The Guelph Enabling Garden

Lois Finlay Memorial Craft/Harvest Sale

2011-10-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

During our craft/harvest sale, we had a nice time in the garden making 'pine cone' flowers.

Here is Marilyn showing us the technique....

They all end up looking very unique.

The sunshine was kind enough to show up too!

Craft/harvest sale still on!

2011-10-13T07:23:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's raining, but the Craft/Harvest Sale is still happening! I hope to put up tarps or we will set up in our shed. See you there!

Lois Finlay Memorial Harvest Craft Sale

2011-10-04T17:15:00.000-07:00

The Lois Finlay Memorial Harvest Craft Sale

Thursday October 13^th, 2-5pm

Please join us in the Guelph Enabling Garden

(689 Woolwich Street North, Guelph in Riverside Park)

rop by anytime between 2-5 pm and learn how to make ‘pine cone flowers’. Take home crafts inspired by the garden and in remembrance of Lois Finlay, a dedicated garden volunteer board member

Everybody welcome to this accessible event!

Autumn Photos

2011-09-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

Look how tall the broom corn has grown in the KidzGrow Garden!

Friends of the Family Senior Care's mums are starting to bloom nicely.

Hibiscus flowers are still fantastic at this time of year.

Herbs for Health & Beauty

2011-08-18T09:23:00.001-07:00

Parsley has been known to minimize swelling and redness of the skin around irritated eyes. It also lightens and evens out discoloured skin tone. You can make a parsley honey mask to reduce blackheads and wrinkles. Here is a recipe:

2 tablespoons of chopped parsley

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon of honey

Mix parsley and egg yolk in a blender. Add honey and blend. Apply to neck and face and leave on for 20 minutes. Rinse with warm water.

For more ideas, be sure to attend the Horticultural Therapy Teaching Session on DIY Health & Beauty Products on August 23rd, 7-8 pm in the GEG.

Garden Art with Playsense Teens

2011-08-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

A lovely day to be in the Garden. Playsense visited and did some artwork that involved a tracing of their hand incorporated with images from nature.

The Garden provided us with inspiration as we worked with a wide variety of art supplies.

Everyone should be very proud of their work in the Garden today!

The Garden's Blooming Beautifully

2011-08-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some snapshots of some of the raised beds at the GEG. Above is Independent Living's bed filled with marigolds, impatiens, cornflower, sweet peas, and strawflowers.

Riverside Glen's bed is doing well. Dahlias are peeking out to enjoy the view.

The kiwi vine is filled with lots of miniature kiwi fruit.

Riverside Residences' bed is overflowing with interesting sights.

Flower Pounding Postcards

2011-08-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Flower pounding is a technique of taking fresh flowers and pounding their natural dyes onto paper. In this case, we pounded them onto blank postcards.
Here is a participant putting her chosen flower between the blank postcard and another white absorptive paper. She pounds the flower with a hammer to impress the dye onto the paper.

Watercolour paint or markers can be used to embellish the designs to make neat, imaginative pictures.

Playing with Puppets

2011-08-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

Nathan Gatten's puppet show was a great success when kids came to visit the GEG last month. The play introduced the kids to the features of our accessible garden and some of the cool interactions that occur in it. Great job, Nathan!

Tea and Tales

2011-07-30T15:40:00.000-07:00

Sya VanGeest and Rachel Schoen of the Guelph Guild of Storytellers entertained Guelph Enabling Garden visitors with wonderful tales on a beautiful Friday morning. Stories will continue each Friday morning from 10:30-11:30 am until August 26th. Please bring your own lawn chair if you can and a cup if you care for iced tea. Donations greatly appreciated.

Marigold & Lavender

2011-07-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

Guelph Independent Living residents came to the garden recently to check out their bed. Participants familiarized themselves with two very different smelling flowers: marigold and lavender. Both have very distinctive scents - marigold has a musky, pungent odor that tends to keep 'pests' away, making them an excellent companion plant. Most people prefer the sweet smell of lavender though, which can help calm the nerves and help those with insomnia.

Riverside Glen visits

2011-07-18T19:28:00.000-07:00

Riverside Glen residents came to the GEG recently to look after their piece of the garden. They made a new sign, painting on it brightly coloured flowers to make their bed even more charming!

Creative greeting cards

2011-07-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

Marilyn Swaby shows us how to make faux-parchment greeting cards during a Horticultural Therapy teaching session. The sky sprinkled some rain on us, but thankfully not enough to stop these participants from coming to the Garden to learn from our creative guest speaker.
We designed a picture from pressed garden flowers (we placed the flowers in between parchment paper and a napkin) and covered it with a half glue, half water mixture. When it dries, we will iron each card flat, fold it, and insert writing paper into it.

A True community Garden

2011-06-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

Here is Ellice wishing her amaranth plant well. A friend of the Garden started this plant from seed in spring and donated it to The Riverside Residence garden bed. This type of community gardening warms my heart!

Happy Summer Solstice!

2011-06-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

Clematis

My how time is flying. Summer is here already! Some updates on what's been going on in the garden over these past couple of busy weeks:

-all of the garden beds are now planted! Groups involved in planting and caring for the raised and ground beds include: Independent Living, Riverside Glen Retirement and Long Term Care, Friends of the Family Senior Care and Family Resources, Community Living, Riverside Residence, The Warley Family, KidZGrow participants, and many more individuals.

-60 grade 3's from Ken Danby recently visited to explore the garden with their keen senses. They brought scarlet runner bean seedlings that they started in class and brought them to plant in the GEG.

-currently flowering in the garden are beautiful clematis, chives, chamomile, pink and white peonies (they smell heavenly). The lavender will start to come into flower soon.

