Arcadia Borealis Gardens

04/06/2026

Appropriately blooming for Resurrection Sunday! The earth awakes. April 5, 2026.

03/30/2026

❤️ Heartfelt thanks to everyone who came out to Williams Lake's 17th annual Seedy Saturday on March 28th. So many packets of seed went away with happy gardeners, and the many conversations we had were tremendously friendly and inspiring. Happy Cariboo-Chilcotin gardening in 2026!🌱🌿🌻🥕🍅🫛

03/20/2026

WHAT TO DO ON SPRING EQUINOX
Compost this poem.
Take out all the words that remind you of winter,
words that slip frozen into the heart,
bare limbs of words that stick into the sky and shake.
Prune out dead wood;
rough ragged never gonna fruit,
done is done!
Pay attention to what is here,
not what isn't.
Send your roots into another row or field or bed.
Mow. Rake up all the grass.
Layer, as if you're expecting hail or a deep frost;
the end of winter is always unpredictable.
Add manure, plenty of manure
and call in the flies, the dung beetles, the worms.
Soon, there will be heat. Steam.
The pile will soften, break down, give in, let go.
Compost winter into spring,
take off those old clothes you've been wearing,
the despair like a hat on your head,
dig into the pile,
into the heat and the heart of what matters.
Plant your garden and remember, each year,
everything will be different;
compost what you can.

Author - Amy Schutzer
Artist - Mary Azarian
Shout-out to The Heirloom Gardener - John Forti for the original post!

03/13/2026

Gardeners, are you ready for the 17th Annual Williams Lake Seedy Saturday?! It's happening on SATURDAY, MARCH 28th, 10 AM till 2 PM, in the Thompson Rivers University - Williams Lake Campus Gym.

Mark those calendars, save the date! FREE to attend, with a voluntary donation jar at the door so we can make this event even better in future years.

So many great info booths to check out, plus a green & local themed vendors area, and a soup-and-bun concession supporting the St Vincent de Paul hot meals program.

There will be four informative and inspiring FREE presentations. Reserve your spots through the Eventbite links in the post below.

Gardeners, are you ready for the 17th Annual Williams Lake Seedy Saturday?! It's happening on SATURDAY, MARCH 28th, 10 AM till 2 PM, in the Thompson Rivers University - Williams Lake Campus Gym.

Mark those calendars, save the date! FREE to attend, with a donation jar at the door so we can make this event even better in future years. :-)

So many great info booths to check out, plus a green & local themed vendors area, and a soup-and-bun concession supporting the St Vincent de Paul hot meals program.

There will be four informative and inspiring FREE presentations. Reserve your spot through the Eventbite links:

10 am Rob Borsato: Gardening in a Changing Climate
FREE TICKETS HERE:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-change-and-cariboo-gardening-with-rob-borsato-mackin-creek-farm-tickets-1983176051957?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

11 am Charlotte Lundeen, Master Gardener in Training: Designing for Biodiversity
FREE TICKETS HERE:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/designing-for-biodiversity-w-master-gardener-in-training-charlotte-lundeen-tickets-1983177305707?aff=ebdssbcitybrowse

12 pm Steph Bird, Cariboo Seed Project: Growing Resilience - Building a Seed-Saving Movement in the Cariboo
FREE TICKETS HERE:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/growing-resilience-building-a-seed-saving-movement-in-the-cariboo-tickets-1983177616637?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

1pm Linda Kliewer: Making Ferments in Your Kitchen
FREE TICKETS HERE:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-fermentation-sauerkraut-and-more-with-linda-kliewer-of-kliewer-kraut-tickets-1983177660769?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Check out the poster for a quickie overview, and stay tuned for more details!

01/02/2026

12/13/2025

Well, looks like winter has arrived! It's snowing and blowing outside, while inside we are immersed in garden charts and seed ordering. Just a few weeks till we start the first perennial seeds for 2026's plant sales.

We were just talking about how we need to be a little more on top of social media stuff - we seldom bring a phone or camera along while gardening, and our posts are few and far between - so here in lieu of something more current is a glimpse of roadside tough guys (in the very best sense of the term), half a year ago in June.

Three indefatigable Asteraceae, plus a delectable Rosaceae.

Happy almost-Winter-Solstice, fellow plant people!

11/20/2025

Hey there, plant friends! Yes, we're still here!

Well, this has been quite the season, and it's not really over yet. We are in full 2026 planning mode, and the seed orders are stacking up on the computer desktop, just waiting for the fresh seed crops to load before we hit that send button.

One of the most delightful things we did this past year was plant a double 100-foot row of sweet peas on the edge of one of the vegetable rows, "just for fun". It was one of the high points of the season! We gave away bunches to all of our favourite people, and had fragrant windowsill bouquets from June right through September.

We haven't been very good at taking garden pics this year, but here is a glimpse of this little passion project on July 11, 2025. The fragrance was amazing! And yes, we're going to do this again. Sweet flowers make everything better!