The Anchor Weekly – The Chestermere Lake News

Frankincense and Myrrh – part 1 of 2 Following Christian tradition, the three wise men brought baby Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh; specifically, gold for a king, frankincense for God, and myrrh to embalm Jesus after death. While gold is pretty self-explanatory, have you ever wondered what frankincense and myrrh actually are? The answer is that they are both sap compounds derived from trees! A look at both of these products is interesting and culturally relevant to not only all of the three current, major monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), but also to the ancient, pagan civilizations [...]

Snowy fields and Christmas carols abound at this time of year. What better way to bring the festive spirit indoors than to adorn your home with a fresh-cut Christmas tree? Forget the nay-sayers and Ebenezer Scrooges out there; fresh-cut trees are gorgeous and can be very easy care. Enjoying a meaning-filled history, Christmas trees were first conjured by a monk from Devonshire in the 7th century, who held that the practice of bringing a freshly-cut evergreen indoors intimated ever-lasting life, holy beauty, and joy. Although less religious in nature, this tradition of having a fresh cut evergreen Christmas tree indoors [...]

In the last three articles, we explored a few of the high performing, easy-to-grow indoor plants for our Northern homes. Tropical, succulent, and cactus plants are all wonderful additions to your indoor space; offering beautiful foliage, shape, and texture, these plants can be mainstays in your interior decorating for years to come. But what if you already have green plants in your home and are looking for some pizzazz for a dining room table, or a quaint burst of fragrance for a your bathroom vanity, or need a show-stopping house warming gift for a friend? The answer is flowering houseplants. [...]

“Cactus” – the word drums up all sorts of images. The romantic will envision scenes of towering saguaros in the Texan landscape, barrel cacti in terra cotta pots lining the stairs of Moroccan villas, and flowering cacti tucked into the windowsill planters of university professors in the Ivy leagues. The satirical will envision crusty old in-laws in loveless marriages, uncomfortable seats for political leaders, and Road Runner cartoons where the coyote just can’t get ahead. For the indoor plant enthusiast, the word “cactus” and it’s over-arching name “succulent” evoke yet other images of low maintenance, long-lived, functional, and beautiful houseplants. [...]

Last week, we talked about what a houseplant actually is – namely a plant that natively grows outdoors in warmer climates and which we import to our indoors. Care for these plants is dependent upon the area from which they herald: houseplants from arid regions should be kept on the drier side, and plants from tropical regions should be watered more often and require a higher relative air humidity. This week, we explore some of the excellent tropical varieties that can be grown with relative ease in our Northern homes. Philodendron The name itself tells an interesting story: coming from [...]

With cold weather arriving on our doorsteps, beautifying our indoor spaces with houseplants is good for both the body and soul. Growing living greenery indoors not only cleans the air, increases relative humidity, and helps to maintain the ambient temperature in our homes, it also offers itself as wonderful home décor, a connection to the living world around us, and a fun pastime. So why, then, do so few of us partake in greening up our homes? It seems that everyone appreciates a gorgeous lime tree grown indoors, or enjoys a trip to Devonian Gardens with their sweetheart. We want [...]

Few things are as rewarding as creating and maintaining a beautiful outdoor area for your home. We Alberta gardeners take great pride in our yards and it shows: from careful planning and site preparation, to smart purchasing and maintenance of hardy plant material, our gardens are among the most beautiful Canada has to offer. No wonder Albertans continue to be featured in so many national gardening magazines! With such a huge investment of time (and money) in our gardens during the warm season, then, it only seems natural that we take proper measures to protect our naturescapes when Jack Frost [...]

So here we are, end of September and still the sun is shining and temperatures are warm. With 3 record-setting temperature highs in the last two weeks, farmers are busy taking off their crops, confident of higher yields and better quality than the disappointing finish of 2010. Home gardeners (or urban farmers, as I like to call them) too are enjoying a better than average yield in their fruit and veggie patches. We have heard numerous anecdotes of local gardens offering up “the biggest carrots”, the “sweetest tomatoes”, the “spiciest radishes”, the “juiciest raspberries”, and the most “loaded apple trees” [...]

Vines are a beautiful and welcome addition to nearly any yard or garden! There are both annual and perennial vines, and what you choose to plant is determined by what your needs are. If you just need something to hide a fence for a summer, an annual vine is probably a better choice. If you need to cover a house or a building, perennial vines are likely the way to go. Before incorporating a vine into your landscape, determine how big a vine you need to grow! Many people make the mistake of planting too large a vine on too [...]

Gardening in the long days of summer can be both fun and rewarding. With most of the garden already planted, it is time to relax a bit and enjoy the fruits of your labor. We sat down with Tricia Ingram of Cobblestone Garden Centre to talk about increasing yields and beauty in your backyard during the summer months. Q: What are the most important things to know about gardening at this time of year? With such long days and typically warm, breezy weather in the southern Alberta area, making sure your plants and lawn are adequately watered is definitely a [...]