Chamomile and Chives

Peonies

-we held two 'knit knites' in the GEG so far. These events are held every other Monday and provide a very relaxing opportunity to get your knitting/crocheting/portable craft projects done in a beautiful setting with others. Our next 'knit knite' takes place Monday July 4th at 6:30 pm.

-we held 3 horticultural therapy teaching sessions in the spring so that community members can get a sense of how plants can offer us gifts for healing, growth and pleasure. Many more exciting sessions are taking place throughout the summer months. Check out 'upcoming events' tab to the right for more information.

Hooray!

2011-06-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Maria and Ollie from Friends of the Family Senior Care and Family Resources visited the GEG to plant today.

The colours of the plants they chose complement each other so well: pink and white mums with silvery dusty miller. When the planting was done, Ollie let out a triumphant cheer. I have a feeling that his act of encouragement benefited the plants beautifully.

Planting at Kidsability garden tomorrow

2011-06-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

This is a reminder to Kidzgrow participants that we will be having tomorrow's session (June 7th) at the Kidsability garden at the West End Rec Centre (the garden is located in the parking lot right in front of the kidsability office). See you there at 4:30 pm!

The rest of the sessions will continue in the Guelph Enabling Garden.

Community Living comes to plant

2011-06-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

Folks at Community Living (Flaherty House) were happy to be at the GEG to finally plant. The first couple of scheduled days at the Garden were cancelled due to non-ideal planting weather conditions, so everyone was very grateful for the nice warm sunshiney weather we had today.

Nice brightly coloured flowers now fill the bed.

Great job guys and gals!

Riverside Residence planting

2011-05-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

Seniors of Riverside Residence beat the rain to get their flowers in the bed today. They planted salvia, begonias, geraniums, dwarf dahlias, an amaranth, parsley, and cilantro. We hope that the plants will feel at home, spreading their roots into the soil and settling into their new space.

Here is Marjorie is planting a lime green potato vine, in hopes that it will cascade over the bed for a pretty visual effect.

Iris in bloom

2011-05-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

This is an especially exciting time of year in the GEG. Many are eagerly waiting to plant their beds with plants that will become friends to many who pass through the Garden.
We have had so much rain over the past couple of weeks. We were fortunate to get a few dry sunny days in to plant. The wetter weather suits us just fine as there is no worry about newly seeded beds drying out.

Plant Spirit Medicine

2011-05-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

Plants have so much to teach us if we make friends with them and allow them into our world.
One of my heroes, Eliot Cowan, a shaman in the Huichol tradition, teaches us how we can deepen our connection with plants AND he is visiting Toronto! I thought I'd pass on information about his upcoming events: Eliot Cowan Workshops

Windmills

2011-05-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

The KidzGrow kids visited the Garden as a group for the first time early this week. It was a windy day, but we didn't mind because we were making windmills!

Windmills are a great addition to the garden, reminding us that air movements are another important aspect that affects the look and feel of our surroundings. We weren't quite ready to plant our seedlings just yet - but are definitely excited about getting the garden ready for the summer weather.

Thanks to Tamara Walker for taking these photos.

Spring is here!

2011-04-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

Why, hello there, Pasque Flower! Hope you had a nice rest over the winter. We're happy to see your pretty flower opening up again in the Guelph Enabling Garden!

Check out the Upcoming Events Page on the right panel

Germinating Seeds

2011-04-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

Photo by Nathan Gatten

Love those smiles! It's mid-April, a good time to be thinking about starting seeds if you want to grow them indoors. The kids are experimenting with growing Cosmos and Morning Glories. We will be planting them in the Guelph Enabling Garden next month!
Some tips when starting seeds:

use a sterile medium to plant your seeds in . Seedlings are very vulnerable so it helps if you use a pest-free mix.
On top of the fridge is a good spot to place your seeded pots/containers. They like a nice warm spot. It also helps to cover the pot/container with plastic (saran wrap or a plastic bag) to keep the moisture in as you're waiting for seeds to sprout.
When you start to see green come up, remove the pastic and move the seedlings to the brightest spot in your home. It helps to put them on a tray lined with aluminum foil. The foil will reflect light to let your seedlings access maximum light.
When watering, be very gentle! Mist with a spray bottle or water from below (pour water into your tray so that the plants can take up water from below).

Making Garden Labels

2011-03-13T06:32:00.000-07:00

Having fun spending time together. We looked through garden seed catalogs to choose what kinds of flowers and herbs we'd like to try and grow this year (to be planted in the Guelph Enabling Garden and the Kidsability Garden).
Then we got to work, making garden labels while thinking about what wonderful seeds that we will be sprouting and caring for during the warmer months.

Here they are! Our good garden intentions that we hope will be manifested in the near future! We hope to have pretty flowers and medicinal herbs that will delight our community! (photos by Tamara Walker)

Valentine's Day Cards

2011-02-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

(Photo by Nathan Gatten)

The KidzGrow sessions are very much hands-on. Thank you to all of our volunteers for making this session such a great success. For this session we created Valentine's Day cards using pressed flowers from the Guelph Enabling Garden. Making personalized cards in this way is very easy and often very much appreciated by those who receive them.

(photo by Nathan Gatten)

It requires a bit of patience as the pressed flowers are very delicate. Working at a slow pace and being able to carefully observe the little details of the flowers and how they look in relation to other flowers in a design is very interesting.

Making a press is very easy. If you can get your hands on a couple of plywood boards, all you need to do is drill holes in each corner that would fit bolts and wing nuts. The length of the bolt should be fairly long so that you can fit a good number of layers of flowers into the press (more on this below).

