the urban world's a garden, waiting to be planted

follow us on face book

2009-07-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

well... I'm sorry I've been so absent on here. To be honest, facebook has taken over! If you want to follow us, we're a fan page called East Strathcona Streetgarden Society. This last 6 mos we've incorporated as a society, set up a board and getting real organized. Needs to happen since there's about 10,000 square feet of garden to tend these days and we only WISH we could expand! Anyways, come find us and you'll be kept better in the loop!

Guerrilla Tactics

2009-04-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

I was definitely feeling guerrilla-ish today: We had 9 mid-sized boxwoods donated to us on Sunday and since decent-sized plants tend to go missing (notably a Camelia and a Hydrangea in the past 6 mos.) I decided to wire them to the fence! I felt like I was employing some serious warfare tactics, burrying wire cable under the ground. Usually I think of guerrilla gardening as an offensive technique, but today's was definitely defensive.

The garden path

2009-04-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

A few months ago we were discussing the dream of having a path through the CN triangle. Someone mentioned they had just biked by a pile of bricks in a Downtown Eastide back alley. We picked up the bricks and within a few hours we had this great path built! Even came with its own moss!It's done wonders for the garden, it gives it boundaries and a focal point and shape... it even looks nice without plants!
I'm hopeful for this next year, we dug up almost everything in this garden last year and replaced the plants with more drought-tolerant plants. The last few years this garden hasn't looked too hot in the summer months as it's under a large tree and the rain doesn't get through. It does looks great in the spring months, however. Already the Crocuses have bloomed and now the Daffodils and Hyacinths are blooming. The Tulips and Spanish Bluebells are well on their way.

Hopefully with the new path and new plants 2009 will be a good year for this garden!

Hellebores

2009-03-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

Otherwise known as the Christmas Rose and the Lenten Rose, these are definitely one of my favourite species!! Here are a few photos from early March in Vancouver:There are so many kinds and they are so gorgeous!! They definitely brighten up those dreary spring months in the garden! I believe they originated in Turkey and were not sold in North America until 7 years ago (or was it 13?) Some people had them previously however if they ordered them from the British Horticultural Society.

sunny day crocus

2009-03-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from the Hastings Community Centre about a week ago...

Crocus mania!

2009-03-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

There are crocus everywhere and I'm lovin it! Here are some at the CN triangle, cheering up that corner....The brick path is complimenting them nicely!! And you can see the Spanish Bluebells on their way up... they have a major fiesta every May or so.Here are some hyacinths starting to come up, the ones that we got from Q E garden last year:

Spring is here...

2009-03-13T12:28:00.001-07:00

And it's time to get back in the garden again! Here are all of the plants still left to put in the ground that didn't make it in last fall!

Lots of work to do! We're starting to plug away at it... I'll tell you more soon!

Some yard picks

2008-10-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

I had a pleasant surprise the other day, I realized that some Colchicum was growing underneath the Asters! I thought that the bulbs had rotted away, they didn't bloom last year.Speaking of Asters, I called Brian Minter's show on 600 AM for the fist time on Saturday! Ha ha! I wanted to know how to make Asters a more compact clump. His advice was to cut it right down to the ground July 1st (the same can be done with mums) and it'll still bloom on time, but in a smaller clump! Good tip, I'll try it next summer!I bought these blueberries in June and they were LADEN with berries at the time. They have never stopped bearing blueberries this whole time, and are still at it, 4 1/2 months later! Not sure if I'll be so lucky next year, but we've sure enjoyed it!

And here is one of my favorite flowers, Elizabeth Bellflower. It also has been blooming non-stop since June. The buds start out twisted and then untwist as they open. The flowers are speckled rose and are almost furry on the inside, they're beautiful!

Brick path

2008-10-04T23:22:00.000-07:00

Yay! We did some gardening at the CN triangle today (luckily before the torrential downpour!) and a few of my friends mentioned that they had seen some bricks in the alley, a few blocks away. Within a short time, we picked up the bricks, brought them to the CN triangle, and made interlocking brick paths through the garden! The bricks come with moss on them already, so hopefully that spreads on the path! I'm so excited! The CN makeover has begun. We dug up plants that weren't drought tolerant enough and planted some bulbs.... the garden is showing promise!

End of summer

2008-09-07T00:38:00.000-07:00

Well fall's here. So ends the emergency watering season and time to get down to work! The next few months should be full of weeding, transplanting, uprooting, planting, planning and putting beds to rest. Not to mention development of the body overseeing the gardens. If I haven't previously mentioned it, the gardens have expanded to about 10,000 square feet! And some areas are not looking too hot at the moment.

As we move into fall, here are a few flattering photos of the garden from this summer! Hope it serves as inspiration as we roll up our sleeves and get all the gardens up to snuff!

These look like a bouquet together!

Here are some black hollyhocks that I planted a few years ago. I bought the seeds from the UK on Ebay and they finally came up this year!

Rock Garden

2008-09-06T00:49:00.000-07:00

For a while my little neighbour Hannah had been asking if she could help in the gardens. So one day in June she and her mom came down and we all planted the rock garden together. She was a great help and it was a fun project!

On a different note, I received some sad news today though: someone is planning to come and take the large boulders and place them in a botanical garden. I'm so sad! What about our Downtown Eastside gardens?? I'll have to import some more boulders from somewhere! I had already been thinking we needed more, not less! We've build the garden plan around the current boulders (there's one here and one halfway up the block), and I'm so disappointed! Oh well, maybe it won't happen. And if it does, we'll roll with the punches.

Here's the rock garden in it's beginning stages.

The hens and chicks bloomed and they were beautiful. I'm really looking forward to seeing the rock garden filled in next year!

extreme garbage makes for some extreme gardening...

