Edmonton Journal: Garden Art

Agile Lady by Ritchie Velthuis

For many years, I have passed, and paused at, and smelled this garden just three blocks from my home in the Alberta Avenue community.  While the plants are stunning, its vegetation isn't the main thing what makes me stop. Subtly scattered throughout is a menagerie of clay-fired and cement sculpture.

Homeowners, Ritchie Velthuis and his partner, Stuart Ballah, can often be found sculpting ice at our local winter festivals. In summer time, however, they turn their skillful, design eyes to their yard. Ritchie does mostly figurative art and he gracefully gave me a tour of their yard. See it here: A Yen for Yard Art

If his sculpture excites you, enroll in one of his classes at the City Arts Centre, and make one for yourself.

Gardener for the Prairies: Fruitscaping

It's that time of year: early plum nodules have replaced blooms, purple-headed chives are unfurling, the hops stretch from hibernation towards the sun. It's the time of year I begin to crave berries with my sunshine. This article was printed in  Fall 2011's Gardener for the Prairies and lists some of the many ways you can landscape a northern garden with fruit. Happy planting.

And if you are eating from your Northern garden, I want to know: what's staining your hands and bursting in your mouth right now?