Speakers/Meetings - 2023
January 12, 2023 at 7:30 PM – Lori Snyder: Share the Wisdom of Plants
In-Person meeting - Speaker via Zoom
Lori is a Metis herbalist and educator who shares the wisdom and traditions of her indigenous roots. She loves honouring the plants and their medicines which are growing in our province. She will provide a First Peoples perspective on identifying wild, edible and medicinal plants and homemade products, and she will highlight how to reintroduce indigenous plants into our urban landscapes.
February 9, 2023 at 7:30 PM - Lucretia Schanfarber: Superfood-Canopy Gardening
In-person meeting - Speaker via Zoom
Lucretia Schanfarber lives on the remote edges of Quadra Island. She wishes to inform, inspire and connect gardeners with a view to teaching how we can adapt to (or mitigate) climate change. She will highlight how to grow delicious foods for healing and nurturing our bodies and our soil using natural plant canopies to protect plants, soil, and habitats. Drawing from her own experience as a life-long organic gardener and compost junkie, Lu also shares the wisdom and advice of some of her favourite guest contributors to her Gabbing about Gardening Radio Show.
March 9, 2023 at 7:30 PM - Helen Law: Hycroft Garden Restoration
In-Person meeting
In 1962, the University Women’s Club of Vancouver (UWCV) purchased Hycroft Manor and soon restored the manor to its former glory, but the gardens were in a terrible state of decay. The gardens that exist today at Hycroft reflect the work of Hycroft Garden Club members since 1963. Helen will speak to us on the restoration of this very beautiful and unique property and the retention of wide variety of heritage trees. The mandate of the Hycroft Garden committee is to restore, maintain and retain the garden features with the Edwardian Garden scheme in view.
April 13, 2023 at 7:30 PM - Julia Guest: Garden Tourism
In-person meeting
Julia has a fine reputation as an organizer of small, intimate tours, and a garden aficionado whose knowledge gained from leading fellow enthusiasts to gardens around the world is life enriching. Julia has designed, planned and escorted small groups since 1990 to England, France & Italy, New Zealand, China & India and most recently to the United Kingdom. Over the years and working with Vancouver Landscape Designer Ron Rule and gardening personality Des Kennedy have refined her scope; now the gardens visited are chosen not only for their garden excellence but what they can tell us about the society and culture, where we have come from as well as a study of English garden history and design.
May 11, 2023 - Members Only Garden Tour
June 8, 2023 at 7:30 PM - Kirsten Ridd: Dutch Naturalism in Garden Design
In-person meeting
Our very own garden club member, Kirsten Ridd will speak on Dutch Naturalism in Garden Design highlighting the beauty of these landscapes and sharing insights through photos taken on a recent trip to the Netherlands early 2022.
July 13, 2023 - Members Only Summer Social
September 14, 2023 at 7:30 PM - Marilyn Holt: Fertilizers and Soil
In-Person meeting
It is amazing what misconceptions are out there regarding fertilizing and organic fertilizers. A lot of people do the work, fertilize but the results aren’t what they expected. Marilyn will be speaking about taking the myths out of fertilizers and encouraging success in our gardens.
October 12, 2023 at 7:30 PM - Gary Lewis: Ground Covers
In-Person meeting
In a companion talk to his recently published “The Complete Book and Ground Covers”, Gary will highlight the functional and aesthetic uses of ground covers in the landscape including tips and tricks for designing with ground covers to take your outdoor space to the next level and a discussion on the diverse services ground covers can provide to make gardens more sustainable. He will illustrate all these benefits and uses of ground covers with beautiful photos taken from his travels to gardens around the world.
November 9, 2023 - Members Only Annual General Meeting and Winter Social
My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece - Claude Monet