You will need an even number of blotting paper (or newspaper - something that will absorb moisture from the plants) and the same number of corrugated cardboard cut to a size that will fit nicely into your press. When arranging fresh flowers into your press, try to make sure none of the plants are touching each other (Otherwise they tend to dry and stick together).
You would layer the plants in between 2 sheets of the blotting paper and then again in between 2 sheets of cardboard (like a sandwich).
The next time you see a flower or leaf that catches your fancy, appreciate it, and you can silently thank it if you decide to include it in your collection.

Meet Farmer Fern

2011-01-28T11:08:00.000-08:00

He has a name now
It's Farmer Fern
He loves to play
It helps him learn

The 3 Puppeteers

2011-01-21T12:28:00.000-08:00

After a great gardening season with KidzCreate, Nathan and his mom, Erica, had a great idea: to make a farmer puppet that could help us introduce Horticultural Therapy sessions to younger kids. So, Nathan designed him (see above). Isn't he great?

Then I asked my friend, Marilyn Swaby, if she could help make the puppet a reality. I knew Marilyn would be able to help because she is also one of the most creative people I know! Very resourceful, and always has tons of fun things to try - she's a genius! Marilyn found this interesting puppet website: http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/puppets.html
We spent an afternoon experimenting. Nathan did a wonderful job of choosing just the right materials and colours to make his puppet outstanding. Above is a photo of an in-between phase of the puppet-making. They wanted to rest and hang around the dragon tree for a while.
And so here they are all finished! Marilyn crocheted a hat and sewed up a shirt for our farmer using her daughter's old pajama gown. Here she is with our rabbit farmer (still yet to be named) and his girlfriend, Suzie Cream Cheese. Aren't they cute?!

KidzGrow's first session

2011-01-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

It was the first time many of us had met. Five fabulous youths and their families came to the West End Rec Centre in Guelph (where Kidsability is located) and were introduced to a few plants that we will be working with throughout the season. This time of year is too cold to be in the Garden, but that doesn't mean we can't do fun things with plants indoors!

Some plants had pretty flowers, others colourful leaves, and sweet smelling scents. Just like people, each plant is special with unique gifts to share.

The kids learned how to propagate spider plants from a large spider plant that had many baby plant-lets growing from it.

We also had time to start adding a bit of colour to our new grow light stand that Jason built for us. We'll be finishing up the painting when we meet next.
Thanks also to Heather, Judith, Tamara, Judy, Nathan, and Erica for helping out our first evening together.

Presenting the new KidzGrow light stand!

2011-01-08T05:53:00.000-08:00

Here is Jason Hasson with Heather Granger of Kidsability and Judith Rosenberg of Spark of Brilliance putting together the final touches on a plant light stand that Jason volunteered to build for the KidzGrow program. KidzGrow is a marriage between Kidsability, Spark of Brilliance and The Guelph Enabling Garden. For the winter months, I will be facilitating KidzGrow Horticultural Therapy workshops. We'll be using grow lights to nurture seedlings that will eventually be planted in the Enabling Garden.
Thank you Jason for the hard work you put into the beautiful light stand over the Christmas holidays!

Cool Books

2010-11-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

I come across so many great books as I do research on interesting Horticultural Therapy activities to do. Visit the 'Cool Books' section of the blog and check back as I'll be updating the list every time I discover a cool book that I'd like to share.

Plants Play

2010-11-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

Plants do play with each other. Just to learn and experiment. We could learn a lot from them.

Thought I'd share the following Ted Talks video featuring Stefano Mancuso. Copy and paste the following into your browser and enjoy.

http://www.ted.com/talks/stefano_mancuso_the_roots_of_plant_intelligence.html

Our Collective Story Pieces

2010-11-05T08:13:00.001-07:00

The Guelph Enabling Garden is currently installing more engraved bricks in the Woodland Area of the Garden. This should be finished by next week. It will be exciting to see the new messages that community members want to share with folks who visit the Garden.

How lovely it is to tell a piece of a story, to lay them down in the ground, spreading its roots, acknowledging the past, sharing it and letting it go, growing and growing, starting anew.

A nice autumn visit

2010-10-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

Friends Harmony, Christina, and Anand, visited the GEG last Thursday to explore the garden and to collect Butterfly Weed seeds for an upcoming seed project involving local schools. Though a bit nippy, the garden is still looking great and there are still interesting flowers, textures and colours to enjoy.

Pressed Flower Greeting Cards

2010-10-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

Members of The Guelph Wellington Seniors Association Outreach Group made beautiful greeting cards from pressed flowers that garden clients and volunteers preserved. The timing of this activity was great, being so close to Thanksgiving.
We used 100 lb cardstock, cut and folded to our desired size. Then we pasted the pressed flowers with podge, a glue-like material that seals and dries on clear. It is easy to adapt this activity to make framed pictures as well. One of the loveliest things about this project is that it gives folks an opportunity to really take a close up look at the delicate design of a flower and to realize that nature is a work of art itself.

Fall Clean-Up

2010-10-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

Today Enabling Garden volunteers helped to cut down perennials and spread mulch, getting the beds ready for winter.
University of Guelph students were on hand to help out with the tasks. What wonderful workers. The rain did not stop these girls from coming out and participating in community work.

Thanks so much, everyone, for all of your help today. Your involvement makes our garden a very special place to be in :)

Golden

2010-09-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

Goldenrod is unlikely to be the cause of allergy symptoms. Since this plant's blooming period coincides with the less conspicuous Ragweed, many wrongly thought that the former, rather than the latter, caused their sneezing and runny noses. As seen here, Goldenrod is bee pollinated. Ragweed is wind pollinated, so allergy sufferers are more likely to get worse symptoms on windy days. For more information on Goldenrod and other cool plants in the GEG, please look under the page to the right labeled "Therapeutic Plants in the Garden".

