Dear Garden Club,

Once again we are in our

transition from Autumn

to Winter. We were so

fortunate to experience

such a long warm Au-

tumn, giving us ample

time to clean up our

lawns and gardens, plant

trees, shrubs and bulbs,

and watering in our

plants for the winter.

Please come out and

share a hot cider as you

stroll through our magi-

cal Christmas display.

Seeing is Believing!

Gloria Beck

Christmas Has Arrived at Parkland Inside this issue:

Greening Your Home

for the Holidays 2

Reducing Christmas

Stress 3

Holiday Course Listing 4

Coming Events 5

Unique Gift Ideas 6

Feel the Magic of Christmas

Contact Us

www.parklandgarden.ca

Email Info@parklandgc,ca

Phone 403-346-5613

OPEN YEAR ROUND!

3 minutes East of 30 ave on

Hwy.11

Garden Club Newsletter Winter 2013

Emma the Llama from Guzoo made her

Chirstmas debut at Parkland during our Na-

tional Tree Days Event.

How to Care For Fairies and Gnomes

These magical creatures slip in and out of sight

behind plants. Can you spot one?

If you build it they will

come. Fairies and gnomes

need a safe place to rest

and hide so they are at-

tracted to gardens made

especially for them. Why

would you want fairies to

come to your garden?

Well, if you have ever

have had a fairy encoun-

ter you know that they

grant 3 wishes and bring

happiness and luck to

where ever they call

home.

There are very few rules

to building a fairy garden,

but they need two main

things. The first being a

hiding place, so put beau-

tiful plants around to

make them feel safe. The

second is a place to lay

their head at night, be-

cause if fairies do not

sleep well they become

very mischievous. In

order to keep the fairies

happy, you need to rear-

range their space every

once in a while to keep

the garden a fun place for

play and laughter. For

example; move the house,

change a path, move the

chair, or add new plants.

Con’t on Page 2…..

How to Care for Fairies and Gnomes Continued

bottled or melted snow water

are better quality than tap

water.

Soil—Never use garden loam,

buy a good quality sterilized

potting mix.

Pests—Clean and check the

leaves regularly to keep most

insects away. Control disease

by trimming and discarding

spent leaves and allow slight

drying between watering.

And lastly, fertilize regularly

for healthy, vigorous plants.

Drop in and check out our

indoor plant selection and

supplies. Our experts will be

happy to help you! By Alfred Prins

Greening your Home for the Holidays

simply replace with fresh

boughs to keep the wonderful

scent going. You can prolong

the freshness of your arrange-

ment by misting regularly with

clean water, keep clean fresh

water in the reservoir and

avoiding overly warm, dry, or

drafty areas.

Tropical house plants can also

keep your house green and

improve the air quality all

through those cold winter

months. Just remember these

simple requirements:

Light—Keep near windows.

Heat—Keep away from drafts

Water—Quality is just as im-

portant as quantity. Distilled,

An easy way of improving your

indoor living environment

throughout the Christmas

season is with fresh, fragrant,

live Christmas evergreens.

Nothing is quite the same as

the fragrance of fresh pine,

cedar and fir mingled with

that of hot cider and cinna-

mon to declare that Christmas

is in your home. Parkland

carries a full range of fresh cut

evergreen boughs, berries,

twigs and cones for traditional

Christmas decorating.

Our greens all arrive and be-

come available in mid Novem-

ber and provide an inexpen-

sive way to bring some festive

fragrance into the home.

When the fragrance fades,

Our Christmas Cactus have ar-

rived and are ready to bloom!

Adding a gnome to the fairy

garden is desirable as they

protect the fairy treasure, and

keep away un-wanted guests.

However, they are very territo-

rial and need a separate home.

They are also creatures of the

earth and your garden will

grow that much better with

the addition of a gnome. Re-

member— gnomes only protect

at night, for when the sun

comes out, the gnomes turn to

stone. Hence the gnome gar-

den statues we see every day.

At Parkland Garden Centre

we carry everything to create

unique fairy gardens including

the essential gnome garden

protectors. Come out and see

our specialists or watch for an

up and coming fairy garden

courses. By Christine Cornelius

Fairy Garden created by Christine

Cornelius of Parkland Garden

Center.

Page 2 Feel the Magic of Christmas

“In every

Gardener there is

a Child who

believes in the

Seed Fairy.”

Robert Brault

If you’ve just received late cards from people you haven’t sent to….LEAVE IT. It’s too late and they’re unlikely to notice you didn’t send one to them, at this point in the pro-ceedings.

If you are panicking that now you have wrapped the pre-sents, there don’t seem to be enough…STOP. Don’t reach for your purse. You set a budget so stick to it.

