Amelanchier canadensis is native to Canada (as the specific epithet suggests), and in its native environment is prized for its berries that mature in June and are packed with vitamins and have been termed as one of the ‘super foods’. Perfectly hardy and tolerant of the hot dry summers here it is a super choice as a large shrub or small tree for your garden. The fruits are similar in size and taste to a blueberry and can be used as a substitute for blueberries in fruit salads, cakes, sprinkled on your breakfast, if you get a bumper crop you can make jams and jellies and even June berry Gin – use the same quantities and method as for making sloe gin.
Not only does it produce an edible crop of tasty fruits but it is an attractive ornamental plant too, the first new leaves have a coppery tint and the early white blossom covers the tree in early to mid-spring. In autumn the leaves turn brilliant red adding a third season of interest. It is low maintenance, requiring no specialist pruning – just the removal of dead, damaged or diseased material and any crossing, rubbing branches.
You can grow it as a standard tree where it will develop a neat, rounded crown or as a multi-stemmed shrub for a lower, more dense effect.
We have Amelanchier canadensis plants for sale at La Petite Pépinière at Le Jardin Créatif and a mature specimen to see in our demonstration garden. We will be offering tastings when the berries are ripe – hopefully for our Jardins Ouverts day on 23rd June!
Learn the basics of sculpture using chicken wire to create a lifelike chicken sculpture for your garden. A good basic beginners course which can lead onto building on these skills to create more complex sculptures later in the year.
Come along and learn the art of making animal sculptures out of willow. Make a majestic Stag Head to mount indoors or outside.
sculpture and you will be able to add your own personal touches to your stags head. You do need a little strength and dexterity to work with willow on a larger sc
I posted this recipe last year but I am sure that some of you will not have seen it. It is definitely worth a try!
ain flour, beaten egg and a drop of sparkling white wine as there happened to be a bottle open! (You could use beer or sparkling water) you then dip the flowers into the batter by holding onto the main stem, let some of the excess drain off and then fry until golden in hot oil, this only takes a couple of minutes.
We served this as a savoury dish with tapas, they go nicely with a yogurt and tahini dip or a smokey chilli salsa but you can also drizzle with honey and eat as a desert with crème fresh. Yum!
Learn how to use chicken wire as a medium for sculpture and create a lifelike Indian Runner Duck for your garden.
Come and spend an enjoyable day learning to use willow for sculpture and make a butterfly feature to hang indoors or in your garden. (approx 80cm)
Have a go at chicken wire sculpture and make a cute hedgehog to display in your home or garden or give to someone as a gift.
If you enjoy this beginners course we also offer intermediate courses later this year to make chicken, owl, piglet and duckling sculptures for the garden.
Le Jardin Creatif 