Flower Power in the Snow!
Flower Power in the Snow!
If seeds can chill, so can we ...
FEBRUARY 24, 2017 • LOGDEN LODGE BLOG • BY ANNELIES ELLERMAN
Building four cabins and laying infrastructure in the forest does take its toll on the prettiness of the surroundings. Going through the pages on our website it probably stands out that Paul and I had no background or experience in building and Lodging. The same for landscaping, my knowledge went as far as knowing what a rose and a lily is, so to speak.
But nature is incredibly interesting and soothing, so it was easy to get involved. Watching the wildlife, knowing the trees that grow around us, researching what kind of flowers grow well in our area, just understanding your surroundings.
All that grows on our property grows naturally by reseeding, is donated by friends and is grown by us from seed. The (wild)flowers we choose to grow ourselves are the ones that are good for xeriscaping (drought and heat resistant and tolerant, and thus conserving water), pollinators and are native to the area. And some because they are just so beautiful, it is hard to resist not to grow.
We try to beat nature early. We start sowing seeds in January (yes in Winter!), by a method that is called Winter Sowing. Basically it means that we make little greenhouses from recycled plastic such as milk jugs and salad containers, which we set outside in the snow and rain. In Spring these seeds germinate and grow into hardy seedlings, when the ground is still frozen solid and impossible to work. We grow lots of different flowers this way and let nature decide what it accepts and what not.
We started sowing seeds during the Winter of 2015/16, before we received our “Gold” rating from Green Tourism Canada and “Backyard Habitat” certificate from the Canadian Wildlife Federation. You can imagine our pleasant surprise when we found that what we were doing fitted nicely into their policies.
We are always looking to improve the quality of staying at our Lodge. We already grow raspberries and strawberries. This year we like to do something extra for our guests. As so many love to cook in the cabins, we are winter sowing different kinds of herbs for our guests to freely use. Our intention is to a herb, vegetable and edible flower gardens, with a.o. thyme, lavender, cilantro, cabbage, basil, feverfew, oregano, marigold and calendula.
