You may not know yarrow by name, but you’ve likely seen it growing on rocky hillsides and in dusty ditches; a bright yellow (or white, or pink) beacon in otherwise dry and desolate conditions. This drought-tolerant plant thrives in full sun, gravelly soils and can be in bloom from June until October.

Yarrow is a strong and resilient plant, as its Latin name, Achillea, would suggest. One version of Greek folklore tells a story of the warrior Achilles’ mother, Thetis, dipping her son into a bath of yarrow (alternative versions suggest a bath of ambrosia, or perhaps even the river Styx) to render him invulnerable. Since Thetis held Achilles’ heel, this part of him was never submerged and was a point of weakness that ultimately led to his death.

From ancient legend to modern urban railroad tracks, yarrow is a welcome bit of colour to contrast the grey steel, and grit of Vancouver’s industrial zones. Considered to be toxic by some if consumed in great quantity, yarrow has long been used as a haemostatic, an agent to stop bleeding (perhaps even used by Achilles to treat his soldiers’ wounds). One source even suggests placing rolled leaves up one’s nostrils to stop a nosebleed. Charming!

To treat flu and feverish symptoms, yarrow has traditionally been used as a steam treatment and also a dilute tea as either will cause dramatic perspiration and may release toxins from the body. One should be cautious however as overexposure can cause headaches and even vertigo. Long used in witchcraft, (another nickname is Devil’s Plaything) it is said that wearing a bouquet of blossoms will free yourself of fear, while picking yarrow from a grave at midnight will make you successful in love.

For the less adventurous forager, yarrow does excellent as a cut flower in arrangements and can even be easily dried by hanging upside-down to retain much of its original colour. If growing in your garden be sure to divide the plants regularly as yarrow can be highly invasive if allowed to thrive.

One negative about living in the big city is the lack of earth for gardening. Luckily, Vancouver weather is particularly well suited for many types of balcony gardens. For my first attempt, I thought I would keep it simple. I planted some seeds in late March and kept them inside until April, eventually potting them in slightly larger pots. I tired to plant easy, low maintenance plants that I could eat. I planted many herbs, some lettuce, green beans, hot peppers and peas. I also bought a few decorative plants, like ivy, succulents and geraniums from local nurseries and garden centers.

My balcony faces due east, so it is bathed in morning sun, but sheltered from the hot, hot sun of the afternoon. I still needed to water almost daily in July and August. While my bounty will not be very big, I did learn some lessons from my first year balcony gardening. First, I would use larger pots with better drainage. Plants like lettuce and peas were fun to grow, but the yield is only good for a few salads unless you are growing larger quantities (which is hard to do on a balcony).

I found herbs to be the ultimate balcony crop, at least so far. They are small and relativity easy, but can provide you with fresh herbs throughout the summer and into the winter if you decide to dry some of your crop. In future years I would like to grow more herbs, tomatoes and perhaps carrots? There is a real satisfaction in eating food you grew without the use of the traditional garden. It will be interesting to see how sophisticated balcony gardens become as populations become more urban and land for gardening becomes a lot more scarce.

This time of year it’s hard not to fall head-over-heels in love with hydrangea flowers. We dove into the history and care of hydrangea earlier and we couldn’t resist coming back to show off just how easy it is to work with these seasonal blooms. In the late summer and into autumn, the local British Columbia hydrangea start to show an aged appearance that adds to their depth and interest; the purples turn more blue, the pinks develop brown tones and even the greens get a soft red around the edges. If you want to dry hydrangea blooms, now is the time because the shapes and colours hold up very well.

When arranging with hydrangea, you only need a couple blooms to make a stunning bouquet or vase arrangement. The delicate nature of hydrangea lends well to feminine touches, as we demonstrated here with the lace wrap of a basic bridal bouquet containing just four blooms of purple hydrangea.

For our second bouquet we added blackberries and dried lotus pods to break up the purple and vary the texture. We did a dramatic ribbon wrap simply by picking a few different styles and sizes of ribbon and loosely tying in a bow around the stems.

