Word Crunchers, Etc. Gardening Links (original) (raw)
Word Crunchers, Etc.
Ah March! It's a time when gardeners say "Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the lawn mower is." OK, so that's a twist on an old saying, but in Victoria you may need your lawn mower in March. Victorians can also change another old saying, "March winds bring April showers which bring May flowers", as we don't have to wait until May. My garden has had flowers all winter (geraniums, pansies, polyanthus), my spring bulbs are coming up, my camellia has large buds and I even had a non-stop begonia get confused by the warm winter and pop up out of the ground last month. Soon my garden will be a riot of colour.
Spring officially arrives on March 20th along with Victoria's pink snow from flowering trees. And the extra light you'll need to work in your garden in the evenings will arrive with day light savings time on the first Sunday in April, which this year is April 1st or April Fools Day (I wonder if there's a message there). While you're waiting for these two occurrences, you can browse the web for gardening ideas and advice, and if you want, even order plants, bulbs and seeds delivered to your door. However, if you order live plants, make sure the company you're ordering from guarantees that the plants will not only arrive in good condition, but also thrive throughout the summer.
| Interesting Gardening Sites | ||
|---|---|---|
| Butchart Gardens | www.butchartgardens.com | World famous local garden. |
| Every Rose | www.everyrose.com | Rose reference database which was designed and is operated by VMUG member, Trevor Inkpen of Quill Services. |
| Flower and Garden Network | www.flowerandgarden.net | Home of the Victoria Home and Garden Show. |
| Garden Wise | www.gardenwise.bc.ca | BC Landscape and Garden Products Directory which includes BC garden shops by region. |
| Gardening BC | www.gardeningbc.com/index/home.html | Famous BC gardens and other resources. |
| The Garden Mall | vvv.com/home/gardenmall | A resource for Victoria Gardeners. |
| Get Set to Garden! | www.gardeningbc.com | Links to gardening websites, sister site to Gardening BC. |
| Heronswood Nursery | www.heronswood.com | The person who sent me this link said it had "lots of stuff to drool over." |
| Horticulture Centreof the Pacific | www.islandnet.com/~hcp | Established to promote research and education in horticulture. It features many specialty gardens as well as natural areas of indigenous plants and wetlands. |
| Slugs and Salal | www.slugsandsalal.com | Focuses on Pacific northwest gardens, includes advice and tips from Helen Chestnut. |
| Two Rainy Side Gardeners | www.rainyside.com | Maritime Pacific Northwest Gardening |
| West Coast Seeds | www.westcoastseeds.com | Seeds suited for BC's coastal climate. |
| Victoria Area Garden Shops | ||
|---|---|---|
| B. Dinter Nursery Ltd. | www.cowichan.com/dinternursery | Cobble Hill (south of Duncan). Worth the trip! |
| The Garden Path Nursery | www.earthfuture.com/gardenpath/gpnursery.asp | Organic and native plants. |
| Garden Works | www.gardenworks.ca | Advice on west coast gardening. |
| Le Coteau Farms and Garden Centre | www.lecoteau.com | My favourite place for fresh fruit! |
| Meadow Oak Nursery | www.meadowoaknursery.com | North Saanich / Sidney Area. |
| Peninsula Flowers Nursery | www.coastnet.com/~nursery | North Saanich / Sidney area. |
When you come in from your garden at the end of the day, tired and perhaps discouraged by how little you've accomplished and how much you still have to do, maybe a little gardening humour will brighten your day. Reading the quotes on the Jokes, Puns, Riddles, One-Liners and Humor for Gardeners and Farmers www.gardendigest.com/humor.htm may be just the thing to give you that renewed energy to tackle the garden again another day.
Happy Gardening!
Acknowledgements
This article was originally published in the March 2001 issue of the Victoria Macintosh Users Group's monthly newsletter "MAC_talk_" in Vicky's column "VMUG On-Line".
Vicky Vickers is the owner of Word Crunchers, Etc. which specializes in website design and HTML training. She is a past-president (1994-6) and former webmaster (1995-8) of Victoria Macintosh Users Group (VMUG). She also founded and was the first president (1996) of the Web Enthusiasts Association of Victoria (WEAV).
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Call me today at 250-595-6593 to discuss your website design
or e-mail me at vicky@crunchers.bc.ca
Vicky Vickers, Word Crunchers, Etc.
3290 Shelley Street, Victoria, BC, V8P 4A5
Fax: 250-595-7384 (call first)