

Saturday May 23
Lakeview Community Hall
1:00-4:00 pm

http://crags.ca/

I'm a Healthy Yard

I seem to be collecting ladybug signs this year, without intending to!  That's OK, I think they look great.

I got the round one from taking part in the City of Calgary's Healthy Yards program.  You get lots of sustainable gardening information (which I didn't really need), a compost bin and a rain barrel (what I really wanted) all for free, just for signing up and promising to compost, use your rainbarrel, and not to use pesticides in your yard for 2 years.  Since I do all those things anyway, it was a great deal!  I highly recommend this program.

pictures just can't do a garden justice

This garden won 1st for Open Large Garden, 1st for Perennial Garden, 1st for Senior's Garden, and 2nd for Plant Lover's Garden in the garden competition this year.  It was covered in Gardens West's xx issue, but seeing it in a magazine was not the same as in person.

That's why I love the tours of the winning gardens.  There is nothing like experiencing a beautiful garden by being in it - the smells, sounds, and depth cannot be recreated in photos.  You get to walk down the paths and find the surprises around the corner.  Plus, you get to talk to the gardeners and ask them questions. 

backyard chickens in Calgary?

My husband and his wacky friends keep talking about keeping chickens.  I can't say I hate the idea.  Anyway, here's an excellent reference from Garden Rant on backyard chicken-keeping with lots of helpful links:

This Week in Chickens

Conservative Calgary took forever to ban smoking in public places, recently just partially banned cosmetic pesticides, and isn't getting curbside recycling until next year.  Do you think we're ready for chickens?

compost bin sale

Calgary's annual backyard composter sale is June 21, 8am to 4 pm.

If you don't compost yet, why not?  It's easy.

I've had this particular bin in the past and the one thing I found is that it benefits from a little more air.  If you have a drill or hole saw, cut some extra holes all around the sides of the composter for better air circulation.

don't believe everything you read

There was an article in the Herald on Saturday (April 12) entitled "How does a garden grow with kids?"  so of course I read it!  It was okay, in that it skimmed over a lot of information very briefly, and had the usual ideas such as sunflowers etc.  But it really bugged me that it recommended "butterfly bush" (buddleia) for a butterfly garden, a beautiful shrub that doesn't grow here!!  Then I looked at the byline and it was from someone writing for the Fort Worth Star Telegram.  No wonder!  Definately make sure the information you read is local.

That reminds me of a similar issue I noticed recently.  I had pulled out my "Practical Guide to Gardening in Canada" by Reader's Digest, that my husband gave me back when I started gardening.  It has mostly sat forgotten on the bookshelf all these years while I've used other more useful and beautiful books.  But I pulled it off last month and when I flipped through, I recognized more than just a few pictures from Sissinghurst, a famous garden in England!!  And they weren't credited, either.  How cruel, to advertise yourself as a book for Canadian gardeners and to print pictures like that!! 

rain barrels

Clean Calgary is having their annual rain barrel sale Saturday April 26, 9-11:00 am (get there early).