Cowichan Valley Garden Club

President’s Report,  February 2026

February seems to have brought with it some signs of the slowly turning seasons.  The days are lengthening, the sun is more consistently breaking through the grey skies and the first early flowers have broken ground.  I pass a patch of snowdrops each day on my way to drop off and pick up my kids from school, and each day the sight of them lightens my heart.

Hopefully, February will also bring with it a respite from cold and flu season.   While I am hoping this report finds you all well, my household has been plagued with illness this last month, and I’ve spent the past couple of weeks battling a nasty respiratory bug.  Apologies for the delay in this report and agenda coming out, and also to all the Team Leaders–I have not forgotten about our planned meeting, but I have been putting off scheduling it until I can make it through without succumbing to a coughing fit!

The promise of spring also brings with it the promise of a favourite pastime:  buying more plants for our gardens!  With plant sale season approaching, I hope at least a few of you put Kathleen Mercer’s lessons on plant propagation last month into practice.  The club has also received invitations to a few upcoming plant sales and shows.  The Vancouver Island Rock and Alpine Garden Society has their Annual Spring Show scheduled for Sunday, April 19th at Mary Winspear Centre in Sydney, BC.  In addition to show entries, there will also be vendors, seed sales, door prizes, a tea service, and a plant sale by members of the society.

Additionally, the club received an email invitation from The Plant Sale at Botanical Odyssey, a Lower Mainland nursery that will be closing their doors this spring.   Apparently, this is a plant collection and wholesale nursery specializing in rare plants, mostly from Asia.  The nursery is closing this spring and is selling its stock at discounted wholesale prices.  Any members wishing to tour the collection and/or purchase stock for themselves are invited to make an appointment to visit the greenhouses in Pitt Meadows.  While appointments were originally only available to groups, due to the challenge of coordinating a group trip from the Island, they are now accepting individual appointments as well.   If this is something that interests you, you can contact The Plant Sale at Botanical Odyssey at plantsale@shaw.ca to schedule an appointment. They say they will be open some weekdays and possibly some Saturdays for the remainder of February. I will bring more information and a stock list to the meeting to circulate.

Our speaker for the month is Barrie Agar, a former president of the Cowichan Valley Rhododendron Society and Head Gardener at Royal Roads University in Victoria.   Her presentation on “The Happy Rhododendron” will help us better understand how to care for rhododendrons in the face of hotter, drier growing seasons.   This may be a particularly salient topic this year, as I have been wondering how our lack of snowfall may affect our annual summer drought.

Our Parlour Show categories for February are:
1. Don’t Judge Me
2. Chinese New Year: an Asian design, accessories permitted
3. Sweet Heart: Design in a sugar bowl, accessories permitted
4. Heather (Erica) or Heath (Calluna), 3 branches, one variety, max length 8 inches
5. Snowdrops (Galanthus), 5 stems, one or more varieties
6. Helleborus, 3 blooms on a bed of moss, one or more varieties
7. Any spring flowers, 3 stems, one or more varieties
8. Potted succulent/cactus, 1 pot
9. Forced bulb
10. Surprise Us

As always, you can find the full Parlour Show schedule and all details on our website.