2008-08-05T18:48:00.001-07:00

This post is not for queasy stomachs...
Not that it's that bad, although I'm not sure what my frame of reference is anymore....?
In the last week garbage in the sun and shade garden included: several used condoms and their packages, a big dead rat, a big poo and a needle. Not your average gardens! Although our experience is similar to other gardens in the DTES and maybe even tamer at that! One day at the Folk Garden on Hastings we were doing the pre-gardening clean-up. I looked at the boot of the man picking up sharps and there must have been 20 of them within a 2 foot radius of his feet.

Anyone know how to get rid of Horsetail???

2008-07-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

I have to admit this is a depressing time of year for me when it comes to the gardens. At this time the gardens don't get enough water, the CN triangle looks especially look sparse and I begin to wonder why I'm doing this-it doesn't even look better than before we started! At least spring was pretty. Time to look back in the archives for inspiration! And maybe figure out how to get more water action down there. One rain barrel has been installed with another on the way, so we're getting a start.here's the South Sun Garden 2 weeks after we weeded it all....
this photo doesn't seem to show the lawn of horsetail though!

I have to say that horsetail is ruining my life some days. Anyone got any organic ideas that don't involve too much digging?? We think there is electrical under there. Our friends down the block have been burning through the DDT to get it, but it keeps coming back and besides, that's yucky. But, the West Glen Sun Garden also looks yucky, it's basically a big patch of horsetail and other weeds with the occasional dying plant. *Sigh!*

Hopefully we'll get some good helpers on board and tackle these problems with gusto and next summer things will look much better!

Daisies on the tracks

2008-06-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

My friend was on a mission to have something planted on the tracks. Last year we tried seeds but to no avail. Mistakenly, I had formerly transplanted some wild daisies into the sun garden, transplants from the side of the highway. They WERE free afterall! But in one year they took over!! They were a solid mass-a ground cover-for at least a few square meters! Once we had dug them up, we decided to try and put them down by the tracks. At first I was reluctant because I don't want them invading the CN garden too. But Emily tells me that'll be her responsibility if the time comes. So with that reassurance, we've planted them along the tracks. They've survived hot trains singeing them, growing in nothing but gravel, transplanting, sun... you can't kill these things!!
Here's the back side of the CN triangle, you can see daises we've scattered along! Hopefully it'll turn out to be a nice blend of wildflowers. There is definitely no shortage of Yarrow there!!
If you keep looking down the tracks, you can see they cross Cordova. On the other side of Cordova is another lot that has been offered to us for gardening, just before that school bus down there. I'm hoping that this fall we might be able to do something....
P.S.-if you look closely in the first picture, you can see the rock wall of the periwinkle garden. (That dumpster gets parked there periodically for pick up but it's not a permanent fixture.) Also, in that photo, you can see that the tracks go under a bridge (Hastings). It's fairly crowded in the summer with people sleeping under it. Last night I saw a big Port City rat scurrying around there, I bet it's not the only one.

Watering in style!

2008-06-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well we planted the linepainter's property a few weeks ago and it's looking great! Amazingly not a plant has been stolen! While we were planting, Ron brought us out some water..... now that's service!! Seriously though, water is definitely on the immediately to do list. We have just qualified for a water collection barrel from the City, which is wonderful! We will definitely need to come up with some more watering solutions ASAP though. Here's a photo of us getting started on the garden

More tulips!

2008-06-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that I took another trip and got some more discarded bulbs, this time about 2-300 tulips! All orange I believe! There's going to be a whole lot of orange in the gardens next spring!

My kids helped me pick them up... we had about 10 min to do it so we just threw a couple of wheelbarrows-full into the van. I decided to let them die off at my house and spare the neighbourhood the sight. I filled up a wheelbarrow and the sandbox with soil and let the tulips live there till they faded. The ones that had already faded by the time I got them have been planted already, but now the other few hundred are ready to go down so the kids can play in the sand box!

(you can see the sandbox full of tulips on the left side of the picture)

I could've gone again to get a few more tulips, at least of a different colour, but I was out of energy and besides, my wheelbarrow and sandbox were already full! Hopefully next year we'll get some variety added to our spring bulbs. And hopefully there will be enough established plants to hide all those tulips when they're dying off!!

The Shade Garden

2008-06-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

Suiting the theme of the gardens, the shade garden is also full of things that were planted and forgotten/given-up-on. Here these johnny jump-ups were from seed and now they're filling in all the gaps!

The shade garden is pretty overgrown at the moment and the trailing roses are hidden in the back, but it's full of pretty things (the bleeding heart is huge!) and at least it's not it's former garbage dump!

Here's a pretty columbine before it got cut off, the bergenia got cut off as well, but they were all pretty when they were blooming...!

Here you can see the periwinkle that someone added to the garden and there are some forget me nots tucked away in there as well.

It's catching

2008-06-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Well speaking from personal experience, creating new gardens is addicting.... it's almost like a disease and you can't stop seeing weedy boring land and thinking it'd make a great garden. And apparently it's catchy! The vision is spreading around the neighbourhood! The linepainters jumped on board with their great boulevard and our neighbours up the street have planted some lillies and have taken to watering their section. Now the business across the street from the CN triangle has built some planters! Can't wait to see who's next!!

(You can see the CN triangle in the background accross the street)

Sun Garden

2008-06-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent pictures of the sun garden. It's getting to just the right age where most plants are too rooted to steal and the plants are big and have filled in nicely! It's a bit of a hodge-podge: depending what was on sale or donated at different times. Also, we've planted a few things that didn't come up and then lo and behold they appeared 2 years later. The beautiful foxglove above came from my Grandpa's wife. She shared her seeds with me a few years ago and now here it is! There's another pretty pink one, I'll have to get a picture of that too.This year the red hot poker has finally bloomed-I'm so excited! It's one of my favorite plants. Here it is with a rock rose!

Here's an idea...

