Oops. I forgot to post this earlier! For those just joining my blog, I post a yearly update on the Magnolia tree that I bought at VanDusen Garden's annual plant sale. This is the fifth year I've had it. Time sure flies!

It is now taller than me! My dad moved it this year so I'm not sure how it will be doing next year. I hope it is still ok! This is one thing I miss about living in an apartment. I have to place to plant beautiful trees like magnolias.



Even the insides of the blossoms are beautiful. They also give out a nice gingery scent.

There is no missing these gorgeous flowering trees currently in bloom around Vancouver. No, I'm not talking about cherry blossoms. These are Magnolias! They bloom almost same time as the cherry blossoms but have huge flowers that are drop-dead gorgeous. Every time I see a Magnolia tree, I'm always in awe. They are my favourite flowering tree!

UBC Botanical Gardens hosted a couple "Magnolia Magic" walking tours on Saturday and I was pretty excited to see the trees in the garden. This was actually my first time entering the UBC Botantical Gardens!

Tree expert, Douglas Justice was our guide for the one hour tour around the UBC Botanical Gardens. He has been at UBC Botanical Garden since January 2000 and also teaches horticulture and plant identification at UBC.

Even before we entered the garden, we were able to see several flowering magnolia trees. These have been flowering for a few weeks already so lost a lot of their tepals. Because of the differences in the microclimates between the outside and inside the garden, the further in, the later the blooms even though they may be the same species. The above photo shows three difference species: magnolia sprengeri, magnolia amoena and magnolia sargentiana.

Magnolia trees flower before their leaves come in. The "petals" are actually called tepals unlike normal flowers which have distinct sepals and petals. They also pollenated by ubiquitous tiny beetles and all the trees can cross-pollinate.

Someone made some art with the magnolia tepals earlier in the morning.

There were so many species of magnolia I couldn't keep track of them all. The magnolias in the garden comes from China or Japan and are very large - a lot of them are over 10m tall! So Douglas doesn't recommend getting some varieties for your residential garden unless you have the space! They need space and sun otherwise they do a very poor job of flowering!




 These blooms were as big as my head!

One problem with magnolias is that if they get damaged, their extensive root system goes into overdrive to repairing itself and grows missing branches at turbospeed - sacrificing flower production on those branches. So you might see bare branches with only a few flowers and you can't prune it because that'll only make it worse!

I think this small one is Star Magnolia? It comes from Japan.



Peer inside the magnolia flower and you'll see the stamens and stigmas, which have a certain beauty to themselves!









If somehow you haven't seen the magnolias yet, go outside and take a walk! You'll probably encounter one growing in someone's garden. Or go to UBC Botanical Garden to see these huge, beautiful trees in bloom!

Gorgeous.

The Magnolia 'Susan' that resides in my yard is now four years old. I had bought it at the VanDusen Garden annual plant sale. Year after year, I look forward to seeing them bloom. I don't know what happened this year but a few buds were fell off early on. Heavy wind and rain maybe?  Magnolias are my favourite spring flower. Their pretty shades of pink are so beautiful and this type of Magnolia has a nice gingery scent to it. Smells divine! But alas! The blooms are fleeting and there are only the top blossoms left. Soon, they too will be gone and I'll have to wait until next year to enjoy the flowers. They are well worth the wait.

Last Sunday morning, Tricia Sedgwick, founder of The World In A Garden, held a free Eat More Kale workshop at Dirty Apron Cooking School. Apparently the Dirty Apron hosts free workshops periodically. Something to keep an eye out for! Tricia showed us how to prepare kale in three different but easy ways and also gave us some tips on how to grow kale.

Chef David Robertson of the Dirty Apron introduced Tricia Sedgwick to us. It was a full house and he had to bring in additional chairs! Who knew kale would be so popular?



The first snack Tricia shared with us was Kale chips made in a dehydrator instead of an oven. I've made kale chips using an oven and it almost always got burnt. Only a couple of times was I actually successful. She uses nutritional yeast which gives it a cheesy taste without having to use cheese! The type of kale used was curly kale. If you don't have a dehydrator (which Tricia recommends everyone getting because it's so convenient), you can always bake the kale in the oven at 300 degrees C.



Next she made a smoothie from baby kale with lemon juice, bananas, apple juice and fresh ginger. Not bad! It had a sort of kick to it. Not something I'd probably drink every day but once in a while, yeah.


The last recipe Tricia shared with us was a quinoa salad with kale and dried apricots.

Quinoa, kale, garlic, dried apricots, cherry and grape tomatoes, red onion, hazelnuts. Mmmm.

Wow. It tasted amazing! I don't particularly enjoy quinoa anymore (ate too much of it in the past) but this recipe has revived my interest in it!

I learned so much in this hour workshop! Here are some facts:

• Did you know that kale has the most nutritional value per calorie than any vegetable? And that the nutrition decreases from the time it is picked? So it is super important to eat local kale!
• Did you know what a kale plant can live 5+ years? You just need to keep picking the leaves and not let it go to seed!
• You can have kale almost year round! If you plant kale in February, you'll have a June harvest. Plant in July and you get a fall/winter harvest.
• Kale tastes even better after a bought of frost! The "kiss of frost" reduces the sulfur content in the leaves that could make it a little bitter.
• Kale buds (the flower just before it blooms and seeds) are also very high in nutrients and also high in protein for a vegetable. 
  
• Too much acidic foods can be bad for you so it is important to eat more alkaline foods. Lemon juice is special because though it is acidic, it gets processed in your body as an alkaline!

Book of Kale

Tricia recommended that those who are interested in kale and other kale recipes to read the Book of Kale. She also holds other workshops! Check out the schedule on the World In a Garden website.


