Home ShowcR REVIEW EVIEW Friday, October 29, 2010 Tri-City News A49
Home renovation seminar on Nov. 16 offers free advice Homeowners considering renovations can obtain creative ideas from the internet, television, newspapers and magazines but careful planning is needed to de-mystify the renovation process, said Peter Simpson, President and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association (GVHBA). To help homeowners make informed decisions, the GVHBA Renovation Council — in partnership with BC Hydro, Canada
Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Terasen Gas — is presenting its popular fall home renovation seminar next Tuesday, Nov. 16 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the Croatian Cultural Centre, 3250 Commercial Dr., Vancouver. More than 250 people registered last year. Homeowners will be guided through the various stages of the renovation process, including design and planning, legal and contracts, selecting a renovator, municipal
Learn secrets to winter heathers
services — will be open from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. to allow homeowners time to discuss their renovation plans with experts before the seminar starts. Although admission to the seminar and exhibit area is free, pre-registration is required. Register online at www.gvhba.org or call 778-565-4288. Attendees are asked to contribute a food item for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society.
permits and inspections, and living through a renovation. Presenters include prominent Metro Vancouver renovators, a construction lawyer and a senior municipal building official. The seminar moderator will be GVHBA Chairman Todd Senft, an award-winning home-renovation professional. This year the exhibition area — featuring more than 50 RenoMark renovators and suppliers of home-improvement products and
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IN THE GARDEN Brian Minter They love sun but winter flowering heathers can stand a bit of shade, too
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green beds would create quite a pleasing effect. The most impressive way to use heathers is to plant them as groupings in a bed with other complementary plants. You may wish to mix in some summer blooming varieties as well. If you can blend a few colourful dwarf conifers, like ‘Blue Star’ juniper, golden ‘Verdoni’ cypress and ‘Rheingold’ and ‘Golden Tuffet’ thujas in with the heathers, you have the beginnings of a well textured year round planting. Add a few carefully chosen stones, and you will have a beautiful floral bed around your home. A few winter blooming bulbs, like winter aconites, snowdrops and crocus will further enhance this planting. A wide range of heather varieties is available, but the old favourites are still the most in demand. For a good white variety, try ‘Silberschmeize’, ‘Springwood White’ and ‘White Perfection’. My choices for pink varieties are ‘Arthur Johnson’, ‘Rosalie’, ‘Ghost Hills’ and ‘Springwood Pink’. My favourite varieties are the vivid carmine flowers of ‘Kramer’s Red’, ‘Tanya’, ‘Nathalie’ and ‘Wintersonne’ – all have beautiful dark winter foliage. Most heather flowers come in shades of white, pink and reds, but you can add a great deal of contrast by using some of the new golden foliage varieties like ‘Golden Starlet’ and ‘Mary Helen’. Heathers have always been one of my favourite plants, and I sincerely hope you plant some newer varieties now to create more vibrant colour in your winter garden.
Johnson St
inter flowering heathers are one of the most outstanding source of winter colour in the Pacific southwest. Soon, the loss of all our lovely fall foliage will make November seem far more bleak than other winter months. The fresh appearance of heather buds can really transform a dull winter garden into an attractive show place, and with a little careful planning, you can stretch that colour from September until May. There are, however, a few secrets to planting and displaying these colourful plants. One of the finest features of ericas is their ability to grow in areas where other plants have some difficulty. Certainly they perform well in good soil, but they are also ideal for well-drained areas and sloping hillside gardens. Over the years, I have had the most success by preparing the planting hole with a mixture of bark mulch and sand. Heathers will not tolerate heavy clay soils or wet feet but I’m surprised at how much shade they’ll accept. Although they are sun-loving plants, heathers bloom just as profusely, perhaps a little bit taller, in shady locations. One very important feature to remember is the fact that heathers have hundreds of finely textured roots. Unless you moisten the rootball thoroughly and ruffle up the root system, your heather will probably get into trouble fairly quickly. A rootbound plant has difficulty pushing its roots out into new soil unless the outer mat of solid roots has been carefully loosened. Winter heather is very hardy but we have always had better luck planting them away from the coldest winter winds. Just throw a bit of Remay cloth or landscape fabric over newer plantings if we get a long bitter cold spell without any protective snow covering. Heathers can be used in many ways. They make ideal ground covers when planted at 24-inch centres. Depending upon the variety, they make a good, compact summer cover that becomes a sea of colour when you need it most in the winter. They make ideal border plants and just sensational small hedges. I love to use them in containers, especially in winter colour gardens. At this time of year, heathers would certainly liven up your outdoor planters. No rock garden would be complete without a grouping of heather, and blocks of white heather planted among your ever-
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