2008-06-10T23:01:00.001-07:00

I just saw a lot today that struck me as a great garden make-over lot. In an area where there's lots of prostituted women, maybe it could be developed into some kind of drop-in or social enterprise.... $500,000.... dreaming big!

Guerrilla gardening in the Guerrilla gardening...

2008-06-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

Well someone's been guerrilla gardening in one of our latest guerrilla efforts! It's great! Last week a ceramic horse and hardy geranium showed up and this week there is chard and broccoli! I have been hoping to incorporate some more food into the gardens. I have 2 baby trees to espalier along the fence (is that a verb?) and planted a row of pole beans... just need to put thought into the food because there are lots of types of pollution in the neighbourhood. BUT... we ALL need more fruit and veggies, and our gardens might even count for the 2010 new food gardens in Vancouver by 2010 motion passed by city council...

Bulbs!

2008-05-22T13:02:00.001-07:00

I had just been wishing for hyacinths for the gardens (since they smell so nice) when I got a message about bulbs being discarded from a local garden! Unfortunately they were planted right before a heat wave in Vancouver so some of them might be fried, but a few hundred of them should make it at least! I would love to see loads of spring bulbs lighten up the area next spring. Here's a picture of the van-load of bulbs, those green bags are full of bulbs too!

Mother's Day at UBC Botanical Garden!

2008-05-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

After a lovely breakfast in bed and some sushi for lunch, we headed out to UBC for the Botanical Garden's annual perennial plant sale. As a Mother's day present I had money to blow at the sale and quickly filled up the van! Then we walked around the gardens and I took photos to log all kinds of interesting plants. My favorite is this huge peony (paeonia veitchii from China).The trained apple trees were all beautiful and there were still some interesting tulips blooming, including a few black ones!

The overnight expansion

2008-05-10T00:08:00.000-07:00

There is so much to be thankful for! 11 cubic meters of soil were delivered at noon on Wednesday and by 8 pm it was spread out across almost 1 1/2 blocks! I can imagine the surprise of people in the area when these huge gardens popped up overnight! There was amazing help from volunteers and the good folks at Scottish Line Painting who are putting their boulevard into the garden scheme as well! Of course I'm left wanting MORE soil, but what's new!! Meanwhile, offers of plant donations are coming from many directions and I have so much hope for the future! The vision is coming to life! Now how to organize it all??!! Here are some photos of the progression!

one of the piles of compost

we put a layer of cardboard under the compost to act as a weed barrier
the soil distributed

the sun garden now extends right to Hastings

I'm really excited about the new rock garden!

A gardening day like this is a treat in the DTES, normally one needs to keep on guard for used needles and condoms buried in the soil or other waste and garbage lying about. The soil is so fluffy and easy to work with at this stage because it hasn't compacted yet. This does also mean that plants are more easily stolen, but we'll hope for the best! I have to say that plant disappearances have slowed down a great deal, in part because lots of locals have been warding people off! I love that they are taking some ownership of the gardens, because it's for them as well. I'd love to find a way to integrate more locals into the gardening projects.

Next guerrilla mission: starting a sunflower field beyond the barbed-wire fence....

Here comes the dirt!

2008-05-06T00:17:00.000-07:00

Well we got what we asked for.... a truck is dumping 11 square meters of soil at our place on Wed!! Time to get busy!!!

As you can see, I have NOT been busy blogging. We have been out there in the dirt though! Lots to tell you about but I'd better get my beauty-sleep for this shoveling extravaganza! Here's some photos though to tide you over!

early spring at the CN triangle

the baby forsythia's blooming!

next site we're expanding to!

a van-load of flowers

2008-01-05T16:33:00.000-08:00

It's been obvious to me for a while that the potential of the gardens have grown beyond my capabilities/resources and that it's time to take them to a new level. This includes gathering and organizing volunteers, getting soil from the city and soliciting plant donations. Many friends, neighbours and garden-club members have generously shared their plants with me but I've been putting off asking for donations from businesses, that kind of thing is outside of my comfort zone and I prefer to be self-sufficient! Finally one day my 2 year old and I went into Home Hardware and find out if they had anything they could send our way. At first the manager didn't think there was much there but as he looked, he kept finding more plants to give me: dormant lilies, cana lilies and hostas, flats of pansies... and so much more! I was overwhelmed!! I drove away with a full-size van FULL of plants, and my 2 year old impressed that he was packed into the middle of a jungle. A very encouraging start, I'm so grateful and excited to see what they'll look like in the gardens next year!!! Thank you Home Hardware!!

Politics Schmolatiks

2007-11-14T13:45:00.000-08:00

Well, I somewhat dropped the ball there in Aug & Sept, and certainly dropped the ball on the blog. In part it was due to a lack of garden activity (other than watering) and in part it was due to my increased involvement in local politics. This is not completely unrelated as the politics involve prostitution issues and if you are familiar with these gardens, you know that there is a strong link between these gardening efforts and prostituted women in the Downtown Eastside.

Between the Pickton trial and the upcoming 2010 Olympics, there is a lot of political will to do something about street prostitution in Vancouver. And, there are several pro-prostitution advocates who are ready to pounce on that. There has been a big push in Vancouver to open several legal brothels. There has also been federal MPs lobbying to decriminalize prostitution completely. 2 groups have launched constitutional challenges against Canada's prostitution laws and if their challenge succeeds, there would be some new legislation on the horizon. If you are interested in finding out more about this, or want to know what you can do to help, click here.

