Athlone is a residential neighbourhood in north west Edmonton, with a majority single-family dwellings as well as row houses and duplexes.
Athlone had been a large parcel of land north of the Canadian National Rail Line but was annexed to the City of Edmonton in 1913. The neighbourhood was named after Alexander Augustus, Earl of Athlone, who was Canada’s Governor General from 1940 to 1946.

Now, it’s a quiet and family-friendly area to live with plenty of community facilities such as a community league, an elementary school, and two junior high schools.

Spring has sprung and gardening plans are all the rage. You’ve got the seeds, you’ve got visions of a bountiful harvest … now it’s just a matter of finding enough room for all those plants.

For those of us without backyard and full-size gardens, it can seem tricky to figure out where to squeeze in those hydrangeas and fresh herbs. But, with a little creativity, that won’t be a problem. Check out some of these ideas for a vertical garden!

Vertical gardens come in many different shapes, sizes and prices but are becoming increasingly popular. As the name suggests, they are multi-tiered gardens that have an upright format and can be put either indoors or outdoors, depending on the plants.

The benefit is that the gardens take up much less space than a traditional garden because they go up, instead of spreading out! Vertical gardens can be a beautiful feature to add to any living space and there are countless different ways to do-it-yourself as well as purchasing pre-made structures.

Traditional Vertical Garden
Some people hang their vertical gardens on a wall whereas others have them as freestanding structures. The most traditional way is to have a simple shelving unit to hold the various plants.

Hanging Planters
If you have lots of dead space in a room, a hanging planter may be the way to go. These plants can be hung up at any height from the ceiling to showcase a vast array of colours. Keep in mind that you will need to have relatively easy access in order to water the plants.

Floating Shelves
This is a great option if you have an empty wall that needs sprucing up. The shelves get fixed to the wall in a spaced-out fashion and gives a very clean, modern look to household plants.

Wire Garden
For plants that naturally tend to grow upwards, a wire garden is perfect. When you lay the seedlings, plop in some wires or cages – the plant will creep up the wire as it grows.

Tin Can Fence Garden
Spray recycled tin cans and hang them on a side of your fence with some seeds – an adorable and affordable way of doing it! Don’t forget to punch a hole at the bottom of the can for drainage.

Canvas Wall Pocket Garden
In it’s most basic form, a wall pocket garden essentially looks like a hanging shoe organizer – a large piece of fabric with various pockets where, instead of shoes, you put soil and seeds. Just make sure that the surface behind the canvas doesn’t get damaged from moisture.

Let the type of sun exposure determine what kinds of plants you grow and, if you want to get really sophisticated, set up a drip system for irrigation. Vertical gardens are a great way to maximize space!

Earlier in the spring, some of the top banking regulators in Canada had proposed raising the mortgage stress test level which will make it harder for hopeful homebuyers to qualify for a mortgage.

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has confirmed that it will be applying those tighter rules, effective June 1, 2021.

The new qualifying rate for an uninsured mortgage – where borrowers have at least a 20 per cent down payment – will rise to either the mortgage contract rate plus 200 basis points or 5.25 per cent, whichever is higher.

That’s compared to the previous average mortgage stress test rate which was 4.79 per cent at Canada's biggest lenders. Would-be buyers wishing to borrow money to purchase a home now need to prove that they can pay the loan at a higher interest rate – regardless of the rate they actually get with their mortgage.

The difference in rates may seem small on paper but it can add up on practice – in some cases, reducing how much a household can borrow by more than $100,000.

Let’s say, for example, a homeowner currently has a 25-year mortgage of $300,000 at two per cent (the rate they may actually get from the bank) – their monthly payment is $1,270 a month.

At 4.79 per cent (where the big bank posted rates already are), that same monthly payment jumps up to $1,709. At 5.25 per cent (the new proposed stress test rate), the monthly payment would jump to $1,788 a month. So, the difference between what someone may be paying monthly versus what they need to qualify for with the stress test is significant – more than $500 a month.

If the borrower can’t prove that they could financially withstand the rate hike, the bank can’t lend them the money.

The first iteration of the stress test was introduced in early 2018 as a way to “cool down” the housing market by making it harder to qualify for a home loan and thus shrinking the pool of qualified borrowers.

The current proposal for a higher stress test is not completely unexpected. There had been talk of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) raising the rate before COVID-19 but the pandemic paused those plans.

The qualifying rate will be reviewed at least once a year, in December. The OSFI says that timing allows regulators to adjust the regulatory conditions ahead of the busy spring selling season.