Strawflowers Reveal Salvia

2010-09-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

Riverside Residence folks came to the GEG late this afternoon to harvest their strawflowers which loomed high. The smaller plants, such as salvia, that were hidden from view can now be admired. The strawflowers are being dried in our shed and will be used in dried floral arrangements.
In the bare spots, the group planted some Red Clover seeds, a green manure that can 'fix' nitrogen. In the spring we will dig the plant under, providing nourishment for future plants. Oooooh, can't wait to see what the bed will look like next year and what plants will be chosen to benefit from today's activity. Throughout the summer, Riverside Residence participants have been enjoying cilantro and parsley from their bed to flavour their dips and dressings.

Night Knitters

2010-09-21T17:58:00.000-07:00

Fall has arrived and it's getting darker, sooner. Our last Knit Knite of the season was nice. The gulls and the geese played in the sky as we chatted and practiced our knitting skills. The moon looks just about full. Sweet dreams, everyone. See you soon.

Seed Saving for A Healthy Community

2010-09-20T17:46:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year to start paying attention to which plants are ready to have their seeds saved in your garden. We are starting to save seeds in the GEG, particularly native North American species, which are going to the 'Plant An Old Growth Forest Project', a community endeavor to preserve our natural and ecological heritage: www.oldgrowthforest.ca

The Guelph Enabling Garden also grew some Yugoslavian Red Butterhead lettuce seed that we adopted from Seeds of Diversity (www.seeds.ca), made possible by monetary donations at our last community seed exchange event. This lettuce variety is endangered, so we are very keen to save and distribute these seeds in our community.

Decorate Your Meal Gatherings

2010-09-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

Lovely day last Friday when Community Living (Flaherty Home) folks came to admire their bed and harvest some flowers to take home with them. Their bouquet will be adorning their kitchen table, adding some colour to their meal gatherings. What a great symbol to celebrate and be thankful for the food and friends that nourish us. The flowers featured are marigolds (yellow and orange), geranium (red) and verbena (purple).

Sale Still On!

2010-09-16T06:04:00.000-07:00

Ha ha, it's raining on our rain date! I'll have things set up in our garden shed for those who would like to purchase organic tomatoes, celery, carrots, greeting cards, potpourri sachets, fresh herbs and bouquets. 2-5 pm today.

Cute As Buttons!

2010-09-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

Here we are making button flowers to accompany our bouquet of fresh flowers from Nathan's garden. If you have a lot of colourful buttons that you don't know what to do with, I suggest you try this activity! It's fantastically addictive! Just layer different coloured buttons together and loop them onto a wire. We made a whole bunch for Thursday's sale.
In Nathan's bouquet is Cosmos, Dill, and Black Eyed Susan. Dill is a great herb to include in bouquets as it adds interesting form and colour and has a great scent!

Garden Work Bees

2010-09-13T18:02:00.001-07:00

Here are wonderful Enabling Garden supporters helping to make various things for our sale like notepads and dried floral arrangements. The evenings are cool in temperature, but comfortable. Next time I should make some fresh herbal tea for all of our dedicated volunteers :)
Melissa harvested a basketful of green organic tomatoes. We will ripen them and have them for sale this Thursday. We will also have celery, green peppers, and carrots available :) Hope you can make it!

Pictures From Our First Harvest Sale

2010-09-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

Our first garden harvest sale was a great success. Even though it was spitting rain all day, folks still came out to support the event. Thanks to all those who came out and helped to make the day great! Proceeds from our sale will go toward free accessible Horticultural Therapy programming in our community.

Volunteers helped to harvest beautiful fresh bouquets and herbs. Garden participants generously donated their flowers and herbs for the sale. The herbs are great in flavouring salads and pasta dishes or teas.
The chocolate mint, lemon thyme, and sage can also be dried and then stored in jars for later. Lemon basil and balm can be preserved by freezing them in ice cube trays until they are ready to be used (you can even freeze them in soup broth!) Lemon basil is great in pesto too.
Garden participants made potpourri sachets filled with lavender that we dry in our garden shed; and these beautiful postcards designed from real flower dyes using a technique called flower pounding.
GEG friend, Marilyn Swaby, made cute button flowers and ornamental garden creatures to contribute to the sale.
Throughout the season, we pressed and dried flowers. We used them to make nature notebooks, greeting cards and dried floral arrangements.
All garden participants did a wonderful job helping to make these unique gifts. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Our first sale was very special, and we will be holding another one this Thursday September 16th from 2-5 pm.

Community Gardening

2010-09-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

Paul harvested a yummy carrot today when he visited the GEG with friends. The vegetable looks very much like a beet because of it's purple red colour, but is actually a carrot, called 'Cosmic Purple'
Community Living folks also found beans to harvest, as well as spinach, kale and some cherry tomatoes. Having vegetables growing in a community garden in a city park is very special. I wonder, do the vegetables taste better because they have been admired by so many people passing through?
Dr. Masaru Emoto has studied how thoughts can affect the structure of water molecules. Vegetables have lots of water in them. Hmmmmm........
Here, the group shows off the lavender potpourri sachets that they made for another upcoming GEG harvest sale. The sachets are simple to make; just place dried scented herbs on a piece of light fabric and tie with your favourite coloured ribbon. Raffia looks nice as a natural ribbon too. To make your own raffia; just dry the husk of corn on the cob in the sun for a few days and cut it in strips to your desired width and length.
The sachets can be placed in linen drawers, closets, or under your pillow (especially great if you are using lavender, which is known to combat insomnia).

Today: Our First Harvest Sale!

2010-09-09T06:30:00.003-07:00

Over the past few weeks, your fellow community members have been preparing for the GEG's first harvest sale. We will have fresh bouquets of flowers and herbs, a few vegetables like green peppers and tomatoes, as well as hand made nature notebooks (from recycled paper) and parchment greeting cards decorated from flowers that we pressed ourselves.