Here is a recent letter published in the Vancouver Sun that lets you know what I'm on about:

It is good to see that someone has finally offered an analysis on the proposed brothels from someone other than Susan Davis! I agree with Mayor Sullivan that despite Davis' intentions most survival prostituted women would not be welcome into the coop brothels--or it would not suit the needs of these women to give a portion of their earnings to the brothel. Brothels have come and gone from the DTES since the Vancouver's inception but their presence did not protect the many women who disappeared from our streets. What concerns me most about the process of opening these particular brothels is the normalization of prostitution in the media, among various levels of government, law enforcement and the public. Societal acceptance of renting women's bodies for the sexual gratification of men will not benefit our most vulnerable women in the long run. In fact, countries that have decriminalized prostitution see a huge expansion of their sex industry, leading to increased human trafficking and child exploitation. In the 70's the Swedish city of Malmo instigated a program that gave prostituted women economic aid including housing, job and medical assistance, counseling, support and protection from pimps. Over a period of 4 years, 72.5% prostituted women in Malmo had quit. Vancouver and Canada for that matter have not given an honest attempt at sustainable solutions. Brothels are not a sustainable solution. In the long run, the acceptance of brothels further entrenches women in exploitation.

For the full article in the Sun, click here

Bees!

2007-07-28T13:21:00.001-07:00

When we arrived at the sun garden this week it was full of bee activity, 3-4 bees pollinating flowers at the same time. This was really exciting for me!! I felt like the garden had reached a certain milestone in becoming established... In the middle of concrete and garbage and cars and weeds, the garden is developing into a little ecosystem and the bees have found it!

As an aside, no plants have been stolen lately, although our 'please don't steal the plants' sign has been!!

At the CN garden, a pair of women who do rounds for a Christian organization in the Downtown Eastside told us that some of the women working there have told them they were touched by the garden and feel cared for... I hope so, that is definitely our intention!
(incidentally this is not my photo, although it did look like this!)

Expansion!

2007-07-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

We had some chrysanthemums that weren't getting enough rain at the CN garden so we thought we'd relocate them in the sun garden. However, on the way there, we were suddenly inspired to plant them at the corner of an alley. The next time we came down, we planted some seeds and bulbs and cleared out more garbage and blackberries. Around the corner there is a big patch of periwinkle growing out from under the fence, so we have decided to incorperate it and make a new corner garden! The first garden (the sun garden) is actually getting to the point that we can start dividing some of it's plants and spreading them around a little! That's reassuring! Yesterday I divided some crocosmia and brought it to the corner. I also planted a dahlia.

I've actually been surprised how little has been stolen lately! A few blooms have been cut off individually, but for the most part things have remained untouched, including some colourful annuals that usually don't stay long! One of the women who work in the area told me the other day that they've been warning people to leave the garden alone! So that might be why the gardens haven't been to interfered with lately! We've had a bit of a heat wave lately and I was really pleased to see that the sun garden is doing really well at surviving without much water. That was the goal! I'm realizing however that the CN garden also needs more drought-tolerant plants. I had been considering it a shade garden but it gets a lot of sun and doesn't get much water either. Here's how it's starting to shape up:

And I've saved the best news for last! Earlier this week I was watering some nasturtium seeds that we had planted accross the street. While I was doing this the guys who run the company accross the street came out and to make a long story short, offered us the property along their fence to create another garden!! The owner even offered to pitch in for the cost of the plants!! So the dream is becoming a reality!! The original vision was that when you turn the corner onto the street, you will see a street lined with colour! Here's a picture of our next future garden:

and here is a picture of the garden we've got on the other side of the street. Sometimes I've been discouraged about it--that it didn't look as good as it could--but looking at pictures today, I've realized that the majority of this garden came about in a year! I needed that encouragement as we embark on another new project!

(here's the garden July 06!)

Transformations

2007-05-23T00:33:00.000-07:00

I love to be reminded of dramatic transformations, like the former picture of this back alley and the garden it has become.

swiped again!

2007-05-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a good thing I got that photo of the sun garden when I did because within 5 days all the tulips got cut off and the camelia plant was stolen! Even with my burglar-proofing of wiring it to a rock!! Haha. Bigger rock next time I guess! It's always a bit of a disappointment when flowers get stolen but I guess it's par for the course. At least now the gardens are getting more established and still look decent even if the blooms are gone. Maybe the main colour the gardens are going to bring down there is GREEN!

Car Park

2007-05-07T12:53:00.001-07:00

Last year we just happened to pass this car in our neighbourhood! It's currently parked at the corner of Clark and Broadway at a community garden... I think it made a bigger impact in a regular parking spot though. You can read more about it at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/09/your_new_car_ma.php
I like how they say they're waiting for the city to figure out how to classify the Car Park, to give it the appropriate parking permit.

Colour!

2007-05-03T23:37:00.000-07:00

Yay! Spring has arrived and the tulips et al are in full bloom at the sun garden! It's so exciting, this is the first time I've really felt that the dream is starting to be realized, there is colour all along the block! (at least where there is soil!) Did I mention I've been eyeing the other side of the street? Just wondering if a City Green Space could officially be started there..... and also the flow of dirt deliveries from the city.... There's already so much to do with the existing gardens, pruning, weeding, planting new plants, trimming the grass (!!) I gotta get a work party started. As for the sun garden, it's hard to decide on which pictures to put up. I'll try to get a good representation.

plant sales!

2007-05-03T23:34:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I went to 2 sales on the North Shore and bought about 25 plants! I left the house at 8:30 and shopped till my brain was fried. It's amazing that I can keep finding homes for these plants!! And hopefully more to come! We hit up the Green Thumbs Garden Club fundraiser sale (a club I might just join!) and then went to the Park and Tilford sale. Didn't feel up to the VanDeusen sale the following day but am interested in the UBC botanical garden sale in May and of course there is the Strathcona Community Garden sale in July...

Early April

2007-04-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of the shade garden, now that it has the geraniums moved to the CN triangle. We put in a Camelia and some heather and some columbine is coming up too! Oh ya, there's that bleeding heart too. That little periwinkle is blooming a bit in front and the bergenia's getting big...no flowers yet though! It's kind of nice to compare photos with the original 'before' photos... I'll have to post a series some time.

