Award winners offer
tips for great gardens

WHEN EVERYONE else’s garden is just warming to life
with a few odd bulbs, Anton and Katie Walter’s own Upper
Lonsdale version of fantasyland is already a riot of color.

And last year’s winners of the
Spring Garden category of the
North Shore Gardens Contest
aren’t setting down their trowels
quite yet.

They’re gearing up for this
year’s competition, with plans to
enter ir: the overall category as well
— despite the heavy tolls of erratic
winter weather conditions.

About half of their 70 or so
roses are severely damaged, as are
many of the azalea bushes which
provide distinctive splashes of
pink. The showpiece camelia bush
may not bloom at all.

Still, the bulbs are up and the
many low growing perennials that
line the beds are stirring to life.

The front yard is pretty, but the
back, which fans upward and
outward from the house is a maze
of curved gravel pathways, bridges
and rocklined gardens in tiers —
with not a stitch of grass to be
seen.

Anton designed the garden, lay-
ing it out with the rocks from his
own and neighboring yards.

A retired cabinet maker, his ex-
pertise with wood is seen in the
home-built planters and retaining
walls of stacked logs.

A small fountain in a pool and a
gazebo covered with climbing roses
are other highlights of this garden
that invites you to stroll through
and browse.

“From every window there's a
view of the garden that looks
tasteful and pleasing whatever the
season,’’ says Anton, who displays
an album of pictures to prove it,

Although the Walters don’t set
out a formal color scheme for their
garden, they have planned things
so that there are always plants in
bloom.

“We have many different kinds

of rhododendrons that bloom at
different times of the year,'’ ex-
plains Katie.

And Anton stretches his nursery
dollar by doing some propagation.
Low lying rhododendron branches
can be scraped on the bottom and
then pinned down into the earth
until they start to root and can be
cut off.

A “plant hospital”’ at the side of
the yard is used for getting the
young ones going.

Many of the perennial ground
covers can easily be split and re-
planted.

In the summer, the Walters
make more use of purchased an-
nuals in the garden, in hanging

’ paskets and in decorative planters.

Red geraniums pour out of the
flower boxes on the house —
“European style.”’

“The flower boxes don’t rot if
you keep the plants in their pots,”’
advises Anton.

They require more frequent
watering, but then the Walters
don’t have to worry about chang-
ing the soil which can become
soured i. ‘ ¢ boxes over the ycars.

The Walters, with the telephone
and radio handy in the garden, en-
joy working together and making
the little decisions about what
plants should be moved and where
they should go.

Syd Jobling, winner of the
vegetable gardens category last
year, sees the garden around his
West 26th Street home in North
Vancouver as his domain.

Having won a number of prizes,
he no longer qualifies to compete.
And at 75, he suspects his new hip
may slow him down a little this

year.

Still, he has a host of seedlings
coming up in a special basement
room and is prepared to fight the
weeds with a daily application of
his own invention — a stick with
wire prongs on the end.

“It’s a late season, but I think
things are going to come on pretty
good now,”’ says Jobling.

Lettuces, radishes and onions
can go out, he advises, but leave
your peas until the end of April
and the tomato plants until the end
of May.

A tomato aficionado, Jobling
recommends Ultra Boy for the
large fruit, some paste tomatoes
for purees and sauces, Sweet One
Million (even better than Ultra
Sweets for taste and size) and Ear-
ly Cascade (keeps well).

Jobling was once pictured in the
North Shore News with four of his
Early Cascade plants which grew
6-7 feet high and produced 300-400
tomatoes in a four foot square
area,

As he has a favored sunny spot
for the tomatoes, Jobling has
changed the soil after three years
and replenished it with cow ma-
nure and a lot of compost.

Learning as he went, Jobling
started out with one large rectan-
gular plot in his back yard, which
he has since converted to a number
of raised beds throughout.

“Don't plant your bects and
beans together — they don’t get
along,’’ he advises, and Jobling’s
solution for the dreaded carrot fly:

plant and then ring the trenches ©

with string that bas been soaked in
diese] oil.

“Just resoak it when it dries
out,’” he says.

He sprays on a seaweed emul-
sion fertilizer, occasionally com-
bined with an insecticidal soap (he

See New
Page 7

Enter the 1989 garden contest

THE RECENT sunny weather has added to the growing
enthusiasm for this year’s North Shore Gardens Contest.

As in past years, Capilano area
gardeners can be expected to earn
their share of the glory. Some
previous local winners are sharing
some helpful hints with this year’s
hopefuls (see story above).

Entry forms are available at all
North Shore libraries, municipal
halls, recreation centres ind
garden shops.

The final entry date is Jui: 31
and the season will be rounded off
by an Awards Night, held in
September, to which all entrants
are invited.

For the second year there will be
a Spring Contest, for those whose
special pride is in their display of
spring flowers, rhododendrons and

blossoms. Judging will be held
from May I to 15.

The judging of summer gardens
will take place August | to 21.

Spring and summer entrants
may be entered in one or more of
the following categories: small or
large sized lot, small space garden
(patio, balcony) and vegetable
garden.

The two entry periods also apply
to commercial property entries, in
small or large categories, and rang-
ing from store-front plantings to
condominium landscaping.

This year, the contest will offer
a problem solving service, pro-
viding research and answers to en-
trants’ questions on garden mat-

Ambleside
EFINISHING

ters,

The objective of the contest is to
encourage home gardeners in the
pursuit of a hobby which benefits
both themselves and the communi-
ty at large by beautifying the sur-
roundings and contributing to the
pleasure of all.

The members of the committee
are North Shore professionals in
the horticultural field, members of
local garden clubs and other com-
munity volunteers.

Diana Belhouse and Dirk
Oostindie (North Vancouver
District Parks Superintendent) are
serving as this year’s co-chairmen.

Residential and commercial
properties from Horseshoe Bay to
Deep Cove are invited to enter the
contest, at no charge.

photo Mike Wakelleld
UPPER LONSDALE’S Anton Waiter poses among the tulips that helped
earn him the first prize in the Spring Garden category of last year’s North
Shore Gardens Contest. Anton and his wife, Katie Walters, are now
gearing up for this year’s contest and have lots of advice for budding
gardeners.

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