Rob Sproule, Author at Salisbury Greenhouse

Boston Fern Hanging Basket Salisbury Greenhouse St. Albert Sherwood Park Edmonton

Fighting Depression with Plants

Fighting Depression with Plants by Rob Sproule The Winter Blues Plants and Mood Indoor Lighting We’ve so surrounded and saturated ourselves with technology that it’s a humbling reminder how much our moods depend on a

Health Benefits of Gardening

Health Benefits of Gardening by Rob Sproule A New Year’s Resolution Health Benefits We Can Measure Health Benefits We Can’t Measure How We Spend Our Time A New Year’s Resolution The dawning of a new

Potted Poinsettia next to ribbon wrapped gift | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

The Rags to Riches Story of the Poinsettia

The Rags to Riches Story of the Poinsettia By Rob Sproule If you’ve ever been lucky enough to see a poinsettia growing wild in it’s native range from central Mexico to northern South America, you

Hanging Holiday Green Basket | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

History of Holiday Greens

History of Holiday Greens by Rob Sproule If there is any truth in the expression “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” it may help to explain the intensity of the love affair that we Albertans

Mountain Ash berries | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

Mountain Ash Trees in Alberta

Mountain Ash in Alberta by Rob Sproule One of most common trees around Edmonton, the mountain ash is also one of the easiest to grow and one of the few hardy trees that are beautiful

Fruit Flies

Fruit Flies by Rob Sproule We’ve all been there. You’re enjoying a ripe bunch of bananas and fresh summer peaches one day and they’re buzzing with little flies the next. Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) are

Bee | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

YEG Bees: Backyard Beekeeping in Edmonton

YEG Bees: Backyard Beekeeping in Edmonton by Rob Sproule People often get wistful when I talk to them about bees. Sometimes they’ll tell me, grinning, how they remember their yards palpably buzzing when they

Fruit Rescue | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

Operation Fruit Rescue: Micro-Orchard

Operation Fruit Rescue: Micro-Orchard by Rob Sproule The morning of September 13 had a crisp bite to it, and we pulled into the old McCauley public school with a van full of trees, notepads,

Fall Lawn Care

Fall Lawn Care by Rob Sproule Few things are better than walking through a cool fall day, crunching leaves at your feet and crisp dry air at your nose. While our heads

The Mosquito Proof Yard

The Mosquito Proof Yard By: Rob Sproulemosqutio Standing Water Changing the Habitat Defence Disease: Myths and Facts Nature is wondrous. While my bug articles are usually, inevitably, about getting rid of said bug, I normally

Gardening in the Heat

Gardening in the Heat by Rob Sproule When the summer mercury rises, it’s not just humans and pets who get uncomfortable. Heat waves bring a lot of stress to gardens, but there are easy

Herbs on cutting board | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

The Best Herbs for the BBQ

The Best Herbs for the BBQ by Rob Sproule Summer is grilling season, and fresh herbs are as delicious on the barbeque as they are in the kitchen. When it comes to flavour,

Webworm Feature | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

Sod Webworm

Sod Webworm by Rob Sproule Does your lawn have brown patches that look like dog spots, only you don’t have a dog? Sod webworm is a common affliction in mature, exposed lawns (they don’t

Dutch Elm Tree | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

Dutch Elm Disease

Dutch Elm Disease by Rob Sproule A lot of people don’t think of plant diseases as having the ability to be devastating on a global scale. Dutch Elm Disease (DED) proves them wrong.

Wasp on flower | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

Wasps

Wasps by Rob Sproule Few bugs are as universally unwelcome as wasps. As usual, however, before I tell you how to get rid of them, I’m going to tell you how fascinating they

Salisbury Landscaping Winning yard is a shaded yard with a sheltered gazebo | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

Creating a Shady Sanctuary

Creating a Shady Sanctuary by Rob Sproule “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness; but still will keep a bower quiet for us, and

Dew Worms

Dew Worms by Rob Sproule If you’ve never seen a dew worm, do I have a mental picture to paint for you. Imagine the cute little red wrigglers in your garden, only reaching nightmarish

Split image of a spider closeup and hundreds of tiny spiders | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

An Homage to Spiders

An Homage to Spiders by Rob Sproule If our gardens were Hollywood movies, every good bug would be as cute as lady-bugs and every bad bug would be as ugly as a spider. Spiders

Earthworm closeup | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

Earthworms 101

Earthworms 101 by Rob Sproule Of the humble earthworm (Lubricus terrestris), Charles Darwin said it best: “It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the

Tomatoes served with pasta | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

Foolproof Edibles

Foolproof Edibles by Rob Sproule I talk to two kinds of people in the greenhouse: those who grow their own veggies, and those who would like to. Usually, the only thing stopping those

The Caterpillars are Coming!

The Caterpillars are Coming! by Rob Sproule We all remember the “the tent caterpillar years”, and most of us still have stories of how, when we were young, they’d sound like rain falling from

Bee sitting on a white flower | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

What is Killing Our Bees

What is Killing Our Bees by Rob Sproule It’s impossibly to overstate how extraordinary bees are or how vital they are to our future as a species. Worldwide, about 200,000 species of bees pollinate

Scarlet Lily Beetle

Scarlet Lily Beetle by Rob Sproule Whether it’s their ease of growth, overwhelming flowers or just because we’re surprised that such a stunning plant can survive here, Canadians are passionate about lilies. They are

Orange and red themed hanging baskets in greenhouse | Salisbury Greenhouse - St. Albert, Sherwood Park

Container Gardening Secrets

Container Gardening Secrets by Rob Sproule Gorgeous containers aren’t just found in glossy magazines and Martha Stewart specials. They’re within our grasp no matter how black our thumbs may be, and I have a few

Author: Rob Sproule