The Avant-Garden Shop: Your Garden & Bird Store

Brenda

Garden Gate: Episode 25-Basic Spirit Pewter, Nova Scotia

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CHEX air date: Friday Nov. 15th, 2013

Click here to view this episode of?The Garden Gate.

The folks from Basic Spirit love to design and create products that touch the heart and delight the spirit. All of their pewter is handcrafted in their seaside studio in Pugwash, Nova Scotia. They use the highest quality pewter alloys available and sell their products through many of the finest handcraft galleries and gift stores in North America (including The Avant-Garden Shop).

Pugwash, a small village of approximately 800 residents is located on the north shore of Nova Scotia, and is known for its heritage of pewtersmithing and peace. It is the birthplace of the internationally respected Pugwash Movement which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. If you’re ever in Pugwash, you can visit their retail store.

CO-308Basic Spirit contribute 10% of profits to charitable organizations and programs. The ornaments are packaged so the recipient will see where the donations are going. ?For example when you purchase the “Plant-A-Tree” ornament, a donation is made to the Nature Conservancy of Canada to plant a tree! Others include an animal shelter, a food bank, Cancer society, a school in Kenya etc. A gift within a gift!

 

 

Garden Gate: Episode 24 – Bella Luz studio

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CHEX TV air date: Friday Nov. 1st, 2013

Click here to view this episode of?The Garden Gate.

This summer, my husband and I traveled to the West Coast to visit the Bella Luz studio just outside of Seattle, Washington. ?

Artist Joline El-Hai has been creating her beautiful works for many years and welcomed us into her studio.

We currently carry her beautiful copper night lights called “Luminettes” and her “Tri-Corner Lanterns” which reflect beautiful light in all directions.

While we couldn’t take CHEX TV with us to Seattle, we did take some photos which are posted on our Facebook page.?

Garden Gate: Episode 23 – Sea Buckthorn ( Wonder product)

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SoapCHEX TV airdate: Fri. Oct. 18th, 2013

Click this link to view this episode of?The Garden Gate.

Sea Buckthorn creams, soaps and body wash now available at The Avant-Garden Shop.

This product is Made in Canada by Bee by the Sea. Even the shrubs are grown in Ontario!

If you haven’t heard of Sea Buckthorn yet, you will soon! ?

Sea Buckthorn is known to combat dry skin, fade age spots and help prevent and treat wrinkles. ?Sea Buckthorn aids in the healing of rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, burns (radiation and sun), and damage due to laser surgery.

The fruit and plant oils are ideal for skin and hair health due to high levels of the following nutrients:

-Rich in Omega 3-6-9 and 7!

-15 times the vitamin C of oranges per volume

-Second highest source of vitamin E in the plant world

-Loaded with Beta Carotene

-Plus 18 amino acids, corticoids, tocopherols & falvenoids

Bee by the Sea’s skin care line is specially formulated with Sea Buckthorn fruit, seed and pulp oils in combination with honey, royal jelly and other healthy ingredients to nourish your skin. The products are paraben-free, petroleum-free and not tested on animals.

 

 

Garden Gate: Episode 22 – Toad houses and Slug Pubs!

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CHEX TV airdate: Fri. Oct. 4th, 2013

Click here to view this episode of?The Garden Gate.

Local Artist Heathyr Francis was my guest this week.? Heathyr is a potter who calls her business

This is her first year in business and I was honoured to be asked to mentor her through the Summer Company Program?.?? Place in Nature Studio.? As the name suggests she creates works that find their Place in Nature!

Heathyr is very creative and seems to come up with new ideas almost weekly. We carry her beautiful toad houses and slug pubs! These make very special and unique gifts for the gardener in the family. Each piece is one of a kind and stunning.?

 

Garden Gate: Episode 21-Suet and Peanut Feeders

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fatball-feeder-ring-bCHEX TV air date: Fri. Sep. 20th, 2013

Click here to view this episode of ?The Garden Gate.

Blue Jays, woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches and many other birds love peanuts and suet.? Even cardinals! The peanuts and suet give them the extra carbohydrates they need to stay warm through the long winter nights.

There are a variety of feeders in which you can offer peanuts. Peanuts in the shell work nicely in the wreath feeders or other feeders with large openings.? These feeders offer some challenge to the bird, making them take some extra time to get the seed out. This means you get a great look at the bird while he is struggling to pull the seed out or peck at it until the delicious kernel is retrieved.? You can also offer shelled peanuts which birds peck at through a mesh and get little kernels which they gobble down quickly.? Shelled peanuts are actually more cost effective and also less messy. No shells left behind to clean up!