Drop by today from 2-5 pm! All proceeds go toward our free, accessible community Horticultural Therapy programming. Hope to see you there!

A Big Harvest

2010-09-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

Here are folks from Riverside Glen harvesting tomatoes, celery, and flowers from their raised bed. I am grateful that residents will be contributing their plants to our harvest sale happening September 9th (2-5 pm). Their lovely purple salvia, pink snapdragons, and orange marigolds will make beautiful bouquets!

GEG harvest sale!

2010-08-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

On September 9th, the Guelph Enabling Garden will be holding our very first harvest sale! Swing by the garden between 2-5pm and chose from freshly picked bouquets and herbs. We will also be selling items made from garden pressed flowers, such as greeting cards and nature notebooks. Community members helped to make these garden goodies, so make sure you come and check it out!
If you would like to help us get ready for this fundraiser by helping us to make things, let me know! Feel free to drop by our public work bee event tonight at 7 pm!

'Firecracker'

2010-08-19T18:06:00.001-07:00

Nathan and I experimented with 'land art' today. We found some flower petals that had fallen to the ground. Nathan rearranged them onto a rock. He calls this piece 'firecracker'. I found a great website dedicated to using natural materials to create beautiful designs on the land that we share with all others: www.landartforkids.com. Creating this type of art reminds me that we are interconnected with the earth and our impact on it is felt by all in some way.

Beautiful bouquet

2010-08-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

Folks from Independent Living visited their raised bed at the Enabling Garden today and are so pleased with how things are doing. It's amazing that just a few months ago, the bed looked so bare and empty as we patiently waited for the seeds and seedlings to grow and blossom. Now, we have a bed full of Texas Sage (red), corn flower (blue), and strawflower (pink/white). It's getting to be that time of the summer when many of the flowers and vegetables in the Garden are at their peak and ripest. With the humidity down, many people are finding it a bit more tolerable to spend more time outdoors enjoying the scenery.

A bowlful of flowers

2010-08-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

Markus spent some time in the Enabling Garden with friends choosing beautifully coloured flowers to press. Can't wait to see how they will be arranged onto the parchment cards we'll be making later on. With all the beauty and inspiration available to us in the Garden, there doesn't seem to be any limit to how we can stretch our imaginations! After collecting the flowers, we spread the petals onto our plant press. Thank you Evie, Barb, Wendy, Markus, and Alena for visiting and helping out with this!

The Organic Backyard

2010-08-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

The Canadian Organic Growers (COG) just finished their wonderful guide on organic gardening called: The Organic Backyard: A guide to applying organic farming practices to your home or community garden. It's a wonderful resource and can be downloaded from their website (www.cogwaterloo.ca). A hard copy can also be sent to you for a reasonable price of $10.

Cathy Hansen played an important role in the publication of this guide. She visited the GEG earlier on in the season and had lots of good advice to give us. COG also donated a grape vine that is happily growing up one of the arbors in the spiral garden :)

More Knit Knites

2010-08-12T07:08:00.000-07:00

Due to popular demand, we will be continuing our Knit Knites in the Garden. They will be held on the evenings of Tuesday August 24th, Tuesday September 7th, and Tuesday September 21st at 6:30 pm. Hope you can join us! Both beginners and experts welcome :)

A lovely morning for photographing

2010-08-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

My friend, Dale Tiller, took some beautiful photos yesterday in the early morning. Check them out!

A great shot of some interactions in the Garden.

This is a butterfly bush. A friend who often visits the Garden once told me that she loves how the flower head (inflorescence) of this plant is formed by tiny individual flowers. She's absolutely right - take a close up look at this plant the next time you get the chance to visit the GEG. She used a metaphor about how as individuals, we as people can get together to make something coherently beautiful, just by being ourselves.

Something about fog on the water gives me this quiet calm feeling, and reminds me that sometimes by slowing down, we can notice more and feel more energized for it.

This is a Red Amaranthus planted in one of the raised beds by Riverside Glen. I've never seen a plant so brilliantly red. Even searching on-line, I noticed that most of the leaves of this species are green, and it's the tassle-like flowers that are red. I wonder if this particular plant will produce a substantial amount of the amaranth grain. Amaranthus grain can be toasted, mixed with honey and enjoyed as a snack. Historically, the flower was used by the Aztecs in ceremonies, and the grain eaten for their high nutritional value.

Hibiscus

2010-08-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

This is a close up of a hibiscus flower growing in the GEG (photo by Dale Tiller). A visitor recently told me that it's worth a trip to the Garden just to see this plant in bloom! I'd have to agree.
The flowers don't last very long, only about a day. But thankfully, this beautiful plant will keep producing new blooms until the frost comes. It requires at least 6 hours of sunlight and good organic soil.

Talking snapdragons?!!!

2010-08-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

We had a good laugh in the Garden today when Riverside Glen Long Term Care folks came to visit. We picked some snapdragon flowers and made them 'talk'.
The flower can be grasped from behind and pinched, so that the mouth of the dragon opens. Releasing the pinch closes it's mouth. It's so important to play in the garden, no matter what your age!
Of course, we also did some work. Riverside Glen's bed is packed full of flowers and vegetables. We did some tomato pruning and staking, and also harvested beans.
The brilliant red flower in the centre of the bed is amaranth. It can be seen from quite a distance and has been drawing a lot of attention in the Garden. Also growing in the bed is pineapple sage, which we can harvest, dry, and use in potpourri sachets or teas.