I forgot to put up this picture of hellebores up a few months ago, I wasn't sure I liked them before, but this spring I'm completely won over! I like all kinds, except maybe the greenish-flowering ones. Otherwise, hellebores are so beautiful and such a nice early flower. I really like the deep purple/red hellebores (I think Christmas rose is red and lenten rose white?)

Spring at the Triangle!

2007-03-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

Well, there are lots of exciting things starting to come up! A lot of the green tufts you see around the trees are bulbs that have been there previously -- some muscari and lots of wood hyacinth. These pictures were taken on a sunny day--not something that comes easily in March in Vancouver! The leaves demark a natural path between the trees that we're building on. We planted ferns on either side of the path (hopefully they survived the winter in my pots, their roots were pretty exposed) and we'll plant some hostas further up the path among the trees. In the lower left-hand corner you can see some of the geraniums... they've taken over the shade garden so we moved them down here where it's a bit of a wilder setting and they can spread if they want to! When we first started this garden we took boxloads and boxloads of garbage out of here: anything from shoes and sweaters to bbq grills, condom wrappers and coffee cups. It just dawned on me that in the last 6 mos at least there has been next to nothing for garbage! The garden has been really respected so far at this location.

Here you can see the crocosmia, daffodils and crocus coming up... (and more wood hyacinth!) I can't wait for the daffodils to naturalize. Got to get to those stump sprouts in the background. Hopefully it's not too late in the spring to trim them.

Also, at the tip of the triangle, we put a little patch of dirt and I planted some wildflower seeds, hopefully we can expand to take up the entire tip of the triangle, there's a lot of yarrow there (which isn't terrible) and weeds. The yarrow might look nice in a wildflower mix.

What flower are you?

2007-03-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

I am a
Canna

What Flower
Are You?

I'm not usually into surveys but when you get to find out what flower you are.... why not?

apparently, being a Canna means:
"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."

waking up

2007-02-05T17:08:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a dormant season, in the ground and on this blog!! We've even had snow and frozen ground off and on for about a month. I have been really inactive in the garden these past months (not necessarily for lack of things to do!) . Anyways, spring is coming and the bulbs are starting to peek out!! And the helleboris is budding and my baby willow tree has pussy willows! I'm getting excited!!! It'll be interesting to see which of the seeds and cuttings I scavanged last year will come up! Speaking of spring fever... I got the Vesey's catalogue in the mail the other day and I thought, 'heck! I've got Christmas money!' and I spent $50 right then and there. Got a ton of $5 deals, including 10 tigridis (mexican shell flower) which you have heard me mention before!! Here's a few pix of things I ordered:
I thought these Rununculus looked so pretty as doubles, 'Persian Buttercup'

Aquilegia 'Black Barlow' Doesn't this look amazing?!

And I'm excited about this 'Toad Lily' mix, they're sort of orchid-like and should do well in the shade...

the flower lady

2006-10-04T00:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the encouraging words... I have some things to sort out about the gardens. I'm so intertwined with them even if I try not to be. And on a gardening level, sometimes I feel that they're a reflection of my level of (or lack of) gardening expertise. This is embarassing to admit because it's not about me. But when the garden looks good, I feel some pride and when it looks trashed, I feel like its a reflection on me. These feelings don't sit right with me...I've got some stuff to sort out!

I have been planting a ton of seeds and bulbs and I have a lot of hope for the potential of the gardens. It won't be long before they fill up. I'm anticipating that next year is going to be a good year. I've been sneaking seedlings and seeds along the fence accross the street too. That's a great feeling. One day I'd like to see the whole street lined with colour. The city cuts the grass accross the street a few times/year to I've been reaching under the fence and planting there with hopes of survival for the plants!

An older gentleman walked by me the other day and said "so you're the flower lady!" I thought it was cute. Our friend Tony is renting some space in the building next door and he's started a roof garden in some pvc piping! It's mostly ornamental grasses. It looks great from what I can see!

This blog is looking a bit drab for lack of photos! Must get on that! It's a busy season right now. Collecting and planting seeds, transplanting... there's still lots left to do! I've been enjoying the sunshine!

zinnias

2006-10-02T16:45:00.000-07:00

Originally I meant this post to be a photo of the bright and colorful zinnia blooms but I didn't have my camera that day and the next day absolutely everything that was blooming was picked. It seemed to happen over lunch break, we think we may know who did it. At least the plants are still there and the zinnias still have blooms on them so we may get that photo yet. It's hard not to let events like this be a big set-back. It certainly is discouraging after hours of organizing and work to have it trashed in a matter of minutes. I still have loads of seeds and bulbs to plant, so I'll keep plugging away..... back to the zinnias. I planted those from seeds and they made such big bright plants. It's fascinating what can come from a single small seed!

the book

2006-09-21T00:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't read it yet, but here it is! Guerrilla gardening : how to create gorgeous gardens for free / Barbara Pallenberg ; illustrations by Cathy Pavia ; photographs by Lou Gaines.

I just found it in the library catalogue today, but it's checked out at the moment. I let you know how it is! Looks cute and right up my alley...

Sept is a busy season!! I've got over 16 types of bulbs and seeds to get planted and over ten kinds of plants to transplant now that it's cooled off. I'm also ready to invade my friends' yards and take any plants they don't want!

Getting ready for one such event yesterday, I was trucking some extra soil back and forth from the shop to the CN triangle. There was a woman(about 10 yrs older than me?) working the streets where I was buzzing about and she asked "why the garden? Just because?" She told me she liked gadening too. I said ya I want to plant gardens everywhere, I'm addicted to gardening. "That's ONE addiction that's ok!" she said to me.

It was a warmer day yesterday and the whole neighbourhood was buzzing with activity--women working, johns, users, people everywhere... on top of the people working in all of the local businesses. I actually saw one woman with a pimp (I'm quite sure), you don't see that often in that neighbourhood. It was such a strange feeling to watch it all in action. She seemed so thin and timid, but not overly timid, he was lurking in the shadows and then would periodically come and talk to her. He was so disrespectful to her. It's so hard to imagine the circumstances that can cause a woman to end up in that situation. It takes exploitation to a whole new level, just factoring even one more person into the equation. At times like that, it's really hard to get "I Live Off You" by the X-Ray Spex out of my head.