We foraged the hydrangea from our friend’s yard and the blackberry stems from a house just days before its demolition. When keeping hydrangea stems in water (or any woody stem for that matter) it is important to fill your vase very full with warm water and after trimming the stems, give each a splice upwards into the stem to increase the surface area where the stem can drink from — a quick smash with a hammer works really well too!

Hurry and go arrange a hydrangea bouquet while you can! The large colourful beauties (and blackberries too!) won’t be around much longer!

{Lace bouquet by Janee Auger, lotus pod bouquet by Mary Hudson}

One of first places I visited when I moved to Vancouver was the Davie Village Community Garden, which is located at the corner of Burrard and Davie. A year later I came back with my camera in tow. This community garden is almost the opposite of the hidden gem that is the Strathcona Community Garden, since it is in the middle of the hustle and bustle of downtown Vancouver.

The approximately 100 plot garden was completed in the late fall of 2008 on a site that was originally a gas station. There has been some controversy about the quality and safety of the site, and after discovering contaminated soil, Shell Canada removed and replaced six meters of soil in the garden. Davie Village Community Garden is mainly used for decorative flowers, but there are little bits of food growing here and there. This garden is also unique, because unlike many of Vancouver’s other gardens, Davie Village Community Garden is privately owned by Prima Properties.

We visited the garden on a balmy, grey afternoon and it was bustling with activity, both human and otherwise. There were many visitors enjoying the garden and its sights, smells and sounds. Pigeons are also plentiful here, picking at seeds and other treats. Bees are also everywhere, so bee-careful where you step (haha).

While we loved the openness and inner city feeling of this garden, we wished there were a few large trees to lounge under. We luckily did notice a few young cedars planted around the grounds as we explored. Perhaps with the more time to mature, the Davie Village Community Garden could become a garden oasis in the steel and glass jungle that is downtown Vancouver.

During the hot, dry days of high summer, when all other plants are begging for the relief of fall, this is when nasturtiums are in their prime. Flowers of creams and yellows, to oranges, reds, and crimsons and easily recognizable by their lily pad shaped leaves, nasturtiums provide beautiful form and colour to the edges of vegetable beds.

Although the leaves and flowers have been used in flower arranging in the past, today the plant is favored mostly for its culinary uses. Originally from Peru, the nasturtium is of the same family and also similar in flavour to common watercress.

Coveted for its warm colours and bountiful foliage, nasturtium flowers, leaves, and seed pods are all completely edible. Once used to treat urinary and respiratory infections, nasturtiums are now consumed as a peppery — and vitamin C packed — addition to salads and sandwiches.

Try pureeing the leaves into a pesto with extra kick, or pickle the seed pods to make a nice substitute for capers. Or, do as we did and replace your other salad greens with the leaves and flowers of the nasturtium and add to your plate of picnic goodies.

For our picnic by the water in Vancouver’s setting sun, we wanted to compliment, but not overpower the subtle flavours of the nasturtiums. Served alongside the peppery leaves and flowers we have: spicy salami, buffalo mozzarella, parmesan, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes.

Easily planted after the last frost, the pea-sized seeds need darkness to germinate, so cover with about 1cm of soil. Within a few weeks (and right up until autumn) you will have more edible flowers than you’ll know what to do with. Be sure to plant in a very sunny area and don’t let the plants dry out.

Alternatively, check your local farmers market this time of year, where you are likely to find all sorts of heirloom varieties by the bag-full.

Let us know how else you like to enjoy nasturtiums, and happy eating!!

{Sources: The New Northern Gardener, Jennifer Bennett, 1996; The Harrowsmith Illustrated Book of Herbs, Patrick Lima, 1986}

A very popular, yet sensitive cut flower in the floral industry, hydrangea is one of my favorite flowers. Fortunately for us in Vancouver, they grow everywhere in many lovely shapes and colours. It is one of the few flowers that comes in a true blue, anything from baby blue, to a nice rich navy.

Hydrangea is found throughout the world, and is native to southern and eastern Asia and North and South America. There are as many as 75 different species. Hydrangea can come in tree, bush and even climbing forms, with a variety of flower types. The most common (at least in Vancouver) is the showy mophead variety, which is actually sterile.

