Your Garden Valet

04/19/2026

Finally this puzzle is done✅

04/15/2026

🌿

Viburnum carlesii — Korean spice shrub

If you’re choosing shrubs for your garden, this is one that truly earns its place. Grown as much for its fragrance as its beauty, the blooms release a rich, spicy-sweet scent that carries through the garden in spring.

Soft clusters of blush-to-white flowers add to its charm, but it’s the experience of walking past and catching that incredible perfume that makes this plant unforgettable.

A perfect example of why we should plant for more than just looks—this one brings the senses to life. ✨

03/18/2026

Time to tell council and mayor of Langley No!
This is a much needed business for the horticulture industry

133 signatures are still needed! Support the rezoning initiative for West Creek Farms

02/24/2026

Great information

🛑‼️because we ❤️🐝🦋🐞

What NOT to do right now: The urge to get out there and do something in the garden is understandable, but I would like to put in a plea for overwintering pollinators, aphid predators, caterpillar parasitic wasps, butterflies and the myriad of other insects we depend on for healthy gardens and functioning ecosystems.

🐝Leave the garden cleanup at least until you see bumblebees and hover flies visiting spring flowers. Many bees and beneficial insects are overwintering in old stalks, surface mulches, clumps of dead plant material under hedges and edges. Give them a chance to complete their life cycle: In fact, the longer you delay the cleanup, the better!

( an excerpt from a Linda Gilkeson winter post )

10/20/2025

The Wiggle test!

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲!” 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭? 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐀 𝐖𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐓!

That’s right! Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott urges you to do this one simple thing to determine if your 🌳tree has a healthy root system: a wiggle test.

This allows you to see if the soil around the roots moves; if it does, it is a sign that the tree is not well-established. For newly planted trees, that may have been in the ground for more than 6 months, you can dig it up and give it a new lease on life!

👉Some tips when replanting:
1. The hole must be 2-3 times the width of the pot/plant with plenty of space for roots to move outwards.
2. The root flare needs to be placed at the surface.
3. Bare root planting (washing the roots) gives it the best chance of survival and you can examine those roots closely.
4. Remove poor structural roots (ones that wrap around that will girdle and those that go straight down vs. those that flare outwards)
5. Spread the roots out like the “spokes of a wheel” radiating out.
6. Infill with soil and water to ensure that there are no large air pockets.
7. Top the planting area with 4-6" of arborist wood chips to prevent w**ds, conserve moisture, and build healthy soil.

*Quote from Linda's Original Post: see 🔗in comments
🖊️&📷 🌱VMG Michelle L.

06/01/2025

We learn so much from our plants. ☺️

06/01/2025

Spittlebugs, also known as spit bugs, are easily identified due to their small, white, foamy nests which resemble drops of bubbly saliva.
👉In Spring, they are often seen on roadside 🌾grasses and w**ds, you may also spot them in your garden, especially on your lavender, which is a favourite host plant.

🟢These green insects, approximately ¼ inch long, feed on plant sap (xylem specifically, unlike most insects that feed on the phloem) but generally do no real harm to their hosts. They have one life cycle, and once the nymphs (a phase in the insect’s life cycle, when they look similar to the adults but are smaller and don’t have wings) mature, their foam nests disappear.

Foam nests and some of the nymphs can be removed by hosing off the plant with water. ( Spray bottles with a sharp stream nozzle rather than spray mist also work. Use these to blast aphids off too— this way you won’t harm beneficial insects as insecticidal soaps are indiscriminate. 🐝🐞🦋

For west coast gardeners, Linda Gilkeson's book on Natural Insect, W**d & Disease Control is a great reference as is the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension article, Spittlebugs.

http://www.lindagilkeson.ca/books.html

https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/spittlebugs/

🖋️& 📷 🌱student VMG Shannon T.

02/12/2025

Great tips

Linda Gilkeson's West Coast Gardening books, talks, workshops and tips on organic gardening, insect, w**d & disease management.

02/12/2025

I’ve covered my hellebores with pots

A nice blanket of snow to insulate against the cold weather. Don’t forget to move pots that may need protection to up against a building. Use cardboard if you need to. 🥶. If you’re worried about tender shrubs which have begun budding out cover with a tarp or what have you. We learned a lot about winter damage from 2024!

10/17/2024

It was so bright this morning, I thought my husband had left the kitchen light on. The moon was so bright! I could see the stars- big and Little Dipper until the clouds rolled in.
I found myself awake at 5:15 am so I took the opportunity to get into my hot tub for some self care.
It was perfect, it was still dark that I couldn’t look at my garden and think about the next task.
My cell phone was in the house.
Instead of going for an eggnog latte, I started my day with 24 Oz of water with USANA’s Advanced Collagen, the best part aside from being delicious and refreshing, it packs 15 grams of protein.
One hour of bliss😀

Picture was from summer, remember my phone was in house

09/21/2024

Last day of summer, time to say goodbye to my summer plants