Cow's Inbovinity to Cow

Kitchener Gardening

2012-01-21T05:16:00.002-05:00

(Buddleias - Lo and Behold)

In the garden: Now’s the time to make plans for spring

These are the planning days, planning for the season ahead. My current garden has been established for about 25 years and didn’t have much planning in the early days. It was more a case of adaptation as requirements changed. The front yard received more consideration. The back had to evolve somewhat on its own as it passed through a number of unavoidable stages.

It started out as an unfenced, blank palette and then, once enclosed by a solid barnboard fence, it held a small vegetable plot. It was a playground with equipment for a while, then came the addition of flower beds along the fence, followed by patios, pathways and a pond. The space gradually filled in until today, the lawn is barely large enough park a wheelbarrow.

The flower beds expanded drastically, trees grew, many shrubs and perennials were tried and died over the years. I made many mistakes, but most things have worked out, despite deviations due to the eccentricities of the head gardener. More than anything, it brought me a lot of joy in the process. Certainly, had I planned it more directly, it would probably look like a different garden, but then, any blank space can be designed in a million different ways to create a garden.

If you are in the early stages of developing a garden, either by design, evolution or adaptation, there are a few things to consider that will prove helpful in developing an attractive design and at the same time help you avoid costly or annoying errors, especially with the location of trees and shrubs. I have two trees that could have been better placed (although they’re not entirely without merit), but any change now would require drastic action, as in a chainsaw.

Trees and large shrubs are like heavy furniture that isn’t easily moved — and unlike a couch they improve with age, making them even harder to part with. And they grow, slowly maybe, but a small suburban yard isn’t the place for a monster maple.

Too often, trees are planted much too close to the house where they can interfere with drainage or even cause structural damage. So before planting any tree, seriously consider the location and the potential height and spread of the skinny sapling in the pot. Four or five metres from a building is a good guideline.

Many trees have been bred with small yards in mind, especially new varieties of witch hazel, serviceberry and crab apples. These are all trees of small to moderate growth, as are Japanese maples. Orange Dream and Shirazz are a pair of new ones that I’d love to squeeze in if I had the room.

There’s been a lot of work done in creating smaller, compact shrubs, too.

Spilled Wine Weigela is a beauty, growing only to knee height and about as wide, and Proven Winners has a series of dwarf buddleias called Lo and Behold — Blue Chip, Lilac Chip, and White chip — that are less than a metre high.

An advantage of incorporating smaller trees and shrubs into a garden design means there’s room for more plants. And if you do find you’ve planted one of these smaller shrubs in the wrong place, they’re a lot easier to dig out and move.

Good planning is important, but it’s only part of the final result. A garden is a living thing, never static, and will constantly attempt to thwart the designer. I’ll leave you with the words of Scottish poet Rabbie Burns, whose birthday is coming up on Wednesday: “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.”

Meet Tiny, the 30-pound cat

2012-01-18T07:54:00.002-05:00

Record news services

The days of gluttony are over for one fat cat out east.

Tiny, a 30-pound house cat, was stuffed into a duct-taped box with a normal-sized cat one-third his size and dumped at an animal clinic in Fredericton, N.B., shortly before the New Year.

Nancy Garon, Tiny’s foster mother, brought him home to get him in shape. So she has him chasing a laser dot, which he never catches, wrestling with a toy fishing pole and hunting rodents. He will lumber onto the scales every Tuesday as part of a weight loss challenge to raise funds for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

But before the weekend, Tiny refused to eat, likely due to the stress of being abandoned at an unfamiliar place. No one is sure why the two cats were cast aside, but that happens regularly at shelters across the country.

Staff at the animal clinic was concerned that the hefty feline would die of a liver failure after he went five straight days without food. So they gave Garon permission to experiment with his food.

Tiny turned up his button nose at chicken and fish and only nibbled on sardines. So Garon went for fat.

“He’ll eat anything based with gravy,” said Garon, who discovered Tiny was a pampered cat who prefers to eat out of someone’s hand, rather than a dish.

Next, she tried cheap dog treats, which he devoured.

