If you’ve been itching for a row to hoe, the new Gardening Club is an excellent opportunity to work on your green thumb.
Taking root on campus this month, the new club has organized a series of four Learning Local Landscapes workshops — being held in August, September and October — hosted by community experts and UBC Okanagan faculty members.
Open to all faculty and staff at no charge, these workshops are organized by Facilities Management and will provide gardening tools and everything that’s needed to participate. Learn how flora and fauna interact in our local landscape, get your hands dirty and take home some tips for use in your own garden.
Introduction to Xeriscaping with Gwen Steele
Date: Thursday, August 25, 2016
Time: 12 noon to 1 p.m.
Location: Science building atrium
Learn to create a garden that works with the environment, not against it. Discover a method of landscaping that can be used to create sustainable gardens in almost every style in this session hosted by Okanagan Xeriscape Association founder Gwen Steele.
Drop-ins are welcome, but pre-registration is requested. To RSVP or find out more, contact Natalie Ingram at natalie.ingram@ubc.ca.
Hands-On Xeriscaping
Date: Thursday, September 15, 2016
Time: 12 noon to 1 p.m.
Location: Engineering Management Education building
Practice what you learned in the first workshop. Join other staff and faculty in planting a xeriscape garden in the raised plant bed in front of the Engineering Management Education building.
Drop-ins are welcome, but pre-registration is requested. To RSVP or find out more, contact Natalie Ingram at natalie.ingram@ubc.ca.
Nectar Trails at UBC Okanagan with Nancy Holmes
Date: Thursday, September 22, 2016
Time:12 noon to 1 p.m.
Location: Science building atrium
Join FCCS professor Nancy Holmes to discover how plant selection, sun and shelter can create bee-friendly nectar trails that allow bees and other pollinating insects and animals to travel safely from one plant to the next.
After the presentation, all participants will be invited to walk along a proposed nectar trail on campus and participate in designing some bee-friendly plant beds.
Drop-ins are welcome, but pre-registration is requested. To RSVP or find out more, contact Natalie Ingram at natalie.ingram@ubc.ca.
Birds and Local Plant Species with Bob Lalonde, Ian Walker, and Blythe Nilson
Date:Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Time: 2 to 3 p.m.
Let Biology professors Bob Lalonde, Ian Walker, and Blythe Nilson lead you through campus with an eye to the sky and discover how birds and other animals interact with the local landscape in this workshop that combines birds and botany.
Drop-ins are welcome, but pre-registration is requested. To RSVP or find out more, contact Natalie Ingram at natalie.ingram@ubc.ca.
Workshop Five
Date: TBC
The final workshop will focus on pruning and winterization.
Facilities Management gratefully acknowledges the support of Healthy Workplace Initiatives Funding in kick-starting this initiative.
