Tag Archives: Gardening

Q&A with Jade

December 5, 2018 Julie Barnes Leave a comment

Jade and Devin are our newest soon-to-be residents at Sarilia. With two daughters (Sloan, age 2, and Neve, 5 months old) and a dog named Philly, they’re eager to start their new life in our river valley community this summer—they expect to move into their new A-frame-style home by July. We chatted with Jade to learn more about her family, what drew them to Sarilia, and how it felt to meet some of their future neighbours back in October.

How did you first hear about Sarilia?
We were looking at acreages online and we stumbled across one that was for sale at Sarilia. We drove out there and we realized how beautiful it all was, and how there was all this other property that we could look into.

I got out of my vehicle and stood there, and I was like, “Okay, we are going to be moving here.”

How would you describe your first impression?
We felt like we were at the lake. It felt like we were at the cabin—instantly relaxed and laidback and just where we wanted to be. It felt like home.

Where are you both from originally? And where are you moving from?
I grew up in Martensville and Devin grew up in a little town called Frobisher, just outside Estevan. We live in Warman right now, so we will be moving from here.

What was it you were looking for that you found at Sarilia?
When I grew up in Martensville, it was a small town. And the community that Devin grew up in has about the same amount of people that Sarilia has. We both wanted that for our daughters.

When we moved to Warman it was a bit smaller. Now, all the sudden, grocery stores are behind our house, Dairy Queen is right there, and the highway is right there—everything was just too close. It was too city-like. We needed to get away.

Right now, we have the street lights shining in our house all night long, the grocery store lights are on 24/7 in our house—we just need to be in the dark for a little bit! (laughs)

Was there one feature at Sarilia that solidified your decision to move?
It was a number of things. We didn’t know about the river access until we met with Gwen. We just thought we’d have a view of the river and we didn’t know everything Sarilia had to offer until we met Gwen.

Our first impression would have been that we just want to be out there for the calmness and the view. Upon talking to Gwen a few days later, we realized the (little free) library, the river and the little nature reserves all around were just kind of bonuses.

Is there something you’re most excited about in regards to your new home?
It’s a little bit of everything. We’re really excited for the small-town community feel, and to feel like we can go and talk to our neighbours. Our girls can go down the street and ask a friend to hang out and we don’t have to be breathing down their necks or watching them all the time to make sure they’re safe.

And the laidback lifestyle. Because you come home from a long day at work and it would just be really nice to go down to the river and have a wiener roast—just feel like you’re at the lake every day.

Can you tell me about the style of your new home?
We’re going with an A-frame. It’s going to feel like a cabin/cottage. We’re trying to go with that mentality—so a stone mantle above the fireplace and the A-frame overlooking the river.

Why did you decide to hire Griffin Properties to build your home?
I’m good friends with Sarah (Reid, the co-owner) so I’ve known them to be extremely hard workers. I’ve seen all the houses that they’ve built for themselves and all the time and energy they put into all the little details to make the house perfect for their family.

I know when Sarah started looking at designs for our family, she was thinking about our family—not what everybody else would have wanted, but what our family needs and wants. Every little detail was thought of. They put a lot of TLC into the project.

What do you and Devin like to do in your spare time?
We like to travel a lot and we like to be outside and go to the lake. We have a cabin up at Chitek Lake with my parents, so we love to be up there all the time.

I like to snowshoe, cross-country ski and snowboard, and Devin likes to snowmobile and downhill ski, so we’re very wintery people. We like to be outside more in the winter than probably in the summer. I run too—anything to be outside really. We’re always up for trying something new.

Do you think you’ll get out on the water at Sarilia?
Oh yeah. Devin wants to buy a canoe. He wants to do that and I like to (stand-up) paddleboard. We’d like to do more of that.

My dad taught me how to fish, so I’d like to do that with the girls and teach them how to do things like that and appreciate nature.

Do you plan to get involved in the community garden?
Yes. I have two garden beds right now so I am definitely going to be doing that.

