Calgary Garden Coach

Meet Clive, the flowering clivia.

This is the first time my 1-1/2 year old houseplant, Clive, has bloomed! My husband named him Clive - he likes to name any of my things that he thinks have no useful purpose, and which take up a lot of space (admittedly, Clive does have annoyingly long, strappy leaves.  For the record, hubby also named my body pillow, which I can't sleep without, Fred.)

Clive doesn't look very Christmasy with that brassy orange colour, but at this time of year, when the christmas cactus has finished blooming, I'll take just about anything!  I LOVE flowering house plants (I NEED flowering houseplants!) and this is a plant that I expect to get better with age.  I ordered him from Garden Imports in spring 2010, after someone on GardenRant had been raving about clivias.  

He was worth the wait.

Season's Greetings!

Whatever is beautiful.

Whatever is meaningful.

Whatever brings you happiness.

May it be yours this holiday season and throughout the coming year!

I look forward to virtually gardening with you in 2012!

Janice

winter interest, shminter interest!

Since Calgary has such a short growing season, I always encourage people to include lots of plants that will stay standing and add texture and interest to their garden all year round.  My Adventure Garden has lots of ornamental grasses, liatris, tall sedums, siberian iris, and more, that do just that. 

Except, of course, if they get toboganned over.

perennials still standing in the front Welcome Garden

It has been a magically beautiful week, with all that snow hanging around on the trees and shrubs, hasn't it?  I was sad to see it all starting to melt yesterday.  Here's a photo of the front Welcome Garden I took last Sunday as the big dump was coming down.  There are lots of  perennials still standing for the winter - although some of them are completely buried in snow at this point!

To see this garden at other times of the year, click here and scroll down.

it's about time - green bins to be piloted in Calgary!

Here's the story:

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111213/CGY_green_bin_111213/20111213/?hub=CalgaryHome

While trucking around picking up everybody's compostable waste isn't quite as green as composting it yourself on site, I would argue this is the next best thing.  Some people don't have the space to do it themselves, or don't have the space to compost all of their compostable waste.  Between the garden and kitchen waste thanks to a large garden and a family of 5, I barely have enough space myself even though I have two very large compost bins.

So I fully support the green bin initiative, even though I don't need one.  Do you?

Thanks to the Calgary Hort Society's facebook page for alerting me to this story!

I LOVE this snow!

Yesterday was beautiful, wasn't it?  (As long as you didn't have to drive somewhere!)  I got outside and hung this wreath on my new trellis while the kids toboganned across the Adventure Garden.  I get glimpses of the wreath from the kitchen and dining room and it really puts me in the festive spirit! 

The best part of the snow is you can't see the unfinished patio (a.k.a. mud pit) area in front of the trellis... an unfinished project from last year!  Here's hoping the snow stays!

Do you decorate in the garden?

Happy December!

My Christmas cactus has been blooming the whole month of November and I haven't had time to tell you about it! This plant is at least 10 years old and super low maintenance.  Give it a sunny window and water it once in a while, and enjoy.  Suddenly I'm questioning why I don't have another one in a different colour!  I may have to indulge. (My inferior photography abilities do not do this plant justice!)

Yes, gardening and plants (and taking down spruce trees - exciting news coming on that front! but no, sadly, I didn't lose any in the windstorm) are always at least in the back of my mind even if I don't always have time to post about it.  This is a busy time of year at work (@ Mount Royal University - the marking!  the meetings!)  so I'm going easy on myself - expect just a few posts this month as I focus my time and energies on family and holiday festivities, and then the blog will start up with regular posts again in the New Year.

Have a wonderful, festive December, everyone!