Dustin Bajer

Designing With Nature. These are my projects.

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Ecological Garden Design Course

September 13, 2021 by Dustin Bajer

Available For Members of Shrubscriber.com

Ecosystems Are Their Connections

The more connected a system is, the more resilient it tends to be. What lessons can we draw from this, and how can we build resilient connections in our yards, communities, and school gardens?

This 4 week, ecological garden design course will cover basic ecological principles and teach you how to apply them to your garden space. Each week will consist of a pre-recorded video lesson, a live question and answer session, and one assignment—complete lessons and assignments at your own pace.

  • 1st Week of October – Water, Access, Structures
  • 2nd Week of October – Sectors & Zones
  • 3rd Week of October – Needs & Yields
  • 4th Week of October – The Power of Placement

Ecological Garden Design is available for all members of the Subscriber community. Register for this class by visiting Shrubscriber.com

What You’ll Get From A Nature Inspired Garden

This 4 week, garden design course will cover basic ecological principles and teach you how to apply them to your garden space. The connections created with your ecologically inspired garden will:

  • Decrease labour and input costs by properly placing elements where they’ll thrive.
  • Decrease waste by designing it out of the system or incorporating it back into the garden.
  • Embrace biodiversity as a resilience-building tool.
  • Reduce or eliminate watering by capturing and soaking it into the landscape.
  • Increase garden yield

Ecological Garden Design Course

What You’ll Get From This Course

  • Video lessons and assignments that you can complete at your own pace.
  • Hands-on question and answer sessions.
  • Ongoing support.
  • Step by step ecological design techniques to layout or improve your garden.
    • Garden Site Map
    • Zone Map & Plan
    • Sector Map & Plan
    • Needs & Yields Analysis
    • An Ecological Garden Site Plan

Register

Ecological Garden Design is available for all members of the Subscriber community. Become a member today by visiting Shrubscriber.com

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Projects Tagged With: Biophilic Design, Course, Edmonton, Shrubscriber, Six, Wix

Shrubscriber Feature Member – Yong Fei Guan

September 8, 2021 by Dustin Bajer

Twin Brooks, Edmonton

Shrubscriber Feature Member Yong Fei Guan

Shrubscriber Feature Member Yong Fei Guan

Yong Fei Guan is an Edmonton artist researching heritage goji berry plants. Yong Fei grew up in Foshan City, Guangdong Province, China, where her family consumed dry goji as a culinary herb and medicine. Ironically, due to the hot and wet climate of Guangdong Province, Fei had never actually seen a fresh goji berry until she moved to Canada 14 years ago. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Edmonton, Shrubscriber, Shrubscriber Feature Member

Shrubscriber Feature Member – Julie Kusiek

August 11, 2021 by Dustin Bajer

Queen Alexandra, Edmonton
EPSB School Trustee Candidate – Ward F

Julie Kusiek, Shrubscriber and EPSB Trustee Ward F Candidate

Julie Kusiek is the past president of the Queen Alexandra community league, a mom to four, and a fierce community advocate. She has a master’s in political science focusing on youth engagement and believes that gardens are a great way to bring youth and other generations together. Gardens are a great way to encourage active citizens as they grow up. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Edmonton, Shrubscriber, Shrubscriber Feature Member

Shrubscriber Feature Member – Sherry Heschuk

July 21, 2021 by Dustin Bajer

The Shrubscriber Community

Shrubscriber is an online community that advocates for nature-based solutions to problems impacting Edmonton. We bring together climate-conscious citizens, nature lovers and gardeners to fund trees for community projects. Become a shrubscriber today and help build a biodiverse, food secure and climate-resilient city.


Virginia Park, Edmonton

Sherry Heschuk is an educator and community activator, splitting her time between teaching in Athabasca and volunteering in her home neighbourhood of Virginia Park.

In 2019, Sherry began working for Commonwealth Games Association as the Edmonton ambassador promoting sports for newcomers (S4N) to the city. While in her role, she noticed that many participants showed up hungry and increased interest in sports nutrition. In working to provide participants, Sherry realized that many of the girls and women in the community were interested in sharing their garden stories. One of the Newcomers was a youth beekeeper, which led to her becoming a certified beekeeper through Dustin’s beekeeping courses. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Edmonton, Shrubscriber, Shrubscriber Feature Member

Shrubscriber Feature Member – Jonathan Crane

July 14, 2021 by Dustin Bajer

The Shrubscriber Community

Shrubscriber is an online community that advocates for nature-based solutions to problems impacting Edmonton. We bring together climate-conscious citizens, nature lovers and gardeners to fund trees for community projects. Become a shrubscriber today and help build a biodiverse, food secure and climate-resilient city.

Jonathan Crane
Fulton Place, Edmonton

Jonathan and Megan Crane in front of their home

Jonathan Crane has been the pastor at the St. Augustine’s Anglican Church in Fulton Place since 2013. Shortly after arriving, Jonathan connected with community members looking for a site to place a community garden. After engaging the Church in the project, a community garden was raised on the East side of the church and continues to thrive with a multigenerational community of gardeners tending 30 individual household beds 8 communal beds and other communal fruit-producing spaces. It is a community organization with a number of Sunday morning members engaged as well. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Edmonton, Shrubscriber, Shrubscriber Feature Member

11 Woody Superpowers That Can Grow Better Cities

July 12, 2021 by Dustin Bajer

Each tree species possesses a unique set of woody superpowers that, when used correctly, can grow better cities.

Shrubscriber, The Woody Superpowers of Trees.png

To fund trees for Edmonton area school and community groups, consider becoming a Shrubscriber.