I loved everything I learned from this workshop! My own little crop of kale is coming out nicely. Rainbow Lacinato Kale that I planted in the beginning of July (or was it June? I forget).

Red Russian Kale and Curly Kale that I planted back in May. I should have found a better spot for these ones. I realize now that they are in the shade! Still we plucked some of their leaves already though we had to supplement them with kale we bought. I want to grow more!

The EP!C Sustainable Living Festival happened over the weekend with plenty of fun for attendees. This year's festival was the best by far! Moving to VanDusen Botanical Garden was a brilliant idea and people were able to enjoy the sun, walk around the garden and just enjoy being at the festival. The change in venue really helped people feel happier, more relaxed and the overall event was less commercialized. I overheard many people voicing similar sentiments. There were also many fun things added where they couldn't have been in an indoor environment!

 A lot of people were just chilling on the great lawn, listening to non-stop live musical performances. 

Throughout the day, Gardening Workshops were being held in next to the vegetable garden. I didn't know that VanDusen has a vegetable garden!

Gardening Workshops were held under the shade. I caught Sharon Hanna giving a presentation about Vegetable Gardening - Backyards to Balconies. Kale, leeks, beans, peas and lettuce are very easy to grow and are recommended for first time growers.

After the presentation, she distributed from Rainbow Lacinato kale seeds (she loves this variety) and also Red Russian kale starts. I have both growing in my own garden!


 I also didn't know that VanDusen has their own bee hives!

The bees were all over this plant. Buzz, buzz, buzz.


There are a lot of beautiful flowers in bloom around the garden!


Nearby was the Maze (kids loved it) and at the Maze Amphitheatre, the Experience 2050: Change Jam Series were taking place. Here people were listening to a talk on Sustainable Purchasing and Production.


In addition, VanDusen Garden guides led walking tours hourly, teaching tour participants sustainable approaches in the Garden and how to apply them to their own. 

I was glad to see lots of Zero Waste Stations around the area.

At the Epicurean Corner, people could sample bits and bites from various vendors such as Whole Foods, Honeybee Centre, Eight 1/2 Restaurant Lounge, Terra Breads, and Rain City Soups.

 Whole Foods was serving up two types of samples.

Heirloom tomatoes with fresh basil in balsamic reduction. It was so good! Some one commented that they don't usually eat raw tomatoes and this changed their mind about them!

 And Farmhouse Goat Gouda (Agassiz, BC) & Cherry (Oliver, BC)

Honeybee Centre has recently opened a shop on Main Street: Main Street Honey Shoppe.



Eternal Abundance was giving food demos and people could sample in exchange for some sample tickets.

 Kale chips.

 Zucchini and carrot salad.

Shrimp and mango ceviche made by Eight 1/2 Restaurant Lounge.

Many people were excited about the food trucks at the festival. 19 food trucks were there serving up delicious foods to festival goers. It was also the perfect setting to eat! Plenty of space everywhere on the lawn.


Gratta d'Oro was a food cart I've never heard of before. But since it was pretty hot, shaved ice was sounding pretty tempting.

They serve Italian shaved ice and the guys that man the cart are originally from Rome!

 All natural syrups are used to make their icy treats.

I tried the Tropicale - mango & coconut. Those are the syrups they put in. After that they add in real coconut pieces, strawberries and a lemon slice! Mmm! That sure it the spot!


The Sip and Savour area was very popular. Sticks and Stones Furniture provided outdoor fireplaces with seating!





 Near the Marketplace was a play area where people could play tic-tac-toe,

 engage in a round of tug-o-war,

 and where kids could play with toy trucks from Playmobil. There was also a bouncy castle area!


Vendors were outside around the garden as well as in the main Marketplace tent.

Nissan was showing off their new Nissan LEAF. It is a 100% electric car with ZERO emissions!






Breads from Choices Markets!

Under two big tents was the Marketplace where over 200 vendors offered festival goers samples and awesome deals.


Hardbite chips are kettle-cooked all natural potato chips made in BC! They were offering 3 bags for only $5; a steal of a deal I took advantage of!

Camelina Oil from Three Farmers. Also a Canadian company, they appeared on Dragon's Den!





Free Geek Vancouver is a nonprofit community organization that reuses and recycle donated technology. They take all used computer equipment in any condition free of charge! By doing what they do, they  reduces the environmental impact of waste electronics!


Honeyview Farm honey products, also from BC!


Fascinating carnivorous plants from the Urban Bog. They help eat the fruit flies that are being created from your green bin! lol

 Ladybugs!

Bag to Earth is 100% biodegradable leak resistant paper bags that you can use to line your green bin with. No more messy or smelly green bins!

 Cartem Donuts with their amazingly delicious mini donuts!


Mubiblossoms are eco-hairclips hand-crafted in Vancouver!

Coral Skin Care selling volcanic mineral mud for your daily skin care regime.

Bullfrog Power, Canada's 100% green energy provider, offers clean, renewable energy solutions to homes and businesses.

 This is a pretty handy device. It's a solar powered charger for your mobile device!

Hippie Granola is made from nutrient dense grains, nuts and seeds instead of instead of filler oats.

Motorino electric scooters.

Floating Stone Silk is a company from BC and works with artisans in Cambodia to produce stunning products in a sustainable way. 


Sayula is Mexican-Canadian company which provides biodegradable, environmentally and socially responsible bath and kitchen products.


Fairtrade organic spices from Arayuma.




Profits from Me to We clothings and accessories are donated to Free The Children!


The EP!C Sustainable Living Festival was an amazing event and I hope that next year's will also be at VanDusen!