I can say no I don't but is there a chance it roots easy from cuttings? lol I want one!!

SCG

Double post

This post was edited by SouthCountryGuy on Sat, Jun 7, 14 at 19:21

Beautiful! Greenland here in Edmonton sells azalea rodos but not the wild ones.....apparently. :)

Maybe I will try one in a pot. :)

Sure would like that greenhouse........

Ginny

WOW! BEAUTIFUL!!!

Now, I am going to just try my first potted hydrangea here first, before I get into azaleas! LOL!

rosecavalier, you are starting a very dangerous trend here - soon all of our garages will be full of potted up tender plants and force our cars to be parked outside!!! ROTFLOL!

Buy a smaller car...that works.

By the way, that azalea is deciduous...not like the ones you get in Safeway which are evergreens and typically without scent

SCG...got it from a specialty nursery in Surrey...Wrenhaven nursery...but they are no longer in business...should be a source in the lower mainland.

That is a beautiful azalea, I think I need to move to mild part of BC where I could grow all sorts of azaleas and rhododendron ... oh, and tender roses!

Thanks Terrance...at one point in my life, moving to BC was quite a pre-occupation for me...then the first grand child came....now I'm up to my neck with them...ain't goin nowhere.

Ironically, in the last few months I've by chance talked to 2 individuals from Vancouver Island...one was working in a super market nursery here...both were saying how glad they were to be in northern Alberta with all that sunshine...they both said they had to get away from the winters on the coast...just too dreary.

Is this more common than we think? Maybe they live here because family work here...they sure seemed pretty happy considering the winter we just had.

Is moving to the BC coast/interior over rated?

I would consider the interior/okanagan or Creston area. The coast is very depressing in the spring.

Or if you want to go a big zone 4 this area.

SCG

You couldn't pay me to live in a place like Vancouver.

Near Victoria is another story. Yes, it does rain in the winter, but most days there's enough sunshine to make up for it. Nothing beats going out to your car and not having to shovel yourself out, scrape windows, and warm up your car. Nothing beats wearing shorts 300 days of the year, and don't get me started on the spring flowers that come up so much earlier than here. SCG you must be in the wrong part of BC, as I have never heard anybody say spring on the coast is depressing. Fields of daffodils, early blooming rhododendrons, tulips, polyanthus, all weeks and weeks before we even see bare ground. I could go on and on :)

I lived and worked in many parts of B.C. over 10+ years, lack of sunshine was a big factor, some areas had few jobs to offer, some places way to hot for me in summer (Lillooet).

Nice to hear from gardeners who have spent an extended period of time on the coast and then moved inland...or vice versa.

An acquaintance of mine 12 years ago immigrated to Canada from Europe...near the North Sea. He constantly said he moved because winters were just too depressing...low light intensity and wet...and he moved to northern Alberta, bought an acreage, and lived the life he could never have done overseas...he ranted and raved about the sunshine and northern lights. Once the honeymoon was over (10 yrs-I know the winters were hard on him), he sold out and moved to Sooke...just west of Victoria! I keep in touch with him... so it will be interesting when the honeymoon is over there!

Do any of you have stories to tell...I guess you could say...of people who were climatic refugees?

I could also never live in Vancouver, the dreary overcast rainy weather for months on end and way too densely populated. I'd instead go for an interior valley that's not tooo hot. I'd trade six months of winter for their three months of overcast.

I'm friends with three Polish couples, all originating from a zone 5 climate with about two months longer of a growing season and -20 C being the very coldest. Two of the three couples absolutely hate the prairie winters and very short summers and one of them has opted to move to the interior of BC. I guess the other couple is a bit hardier and accepts things for the way they are, though like all prairie folks they do their share of complaining about our crazy up and down weather and painfully long winters.