Herbal Teas

2010-08-02T17:52:00.000-07:00

A group of us celebrated the Civic Holiday in the Enabling Garden enjoying teas from herbs grown in the garden. We sampled lavender tea, great for balancing the emotional system; lemon balm, known to calm anxiety; mint for indigestion; and chamomile to relax and soothe us. It was a really nice way to spend the last bit of the long weekend, preparing ourselves for the week ahead.

The tea leaves are dried and stored right in the Garden's shed. It is best to dry herbs in a dark, warm location that gets a bit of air circulation. Once dry, the tea leaves can be stored in glass jars with tight-fitting lids away from direct sunlight.

To make your own glass of herbal iced tea:
Crush 1 to 2 tablespoons of your freshly harvested herb and place it in a teapot. Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the herbs and steep, covered for 5 to 10 minutes. Chill for at least 30 minutes and strain. Pour over a glassful of ice and enjoy! Bon appe-tea!

Flower Pressing

2010-07-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

Here is Ellice placing her carefully chosen flowers in her plant press. The press is made out of 2 pieces of hardwood on either side. In the middle, sandwiching the flowers, are 2 pieces of blotting paper surrounded by 2 pieces of cardboard. About 3 layers of these sandwiches can fit into her press. Screws and wing-nuts on the 4 corners of the press make sure that enough pressure is applied so that the moisture from the flowers gets absorbed into the blotting paper. It usually takes 3 or more weeks before they can be taken out and used in crafts.

In the past we have used the pressed flowers to make greeting cards and to emboss handmade paper. This year, Ellice wants to try embellishing candles with her flowers and to give these away as gifts to her friends.

Breath and Meditation in the Garden

2010-07-26T18:11:00.000-07:00

What a treat in the Garden this evening! Kathy Savage facilitated a workshop on breath and meditation. She first led us through a breathing exercise to relax us and to teach us how important it is to breathe properly for health and well-being. Then we silently toured the Garden, taking in as much as we could using our senses. When we sat back down, Kathy led us through a visualization exercise of the tour we just experienced. By the end of the evening we felt very calm and peaceful. Participants of the workshop took something very valuable home with them. Now, whenever they feel that they are in a stressful situation, they can come back to the Garden in their minds and re-create the feelings they felt being surrounded by beautiful sights, sounds and scents.

Thank you, butterflies!

2010-07-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

A beautiful butterfly, called a Question Mark Butterfly, feeds on the nectar of a Rudbekia flower. Many monarchs have also been sighted in the Garden. It is so important to make sure that pollinators thrive and are allowed to do their work. Our own survival depends on this! For more information on endangered butterfly species in Canada, please visit: http://www.cbif.gc.ca/spp_pages/butterflies/conservation_e.php

Garden rewards

2010-07-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

Nathan's Garden is doing so well! We were in it recently, seeing what goodies we could find.

We found lots!

Using Our Imaginations in the Garden

2010-07-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

Beautiful natural settings can inspire us to use our imaginations to colour our lives. The Garden is located right by the Speed River, which Evie just loves. The river reminds her of a scene out of 'Anne of Green Gables', when Anne is acting out the role of Lady of Shalott, floating down the river that leads to Camelot.
As Anne is floating down the river, she is holding a bouquet of yellow flowers, so of course it made sense that the yellow flowers in the Garden meant something special to Evie too!

Making Herbal Vinegars

2010-07-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

Last night we gathered in the Garden to make our own herbal vinegars using a wide variety of Garden herbs such as sage, rosemary, dill, and basil. Vinegar helps our body to better absorb vitamins and minerals from our food. When we flavour vinegar with herbs we can benefit from the medicinal properties they offer. For example, many of the bitter herbs aid with digestion.
We enjoyed chive and basil infused apple cider vinegar in a dressing during the workshop as we familiarized ourselves with the scents and flavours of mother nature's gifts. The dressing was a yummy yet simple one: we added our infused vinegar with olive oil and garden dried lemon thyme.

Art in the Garden

2010-07-05T06:54:00.000-07:00

Community Living Flaherty residents did some flower art in the Garden. Here we are experimenting with purple and yellow pansies and pounding the natural dyes of the flowers onto fabric banners.
We hung up the finished works of art for all to enjoy along the arbor in the spiral garden. Folks passing through can leave comments in the Garden's mailbox to let us know what they think of the art display.

Noticing nature

2010-06-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

There are lots of cool things in nature waiting to be noticed! Have you noticed anything today? What happens if you take the time to?

Flavouring With Cilantro

2010-06-24T15:02:00.000-07:00

The corner of Riverside Resident's raised bed is getting filled up with cilantro, a beautiful herb used in many dishes. Cilantro has a very distinct flavour that is a little hard to explain. It's something you just have to experience for yourself. The scent and taste reminds me of my mom's cooking, as it is used in many Vietnamese soups and dishes. You might be familiar with cilantro's seed, which is known as coriander.
One of the members of Riverside Residence was kind and thoughtful enough to make hummus flavoured with cilantro for all of us to enjoy. Ellice used avocado, lemon, garlic, salt, and of course garden harvested cilantro to make this wonderful green dip. Above is Marjorie enjoying both the cilantro and chickpea hummus that Ellice made.

So after spending some time working in the Garden we were able to relax in the shade, enjoying food, and sharing memories about gardens that we've known and loved in the past.

Knit Knite

2010-06-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

The call for thunderstorms was a false alarm, making it a lovely evening for knitting in the Garden. We enjoyed a relaxing evening listening to the Speed River as we sipped our garden harvested chamomile tea. The stresses of the day could be melted away or at least forgotten about for a little while as we knitted and purled. Who knew that if you knit the first stitch of a purl row you could get an interested edge to your project? Glenna did! And now the rest of us do too. Our next Knit Knite will be held on Wednesday July 7th at 6:30 pm. Join us whether you are an expert knitter/crocheter or just wanting to learn more.