Please buy fresh peanuts!? Old stale peanuts can go rancid and the bird will not eat them. Our seeds are the freshest you can get. Your birds will love them!

Suet can also be offered year round, providing that you choose good quality suet.? Poor quality suet will melt in the summer heat and also contains many types of filler that the birds don?t enjoy and will leave behind.? At The Avant-Garden Shop, we offer Millcreek bird food and also suet.? All of their suet is double rendered, which means it is very dense and doesn’t melt or fall apart easily. The Summer Nut suet is even thicker and will not melt even in our summer heat.

We also offer pure suet, which grackles and starlings tend to shy away from. It is their least favourite. It is a softer suet and will melt in high heat, so should only be offered late in the season and through the winter.

Upside down suet feederThere are a variety of suet feeders that hold the suet blocks. We have upside down suet feeders (Starlings dislike this style), feeders with tail props (which the Hairy woodpecker loves) and also the regular square cages. We have the cages for single suet cakes, two or even four suet cakes. ?We also have a suet log feeder which has holes in which you can push a special “peanut butter” type suet.

For the Christmas season we also offer solid seed wreaths, suet ?acorns? and other fun items that you can give as a gift to the person who wants little or nothing.? It?s a ?gift for the birds!?

 

Garden Gate Episode 20 – Wasp traps and deterrents

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Wasp be gone unitCHEX TV air date: Fri. Sept. 6th, 2013

Click here to view this episode of ?The Garden Gate.

Wasps have been extra aggressive this year mostly due to lack of rain. Normally we get people into the shop looking for wasp traps and deterrents in August, but this year the requests began in June already!

We have a variety of options to deal with wasps including fake wasp nests to deter wasps from building new nests. Wasps are very territorial and if they see an existing nest they won’t build another within 200 feet of it.

We also carry wasp traps which attract and trap the wasps?and yellow jackets. These do not attract our beneficial bees! That’s a good thing. ?

Add some sweet liquid such as pop or sugar water to the traps and the wasps get up inside and can’t figure out how to get out eventually getting stuck in the sweet liquid. ?Hang them in a tree or place them on a table 10 to 15 feet away from where you sit outdoors. The trap will draw them away from you. Very effective.green wasp catcher?

Garden Gate: Episode 19 – Butterfly gardens at The Ecology Park

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monarch-butterfly-cp-3649958CHEX TV air date: Fri. Aug. 23rd, 2013

Click here to view this episode of ?The Garden Gate. ?

We visited The Ecology Park to talk with the manager Marcy Adzich about butterflies and how to build gardens for them and to attract them to your back yard. It was an eye opener! ?

This year we have seen very few butterflies and Kevin (CHEX TV camera man) had a really hard time finding ANY butterflies to film. ?There are a variety of reasons why we haven’t seen as many this year and we talk a little about that.

We can still plant gardens and provide water and nectar for them, in hopes that they will return and their population will increase again. ?

 

Garden Gate: Episode 18 – Quality tools

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CHEX TV air date: Fri. August 9th, 2013

Click here to view this episode of The Garden Gate.

How many times have you gone to a big box store excited to add some new tools to your collection only to be disappointed later when they break, twist or rust!

Joe Cook is an expert when it comes to finding quality tools. He worked in the industry for many years and now uses many tools for his expansive gardens at Blossom Hill Nursery.

ATP95GF8Learn the difference between poor and high quality tools.? At The Avant-Garden Shop we carry Felco pruners, which the experts use because of their durability.

 

Garden Gate: Episode 17 – A visit to Blossom Hill Nursery

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CHEX TV air date: Fri. July 26th, 2013

Click here to watch this episode of?The Garden Gate.??

Blossom Hill Nursery is a stunning garden just outside of Peterborough in Fowler’s Corners that many locals don’t know about!

Filled with one of the largest collections of peony’s and delphiniums in Ontario, it’s a place gardeners and photographers alike fall in love with as soon as they arrive.

Visit their website at www.blossomhillnursery.com or ?www.facebook.com/blossomhillnursery

Garden Gate: Episode 16 – Sun protection in the Garden

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CHEX TV air date: Fri. July 12th, 2013

Click here to watch this episode of?The Garden Gate. ?

Summers in Ontario can be pretty intense. We seem to go from cool wet springs right into hot humid and very sunny days. As gardeners we tend to love to spend long days working in the garden and often forget about sun protection until it’s too late.

We get many people in the shop who have either experienced skin cancer or been warned to protect their skin before it’s too late! Our hats can do the job to protect your face, ears and neck!

12004At The Avant-Garden Shop we carry three lines of hats that offer excellent sun protection. Visit our website for a sampling of some of our Canadian made sun protection hats.

 

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