Even now, I know they’re really young, but we have raspberry bushes and in the summer Sloan likes to go pick them and eat them. That’s kind of what I want to get my girls into—just being more with nature.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?
We came out to Sarilia for a potluck at the beginning of October and it felt like home. We were like, “We don’t want to drive back to Warman.” (laughs)

It was really nice to meet everybody and we had a really warm welcoming. Everyone was so relaxed and laidback. I don’t know if that’s their personalities always or if being there brings it out of them, but I also felt like it was more of a family—like I could rely on some people to help out if need be and that kind of feeling. It made us more excited and we are very eager to be out there.

The Cherry Orchard Next Door

August 17, 2018 Julie Barnes Leave a comment

It’s cherry season in Saskatchewan and here at Sarilia we’re fortunate to live right next door to a u-pick cherry orchard. Owners Ed Bueckert and Anna Rehan planted the first trees, a variety called Carmine Jewel, in 2000. A few years later they added new varieties, including Cupids and Juliettes. “It took about six years before they started producing to a point where it was a commercial operation,” says Ed. In addition to the u-pick, Ed sells their cherries to local wineries, restaurants and to food services at the University of Saskatchewan.

We chatted with him to glean a little more insight into the delicious cherries he grows right here in the prairies.

What time of year are the cherries ready to pick?
Usually the beginning of August.

What are some of the beneficial properties of sour cherries?
You hear about antioxidants and their benefits, and cherries are really high in antioxidants. They’re also rich in melatonin, which helps you sleep. And there’s research being done about athletes using cherry juice and to speed up muscle generation, but that’s in a research stage.

What kind of volumes do you grow each year?
It varies quite a bit. Right now, I’m in the process of rejuvenating my orchard. Some of these trees are 18 years old and they’re getting too tall and the stems are getting too big. So, what I’ll be doing every year, is cutting down a row of cherries, and they come back really quickly—they regrow from the roots and so, my production right now isn’t as big as it was at one time, but I’ve produced as much as 6,000 lbs. a year. It’s less than that now because not all of my rows are in production. It takes about three years for them to come back into producing after I’ve cut them down.

What other varieties perform well in our climate?
The University of Saskatchewan initially came out with Carmine Jewel. And then some years later, they came out with five varieties they call the Romance Series of cherries. In that series, there’s the Cupid and Juliettes. But there’s also Romeo, Valentine and Crimson Passion.

Do you grow anything else?
We grow apples, raspberries, strawberries, haskaps, but not commercially, that’s for our own benefit. I have 30 bushes of haskap, but the cedar waxwings are just tenacious. If you don’t net them, and net them really carefully, if there’s any little hole, they’re in there. They will clean them off—they’ll eat them till they’re all gone.

Do you have a favourite recipe for your cherries?
We make a sort of pie filling, but we use it for a variety of things. Like as a dessert topping, an ice cream topping or on cheesecake and that sort of thing. It can also be used in pies. You just add a little bit of thickener to it, like modified corn starch and a little bit of sugar and that’s it. It’s a pretty simple recipe and then it can be used for a variety of things. And we can some of that so we have it around for serving dessert.

We also dry a lot of cherries. They’re really good in salads and I use them every morning in my cereal.

How long is the cherry season on your orchard?
We probably have cherries all of August. The Carmine Jewel are the first ones that come, so we pick those first, and then the Juliettes. The Cupids probably aren’t ready to be picked until the middle of August. They will last just about to the end of August.

The Cupids are more for fresh eating, they’re the biggest cherry that we have, and probably the sweetest. They don’t pit very well because their pit is shaped differently. So, we use those more as a fresh eating cherry, and they taste pretty good. They’re sweeter and they look nicer. But for processing I still think the Carmine Jewel are probably the best. Their flavor is really intense, although they’re quite sour—but for processing, that works in their favour.

*Unfortunately many cherry growers in Saskatchewan, including Ed and Anna, have had problems producing cherries this year, likely due to winter conditions. Their u-pick is not open this season, but they are still selling pitted and frozen cherries.

Sarilia lifestyle Q&A with Shayna & Sheldon

June 18, 2018 Julie Barnes Leave a comment

Shayna and Sheldon both originally hail from Hudson Bay, Sask. Like many of our residents, they relocated to Sarilia from Saskatoon to rediscover the small-community lifestyle in which they were raised.

