Check out CRAGS’ annual “Last Chance Plant Sale” on Thursday Sept 8 from 6pm to 7pm, outdoors at Lakeview Community Hall, 6110 – 34th Street SW, Calgary.  Member growers will offer a variety of alpine and other plants and now that the heat wave has passed, we should be able to get them in the ground!

Then at 7:30pm, we are delighted to welcome Calgary speaker Janet Melrose, who will talk about Rewilding the Urban Garden. 

This will be a combined in-person and Zoom meeting, to be held at Lakeview Community Hall.  Members will receive an emailed reminder with the Zoom links.  Non-members who wish to view the Zoom talk may register at Eventbrite for $8.

Wilding or perhaps more appropriately “rewilding” the garden looks gardens in a different way than the usual tamed spaces that have dominated gardening for the past few decades. Instead of attempting to control nature the goal is to invite nature back to our gardens.

In our current environment where climate change, loss of habitat and unceasing human incursions into wild areas is putting all species at risk, letting go of old values and ways of gardening and embracing the wild side is an important way for gardeners to contribute to creating healthy ecosystems, with habitat for wildlife, and even cumulatively modify our climate.

This talk will look at the down to earth design and cultural practices that we can use to make our gardens refugia for pollinators, other beneficial insects, birds and other life.

Janet Melrose is ‘Calgary’s Cottage Gardener’- Garden consultant, coach, educator and Horticultural Therapist. Her motto is ‘Grow, Nurture, and Bloom’.

She shares her passion for gardening and knowledge through workshops and writing for ‘The Gardener for Cold Climates’ and ‘Calgary Gardening’ magazines, and now co-author with Sheryl Normandeau for the Guides for Prairie Gardeners series of books.