Gardening from Kitchener

(Unrelated photo - Asian Short-clawed Otter)

In the garden: If nothing else, this is an interesting spring

After a couple of weeks of summer this March that greened up the grass and caused trees to sprout leaves at least three weeks earlier than normal, the weather this past week has returned to more or less normal conditions. What is of concern now is the potential damage to fruit tree blossoms — damaged blossoms means no fruit.

Otherwise, garden plants will behave as they always do, by putting up with the vagaries of spring weather. There will be casualties, but most plants, apart from tender exotics, will accept the erratic temperatures and survive, which is what plants do.

There may even be positive outcomes to the unusual weather patterns. Insect pests and slugs were on the move in my garden far earlier than they normally would be, but may have been disappointed to find there was no food for them. I discovered grape flea beetles had shown up to feed on the sprouting tips of my Boston ivy, but it still isn’t even showing any green. How long can they last without eating? I also heard of red lily beetles on the rampage, but will they be able to survive a hard spring frost?

When I spotted slugs and snails prowling about, I almost hoped for a flash freeze to stop them dead in their slimy tracks. If nothing else, this is an interesting spring.

This early, summer-like weather did allow me to complete a project I’ve been putting off for some time. I finally got around to relaying all the bricks in the pathway that runs down my garden. After more than 20 years, the spaces between the bricks had slowly spread apart, providing a home for weeds, while the flowerbeds on either side had become elevated due to annual contributions of compost and mulch. Consequently, whenever it rained, the soil would spill down on to the path.

Now the pathway is clean and smooth and a few inches higher; meanwhile I’m a few inches lower, at least I will be until I can straighten up again. Spending a week bent double tends to add a few creaks to a well-worn back.

But now the pathway is complete and I still have plenty of time left for normal spring tasks — like cutting down ornamental grasses.

I cut tall grasses down to about 15 centimetres and short ones to about half that, then I save the bundles to use as mulch in the vegetable garden — it keeps the zucchini off the soil. If they’re destined for the compost heap, I chop the stalks up to ensure they break down faster. Here’s a tip — use a bungee cord or rope to tie up the grass before cutting it down and it won’t be blowing all over the place.

Speaking of compost, or soil, a summery spring encourages gardeners to make plans for new flowerbeds or vegetable gardens.

Good soil is essential and is a worthwhile investment that will pay a return forever in the form of healthy flowers and vegetables. Since there’s rarely more than a few centimetres of soil beneath existing turf, certainly less than the 20 cm I’d call the minimum, it’s a good time to order a load of quality soil, or to improve what’s there. This can be done by digging in plenty of organic matter in the form of rotted leaves, compost, or well aged manure. Repeat this spring and fall, and your plants will thank you for it.

If you’re planning to build raised beds, which are popular for veggie gardens, bear in mind that although the soil in them warms up more quickly in spring, which is good, it’s important to note that the same soil dries out faster in summer. A layer of mulch will help reduce moisture loss (see ornamental grass cuttings above).

It’s all about finding the happy medium, which really, is the way I prefer my spring.

Inky the Cat

Gardening from Kitchener

Medinilla magnifica

In the garden: Medinilla magnifica doesn’t need Elvis to turn heads

It was the Elvis look-alike in the pink jacket that got my attention.

Elvis, here at Canada Blooms? — Can’t be. No, he was just one of the staff at the Featured Ontario Growers booth, trying to keep the line of eager buyers both entertained and supplied with a Medinilla magnifica, the hottest new houseplant on the market.

I’m not sure Elvis helped sales, as it was flying off the shelves regardless. Voted best new plant at TPIE (Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition) Medinilla magnifica is indeed magnificent — it even has its own website www.medinilla.ca/

Native to the Philippines, it’s grown here in Ontario and will eventually be available everywhere. With dark green, oval foliage and pink flowers that reach arms length, it’s a plant looking for an occasion.

It’s an epiphyte, same as many orchids and bromeliads — plants that typically grow on host trees but derive their moisture and nutrients from the air around them. It isn’t a huge plant, but the flowers, actually clusters of bracts, are borne on long stems that arch down from the plant and last for as long as two months. Yes, I was swayed by Elvis.