Here Are 11 Woody Superpowers That Can Grow Better Cities

1 – The Food Grower

These trees and shrubs produce low-maintenance edible fruits, berries, nuts, or leaves and contribute to community food security year after year. Examples: Plums, Walnuts, and Saskatoons

Where to Plant: Plant Food Growers in parks, community gardens, and school grounds to provide access to food and local community building. Use park and food desert maps to target communities with less green space, community gardens, or access to grocery stores.

2 – The Shade Caster

Shade trees combat the urban heat island effect reducing the temperature beneath them by up to 10 degrees celsius. These plants save energy by reducing the need to run expensive air conditioning units and block the wind. Examples: Walnuts, Honeylocust, Oak

Where to Plant: Target communities that are missing boulevard trees or that have less forest canopy. Plant shade casting trees south of buildings and paves surfaces to lower the ambient temperature. Use urban heat island data to target communities most impacted during heatwaves.

3 – The Carbon Eater

All plants remove carbon from the atmosphere to make sugars and build their bodies, but carbon busters are especially large or fast-growing. Their long lives lock carbon within their bodies for decades or centuries. Examples: Willow, Oak, Aspen

Where to Plant: Carbon Eaters tend to be large or fast-growing—plant carbon eaters in parks or as part of naturalization projects.

Large Willow Tree in Edmonton, Alberta

4 – The Air Cleaner

Air Cleaners are exceptionally tolerant of urban pollution and good at removing particulates from the landscape – letting us all breathe a little easier. Examples: Silver Maple, Honeylocust, Pine, Yew

Where to Plant: Use Air Cleaners as buffers between streets and commercial and residential properties.

5 – The Time Traveller

Often slow-growing, these trees can live for many hundreds or even thousands of years. If you want to plant a tree for the year 3021, then these trees are for you. Examples: Bristlecone Pine, Black Walnuts, Oak, Ginkgo

Where to Plant: Contemplate the future of your city by planting a Time Traveller where it will have time to grow and be appreciated. Potential locations include parks and boulevards. Privately planted Time Travellers are more prone to development but could be used as a Slow Landscaping Tool.

Shrubscriber, Woody Superpower, The Carbon Eater

Bristlecone Pines at the Forest City Plants Urban Nursery

6 – The Storyteller

Plants propagated from seeds or cuttings from existing heritage trees. Seed propagated plants are the parent’s offspring, while cuttings are exact genetic copies (clones). Local Examples: Holowash Horse-Chestnut, Stark Oak

How to Plant: Storytellers only retain their powers if we continue sharing their stories and making new ones.

7 – The Native Guardian

Well adapted to our historical climate, native trees and shrubs have been here for thousands of years. These plants often have symbiotic relationships with native birds, animals, and pollinators, making them essential food and habitat. Examples: Black Poplar, Tamarack

Where to Plant: Throughout the city or as part of naturalization projects.

8 – The Biodiversity Builder

These trees and shrubs increase our urban forest’s biodiversity and resilience by decreasing the urban ecosystem’s susceptibility to pests, diseases, and climate change. Examples: Walnuts, Honeylocust, Oak, Catalpa

Where to Plant: Use to replace ageing, damages, diseases, or missing boulevard trees to increase diversity and protect existing trees from the spread of diseases.

9 – The Zone Pusher 

Zone Pushers come from places with slightly warmer climates and have struggled growing here in the past. However, planted in the right location amidst a changing environment, these plants have the potential to grow and diversify our urban forest. Growing zone pushers is always a gamble but one with a high potential to pay off. Examples: American Beach, Sycamore, Pawpaw, Persimmon, Chestnut

Where to Plant: In private yards and adventurous community gardens. Plant in protected locations where trees can get established.

10 – The Assisted Migrant

Climate Refugees are plants struggling to survive in their native ranges due to climate change, pests, or diseases. By moving them further North or beyond the reach of their host pests and diseases, these plants often find sanctuary and thrive. Establishing refugia for these plants creates a genetic bank from which seeds can be gathered and repopulate their native ranges. Examples: White Walnut, Bristlecone Pine, American Chestnut

Where to Plant: Schools, community leagues, parks, public gardens and arboretums.

11 – The Beautifier

Sometimes, you want to feel pretty! Beautifiers are trees and shrubs species and varieties selected for their colour, flowers, or pleasing growth habit. Often flowering, these plants have been shown to have a positive effect on mental wellbeing. These plants often provide forage for pollinators. Examples: Flowering Quince, Catalpa, Locust

Where to Plant: Use boulevard trees and plant in parks or green belts to add horticultural wonder.
Shrubscriber, Woody Superpower, The Beautifier

Flowering Quince

Support More Woody Superpowers Across Edmonton

In July of 2021, I launched Shrubscriber!

Shrubscriber is an online community that’s advocating for nature-based solutions to problems impacting Edmonton. We bring together climate-conscious citizens, nature lovers and gardeners to fund trees for community projects. Become a shrubscriber today and help build a biodiverse, food secure and climate-resilient city.

Shrubscribers receive community perks while finding trees for school and community projects.

Join the Shrubscriber Community Today

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Biophilic Design, Shrubscriber, Trees

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Dustin Bajer

Teacher, permaculture designer, master gardener, hobby beekeeper, consultant, and network nerd living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Read More

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Recent Posts

  • Ecological Garden Design Course
  • Shrubscriber Feature Member – Yong Fei Guan
  • Shrubscriber Feature Member – Julie Kusiek
  • Shrubscriber Feature Member – Sherry Heschuk
  • Shrubscriber Feature Member – Jonathan Crane
  • 11 Woody Superpowers That Can Grow Better Cities
  • Funding Community Tree Planting With Shrubscriber
  • Making Walnut Ink And Dye
  • Online Beekeeping Community of Practice
  • Teaching Online Beekeeping Certificate Courses

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