Tin Can Papermaking

2010-06-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight, about 15 people gathered in the Enabling Garden to learn how to make recycled paper embedded with pressed flowers and seeds. We used methods from Arnold E. Grummer's book, Tin Can Paper-making: Recycle for Earth and Art.

It's an easy way to make lovely notepaper using a couple of tin cans, window screening, a blender, and some sponges.

Each person's notepaper was so lovely and unique. We borrowed the plexi-glass covering the Garden's mosaic wall to help dry our handmade paper. Once dry, folks were able to take their creations home with them and my hope is that they will try this at home and share what they've learned with others!

Finding Treasure in the Garden!

2010-06-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

What a fun day in the Garden today! We were blessed with beautiful weather for the first kids' public workshop of the summer. Here are little folks smelling some lemon balm. They said it smelled like candy :)

The kids collected natural treasures for an art project.

They incorporated dyes from their favourite garden plants into their water colour paintings.

There were so many interesting creations!

Here are the kids in the spiral garden, posing underneath their artwork which we hung up for folks passing through the Garden to enjoy! For a closer view of the artwork, check out 'Beautiful Art in the Garden'.

Organic Backyard Workshop

2010-06-16T06:46:00.000-07:00

Community members were treated to a very informative Organic Backyard workshop with Cathy Hansen from the Canadian Organic Growers. We addressed a wide variety of topics including what it really means to grow organically. Organic gardening is not just simply growing without the use of pesticides. It has more to do with gardening holistically with soil health in mind.

Cathy gave us so many great tips, such as how to maintain nutritious soil using living mulches such as oil radish, red, and white clover. I'd like the kids who visit the Garden to try and add oil radish to their vegetable bed later on in the season once some of the plants have matured. This living mulch will help conserve moisture this season, and it will be left to overwinter and turned under the next spring, adding nutrients back into the soil to optimize the health of the vegetables and flowers for next year! The techniques that Cathy touched upon make so much sense and can be easily applied to any backyard garden. For more information visit: www.cogwaterloo.ca

Faux-Parchment Notecards with Pressed Flowers

2010-06-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

What a great night in our therapeutic Enabling Garden! Our guest presenter, Marilyn Swaby, showed us how to make these wonderful faux-parchment note cards.

Using pressed garden flowers, wax paper, napkins, and our imaginations...

we were able to gather together with fellow community members to create beautiful cards that will be shared with loved ones!

Participants proudly showing what they made.

Everyone did a great job. Thanks, Marilyn, for your creative art idea!

Harvesting and Drying Lavender with Community Living

2010-06-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Ruth and her friends from Community Living (Flaherty House) visited the Garden and helped to harvest lavender. She selected stems containing deep purple, sweet smelling flowers.

A good way to dry the flowers is to tie an elastic band several times around a bunch of stems, leaving a little bit of slack in the elastic for the last loop around.

Hold the stems against a clothes hanger, stretch and twist the elastic underneath to the opposite side of the hanger, before looping the elastic around the stems a final time.
As the stems are drying, you won't have to worry about them falling to the ground, since the elastic bands will maintain a good hold on the stems, even as the girth of the stems shrink.
The lavender will be drying among other herbs in the Garden's shed. It's best to dry herbs this way in a warm place away from direct sunlight. The time it will take to dry depends on humidity levels. Ideally, you want to dry your herbs in a place with low humidity.

We'll be using the lavender to make potpourri sachets and herbal bath cleansers. Lavender is a very versatile herb. Not only does it smell wonderful, it is a very calming herb containing constituents that are great for balancing the emotional system. To learn more about how herbs such as lavender can be used, look under "Upcoming Events" to see the schedule of teaching sessions being offered on related topics.

Double Flowering Clematis

2010-06-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

I took a picture of this beautiful clematis yesterday. It has double flowers and is looking spectacular in the Enabling Garden right now. Many folks were strolling along the meandering pathways and enjoying the newly planted beds. A lovely couple claimed a bench for the afternoon to read on. Some adorable kids visiting with their parents helped plant some tomato plants in the KidzCreate Garden. Everything's looking just great!

Big Smiles Brought by Playsense

2010-06-04T18:32:00.000-07:00

A beautiful day in the Guelph Enabling Garden today. Not just because of the nice weather but because of the smiles that Playsense brought to the garden. The kids proudly planted rosemary, lavender, and two types of basil - 'Lemon' and 'Purple Ruffles'. The marigolds planted in the centre will also help deter bugs that might want to take substantial bites out of the yummy leaves. Throughout the summer the kids will visit and watch the progress of their plants. They will be harvesting the herbs and using them to make many things such as potpourri sachets, herbal vinegars, and lavender wands. Great job today, Playsense! For more information on Playsense visit: www.hopewellchildrenshomes.ca

Herbs Blooming

2010-06-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

Chives and Chamomile are blooming in the Enabling Garden. These are wonderful plants that are very well-used in our Garden. We harvest Chamomile flowers (left) just before or shortly after they bloom. They can then be dried and used in a calming tea. Last night, during our first Knit Knite, we enjoyed a cup of this comforting tea as we worked on our knitting projects. Yes, it was raining, but we found shelter in our shed and it was nice listening to the rain and warming our hearts with tea and good company.

The chive flowers are used to flavor apple cider vinegar. We've steeped the flowers in a jar of vinegar and will shake it daily for a month or two to really let the flavor infuse. Riverside Glen visited to help get things started yesterday. When it is satisfactorily flavored, the vinegar can be mixed with olive oil to make a yummy salad dressing.

Guelph Independent Living - Putting Seedlings in their New Home!