There were more than plants to buy at Canada Blooms, although the marketplace seemed a little smaller in the new show configuration.

I did find a nifty pair of gloves called Cheeky Monkey. They’re lightly rubberized, but appear tough enough for spring garden work. I can go through a pair of gloves in days, so I plan to see how tough these are while I work on my current project, relaying my brick pathway.

I didn’t spend much time shopping at the show — the only other item I purchased was a packet of seeds for a black peony poppy — I preferred to check out garden displays. It’s a difficult time of year to recreate a garden indoors and with the show extended to 10 days, it poses a greater challenge, but I was told by one landscape company that they would be replacing many plants midway through the show to ensure the standard is maintained.

A garden that particularly impressed me was a large water feature designed and built by Joseph Genovese of Genoscape Inc.

He cleverly incorporated an inverted tree root into a stone fountain built with stone strips — like a mini dry stone wall. The whole concept was especially well done and looks surprisingly natural, sitting as it does in the middle of a massive hall. I was a tad underwhelmed by the international exhibit by the City of Taipei, Taiwan. Lots of glorious orchids, bamboo and boxwood with Chinese lanterns above, it was precise and professional, but elicited more hmmm than wow from me.

What I did enjoy most were the Juno gardens, especially the one designed to reflect the concept of singer Leslie Feist.

Her garden was to be wild, unkempt and a bit rambling. It turned out to be not too wild and rambling, but artfully unkempt. A weathered front porch complete with ancient dust on the corrugated overhang, antique tools leaning against the barn board wall, and a glass porch light that hasn’t seen a cleaning in years perfectly captured a moment in time.

The plants and shrubs bordering the old brick pathway looked as though they’d been settled in for years rather than days. The attention to detail brought to mind the quality of a display garden at the renowned Chelsea Flower Show.

There’s always so much to see and learn at the show. In the learning department, a couple of books were introduced. The idea of gardening all year round may sound odd in our climate, but Niki Jabbour from Halifax explains how to do it in The Year Round Vegetable Gardener.

For the perhaps less enthusiastic, Gardening From a Hammock, by Ellen Novack and Dan Cooper of Toronto, recognizes that though a beautiful garden may be the goal, not everyone wants to garden as though their life depended on it. This book has tips and advice from a range of talented gardeners who have discovered how to reduce the work required without compromising the result.

Canada Blooms continues today until 9 p.m. and tomorrow, Sunday, until 5 p.m. — so there’s still time to see Elvis before he leaves town.

Picture from CCJ in Toronto

Gardening from Kitchener

(Trifolium repens)

David Hobson, In the Garden

In the garden: Our own native shamrock is a pretty little weed

St. Patrick’s Day it is, and lawns and gardens may be looking green in places, too.

Chances are a bit of green has shown up with the groceries this week in the form of shamrock.

Well, OK, we can call it shamrock. It probably has clover-like leaves with pink or white flowers. The name shamrock comes from an Irish word, seamrog, meaning little white clover, which is exactly what the original shamrock of Ireland is — Trifolium repens, a clover, and like most clovers, it can be highly invasive.

We have our own native Shamrock — Oxalis Stricta, common wood sorrel.

It’s a pretty little plant with bright green leaves and cheerful yellow flowers, and it’s a determined weed when it shows up in lawns. There are over 800 species of Oxalis, but the lucky shamrock sold around St. Patrick’s Day is likely to be Oxalis acetosella or Oxalis deppei. The former has white flowers while the latter has pink. The base of the leaflets of Oxalis deppei are a blackish-brown colour, hence its other common name, Iron Cross.

Regardless, it is St. Patrick’s Day so whatever you have sitting on the table or window ledge today, it’s shamrock.

My shamrock is Oxalis regnellii purpurea, a plant with perfectly co-ordinated, two tone, purple leaves and lilac flowers. I grow it outdoors in summer, but right now it’s dormant in the garage in the same pail it’s been in for years. It’s actually a number of plants growing from small bulblets that keep increasing in number. Once in a while I sort them out and give them away. Even when it isn’t blooming, it’s a delight.