One woman who is very often around whenever I go gardening (the one who initially helped me haul soil) is always ready to chat and joke with me. It's nice to see a friendly face. So many faces in the area are vacant. Anyways, every now and then I happen to be there when she gets picked up. I hate seeing that. I wonder what it's like for her. She seems quite cheerful about it. I know it's her bread and butter (literally), if she hasn't had a client for a few days she complains to me about being hungry. Maybe I should just feed her. I can't tell if she's trying to manipulate me and I want our friendship to stay friends--equals--if I start taking care of her I don't want to change our friendship to someone she can use... But maybe I shouldn't think so much and just feed her. I mean, really wouldn't it be better if she had food and therefore even prostituted herself just one less time? That may be over-simplified. I don't think there are any rules about relationships. Everyone and every situation is different. It takes wisdom and readiness to be moved by the Spirit! Just some thoughts.

By the way... if anyone has a wheelbarrow they'd like to donate or a garden hose, I would be greatly appreciative. Also, if any of you have seeds to collect from plants in your yard or need some plants to be thinned out, I'm your lady!! Any plant donations can be put to good use! I'll try get some garden photos up here soon. The Zinnias are looking really colorful and beautiful.

interesting quotes

2006-08-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

"Healthy people are inextricably linked to healthy environments..."

-John R. Parkins, "A Better Way of Living", Mosaic, summer 2006

"...Ecological citizenship invites a closer connection, which leads to change in policy, economy, and lifestyle."

-Brian McLaren, A General Orthodoxy

a confession

2006-08-18T13:59:00.001-07:00

Here's one of the green spaces in my parent's neighbourhood. Hopefully our gardens will eventually grow into looking this good! My friend Laurie says good things don't usually happen fast and she's probably right. I feel kind of bummed that the CN triangle looks so shabby at the moment, but everyone keeps telling me that it's a great start. So we'll go with that!
The other evening I was watering the sun garden when a 50-or-so gentleman walked by. He complimented the garden and then said 'I bet plants get stolen don't they' or something like that. I said ya, it was a bummer and that I probably had about 50 plants stolen this spring. He took a few steps away then turned around and said 'I have to admit I took one plant, I think it was.... a tulip... ya, a tulip.' Then we chatted for a bit, told me about a floral arrangement course that his ex took, asked what kind of plant the hens & chicks were and recommended an electric fence if I wanted to keep people from wrecking the garden. According to him, anything nice in this neighbourhood either gets stolen or destroyed. 'Oh well you've got to try!' I told him! How hilarious that he felt he needed to come and confess to me! Well hopefully he'll feel for the garden a bit more now and spread the word to respect it.

Tigrida

2006-08-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

One of my newest favorite flowers! Tigrida... or Mexican Shell Flower. I happened to pick one up at a garden sale in Robert's Creek last year and loved it. (Incidentally, another flower colour change--it was yellow last year and came up white this year. What's in that soil, anyways?!) Last week, I picked some Tigrida seeds at the UBC botanical garden, yay! Mexican Shell Flowers, here I come!!

the sun garden grows...

2006-08-07T22:30:00.000-07:00

Julie and I put out a bunch of sun-loving plants that I've been saving for the sun garden. Not to mention, we added a bunch of annuals that I picked up from Emerging Hope (see below). Still more scarce than I'd like it to be. But it's just a start. Gardening takes patience.........
here are some pictures of the sun garden at sun down:

CN triangle

2006-08-07T22:21:00.000-07:00

here is the CN triangle. It actually doesn't look too bad in the first picture, but it's usually overrun with garbage and weeds. We hauled the soil down there (second photo) and now tonight Julie and I threw a few annuals in there to get some colour going before the 'real' garden gets in there. I don't feel too satisfied with it at the moment, but I guess it's still an improvement. I got 30 plants for $30 on Sat!!! from Emerging Hope (www.emerginghope.ca) a group that does gardening projects to employ people from the downtown eastside.

aah

2006-07-27T23:22:00.000-07:00

I'm so relieved... we finally finished moving the pile of dirt tonight. There was a fair bit left (you can see it in the right of the dirt picture below). We shared a bit of it but then a few of my friends came out tonight and helped me wheel the rest of it to the CN triangle. The fever's catching! A few people have asked if they could do some gardening on the plots and a few people have asked if they could bring some plants down and plant them. Probably about 4 offers by now! It's a great feeling, that I'm not in this on my own. I remember the feeling I had after I started the first sun garden and shade garden: I just thought 'what have I done??' I felt like I'd bitten off way more than I could chew. This time though it seems totally manageable. Maybe because I have some experience under my belt and some suitable plants ready to go in when the weather's right. Maybe because the gardening's beginning to feel like a community effort. It was so fun to see who came out of the woodwork to help with the garden. Hopefully I've made some new garden buddies for some future garden sessions! I wouldn't mind approaching a few businesses for donations of plants and/or bulbs... not sure if I feel brave enough for that yet. We'll see. Now the question remains: why do I feel so passionate about beautifying the city when I can't even keep my own kitchen clean??

the dirt

2006-07-27T09:33:00.001-07:00

We got the dirt! We decided not to go ALL the way to Hastings, seemed better to start this big and expand from there afterwards. The only setback is that it's way too hot to put out plants right now, especially when I don't make it down there to water much. We also brought about 8 wheelbarrows worth of soil to the CN triangle to get the garden started there. Thanks to all the neighbours for help hauling soil!! (upstairs and next door!) Here's a picture of the lot accross the street to where we're hoping/dreaming/praying/crossing our fingers that the city/CN might grant us access:

comes with a billboard!

women and their stories

2006-07-23T09:34:00.000-07:00

As I garden, many women have stories to tell me relating to flowers. One day I met Elise who told me why she likes flowers. She is from a reserve north of Vancouver and she told me of her grandfather's recent funeral. It was a traditional native ceremony that involved spreading flowers over his grave. Her two year old son picked up on that and one of the last times she visited him she said he kept picking flowers for her and bringing them to her. She had been sober for a few years she told me, but now she's back on the streets. She was pretty high at the time. I had told her about the plants getting stolen. Suddenly she broke out into a prayer: "Dear God, please don't let anybody steal these flowers until they have bloomed. Thank you."

