Be sure to stop by the unH2O Xeriscape Demonstration Garden on Saturday, April 27, from 9 a.m. to noon, for the Okanagan Xeriscape Association’s popular xeriscape plant sale.
The garden is in front of the H2O Aquatic Centre, 4075 Gordon D.
There will be hundreds of water-wise plants to choose from.
Proceeds from the plant sale help cover expenses for the volunteer-maintained garden.
Don’t miss this opportunity to get advice from xeriscape experts and master gardeners, on hand to answer your gardening questions.
Bartlett Tree Services, World of Worms, and Lawns to Legumes will have exhibits and provide expert advice.
Dean Dack, from Classic Compost, has donated his high quality mulch for sale.
Funds raised will support CRIS Adaptive Adventures (Outdoor Pursuits for People with Disabilities) who are supplying volunteers to bag the mulch and carry it to your vehicle.
To help you with selection, plants for sale will be set out beside the theme garden they belong with and an expert will be in each theme garden to answer questions.
Choose these Okanagan native plants for a great start to a drought-tolerant wildflower meadow.
Showy aster has blue flowers from June to frost. Orange arnica has masses of deep gold flowers in May and June and again at summer’s end. Both spread rapidly by seed and roots.
Nodding onion adds a splash of pink in late spring and self-seeds.
Bluebunch wheat grass self-seeds readily and is the backbone of an Okanagan meadow.
There will be over 200 pots of hen and chicks. Add some of several varieties of sedum and blue fescue or blue hair grass (Koeleria glauca) to make a very drought-tolerant rock garden. The addition of thrift (Armeria maritima) would add a fuschia pink, spring bloom and evergreen foliage.
For a Mediterranean-themed, dry garden, the vivid yellow of threadleaf Coreopsis ‘Golden Gain’ will give a striking presence from June through September.
Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’ catnip gives a stunning show of blue from May to July and again late summer if dead-headed.
The attractive burgundy-edged, bluish foliage of Sedum ‘Matrona’ makes this 18-inch tall perennial attractive all season. Late in summer it bursts forth with deep pink blooms.
Gwen Steele is executive director of the non-profit Okanagan Xeriscape Association. Learn more about Gardening with Nature and plants for the Okanagan at the website www.okanaganxeriscape.org.
250-762-6018