Oxalis regnellii can be grown indoors, but will lose its leaves and go dormant two to three times a year. Give it water after three or four weeks and it will start all over again. Yes, this shamrock has to be one of my favourite plants, and it isn’t the slightest bit green.

What is green in the garden is a concern, as despite a week of spring, even summery weather, it isn’t growing season yet, but plants will get fooled. I like an early spring, but this is a little too early when I still haven’t finished my late winter tasks. I have pruned a few shrubs, but I like to douse a few things with dormant oil spray around this time.

Optimum conditions for using this product are just as the first hint of green is showing on buds, but no later, as leaves will be harmed — I hope it isn’t too late. This is the time when insects wake up and insect eggs begin to hatch, ready to eat the first leaves. Spraying too early reduces the effectiveness as the spray may be washed off by rain before it has any effect. Best time to spray is on a calm day when the temperature is above freezing.

Dormant oil kits are comprised of oil and lime sulphur which usually have to be mixed prior to use (follow the instructions precisely and do wear suitable protective gear). The oil portion smothers insects while the lime sulphur provides resistance to fungal diseases. Use only when necessary and take care not to spray around ponds or water courses as the ingredients are harmful to fish. Dormant oil will also impair germination of seeds from self-seeding plants.

Evergreen trees should not be sprayed with dormant oil, and avoid spraying the following: holly, sugar maple, Japanese maple, red oak, cedar, and black walnut.

Also avoid spraying cats, dogs, children, and freshly waxed cars.

Especially avoid spraying ponds as it will harm any fish or essential pond critters.

And no, I don’t recommend adding green dye to the spray mix, despite what day it is — it’s bad enough seeing it in beer.

Gardening in Kitchener

In the garden: Ten days of Canada Blooms? Bring it on!

Has it been 16 years already? Canada Blooms, of course, and I’ve attended most. I’ve watched it evolve, seen its ups and downs and changes of location, but I’ve always enjoyed it.

Three years ago it moved from the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (where there was a lot of up and down) to the Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place, a move that was criticized by some, but it certainly improved access. Easy parking and no more crowding onto escalators or waiting for elevators.

This year sees a couple more changes that should be positive.

Canada Blooms 2012 is to be held in conjunction with the National Home Show — same location, same building, but completely separate shows — with the advantage that one ticket gets you into both shows.

Another is that maybe the hot tubs will stay where they belong in the home show. The other plus is the show runs for 10 days, March 16 through March 25, up from seven days in the past. This takes in two weekends, allowing those who can’t get there on a weekday the opportunity to see the show with perhaps less crowding.

Extending the show will pose a challenge for exhibitors with floral displays as plants will have to be kept in top condition for several more days. It also means the staff will have to be present at the show for a longer period, just when the garden industry is gearing up for spring. Still, I doubt the average visitor will notice these changes and will likely enjoy the show as much as ever.

Last year the theme of the show was Juno Rocks, where gardens were designed to reflect the perspective of talented musicians such as Ben Heppner and Jully Black. It was such a popular and imaginative theme that it’s back this year with Juno nominees Feist, Jann Arden, Keshia Chanté, and singer-songwriter and multi-instrumental performer, Royal Wood, teamed with Sarah Slean.

I’m a big fan of both Leslie Feist and Sarah Slean. And besides being a great singer, the irreverent Jann Arden cracks me up. Her garden will be a lyrical meadow featuring a small brook and a bench carved with lyrics, but after seeing Jann’s centrefold in the latest issue of Zoomer magazine, I’m wondering what else might appear in it.

The garden of Feist, a big Juno award winner, is meant to play on notions of time and is titled Past in Present. It’s described as wild, unkempt, and a bit rambling — sounds like my kind of garden.

Sarah Slean and Royal Wood’s garden is to have a strong environmental theme, while that of Keshia Chanté will be sleek and contemporary. I like the idea of combining musical influences with garden design. And besides, a garden is a perfect place to listen to music — unless it’s Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumble Bee, or worse still, Vaughan Williams’ The Wasps. Think I’ll stick with Feist on my iPod when I’m out weeding.

