Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from The Botanical Concierge, 5251 Oak Street, .
Horticulturist offering garden design, consultation, education and maintenance.
š¼ Red Seal Landscape Horticulturist
š² ISA Certified Arborist
š BSc Natural Science
Sunshine Coast, BC šØš¦
05/06/2022
Went to the forest to take some test shots for a Photoshoot I have coming up (thanks to my lovely friend Lorena for putting on a salal crown and modelling for me š¤Ŗ). Came across a huge score of oyster mushrooms ššš. I took a course last year from .jacks.wild.mushrooms and it was amazing. Iāve been having a blast foraging for mushrooms and highly recommend trying it! Itās like an Easter egg hunt for adults.
30/05/2022
Talking about soils to the Pender Harbour Garden Club today! Building healthy soil is incredibly important so Iām excited to share some knowledge with other keen gardeners. If you want to come itās at the School of Music 1-3 and doors open at 12:45!
29/05/2022
Times are changing⦠Crop Swap Vancouver has officially been handed over to three amazing women to carry on the community! As much as I loved running the group, Iāve moved on from the city and been on the Sunshine Coast for a year now. Since moving Iāve been working for myself full time for the first time ever! Iāve had so much fun designing gardens, teaching people in their garden, and getting my hands dirty with maintenance work. It has been busy!
Iām excited to also be learning more about consulting arborist work and have been putting more time into my photography business (). Iām not quite sure what Iāll be doing with this account, as Iām not really into posting too much. But Iād still love to share my garden adventures with you and hopefully be a source of some inspiration and useful information!
So welcome to my new page - The Botanical Concierge. I chose that name because I have my hands in a lot of different plant themed pockets, and Iād like to be a go to source for all things plant related in my local community. I hope youāll stick around for this next chapter and I promise not to take another nine months before my next post š¤£
*you can still follow the ig account - the handle has been transferred over to a brand new account :)
29/05/2022
I love tropical plants! Was freeing up some phone space and came across these pics of my tropical bed design at VanDusen botanical garden from a couple years ago. This was my first big bed design I got to take on. I made a path through the hardy bananas and chose a burgundy, green and silvery colour palette. I would love to create something like this in a private garden, though a lot of these plants wouldnāt be winter hardy here. Although, recently Iāve started designing some indoor tropical plantings which is such a blast! Oh the last pic is from my time volunteering at Bloedel Conservatory where I talked to visitors about the cool tropical plants and birds there - highly recommend visiting both these gardens ā¤ļø
13/07/2021
The neighbourās grandkids came by to get some goodies from my garden so I gave them a tour and helped them find veggies to pick. They harvested zucchini, pattypan squash, green onion, cucumber, lettuce, beet greens, blueberries and radish! I love seeing kids excited about gardening and have so much fun teaching them about plants. Oh and to top it all off I got an invite to dinner (the pattypan dish was so delicious)!!
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06/07/2021
If youāve walked through the forest lately you may have come across this super cool plant called Monotropa uniflora (ghost plant). It doesnāt contain any chlorophyll so canāt generate energy from the sun. Instead parasitizes certain fungi that have a mutually beneficial relationship (mycorrhizal association) with trees. The fungi colonize a treeās roots allowing it to receive energy (carbohydrates from photosynthesis) from the tree, while the fungi can tap into water and mineral sources the tree roots are too big to reach on their own. Then cute lil Monotropa hops on the train by taking carbs from the fungi. So youāll find Monotropa in quite dark locations and in complex relationships (arenāt we all š¤Ŗ)! What surprised me most was to find out this plant is in the Ericaceae family (which includes plants like blueberry, huckleberry, arbutus, and heather). Have you seen these before?! Theyāre one of my favs to come across.
05/07/2021
I cut my only broccoli for her for dinner⦠thatās how special my bestie .teej is š¤£! Known this gal over 30 years and although weāre total opposites in so many ways, itās one of my most cherished friendships! Thankful for the visit in my new home and a weekend of great chats, yummy local food, laughs and love!
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28/06/2021
I was fortunate to get some farming lessons from Mel when I attended horticulture school at UBC. So great to see their new business grow on the Sunshine Coast!
06/06/2021
So nice to be meeting some more gardening nerds in my new community through sharing extra seedlings. They were also kind to bring me a kombucha scoby and black currants! Thereās a group for swapping garden stuff on the coast already so I wonāt be starting a crop swap up here. Im still running the group in Vancouver but will probably try to find someone to take over it soon. A bit sad as itās been a lovey little group to be a part of the last few years!!
28/05/2021
I love this time of year when our native Pacific dogwood Cornus nuttallii is blooming. Those showy white things arenāt actually the flower petals - theyāre modified leaves called bracts. The flowers are clustered in the middle and there can be over 30 of them! I donāt know what it is about the genus Cornus but thereās something about the plants in it that I find comforting (if that makes any sense š¤Ŗ). Iām a big fan of Cornus florida (native to eastern North America and northern Mexico). If you get a chance look up Cornus florida subspecies urbiniana (Rose) Ricket ššš
17/05/2021
Oh hiiiii itās me! Yes Iām still around... big changes over here though! Two weeks ago I moved up to the after spending a third of my life in Vancouver. I have been settling into my little town of 3000 and enjoying the quiet and my new ocean views. Of course I took up half the moving truck with my plants š¤£! Iām excited about this new chapter in my life and just taking some time to figure out what I want to do with this account. Iām still doing horticulture work (although working for myself now not the city) and am trying to grow my photography business (). Iām also busy studying for some industry exams including my red seal in landscape horticulture and ISA certified arborist. So lots on the go at the moment!! Iām a little absent from social media these days but hopefully will start sharing fun stuff with you again soon. I hope youāll stick around to share in my plant adventures!
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06/04/2021
Beautiful Ribes sanguineum! These are always a welcome sight in the spring and a beacon for hummingbirds. Theyāre a great PNW native to add to your garden and you can find cultivars in different colours as well.
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Building Community by Growing and Sharing Food
Welcome to Crop Swap Vancouver - a sharing community for people to swap homegrown, food-related products. Our forums facilitate the trading of excess produce, seeds, plants, garden supplies, homemade goods or preserves, eggs, honey, advice, recipes, and much more, without the exchange of cash.
Join our community for updates, info, inspiration and advice, by liking our page/following us on Instagram (@cropswapvancouver). Arrange trades through our private Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/cropswapvancouver/). Or come out to one of our crop swapping events. *Note that only those local to Vancouver will be able to join the private Facebook group.
Crop Swap Vancouver is guided by five key values:
Community: Meeting our neighbours, building strong and resilient communities, and taking care of one another
Connection: Connecting like-minded people as well as building a connection with nature and our food
Respect: Valuing, appreciating, and being kind to our earth, other human beings, plants, insects, animals, and ourselves
Sustainability: Living in a way that promotes diverse and productive biological systems
Fun: Getting our hands dirty, sharing laughter, growing and eating healthy and delicious food
We encourage growers to follow organic gardening principles to promote healthy soil, plants, ecosystems and of course, people! These principles include:
using compost, organic amendments and cover crops to help build fertile and productive soil
using mulch to help preserve water, reduce weeds, and protect the soil
using organic and heirloom seeds when possible
controlling pest and disease issues through smart planting designs, good garden practices (like crop rotation), traps or physical barriers, removing by hand, and encouraging beneficial insects, birds and other organisms
pulling weeds by hand as opposed to using chemical controls
We also encourage people to get to know their gardens and be aware of any invasive plants, pests, or diseases that may be present so we can all help prevent the spread of these things. This is especially important when trading plants or gardening supplies.