Work Party Sunday June 27th 3:00!!
Hope to see you there!
334 people attended the East Van Garden Tour last Sunday. Our best turnout for the tour yet! Such a big success we may even have to rein in ticket sales a bit for next year.
Also, save July 9th if you can. Erin Macdonald has secured Park Board resources and staff to come and help us fix up Napier Square. They'll work with us to put in a couple of berms and some rocks and level the existing pavers and install new ones around the signposts. They'll also removed a few "weed" elms for us.
We also need to clean the benches and we should get another batch of lady bugs because the park benches are all sticky from the aphids in the oaks.
See you tomorrow -- Work Party Sunday June 27th 3:00!!
Cheers,
Penny

No work party this Sunday!

It's car-free Commercial Drive and the East Van Garden Tour!
Cheers,
Penny
_____________

http://www.britannianeighbours.org/
http://britannianeighbours.blogspot.com/
http://eastsidegardentour.blogspot.com/

We're having a Work Party on Sunday June 13th 3:00-4:30! Come if you can. No need to RSVP!
(No work on Sunday June 20th -- it's Car-Free Day and the East Van Garden Tour!)
Pat and Jane and I had a meeting in the Greenway with Erin MacDonald, the City's Green Streets Coordinator, on Friday and described to her our dreams for the Greenway, and she's going to help us get what we need to make the garden spectacular! (Note the wonderful jigsaw puzzle "art" on one of the trees in the Greenway!)
We'll get some topsoil to make a couple of berms (hopefully with a City work crew for a couple of hours to help move it!). We'll get 6-8 large rock/boulders.
She gave us a certificate for one of those City composters (and Pat is going to ask Gord to pick it up for us). She will look into getting us some chunks of broken sidewalk to use as paver around the four sign-posts. And she'll try to get us a few colourful plants (red/purple-leafed and/or bright yellow-green).
We will try to locate the yellow cedar bench that was once around the tree by Drive Organics and work toward getting it reinstalled.
Note the gorgeous little cluster of foxgloves by the bee condo and the two giant ferns under the chainlink fence beside Sweet Cherubim. We planted them all in the past week (salvaged from a site where the building is to be torn down!)
Yay!
And don't forget that next Sunday (June 20th) is the East Van Garden Tour. Get tickets at Figaro's. The tour goes from 10-4 and this year's gardens are clustered around 6th and 7th between Victoria and Nanaimo.
Cheers,
Penny

Hi Britannia Neighbours,

We won't be having a work party this coming Sunday (June 6th) because it's Italian Day on the Drive and there will be a Britannia Centre community event in the Greenway. The Drive will be closed off from noon to 8:00 p.m. for 14 blocks, all the way from Venables to the Grandview Cut (except that 1st Ave will go through, so to move from the north half to the south half, people will have to wait for the pedestrian light).

We will have a work party on June 13th from 3:00-4:30. Come if you can and no need to RSVP!

But we will not have a work party on June 20th, which is Car-Free Commercial Drive and also the East Van Garden Tour. Yes! This year's East Van Garden Tour is on Father's Day, Sunday, June 20th. All the gardens on the tour this year are quite close together and you should be able to walk the entire route. There are 12 gardens on the tour. You can get your tickets ahead of time at Britannia Centre (1661 Napier Street, 604-718-5800) or at Figaro's Garden (1896 Victoria Drive, 604-253-1696). You can also get tickets on the day of the tour at Figaro's (cash only on the day of the tour, however). As usual, tickets are only $10 per person. This is a self-guided tour, and runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

On the day of the tour, go to Figaro's to pick up your map showing the locations and descriptions of the gardens on the tour.

Note that most gardens are not wheelchair- or stroller-accessible. Children must be either babes in arms or 12 years or older (or, if younger, amazingly well behaved future botanists). Pets are not allowed. Photos are only allowed with the garden owner's permission.

We will need garden sitters! If you have time to do a three-hour shift (10:00-1:00 or 1:00-4:00) as a garden sitter in one of our beautiful gardens this year, you can take the rest of the tour for free! Please let Pat Davitt know if you're available (604-253-1885).

Proceeds of the East Van Garden Tour go to support the work of Britannia Neighbours, which these days includes the maintenance of the Napier Square Greenway, support for the summer Napier Greenway art fair "Artful Sundays" (Sundays, Aug 8-Sept 5, noon-5:00, ), sponsorship of a field trip to Van Dusen Botanical Gardens for a science class at Britannia Elementary, contribution to the upcoming new Britannia Community Centre sign in the Greenway, partnership with Drive Organics to make compost for the Greenway. We thank the Green Streets program of the City of Vancouver Engineering department for its ongoing support.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Penny