2010-06-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

Guelph Independent Living residents visited today to plant seedlings that they raised in their own apartments! I was very impressed with the care that residents put into the growth of their flowers. We also planted some edible flower seeds today which will complement the bed that Independent Living is sharing with Norfolk Manor. I can't wait to see this group visit again to see how their plants are progressing. It was a wonderful morning and I could see that residents were very happy to put their seedlings in their new home today.

One thing I love about people gathering in gardening spaces is that so many good ideas are shared. Some of the ladies talked about a good way to deter wasps. They suggested filling a clear plastic sandwich bag with water and a few pennies in it. For some reason displaying this in the garden confuses wasps (and perhaps even flies) and so they tend not to their build nests in the area.

New Plants in the Garden

2010-05-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

Folks from Riverside Residence planted up their raised bed with lots of colourful annuals including trailing snapdragons and begonias. Strawflower seeds were included in the garden design as well. Strawflowers make great flowers for floral craft arrangements as their petals feel like straw and it doesn't take anytime at all for the flowers to dry. Parsley was planted in the corners of the bed so that the gardeners can enjoy a fresh supply of this herb when their recipes call for it. Some of it is dried so that it is preserved and can be enjoyed during the winter months as well.
Community Living (Flaherty Home) was also in the Garden last week planting up their bed with verbena, marigolds, sweet smelling alyssum, and some lemon balm. Throughout the season we will be using these plants in Horticultural Therapy activites. Check back often to see what we use them for!

Norfolk Manor Visits

2010-05-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

A very eventful day in the Garden today. Norfolk Manor residents came and planted their seedlings that were carefully looked after over the spring. We planted Texas Sage, Cornflower, Borage, and Calendula - the last three are edible flowers.

In the KidzCreate garden, we are practicing companion planting techniques. Tomatoes and carrots grow well together, so we planted them side by side. The white ring around the tomatoes are crushed egg shells, which will deter slugs and cutworms from getting to the young tender plant. The soft-bodied creatures find the sharp edges of the egg shells unpleasant and will stay away.

Full of beans! And other great plants :)

2010-05-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

What a great planting team! Pictured here are Nathan, Jenna, Kristina, and Monica. Nathan's KidzCreate garden is coming along nicely. The chamomile from last year re-seeded itself and so did a lot of dill! We left a patch of chamomile and a wee bit of dill (though we harvested most of the young dill leaves to add to our evening dinners). Today we planted flower seeds such as cosmos, strawflower, nasturtium and veggies like dwarf corn and beans.
A special note on the beans; they are Tendergreen Beans that were donated to the Garden by the 'Plant a Row, Grow a Row' program. So we planted two rows - one that we will harvest for ourselves, and one that we will harvest for the local food bank. Visit www.growarow.org for more details on this wonderful community initiative.

Thanks Rotary Club of Guelph - Trillium!

2010-05-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to have an inspiring breakfast with the Rotary Club - Trillium on Wednesday morning as they shared their wealth raised from their Annual RibFest fundraising event. Cheques were presented to 26 community groups to help them with their important community projects. How lucky we are to live in a place full of so many caring and generous people. The Enabling Garden is so grateful to be chosen as one of the recipients, which will allow us to reach out to many more community members and have them participate in our Horticultural Therapy programming. Above is a picture of Peter Moore, Chair of the Funding Allocations Committee with myself.

Beavers Visit the Garden

2010-05-20T16:17:00.000-07:00

The Young Scouts/Beavers visited the Enabling Garden yesterday to explore the creatures in it and to help with a bit of planting. These Beavers were very sharp and keen to learn about what goes on in the Garden. What a great group of kids and leaders!

Research is showing that contact with nature is very important for the psychological health of kids (and adults for that matter). There is concern that children are not bonding with nature as well or as often as they used to. Richard Louv's book Last Child in the Woods is a book about the consequences of what he calls "nature-deficit disorder" and what we can do about it. The Guelph Public Library has a couple of copies of this book for those interested in learning more.

The kids' workshops in the Garden are meant to get the kids up close and personal with the natural world and to encourage them to create an intimate relationship with nature. Outdoors in the natural environment, kids can feel a sense of peace and confidence because they are surrounded by beauty and abundance that belongs to everyone.

Caring for Seedlings

2010-05-19T17:26:00.001-07:00

Earlier on in the spring, residents of Norfolk Manor started seedlings that are now ready to be 'hardened off'. This means that the carefully cared for seedlings are ready to brave a bit of outdoor weather to toughen them. Lorna (on the right) loves gardening and will make sure that the young Texas Sage flowers will be exposed to more and more sunlight each day. She'll bring them in if the weather gets a bit too chilly during the day and especially at night. Next week residents will be planting them in the Enabling Garden!

Plant Sale

2010-05-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

Our perennial plant sale was a great success! Some of the plants for sale came from within the Enabling Garden itself, but many supporters also divided perennials in their own gardens to help with our fundraiser. The money we raised will be used to help fund our garden programming. Thank you so much to all of those who donated their time, plants, and money this past Sunday!

Nathan's Garden

2010-05-07T06:45:00.000-07:00

In April, Nathan and others worked on the KidzCreate ground bed in the Enabling Garden. We planted kale, carrots and some peas. Green things are starting to sprout out of the ground now! We will finish planting the bed at the end of May after danger of frost has passed. Come visit the Enabling Garden throughout the summer to check out what's growing Nathan's Garden! The KidzCreate garden is sponsored by Spark of Brilliance.

Brown paper wasp nests

2010-04-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd try placing paper bags throughout the Garden to try and keep wasps from building their nests in the cracks of our raised beds.

Since wasps are territorial, they think that other wasps have already built here and will find another place to make their homes.

We like pollinators in our Garden, but are also concerned about public safety. This is a chemical free way to try and deter the wasps. So far, it seems to be working.