Buying From BC Nurseries

Shopping for local plants makes your garden greener

Most of us are conscious of the benefits a 100-mile diet can have on the freshness of the produce, the health of the environment and the strength of the local economy. Organizers of Eat & Drink BC, a celebration of British Columbian food growers, distributors and restaurants, estimate that local eating can re-circulate as much as 90 cents of every dollar back into B.C.’s economy.

Amazingly, B.C. is home to nearly 1,200 nurseries – that’s more than 31 per cent of Canada’s nursery, sod and Christmas tree production. Add more than 600 British Columbian greenhouses producing potted and cut floral products, and it’s easy to see that a 100-mile garden is something you can strive for too!
 

B.C.’s first nursery farms sprouted on Vancouver and Salt Spring Islands, and in the Okanagan during the mid-1880s. Today, B.C. is the second largest producer of nursery stock in Canada, and the range of crops grown is staggering. At your local garden centre, you can find trees, shrubs, hundreds of roses, perennials, annuals, grasses, groundcovers, fruit trees and berry bushes, and Christmas trees all originating from a B.C. nursery. Garden centre staff can help you identify which items are locally grown, and all plant tags denote country (or province) of origin.
 

New from B.C. hybridizers

	Rosemary ‘Gold Dust’PPAF brings bright green and gold variegation to the kitchen garden or perennial border. Heat tolerant. New from Fragro™.
	Whirlaway™ Periwinkle has striking variegated new growth, and larger blooms than the others. Can be invasive if allowed to get out of control; keep in check. New from the Northern Gems Collection.
	Clematis Vancouver™ Starry Nights sports eight-inch blooms that darken towards the centre and petals that are dusted with gold. New from Clearview: Home of Clematis™.
	The Michel Trudeau Memorial Rose™ was released by Brentwood Bay Nurseries in Victoria, B.C. to benefit the Canadian Avalanche Foundation.