Last week Michelle and I were clearing out a space to start a garden at the corner of Cordova and Raymur Ave (the CN triangle). There were a few women working but one in particular started up a conversation with us. She told us she commutes in from Langley to pay her bills. She was one of the few women working down there that aren't addicted. She had a lot of interesting stories and information for us about what goes on around there. She was shocked to hear that people have been stealing plants. She offered to paint us a sign if we brought her wood and paint. She said she's dislexic so I'd have to write it out for her but she's been to art school and thought she should use her training for something.

dirt's coming!

2006-07-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

Lillies are blooming all over the yard, we have lots of varieties... it's so pretty! We're ordering a truck-load of soil for Glen and Hastings and we're having a work party on July 26th.... it'll cover almost the whole 1/2 block on our side of the street, from the alley to Hastings.... and hopefully there'll be some left over for the CN triangle of property a block away where we'd like to start a garden. (different from the whole lot previously mentioned.)

guerrilla gardeners extraordinaires

2006-07-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

I know some people who commandeered an empty, garbage-filled lot in the downtown-eastside. They actually cut the locks on the fence and just started to garden it. It looks amazing! Here are a few photos of the first lot. Eventually the owners drove by the lot and wondered what the heck was going on on the lot. Now they've done up paperwork, officially giving them permission to be there, the workers just needed to sign a waiver. Amazing!!

Since then, a sausage factory accross the back alley offered up one of their empty lots (opens right on to Hastings, by the Patricia) as they didn't have immediate plans for it and they liked what they saw at the other lot!

Now..... they've got their eye on the HUGE lot accross the street from the Glen and Hastings garden... it's CN property, but we'll ask anyways.

double standards...

2006-07-02T16:52:00.000-07:00

I could've sworn this lilly was white when I planted it! It was a potted plant that I got for mother's day last year and after it had bloomed I popped in the ground to see if it would come back. It did! And it's red! And it's twice the height it was last year!

The other day 2 guys from the shop were outside on their coffee break. Commenting on how it was too bad that the plants had been stolen, one of them scuffed the corner of the dirt with his shoe and out came a needle and a crack pipe that had been burried in the soil.

I have had to fight the temptation to get casual about gardening at the shop. Sometimes I stop but the shop and see a weed. I pluck it, and then I see another one, and then suddenly get sucked into this netherworld of gardening and get dangerously cavelier... but no more. This latest discovery in the soil has served as a very effective warning. I have a husband and kids. I don't need to come home with HIV/AIDS.

A funny thing happened since then, a sad thing, really. I've gotten so used to treating the soil at the shop as diseased or dangerous that when I was weeding at home, I noticed that I was gardening so carefully, paranoid that I might get pricked with a needle.
I'll have to develop two minds about gardening to deal with these different worlds--one to stay careful and appropriately respectful/fearful at the shop, but still able to love the carefree feeling of plunging my hands into the soil at home.

(Inevetably when I'm in the yard with my toddlers I can't resist gardenign something and them suddenlyu someone needs lifting etc and they get covered in mud--at very least under the armpits!!)

details details

2006-07-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

Here's the foget-me-nots that have already spread quite a ways. I think I'll move them to the back corner where they'll have more room to spread.

A bleeding heart had volunteered itself where the neighbours were planting a shed so I snatched that and then I also planted a few virginia creeper cuttings from the yard that have nicely rooted!

Next week is the Strathcona Community Garden plant sale, I can hardly wait!!

security systems.......

2006-06-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

We've put up a few signs, 'please don't steal our plants' kind of idea, we'll see if it helps!

You wouldn't believe what I did the other day.... I had a clump of bamboo to plant in the shade garden. We dug a hole, inserted a plastic ring (a sawn-off barrel) --(which should help retain the bamboo's invasiveness)--and ran wire around the plant, ran it around the ring a few times and then around a hunk of concrete!! Then we burried it all and we put the bamboo in fairly deep as well, so we'll see how that works as a deterrent! ...Unbelievable that we went to such lengths, but then it can be pretty unbelievable what goes on in that alley as well...

but now the bamboo's
starting to grow! (don't mind the mess to the right there... trying to stop the wood wall from rotting.)

stolen plants

2006-06-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

The first time someone stole a slew of plants, everyone was afraid to tell me. They tip-toed around me and waited for the right time to deliver the news. After the rock wall for the shade garden had been filled with soil, I threw some cheap plants in to brighten things up. I put in 9 tulips and 10 $0.54 primroses. I wasn't attached to the plants at all. I didn't know what colour the tulips would be and I've always found primroses to be a bit gaudy.

the spring flowers to fill in the soil at first, (they all got stolen a week or so later)

Anyways, when my husband told me the news, he acted as if he had to tell me that my pet hamster had died. It was fine, I reassured him, I had been expecting it all along. I was surprised it had taken until now for someone to steal flowers. I was relieved it was just the gaudy/unkown flowers though.

I took the news so well... but then the landslide happened. Day after day, plant after plant went missing. Then blooming flowers got cut off en masse. Suddenly, the garden that I had thought was terribly over-planted was thin and shabby-looking. I was so discouraged (and not to mention busy with kids) that I mostly left things for a month or so. Now I've opted to grow cuttings from my own yard and divide plants from my friends. Cheap and easily replaceable!