They settled into our river valley community last July with their two young daughters: Gemma is four and Daisy is 13-months. Sheldon works in Saskatoon, and Shayna is a stay-at-home mom who runs a part-time daycare from their new home base.

We chatted with them to learn more about their decision to move to Sarilia, and how they envision their family’s lifestyle here—this summer and beyond.

What was it about Sarilia that made you decide to build a home here?
Shayna: The natural landscaping. For close to a year we drove around Saskatoon and looked at several different estate developments and when we drove out here… just the views, like when you come down the road into Sarilia, you can see all the rolling hills and you can see right down to the river. We drove around and Sheldon knew he was in trouble—I fell in love with it.

My heart had made a decision already, but we didn’t make a final decision for a little while. We obviously talked about it and we met with Gwen, but I knew pretty instantly that I wanted to move here and Sheldon knew quickly that he was going to have to figure out if we could do that!

Was there an urge to get out of the city?
Sheldon: We’re both from a small town, so the city was not really for us.
Shayna: We had done the city thing. We both grew up in a tiny town and thought that we wanted the exciting city life and we enjoyed it for a couple of years when we were first married and we didn’t have any kids.

Eventually, we realized it wasn’t quite for us. Especially after Gemma was born, we started feeling that calling to have more space and be more connected to outdoors and have a smaller community feel.

Now that you’ve been here almost a year, how has your lifestyle changed?
Shayna: It’s just a little bit quieter. It’s easier to enjoy the outside time.

In the city, to enjoy nature, to see the river you go down Spadina, or you go for a walk or go to a park, but that was really the only way to get that nice, quiet outside time.

And even then, it’s still busier, whereas here, we just go out onto one of our many decks or go into the yard or walk down by the river. You don’t need to drive anywhere to get that peace, it’s right here. Outside of that, we’re homebody-type people so our lifestyle didn’t change a whole lot.

Where do you work?
Sheldon: I work in Saskatoon.
Shayna: I’m a stay-at-home mom but I do have a part-time daycare. I’ve got a few different families who bring their kids out part-time, so usually three days a week I’m open.

So, you’ve already spent one summer here at Sarilia?
Shayna: We did, but we didn’t. We had a baby the previous May so when we first moved out here she was still quite fresh and delicate so there was still a lot of working around her naps and feedings. We couldn’t go outside for too long, so this summer is going to be kind of a first.

What are your plans for your this summer now that you’ll have more flexibility?
Shayna: Just going for walks down by the river and those basic things—just spending some time outside as a family without having to go anywhere. We don’t have to pack up the kids; we don’t have to pack up all the things and go. We just put on our shoes and our hats and go outside.

As your kids get older, what kinds of activities do you want to do with them at Sarilia?
Shayna: We’re going to be putting in a garden this year. We both love getting our hands dirty and Gemma’s looking forward to being able to put in a much bigger garden this year.

Last year we missed the opportunity because when people were planting in May, I was 40-weeks pregnant and couldn’t touch the ground! This year we’re excited to put in a larger garden.

When the kids get older we’ve talked about canoeing and other activities, but some of those things right now—the safety and logistics of doing it—we’re not quite there yet. But as they get bigger, being able to explore the river is definitely high up on the list.

What do friends say when they come to visit?
Sheldon: Shayna has a friend from Ireland who just loves it out here because it reminds her of home.
Shayna: Yes, with the rolling hills and everything.

How did you come across Sarilia?
Sheldon: We went to Dalmeny, Delisle and Dundurn…
Shayna: We went every direction outside the city. We visited Warman and Martensville too—some of their development areas…
Sheldon: And I came across Sarilia on Google…
Shayna: In one of our many searches, Sheldon found Sarilia online and on one of our weekend drives of exploring, we came out here and the rest is history as they say!

Sarilia lifestyle Q & A with Al & Annette

March 28, 2018 Julie Barnes Leave a comment

Al and Annette are two of Sarilia’s longest residents, having moved to the river valley community over seven years ago to experience what Al calls “pre-retirement.” We chatted with them to get a glimpse of what that lifestyle transition looks like.

What made you decide to move from Dalmeny to Sarilia?
Annette: The beauty of the river valley and the new community that was being developed here.

Al: I thought we should try to experience pre-retirement.

