POTS & PLANTS
/by Beth Lopez
(click images to enlarge)
We live in the West End and we love to garden. Where do we go in the neighbourhood to get gardening supplies? Most of what’s needed can be found right here.
Manager Adrienn in the Home Hardware gardening corner. (Beth Lopez Photos)
My first go-to place is the Home Hardware on Davie between Thurlow and Burrard. They have all the gardening tools you might need: spades, rakes, hoes, secateurs and pruners, hoses and nozzles, and leaf blowers. These are all needed by gardeners with a plot of land to plant. (Although, I have learned there is a West End bylaw that does not allow leaf blowers except those used by city employees.)
For the balcony, window box or window sill gardener, there are scissors, trowels, cultivators (the miniature rake), and watering cans. There is a big selection of large and small pots in many materials. They have lots of choice in plant food; they have blends for specific plants like orchids, African violets and cacti as well as the all purpose garden plant food. They have large and small bags of soil. There is a good selection of seeds and bulbs as well.
Right now all of these are available, but in the spring, when a larger part of the store is devoted to gardening, the selection of seeds, pots and soil is bigger. They carry West Coast seeds. I was told that if you come in looking for a specific seed and can’t find it in the store, you can sign a request sheet and they will get the seeds for you and notify you when they arrive.
Although they do carry some live plants, most of these are tropical plants which do well inside on your window sill. In the spring, they don’t carry flats of seedlings for transplanting. However, if you want to grow your own plants inside to be planted out, they have everything you’ll need: the little peat pellets or pots, trays and special grow-lights as well as the soil and seeds.
There are many online resources to explain when and how to start seeds inside. Good luck! Personally, I have tried and been very unsuccessful, so I just buy healthy bedding plants in the spring. I give my respect to anyone who can nurture seeds to strong plantlets that survive transplanting.
Finally, I want to note that Home Hardware on Davie has a friendly and helpful staff. It is always easy to find someone who can answer your questions or who will find the person who can. “Do you carry…? Where do I find…? What would I use to…?” I’ve asked versions of all these questions and have always had helpful staff to answer.
We also have so many dollar stores in the West End. There are at least three on Davie, and the Dollarama in the Denman mall, as well as the Magic Dollar just down the street. There you can find smaller tools and lots of pots, as well as whimsical items to decorate the garden. You can find things that make you smile to tuck in between plants or to hang from a tree branch.
When I need a stake for the tomatoes, both of the stores in the 1200 block Davie have many in displays outside. I have a can of garden twine with a cutter in the lid that I use all the time. I found that at the Dollarama.
Denman Market at Denman and Barclay.
If you are looking for a live plant to put in your garden or to grow on a window sill, there are several places to check out. At the corner of Denman and Barclay you will find the Denman Market. There are shelves of plants in pots in front and along the side. They carry an assortment of annuals. It’s also the best place around to find cacti and succulents. I have had good luck with plants from there, they were healthy and thriving.
Davie Flowers, beside the Shopper Drug Mart on Davie.
Davie Flowers, just beside the Shopper Drug Mart, can make you a beautiful bouquet of cut flowers, but they also carry plants in pots. Every time I walk past, I check out what is out on the shelves in front in case there is a treasure I can’t resist.
The Davie Street YIG always has shelves of plants out front. In December the shelves are loaded with evergreen wreaths and little Charlie Brown trees, but in the spring they have bedding plants, potted annuals, and herbs. Also come spring, inside the front doors is a rack of seed packets with selections of vegetables, herbs and flowers. This is where I usually pick up my sweet pea seeds. There is often a skid of large bags of soil in the spring which is replaced with pumpkins come fall.
Both West End Safeway stores also carry potted plants year round and other gardening essentials in their floral sections.
One of my favourite places for plants is the Farmer’s Market on Comox at Thurlow. The market opens in May and you can find tomato plants, often heirloom varieties, all ready to plant out in the garden. I have had good luck growing tomatoes from the market. In the fall, this is where I buy potatoes and garlic to use as seed plants. I can see they are healthy, I know they taste good and I know they were grown organically.
I don’t have a car to carry the heavy stuff, so I admit to ordering large bags of soil from Canadian Tire and having it delivered. I am looking at adding a raised bed to my patio and that will probably be ordered for delivery as well. Other than the raised bed, just about everything you need is found in the West End if you have the means to transport it.
I’ll also admit that I have ordered plants that are shipped live. It’s the only way I could find sweet grass, Mexican oregano and patchouli. Richter’s in Ontario is amazing. But unless you’re looking for something specific and unusual, you don’t need to look beyond our special neighbourhood.
Time to start planning! Spring is just around the corner.
