“I’ve often been inspired by nature,” says Egan Davis, a horticulturalist and chief instructor of the horticulture training program at the UBC Botanical Garden. Davis will give a a speech in Squamish on Monday.
“I just find the natural world so beautiful,” he says, explaining that many of his gardening ideas stem from his observations while hiking. “When I see something beautiful, I think that’s what I want to do in a garden.”
But nature isn’t always easy to replicate, he says, explaining that the beautiful randomness of patterns in nature can often seem too planned when designed the same way in a garden. “It’s really beautiful when you see how things just work in nature, but to try and recreate it is almost impossible,” adding that the end result is almost never what you expected. “Sometimes it’s better, sometimes it’s not as good, or sometimes it’s a complete surprise. It’s very difficult but the challenge is what makes it so rewarding.”
To help gardeners navigate nature’s challenges, Davis will be speaking on the topic of “Garden Design Inspired by the Natural World” on Monday (April 27) at 7 p.m. at the Eagle Eye Theatre of Howe Sound Secondary. “People will learn about how to combine plants in a way that recognizes the way that plants grow in nature,” he says. Davis will discuss building plant communities, designing with plants in a naturalistic way, understanding the different roles of plants and incorporating ecology. All gardeners, beginner or experienced, are welcome, he says.
Davis has been interviewed on radio and spoken at many public events, but this will be his first time giving a presentation in Squamish. He has, however, visited friends’ gardens here and speaks positively about our soil. “I see a lot of opportunity to work with real soil [native subsoils and native top soils], which is kind of rare and unique,” he says. “You could have natural populations of bacteria and fungi that are beneficial to plants, and also, real soil has mineral particles in it that you just can’t get when you buy top soil.”
For Squamish gardeners keen to unearth the potential of their garden, he has the following advice:
Recognize opportunities
“When you create a garden, you have to apply context,” Davis says. “Working with it and responding to it is key.
“When I think about the Squamish area, I think of trees, I think of rock, I think of water and try to incorporate all of those elements with an herbaceous understory.” He adds: “Large pieces of native rock are always a really fun way to bring in natural elements.”
Scale
“A really key thing for all gardeners is to understand the scale that you’re working on,” and to garden accordingly, Davis says. “So if you’ve got a large garden, recognize that you’re working on a large scale and use appropriate shapes and sizes and numbers of plants, and likewise with a small garden.”
At VanDusen Botanical Gardens, where he gardened for 10 years, Davis learned to step about six feet away and make a decision from that vantage point. “It’s really important to step back to a distance that you would normally view it from. So if the scale is large… look at the garden from your house or your windows.”
Don’t fight nature
“If your garden backs on to the forest, you have that opportunity to create a transition,” he says.
“A lot of people have large trees on their property, like cedars, Douglas firs and hemlocks, and some people get frustrated, seeing that as a challenge. But I think, rather than looking at that as a challenge, recognize it as an opportunity for growing underneath large trees, because there are quite a few plants that really like that sort of dry, shaded condition.”
Tickets to see Egan Davis can be bought from On the Farm Country Market, Anna’s Interiors on Cleveland Avenue or at the door on Monday night.