What pre-retirement looks like: Al & Annette enjoying a glass of wine and a Sarilia sunset

How does living at Sarilia contrast with city living?
Annette: We really like the socializing and being able to know our neighbours. People look out for one another: they watch out for your property, and do nice things for each other here.

What would both of you say are your favourite aspects of living at Sarilia?
Al: My favourite aspect is just being near the outdoors without having to go far—compared to the city.

Annette: You don’t have to drive anywhere to go to a park—it’s right outside your door. You’re surrounded by nature and wildlife.

Al: The other aspect I like about Sarilia is, some years ago when we were looking at recreational properties elsewhere, prices were starting to skyrocket. We couldn’t justify spending a lot of money on a property at the lake, maintaining that, and maintaining another house. But here, it’s kind of like being at the lake. It’s the same sort of environment but without the expense and the driving and all the rest that comes along with lake property.

Annette snowshoeing at Sarilia

What are your favourite winter activities at Sarilia?
Al: We like to go cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. When we have decent snow, our neighbour Dale cuts ski trails down to the river.

Annette: There are nice trails down by the river and we hike them a lot. It’s fun to see all the changes that are happening all the time—the change of the colours with the seasons, the migration of the birds.

What are you favourite summer activities?
Annette: Gardening in the summertime is fun. We always see some of our neighbours at the garden—we chat and play music. There’s a nice social aspect to it that I really enjoy.

We also like watching the skyline at night—we can still see a faint light on the horizon in the evening and the stars shine brighter. Al has a telescope and he likes to gaze at the sky—picking out different clusters and planets.

Al: We also try to get out in the canoe a couple of times in the summer.

Annette: Canoeing from Borden Bridge to Sarilia is a lot of fun. It takes 2-3 hours usually—more if you want to sit and have a picnic on the side of the river.

Al enjoying Sarilia on two wheels

Al: I try to get out on my bike. Once you get down in the river valley you can bike the trails that are down around the river easily enough.

Annette: Biking down a country road is kind of fun—there’s not a lot of traffic that you have to worry about.

Can you tell me about curling in Langham?
Annette: Al’s been curling in Langham a little bit longer than I have, but the last couple of years we’ve both been curling.

Al: They’ve got a new rink, and a pretty good club there.

Annette: It’s a really nice facility. Al and I curl there in the mixed league, and when we can, we’ll take in a bonspiel. Even for those who don’t curl, if they like watching curling there’s an opportunity for people just to come and have a beer and watch curling because they have a nice little bar. We’ve enjoyed socializing with people from Langham at the rink.

Blue bird captured by Annette at Sarilia

You both take a lot of beautiful photos around Sarilia. What inspires you?
Annette: It’s just the natural greenery and the colours out here that we really enjoy. Especially in the springtime, the leaves are starting to pop out of the trees and the blue birds are coming back.

Al: Because we’re at the river, you get migratory birds. You see them coming and going all the time. Here we might see a few more unusual birds because there are less people than in the city. In our book, we write down every spring and fall what we see, and I can go look in my book and I can say, “yeah, we saw that last year, and the year before.” It’s almost always within plus or minus a week.

Annette: And there’s a lot of deer around here as well, so we know where they are and what time of day to watch out for them.

Annette’s Sarilia photography

Q&A with two of Sarilia’s community gardeners

May 9, 2017 Julie Barnes Leave a comment

We love seeing all the signs of spring at Sarilia. The robins are out; the crocuses are blooming, creating beautiful patches of purple; and most importantly, the sunshine is drawing everyone out of their houses. Our residents are revelling in the warm weather with sunset drinks on their patios, walks along the river trails, and even stand-up paddle-boarding.

One of the most popular outdoor spring activities here is gardening, and our community garden seems to gain more green thumbs (from experienced to aspiring) every year. We recently chatted with two of Sarilia’s community gardeners, Kathleen and Dennis, to learn about what they’re planning to grow this year, what they’ll make with their fresh produce, and what they like best about gardening as a community.

How long have you been a gardener, and how long have you gardened in Sarilia’s community garden?

Kathleen: Growing up, I helped on the farm with gardening. It was just part of our job to help. I’ve gardened all my life, on and off, depending on where I was living. When I was living in apartments I wasn’t, but otherwise, if I’ve got a house and a yard, I garden.

