A Shortlist of Invasive Ornamental Plants of Concern

By:  Linda Dietrick, Master Gardener You have probably heard of kudzu and purple loosestrife, two invasive plants that were originally introduced to North America with the best of intentions. Brought into new environments where there were no natural …

A review of The Prairie Garden 2023: Climate Aware Gardening

By Darlene Belton, Master Gardener A dire theme, one that many would rather avoid, is faced head on in this year’s edition of The Prairie Garden (TPG) that styles itself as ‘Western Canada’s only gardening annual’. A vigorous …

Reducing my Lawn – One gardener’s perspective two years in

By Derek Yarnell, Master Gardener Two full growing seasons after having reduced the least ecologically productive part of my gardens – my front lawn – by about 50% or roughly 800 square feet, this is some of what …

Strengthening Community Climate Resilience: Citizens Play a Crucial Role

  Strengthening Community Climate Resilience: Citizens play a crucial role in caring for both public and private trees By Colleen Zacharias, Master Gardener What can people do to support trees on their private properties but also newly planted …

Managing Climate Change – What Are We to Do?

Mark Bauche, Master Gardener, MALA, SALA, CSLA As Master Gardeners, we see the effects of climate change season after season, but what can we as individuals, or even as an association, do to help address it? There have …

Climate Change on the Prairies

Oh! For Peat’s Sake!

“File:Schultz Sphagnum Peat Moss.jpg” by Ragesoss is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 By Liz Sellors, Master Gardener It’s spring! Gardening advertisements are bombarding us! Like this one : “Peat is a natural product, sustainably harvested. Environmentally friendly. Our …

Drought and Your Garden

A row of interconnected rain ‘barrels’ (recycled plastic garbage cans). The barrels are elevated in a ‘step’ sequence, and the simple pipe connections capture roof run-off from a significant rainfall. A screen over the barrel under the downspout …

Book review – The Living Landscape

The Living Landscape Designing for beauty & biodiversity in the home garden. Authors: Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy Publisher: Timber Press, 2014 Book review by Derek Yarnell, Master Gardener In my humble opinion Douglas Tallamy is a bona-fide …

What’s a Gardener to Do?

  By Derek Yarnell, Master Gardener This past winter as the climate crisis Click Here and scale of the biodiversity crisis Click Here became more apparent to me, I had an epiphany regarding the importance of gardening with …