Exotic flowers? There’s an app for that.
Visitors to the Sendall Garden greenhouse in Langley City will soon be getting an earful — of interesting facts, that is.
Within the next couple of weeks a Trail Talker application will be available to smart phone users. It will serve as a portable audio tour of the tropical greenhouse, providing information about the 14 exotic plant species grown inside the building located inside the public gardens just off 50 Avenue.
Mike Hamel of Trail Talker Information Systems Inc. made a presentation to council on Monday, April 2, explaining how visitors can use the service, which is modeled on a similar trail tour in Chilliwack.
The site will be accessible by Quick Response (QR) code or via its URL. For those who don’t have a smart phone, the information can be downloaded and printed from the Trail Talker website.
The cost to the City for the service is $5,000 per year.
However, half of that amount will be covered by the Friends of Sendall Gardens Greenhouse, while the other $2,500 will be paid through operating funds already designated for the greenhouse.
Friends of Sendall Gardens Greenhouse formed in 2002 when the City was considering closing the then-20-year-old building, as it became increasingly dilapidated. In 2000, council had voted to dismantle the greenhouse as a cost-saving measure to pay for an additional firefighter.
Although Monday’s presentation was made for council’s information, not its approval, Councillor Gayle Martin expressed concerns about the cost of the project, saying that if every department in the City decided to go ahead with a project, “small amounts of money grow into large amounts of money.”
Councillor Rosemary Wallace asked whether the project could be expanded to include more of the garden outside the greenhouse if the City decides it wants to do that.
Hamel replied that it could be done, however it would increase the cost of the project, he advised her.
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