I’ve gardened at Sarilia since 2012. I didn’t garden in the community garden last year, but I gardened in my yard. However, I found that I couldn’t grow what I wanted on my patio, so I’m going to go back to the community garden this year.

Dennis: I’ve been gardening since I was a child of about eight years old. I’ve gardened at Sarilia’s community garden for three years.

Kathleen & Gwen in the community garden

What are you planning to grow in Sarilia’s community garden this year?

Kathleen: I’m going to grow all the things I need for salsa. And then potatoes, peas, beans, some squash, some other root vegetables, lettuce and that sort of thing. I’ll also grow some flowers for the bees, and marigolds to keep pests away.

Dennis: Potatoes, beets, carrots, Roma tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, white onions, yellow onions, multiplier onions, dill, Swiss chard, yellow beans, green beans, cabbage, garlic, zucchini and some herbs.

What do you make with the food you grow?

Kathleen: I make salsa every year and the veggies and lettuce I eat fresh. Everything else I freeze. Potatoes and Spanish onions I usually keep in the garage where it’s cool and they last well into the spring. I really like having lots of fresh organic stuff on hand.

Dennis: I eat the fresh produce, can pickles, freeze beets and make salsa.

What’s your favourite thing to grow in the garden?

Kathleen: Probably tomatoes because it doesn’t matter how nice they are in the store; you just can’t get a tomato that tastes like a tomato if you buy it. So that would be probably my most favourite. It actually tastes like a tomato when you grow it.

Dennis: Cucumbers, beets and onions.

What have been the benefits of community gardening for you, versus gardening in your own yard?

Kathleen: Absolutely the social aspect. Getting out to see your friends and neighbours. Getting tips and tricks from people. It’s nice to be up there alone, in the quiet, and it’s also nice to be up there and be able to take a break and have somebody to chat with.

It creates a sense of community and I think that’s important. Anything that you can do in a community to create that sense of community is always a win-win.

Dennis: Joint tilling, friendship and sharing produce. It provides time to share different planting techniques and the outcome of the harvest.

The fruits of Dennis’ labour: cucumber

Red onion

Zucchini

Q&A with Annette: How does your (community) garden grow?

October 3, 2016 Julie Barnes Leave a comment

Sarilia’s community garden is a favourite spot for many residents to socialize, tend to their flowers, veggies and fruits, and learn from one another. We sat down with Sarilia resident, Annette Horvath, to learn what she—and others—grew this year, what flourished, what didn’t, and what she’s learned from her fellow green thumbs.

What did you plant in the community garden this year?
I planted lots of flowers—mostly zinnias—and lots of vegetables too: lots of carrots because they can keep for a long time, peas, potatoes, beans, corn, onions, garlic, the usual.

Garlic and dill in the community garden

Garlic is always such a nice treat in the garden because it keeps for a long time. It takes a little longer to grow. You plant it the season before (at the end of the season) so it’s always amazing to see what comes out and it’s so much better to have fresh garlic from your garden than buying it from the store. The texture is so creamy and the flavour is so much better.

When you have a vegetable soup from your garden, it’s just amazing how much flavour is in the vegetables—it’s so good. I also planted a whole row of beets. We had a few issues with some chipmunks—they are really fat in our garden because we feed them very well. They stole all my beets! (laughs) Just mine. Other people didn’t have problems with that.

A well-fed Sarilia chipmunk

Raspberries were a big thing. My raspberries did very well this year because of the rain. It was really nice to have fruit in the garden. Pretty much everything did quite well. Everybody had a good harvest of peas, beans, carrots, onions, beets, and all the things they planted.

One of our neighbours always plants sunflowers and they’re such a nice addition to the garden too. They’re just such a happy flower and they do so well.

Sunflowers in bloom in Sarilia’s community garden

What are some of the benefits of community gardening?
One of the benefits is that a lot of sharing takes place. One of our neighbours had grown an abundant amount of kale. I didn’t know this, but when you pick kale, it grows back. You don’t pick it from the root, so it keeps on giving back, week after week. She had so much more than she could use, and luckily the chipmunks didn’t like the kale, so they stayed away. We tried making so many different things—like salads and kale chips, and I juiced a lot and now I’ve frozen it to use it for smoothies.

