Unsecret gardens
For those looking for garden inspiration beyond the big-box stores, let Hybrids: Reshaping the Contemporary Garden in Métis (Blueimprint 2007, $39.95) overload your impulses. The book highlights 40 gardens from the annual International Garden Festival, held near the historic Jardins de Métis in Eastern Quebec. Fusing art, architecture, installation, industrial design, new technologies, and pop culture, each questions what a garden is. Some are cheeky, featuring adult-sized slides or a giant lantern you can enter; others echo nature with human-made artifacts. Great for wintertime living-room contemplation.

Solar-ceiling feature
Back in 1927 when the Hotel Georgia was completed, movies got colour and sound for the first time; and the private automobile became part of everyday life. Now, the Hotel Georgia is at the centre of innovation again. The new private residences currently under construction there will feature solar cells embedded in the windows—a first in a Canadian residential high-rise building. The technology comes from Victoria’s Carmanah Technologies Corporation, and the design from Hilde Heyvaerts, of Vancouver’s IBI-HB Architects. The cells will control the blinds, and the energy will power the corridor and emergency lighting.

Alpaca nice pillow for you
South American alpacas have some friendly attributes: they’re soft, they’re social-herd animals, and they hum to communicate. They can also spit stomach acid, so for local homes, they’re best enjoyed in the form of a pillow. At Interior Solutions Design Group (1405 Bellevue Avenue, West Vancouver), owner Teresa Cain is the exclusive retailer of a new collection of Chilean alpaca pillows. They’re as silky as the real animal, but durable enough to be hand-washed or dry-cleaned. Alpacas have minimal lanolin, so the pillows ($165 to $198) are nearly hypoallergenic. Your choice is nature-inspired tones, or modern fuchsia and orange.

Flock to the green side
So you’ve recycled your plastic milk jugs and traded your incandescent lights for compact fluorescents. Take the next step on your personal journey to a sustainable lifestyle at the Green Living Show at B.C. Place from February 29 to March 2. The show’s 200 exhibitors are shepherds for the planet, guiding wandering environmentalists to environmentally benign beauty products, better transportation choices, and green food and beverages. There’s even a kids’ zone, too. Adult tickets are $12 at the door, or $10.50 on-line, at vancouver.greenlivingshow.ca/