If you are worried that Great Aunt Flo will embarrass you by ……………………(insert as appropriate) falling asleep, saying something inappropri-ate, getting tipsy, letting a fam-ily skeleton out of the cup-board…STEP AWAY. You can’t prevent it, and she de-

serves a good Christmas as much as anyone.

If you are focussing on being the “hostess with the mostest” and everything going perfectly at the family gathering…CHILL OUT. Your family are more likely to want your com-pany than have you slaving away in the kitchen all day, especially if you are relaxed and happy rather than stressed and sweaty.

If you know from experience that Christmas is guaranteed to bring out long standing resentments and unresolved issues …ACCEPT IT. It’s likely to happen. If it did last year it probably will this year. Do what you can to minimise the risk, prepare your own

response, then LET IT GO. The sky won’t fall in.

Finally, if you are banking on creating a perfect family ex-perience against a picture post-card winter scene, ask yourself if you’ve created unrealistic expectations for yourself and those around you. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being a family, warts and all, and celebrating that.

And if all else fails and you find yourself hitting the wine a little too hard and a little too early, or feeling like a martyr to the cause because you are doing all the work while every-one else eats, drinks and makes merry just remem-ber….“THIS TOO SHALL PASS”

Simple Steps to Less Stress This Holiday

Page 3 Winter 2013

What do you call

people who are

afraid of Santa

Claus?

Claustrophobic

www.learningandleadership.com

By Julie Kay

Holiday in the House Course Day, Saturday November 30th

Beginners Fresh Wreath Making Nothing beats the scent of real evergreen boughs. We will help you complete your own fresh evergreen wreath so that it is ready to decorate. Take your creation home! Cost: $30.00 (all supplies included). Saturday, November 30: 9:30am to 10:30am or 4:00pm to 5:00pm Christmas Table Arrangement Impress your guests! We will teach you how to make a festive arrangement with candles, fresh evergreens and more to add that flickering glow to your Christmas décor. Take home your completed arrangement. Cost: $40.00 (all supplies included). Saturday, November 30: 10:45am to 12:00pm

Make Your Own Festive Insert Do not put away your patio planter. We will show you how to redesign them for the holiday season with fresh greens, trimmings, along with holiday silks. Take home your own creation to insert into your patio planter! Cost: $40.00 (all supplies included). Saturday, November 30: 12:30pm to 1:30pm Fairy Garden One of the hottest trends in gardening! Great for kids – and the whole family!!! This course is all about Garden Fairies and how to bring them into your home. Take home a complete fairy garden! Cost: $80.00 plus GST Saturday, November 30: 2:00pm to 4:00pm Mantle Decorating The classic finishing touch that says “Christmas is Here” is that gorgeous man-telpiece festooned with fresh, fragrant evergreens, cones and ornaments. Partici-pants will take home a complete mantelpiece that will “WOW” your holiday guests. Cost: $90.00 includes complete mantelpiece. Saturday, November 30: 2:00pm to 3:30pm

20% discount if taking 4 or more courses!! Call to Register 403-346-5613

Contact Us:

www.parklandgarden.ca

Email Info@parklandgc,ca

Phone 403-346-5613

OPEN YEAR ROUND!

3 minutes East of 30 ave on

Hwy.11

Page 4 Winter 2013 What’s Happening?

Page 5 Winter 2013 What’s Happening?

Ice Sculptures Each year people are invited to Parkland Garden Centre to watch our world famous ice sculptures be created as our “Christmas Card to the Community”. People young and

old come to see what this year’s theme will be and to see how they are carved. Completion of sculptures is scheduled for Mid- December dependent on the weather.

Admission is a donation to the Red Deer Food Bank

Page 6 Winter 2013

Whether it’s decorations for

your home, or a holiday gift

for someone special, Parkland

Garden Centre has everything

you need. We carry a wide

selection of home décor deco-

rations, gifts, ornaments and

over 20 Different Themed

Christmas trees to shop from.

And don’t forget the plants,

winter doesn’t mean garden-

ing has to stop! We carry a

wide variety of Tropical's,

Christmas Cactus, Norfolk

Pines and more.

Or if you’re looking for that

fresh Christmas scent, come

check out our assortment of

Fresh Christmas Greens.

For the collectors out there,

we carry Dept.56, Jim Shore,

and Snowbabies .

Sinamay wreaths are one of

the hottest trends in home

décor. Make one yourself, or

have one of our talented staff

make a custom one for you!

Make Parkland your

Destination for

Christmas.

Your Destination for Unique Christmas Ideas

Handmade

Sinamay Wreath

New from Elf on the Shelf IT’S A GIRL!

Start a new family tradition

with the Elf on the Shelf.

Your whole family can enjoy

this charming story book and

Elf toy.

Available now in our

Christmas Boutique.

Hurry in,

Last year we sold out!

Seeing is Believing!