2006-06-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, in the last month 54 plants have been stolen. But, at the same time, I recovered irises, lillies and a peony from Julie's yard as she was clearing some space. (Some of them got stolen--the peony was about to bloom, that one hurt-- but I consoled myself that I'd rescued the plants from the garbage anyways.) Julie also divided some bamboo for me. Crocosmia from my parents' garden, daisies from the side of hwy #1, geraniums from the neighbours and various plant divisions from my own yard have made their way to the garden.

This, in general, maybe a better way to go. It's inexpensive and if they're stolen, more is readily available!

I had debated for weeks about whether to plant periwinkle in the shade plot. (I know, don't I have anything better to do? But I'm not constantly thinking about it, it's just on my mind as I look at other gardens as I walk around the neighbourhood.) While periwinkle tolerates shade, it can sperad rapidly and if left unattended, it can really take over and look a bit scruffy.

Finally, I decided that I didn't really want a ground cover, I was going for a mixed border look. But, the following week, someone had plunked a handful of periwinkle into the soil! I quickly watered it and it's taken hold beautifully! I threw all of my debating out the window--who can argue with random acts of kindness? Not only was it a thoughtful anonymous act, but it meant to me that someone else in the community was taking a little ownership of the garden too. How ironic that someone had planted periwinkle, I wondered if they had knowingly planted it in a shade spot or if it had been coincidence.

Fluid Gardening

2006-06-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

Glen and Hastings

May 2006

I can see that these are going to be fluid landscapes. Not only do they change with the growing seasons, but in the last month or so, around 55 plants have been stolen (27 plants and 27 or so tulips cut off).

So now: how to respond to this? During the initial planting of sun garden #1 I (and many of my friends and family) fully expected that all of the plants might've disappeared the following day. I tried to contain my excitement as the only vandals the following day had brought were the crows after my bulbs. Each day that passed brought more hope for the longevity and potential of the project.

As the plants took root, my own attachment also took root into that soil. I knew better, but despite my ongoing efforts to remain divested and detached, the gardens and their contents (now the sun garden doubled and a shade garden in the alley) begain to seem like they would be permanent fixtures.

After about 6 month, there had been no vandalism and in fact, a few people had added elements of their own : a butterfly lawn ornament showed up one day and a duck head (broken umbrella handle) had been placed in the sun garden a few days before that.

At one point, a day lily went missing. I thought it odd that someone would steal it in March or so--to the untrained eye it would just look like a few long leaves. There were other colorful plants around it, but maybe the person knew what they were doing. The day lily might've been the most expensive plant out there. But, right before the daylily was stolen, I had come accross a bunch of lilies that had been in a rubbish heap in our alley. Another house was throwing out a bucket so excitedly scooped up the lillies and brought them home in the bucket!

Now that I've thought about it, I've realized that they'd perform differently, but I initially shrugged off the day lily loss, excited that I just happened to have some replacement lillies. (and I happened to find some day lillies on sale a few months later for $10 cheaper anyways!)

This seems to be the pattern of the gardens. As plants disappear, new ones present themselves. It's fluid gardening. (Sometimes with an alarmingly high turn-over rate!) For some time, I had been poring over library books on gardening, analyzing yards, drawing diagrams, all in the name of finding the perfect sustainable landscape designs for the gardens. I now realize that the design of these gardens will be much more liquid than any of my research can predict. It's as if the gardens are my hands cupping water, some water slips through my fingers but then friends and strangers top it up.

Glen & Hastings

2006-06-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

Fall 2005

This garden was planted to bring colour and hope to a neglected and desperate part of Vancouver city. In an industrial neighborhood where many sex-trade workers spend hours-- day and night, the plot's location is on Glen, just off of Vancouver's notorious East Hastings.

Needles, used condoms, garbage and makeshift homes can be found within feet of the flowers you see here.

Although what you see in early pictures are mostly annuals, there are plenty of perennials and bulbs laying in wait.

Some people have laughed at my efforts as they've walked past, but smiles and appreciative comments have come from many others. Several women in the alley have complimented the garden and usually strike up a conversation with me about their history of gardening or a story of why they like flowers. One sex-worker even helped me haul bags of soil that were to be dumped on the garden one day!

The goal is to develop sustainable beauty that will enrich the lives in the neighborhood for years to come, even after we've left our rental spot in the neighborhood.

The first plot planted was sun garden #1, soon to be expanded if I have anything to do with it! (Lots of room for expansion!)

The sun garden looked something like this BEFORE

sun garden DURING
early spring 2006

sun garden AFTER
(although it looks much different now, more pix to come!)
late spring 2006

Next up is the shade garden in the corner....

the Shade Garden

2006-06-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Shade garden BEFORE

the shade garden AFTER

2006-06-06T00:27:00.000-07:00

Amazing things grow in Vancouver!

Before I really get into the guerrilla gardening projects, I think I'll post some photos from our yard. Most things have been planted by other people but we get to enjoy them.

I've been really into container gardening at home. After moving from a hot dry climate, I was impressed by how many things can be grown in containers in Vancouver. I have about 45 pots on the go right now, from asparagus, spinach and rasberries to daylillies, clematis and a willow tree. It's a lot of fun!

Hopefully this blog won't be too confusing. I thought of making a few different ones, one for the yard, one for my project gardens and possibly one for plants I see when I'm out and about but that's just going to make my life too complicated on my end. SO hopefully you can follow, this will basically serve as a window into my world of gardening! KB

I bought these irises a few years ago at the Strathcona Community Garden sale for a few dollars. They were small when I bought them but they're at least 1.5m tall! I planted them in this marshy spot... this is the first year they've bloomed and there's 7-8 blooms at a time!

I like the headless angel with the rhododendrons. There's all kinds of interesting sculptures hiding out in the garden.