We also have some extra room in the garden that nobody has claimed yet, so we grow pumpkins and potatoes, and we share them with our neighbours if there’s extra. And of course zucchini. There’s always more zucchini than we need, but that’s kind of nice.

Have you learned any lessons from your neighbours who you garden alongside?
Always. You’re always learning, because nothing is ever the same. It’s always different from year to year and it’s so interesting to find out what other people are growing that’s working for them.

One of our neighbours plants a lot of garlic, tomatoes, and hot peppers. It’s always interesting to see the different coloured peppers in his garden—from green, orange, yellow, red and even a very dark aubergine colour. I imagine a lot of them are really hot. He’s even grown habaneros (not in our community garden, but at his house). So it’s like a salsa garden where you grow all the ingredients yourself to make an amazing tomato sauce or salsa.

My garden is such a small part of it because it’s such a community effort. I really like wandering through other people’s gardens and enjoying what they’re growing. The sharing of the harvest is always kind of special—when somebody says, “here, I grew this, you gotta try it.” Just seeing what they grow and thinking, “well, I can do that next year.”

Have you planted anything new this year that you’d never tried before?

Jerusalem artichoke potatoes

We planted Jerusalem artichoke potatoes, which we’ve never had before. It’s like a gourmet potato. They don’t look like a traditional potato plant. They grow into this beautiful, tall flower that looks similar to a sunflower, but they’re small flowers. They grow over six-feet tall. The idea is to harvest the tubers after the frost, so that they’re a little bit easier to digest. It must bring out the sugars in the tuber. We haven’t tried them yet, because we haven’t had very many frosts yet, but we’re going to try them soon. You can roast and cook them like a potato, so we’re looking forward to trying those.

Zinnias in bloom

I talked one of my neighbours into growing zinnias. She tried out different varieties than I did. They’re very hardy flowers and they’re beautiful. To me, they’re a little bit like a gerber daisy, but they have vibrant colours and come in different varieties. Some are really big, some are like pom-poms, and they flower all summer long—so that’s a really nice flower for the garden. And the bees really are attracted to them.

Do you have any favourite recipes for your garden veggies?
A lot of times, if I’m making a vegetable soup, I make it up as I go. I know some people really like recipes because they get consistency and they make the same thing over and over again, but a lot of the time I just clean up a whole bunch of vegetables, throw them in a pot, and see what comes out! For pumpkin pie I usually find a recipe, and I don’t normally use the same one all the time. I check my old church parish books—I’ve got a lot of of old ones—because those are tried and true.

One of Annette’s favourite pumpkin pie recipes

Sarilia’s new “garden park”

August 24, 2016 Julie Barnes Leave a comment

This summer, we added a mini playground next to our community garden. Its creation was a group effort by Sarilia residents and our families. I am very grateful to see so many people come together and offer their time and talent to improve our community.

In the past, the kids at Sarilia had to go to Langham if they wanted to visit a playground. Now, they can visit one just steps from home. Its proximity to the community garden means that parents can garden while their children play nearby. And it turns out the kids aren’t calling it a playground—they ask their parents: “Can we go to the garden park?”

Whenever I go to do some gardening, I check out the playground and love seeing all the tiny footprints in the sand. It makes me super happy that we’ve built something together as a community that puts smiles on our kids’ faces. It was time well spent and thank you again to everyone who helped out.

— Gwen

Construction day

Swing set installation

Playground & sandbox

Planting trees and putting down roots

May 22, 2015 Julie Barnes Leave a comment

There’s an old Chinese proverb that says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.” At Sarilia, we happen to agree with that, so on the Victoria Day long weekend several of us got together and planted 17 fruit trees near our community garden.

Leanne, Gwen, Nancy, Kathleen & Annette at Dieter Martin Greenhouses

We kicked off the day with a visit to Dieter Martin Greenhouse. The owner, Nancy Martin, told us that Sarilia is located in Zone 2b for plant hardiness and advised us on the types of trees that flourish in this particular zone. She also gave us tips on how to plant the trees and what types of soil to use. Together, we selected a variety of apple, cherry and plum trees. Some of them are already bearing fruit, and the rest should bear fruit this summer.