Great to read your posts. I moved one year ago from an acre in the Fraser Valley, BC (30 yrs. there) to 12 acres here in Grande Prairie. It is quite a change but I'm in the "loving the sunshine/brightness here" camp. I could imagine moving back to a milder climate when I'm "retirement" age but I would prefer the Okanagan or Vancouver Island as they get considerably more sunshine than the Lower Mainland.
I am pleasantly surprised by how much does grow here but I honestly have had a good laugh that my daffodils (planted by the previous owner) are blooming in JUNE! It's interesting to see (in my mind) spring plants bloom so late but I kinda like it because it is warm enough (most days) to be outside enjoying all the flowers and shrubs. Back in Chilliwack, although the flowers started much earlier, including those gorgeous azaleas this thread was originally about, one enjoyed them from the warm dry house. Lonnnggg cooool weeeeet springs were expected. Summer weather was awesome for 2-3 months and then the lonnnggg cooool weeeeet fall would blur into the very gray, wet, slushy winter. Great for cozy reading by the fire but tiresome after awhile and the kids go a little stir-crazy. So far we have loved living here but I can appreciate the long cold winters could feel like a burden after some years.
Hard to complain right now with the light lasting til midnight and a perfectly great day revamping an old flower bed. Planted hydrangeas, a willow, a dwarf spruce and transplanted sedum, but no azaleas yet. Happy gardening everyone wherever you are or wish you were.

Very interesting perspective Leandra7...thanks for posting and your place sounds like just what you want...your outdoor studio!

You're right about the long days being hard to complain about...and it must be quite a strong stimulus for most people.

Grande Prairie is on route to the Alaska Highway so it's easy to see the Americans migrating north at this time of year...interesting to chat with them. And this phenomenon has been going on for decades...not just a fad. Many are trying to be up in Alaska by June 21, the summer solstice...some clear from Florida...that's a lot of miles (kms)! Hours of daylight is a real motivator!

In the winter, Grande Prairie reminds me of the Emperor penguin colony in the antarctic ( you've probably seen the nature documentary of them marching inland huge distances over the frozen terrain)...but despite the conditions, the population thrives. In GP, I think there are more residents under the age of 5 yrs than over age 65.

You'll really laugh at the photo...blooming now in my yard... rhodos... and roses are just starting.

NAF I spent nearly one year working on the coast and I can tell you it is absolutely a wet stinking dreary depressing mess.

I lived in the Okanagan for nearly 10 years and while the winters were great I hate the 40C days/30C nights and traffic.

I am 30 minutes from the city that usually wins the contest for the most amount of sun in Canada, so I am not complaining. From all the places I have been around if I had a choice I would move to Creston. Still in the beautiful mountains and full zone warmer.

I wonder if my rhodo had damage this winter as only one bud is open the rest are sitting there dormant :(

SCG

I had been thinking about trying rhodo's and azalea's so when I couldn't find a rose that interested me yesterday I got a couple of each that had been frozen back just after the stores had put them out. The azalea's look good, just lost the flowers mostly, the rhodo's already had new growth so that looks a little crappy. They have set new buds so that was just a small set back, should be a good test on there vigour and if they can survive they will have to be pretty tuff. I had a touch of frost a couple of nights ago. I got rosy and lemon lights, elviira and p.j.m. elite.

Will be interesting to see how yours do. I hope you report back next year. I was on the fence when I bought my Nova Zembla over p.j.m elite.

Can't wait to see photo's.

Don't want to mislead you guys so I posted the "rest of the story"...shows what the rhodos are planted in. A prairie gardener will be very lucky to have rhodos or azaleas thrive if planted outside with or without protection...they might survive but that's a stretch from thriving.

I justify it by believing that global warming will allow my experiments to live, LOL. I have had a Black Walnut growing in my yard for 11 years, at first surviving, has it's first male flower this year, had it's first female flower 2 years ago, may!!! have female flowers this year also. That would be thriving. It is not the only Juglans species around here. So I must experiment.

I also used to grow rhodos in large containers, though that had only lasted so many years until they had grown too large. PJM can be successful in zone 3 if planted in a sheltered location and out of the winter sun.

Walnuts are beautiful trees. Many years ago, the Stony Plain lily breeder Dan Dale had shown me a walnut tree bearing a substantial crop. There's also some amazing walnut trees at the George Peg Botanical Gardens, that's a rather interesting place to visit.

Thx for your comments @Rosecavalier. Yes, I'm enjoying my "studio", esp. as my oldest has been home (between work days) and helping with all the trimming and pruning.
On another note, I am interested in your rose work...I love them and grew many in BC. Here, I notice, they are very thorny which is a bit of a deterrent. I'll look for your future rose posts. Thx