One display garden I’m especially interested in seeing is by the City of Taipei, Taiwan. It is going to reflect the culture and horticulture of Taipei and will be the first international presence at the show.

Besides viewing display gardens at Canada Blooms, I’ll be seeking out the latest seeds and plants, trying out new tools and asking probing questions about the contents of the latest wonder fertilizer.

If I can sit still long enough, I’ll take in a couple of presentations, too. There’s so much to hear and to do and see at Canada Blooms now that we have 10 days to get through it all — and to take in the hot tubs and aluminum siding at the Home Show.

Find Canada Blooms information online at: http://www.canadablooms.com/

Gardening

David Hobson, In the Garden
Fri Mar 02 2012

Desert Botanical Show is worth a visit

The plan was to escape the snow for once, except this was the winter without any.

Regardless, it didn’t discourage me from taking a trip south in February to do a little hiking around the red rock country in Arizona. Even there we walked in snow at higher elevations, but in the community of Sedona apple blossoms were blooming. And down in Phoenix spring was well underway, a perfect time to explore the Desert Botanical Garden under a dazzling blue sky.

I couldn’t possibly miss the opportunity to see this extraordinary garden. It’s filled with rare and unique plants of the Sonoran desert, which covers much of the southwest United States and parts of Mexico.

The idea for the Desert Botanical Garden was conceived back in the 1930s by local people who saw the need to preserve their native flora. The garden has grown to 58 hectares (that’s 143 acres) with more almost half of them under cultivation containing 50,000 plants: yuccas with flowers on four-metre stalks; huge, spiky agaves; desert wildflowers; and, of course, cacti in all shapes and sizes — including a bonus group of priceless ones at the entrance, created in glass by the renowned sculptor Dale Chilhuly.

Volunteers started the garden and it is volunteers who keep it humming along, all 1,100 of them. I met a number stationed along the trails, working as interpreters and happy to speak to visitors about the plants in their care.

One section that’s named Plants and People of the Sonoran Desert contains plants that were used to house, clothe and sustain the human desert dwellers of the past. Another is reserved as an outdoor classroom where cottonwood trees shade groups of schoolchildren who gather to study the plants and, with luck, will grow up to be tree huggers, except hugging is not a good idea in this garden.

Getting around is easy on the wide, paved trails — they’re essential, as wandering off piste is neither permitted nor advisable where the majority of plants are assertive cacti, especially the huge, ubiquitous saguaro.

This is the cactus of countless old westerns, the original cartoon cactus, growing as tall as 15 metres with multiple arms reaching for the sky. A volunteer was on hand to explain how the arms sprout forth to increase production of the night-blooming flowers that appear in April. These are followed by ruby-coloured, edible fruit in June.

I also learned that birds nest in holes pecked into the side of the Saguaro. The plant co-operates by forming a smooth callus to line the hole, making a perfect nesting box. What did surprise me was the sight of a dead Saguaro. Somehow I thought it would simply turn mushy and rot away, but not so. Instead, it resembled a bundle of split cedar rails.

The trees and shrubs of the Sonoran are designed to retain water and reduce transpiration from their leaves. The cottonwood tree here have two sets of roots — one close to the surface that spreads beyond the drip line and another that drives deep into the earth to reach the water table.

The creosote shrub (Larrea tridentata) is another plant with a strong will to survive harsh conditions. It has no connection with the common wood preservative, but it does have many uses, particularly medicinal, though like many herbs, it’s dangerous if used unwisely.

It really isn’t a friendly bush. To conserve moisture, it inhibits the growth of other plants in the area. And its small, resinous leaves wouldn’t spare a hint of moisture for the thirstiest coyote. When it does rain, however, the leaves fill the air with a pungent odour, considered unpleasant by some.

A volunteer showed me how to sample the fragrance by simply breathing on the leaves, then taking a sniff. My conclusion? It’s more a deodorizer than a designer air freshener.

As usual, there were too many plants and too little time, but I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and highly recommend it for anyone passing through the Phoenix area — and it almost never snows in the Desert Botanical Garden.