Two of our trees are “combination apple” trees — something we hadn’t heard of before. Essentially, it’s one tree grafted with several different varieties. One of our combination apple trees will grow three varieties and the other will grow six, including Harcourt and Honey Crisp.

Al & Kathleen

We brought our trees back to Sarilia, where we had a 150-foot long trench waiting for us. We spent several hours together digging in the dirt and we were joined by a few more families from the community who were happy to lend a hand. A couple of Sarilia kids planted their first tree and a family who just joined our community came out and planted a tree with their young daughter. Watching them literally put down roots at Sarilia was heart warming and reminds me of another saying: “To plant a tree is to believe in tomorrow.”

At the end of the day, we were all caked in dirt. It was on our clothes and in our ears. It was physically exhausting, but incredibly worthwhile. I can already smell the apple crisp baking.

If you happen to live in plant hardiness Zone 2b (Saskatoon, Warman and Martensville are all in this zone) and are interested in what types of fruit trees will thrive in your yard, here’s a list of the trees we planted. They’re all appropriate for Zone 2b climates.

Hardi Mac Apple
Red Sparkle Apple
Romeo Cherry
Cupid Cherry
Combination Apple (Hardi Mac Apple, Harcourt Apple, Parkland Apple)
Red Plum
Pembina Plum
Honey Crisp Apple with Red lake Currant and Western Sand Cherry
Brook Gold Plum
Combination Apple (Heyer #12 Apple, Harlston Apple,Parkland Apple, Harcourt Apple, Hardi Mac Apple, Honey Crisp Apple)
Crimson Passion Cherry
Juliet Cherry
Dolgo Crab
Rescue Crab
Battleford Apple
Goodland Apple

Three succulents that thrive in Saskatchewan gardens

May 16, 2014 Julie Barnes Leave a comment

Aside from the stunning North Saskatchewan River on our doorstep, one of our favourite features at Sarilia is our community garden. It’s a great excuse to get together as neighbours and share a connection with nature.

Now that spring is finally showing signs of arriving and the ground begins to thaw, many of us are starting to plan (and plant) our gardens, so we thought we’d share a few flora that flourish in Saskatchewan’s unpredictable climate. We may just try a few of these in our community garden this year…

1. Sempervivum – Hens and chicks

These beautiful, spreading succulents need full sun and good drainage. Considered drought tolerant, they’re ideal for a low-water garden or xeriscaping. They thrive on neglect, making them the perfect plant for those of us lacking green thumbs. And the bonus for those of us who live in the country? The deer haven’t acquired a taste for them, so they’ll be left alone.

There are over 50 species of hens and chicks. At a recent talk in Saskatoon, CBC’s gardening guru, Lyndon Penner, noted that the Pacific Rim variety is capable of surviving our harsh Saskatchewan winters.

2. Sedum – Autumn Joy

Autumn Joy may not look like your typical succulent, but any plant that stores water in its leaves or stem is a succulent.

Another one of Penner’s favourite perennials for the prairies was Autumn Joy. Many gardeners lament that by late summer and early fall, their gardens aren’t as beautiful because all the blooms are gone. That’s not the case when you plant Autumn Joy, as it blooms in August and the dark pink flowers hang around well into the fall. Like hens and chicks, they like full sun. Moist soil is preferred, but this adaptable plant can still survive in drier soil. This blushing beauty attracts butterflies, but unfortunately, the deer like it too!

3. Sedum rupestre – Angelina

If you love bright colours in your garden, consider planting Sedum Angelina. This striking chartreuse plant is an excellent ground cover as it spreads quickly. Full sun is recommended, but it will tolerate light shade. These drought tolerant succulents also look great in containers and hanging baskets as they will cascade over the edges. Yellow star-shaped flowers bloom from them in summer, and in the fall the leaves will often turn a beautiful amber.

If you’re looking for more information on gardening in Saskatchewan, Dutch Growers has a helpful plant finder on their website. Lyndon Penner also has a great new book out, titled, The Prairie Short Season Yard.

What does your garden grow this summer? Please share your plans with us in the comments section. Until next time, happy gardening!

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