Colours of hydrangeas can vary from pink to blue, purple, cream and pure white. The colours can be soft and pale, or dark and rich with some species changing according to the aluminum content in the soil. Hydrangeas begin to flower in mid-summer and I have seen their flowers thriving into November. Some varieties are evergreen, lasting all year round. The flowers of hydrangea plants are quite long lasting and they only look better with age, as they antique under the hot summer sun.

Hydrangea is an excellent flower for arranging, it is round and full with great colour and texture, but to be appreciated in its full glory, it is best to admired it on the plant. When growing most varieties of hydrangea, yearly pruning is very important. Un-prunned plants will eventually become too tall and weak to support themselves. These lovely plants are commonly seen throughout MetroVancouver in endless, beautiful variety.

Other sources: Hydrangeas for the American Gardener by Michael A. Dirr

The perfect recipe for a tea party? One part sweets, one part fruits, and one part flowers — oh and don’t forget the tea! Inspired by grandmother’s tablecloth, fragrant roses, and in-season cherries, we created a tea party fit for even the hardest to please connoisseurs.

Creating low arrangements in tea cups is very easy, the only tools required are a set of pruners, or just your trusty, sharp Swiss army knife (careful please!) Fill each tea cup two thirds full with cool water, then start with some greenery cut low to fill your cup and create a frame, we used dusty miller. Next add your large focal flower, in our case roses, to sit just above the rim of the cup. Support the rose on three sides with other blooms, we used some dianthus and foraged hydrangea.

With arrangements in small vessels such as these, it is important to change and refill the water everyday because the flowers will drink it very quickly.

Once the work is done, invite your friends (or grannies), sit back and enjoy; just be careful not to mix up the cups!

The back alley bouquet idea is sort of an experiment, a bit of a work in progress. At Mainland we are all about seeing what grows near garbage cans and through cracked pavement, and that is sort of the concept behind the back alley bouquet…

First you will need time and an idea. If you are in an unfamiliar neighbourhood, you’ll need more time and a flexible idea. Take an afternoon, or better yet, a cool early morning to forage. Have a vague idea of the types and colours of flowers you want to collect in order to focus your search. Gather clippers, a jar of cool water and head out to the streets.

Our first alley bouquet was a nice success. We choose to find roses that were springing up in back alleys (outside of people’s fences) in the Commercial Drive neighborhood. We walked up and down many alleys in the hot sun for a few hours searching out any lost plants. Hindsight tells us it was a bit too warm for this task, because the roses we picked instantly began to wilt (as we were) the moment they were clipped from the bush. In the end we collected a nice, romantic pink bouquet. We found roses, perennial peas, foxglove, smoke bush, a hosta leaf and a few other odds and ends to fill things out.

This little experiment made me really appreciate the back alley. Alleys are dirty and smelly, yet full of interesting things. Backyards spill over fences and grow wild in alleys. There will be more bouquets to come, and with each one we hope to improve our foraging skills and (ideally) not get sprayed by any skunks.

{Arrangement by Mary Hudson}

When I think of Egypt, I imagine vast amounts of sand and dust lacking any sort of vegetation, but the Nile Valley is home to a variety of luscious plants and flowers. The ancient Egyptians appear to be the first culture to arrange flowers for simple decoration. Evidence, such as images in stone reliefs and wall paintings, appear in ancient Egypt as early as 4, 000 years ago. They used flowers to decorate their homes, their bodies, their tombs and their dead, much like we still do today. Flowers were an important aspect to their culture, and specific meanings were assigned to each flower they used.

Egyptians may have also been the first culture to assign a national flower, with the papyrus representing Lower Egypt and the lotus, or water lily, representing the Upper Egypt. Flowers even influenced architecture, with the papyrus, water lily, chamomile and chrysanthemum all serving to inspire forms of rosette shapes. It is obvious that flowers were widely used and revered in ancient Egyptian culture, and while we may never understand exactly why, it gives us an interesting connection to a distant past that appreciated flowers in much the same way that our modern culture does.

{Other sources: History of Art: The Western Tradition, Sixth Edition by Horst Woldemar Janson, Anthony F. Janson}