“But that’s like eating a Big Mac every day,” Garon said.

So she plans to mix in nutritious food to wean him off the junk. Like humans, obesity in cats can lead to diabetes, can stress internal organs and can lead to arthritis. But Tiny’s diabetes test came back negative.

He has lost three pounds since being abandoned, but that was mostly due to stress. Losing that much weight too quickly is also dangerous, according to LeeAnn Haggerty, an education coordinator for the Fredericton shelter.

Tiny’s blubbery body has affected every facet of his life. He is notoriously lazy, walking only short distances before settling into a cat nap. He cannot clean himself, so Garon must. And he is so obese he can only leap short heights. He can pounce onto the couch, but needs help getting into Garon’s bed to sleep.

“It works out for me because he is too fat to jump on my counters,” Garon said. “I can’t stand cats on my counters.”

But there are signs of friskiness. While lazing on the couch Monday night, Tiny spotted something dark and small. So he jumped down to investigate and stalked a mole all the way to the kitchen, eventually catching and killing it. And he didn’t even try to eat it, saving it as a gift for Garon.

The Fredericton SPCA is raising funds through Tiny’s Weight Loss Challenge on Facebook. The money will go to an emergency pot for special needs animals, Haggerty said, such as two older female dogs that need surgery soon.

Tiny remains up for adoption, “But I am falling for him, so he might have a forever home here,” Garon said.

Fraser Avenue Fire

2012-01-15T17:36:00.001-05:00

Candle near Christmas tree causes $500,000 fire

Buses provide shelter as firefighters battle extreme cold

By Kirstin Endemann, The Ottawa Citizen January 15, 2012 3:06 PM

OTTAWA — A woman was taken to hospital after an early morning Christmas tree fire burned both floors of a two-storey, single-family home near Richmond Road on Sunday.

A male passerby saw heavy smoke coming from 446 Fraser Ave. and heard a person coughing behind it at about 2 a.m.

Ottawa firefighters found the sole occupant of the home, a 63-year-old woman, in a semi-conscious state outside of the building when they arived.

Paramedics treated her for smoke inhalation. She was taken to the hospital and later released into the care of a family member in Gatineau.

The fire started after someone left a candle burning next to the Christmas tree, which caused it to catch fire, said Marc Messier of Ottawa Fire.

OC Transpo provided buses as shelter for the victim and firefighters as they had to deal with extreme cold temperatures during the evening; The temperature was forecast to hit - 25 C overnight.

The Red Cross and Salvation Army also provided assistance to the victim.

Ottawa Fire Service spokesperson Marc Messier said the fire began in a basement stairwell, spreading quickly to the second floor and into the attic.

The main floor was heavily damaged by the fire, with extensive damage extending into the second floor and roof.

Total damage was estimated at $500,000.

Richmond Road was closed between Westminster and Broadview avenues while firefighters tackled the blaze.

Ottawa fire officials are asking people to remove any remaining Christmas trees from their homes because they are likely very dry. The City of Ottawa is to start collecting the trees this week.

-With files from Mark Brownlee.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Kitchener Gardening

2012-01-14T08:31:00.002-05:00

In the garden: This home gardener won’t be dancing the Tangerine Tango

As usual, the first week or so of the new year has been filled with reports of resolutions, predictions and trend reporting. One item that has received a lot of attention, first popping up in a news release back in December, was the announcement of the “colour of the year” by Pantone Inc. of New Jersey.

In case you missed it, the colour for 2012 is Tangerine Tango, a sort of reddish orange.

I have to bring this up otherwise I’d be remiss in not advising readers that we’re all to plant fashionable Tangerine Tango-coloured flowers in our gardens this year to ensure it’s co-ordinated with new patio furniture, watering cans and lipstick.

You must have it, even if it means totally changing the current scheme, which, in case you weren’t aware, was supposed to have featured lots of honeysuckle — not the vine, but the pinkish shade that was Pantone colour of the year in 2011.

I missed that one and fortunately I also missed 2005’s Blue Turquoise, which looked suspiciously like teal to me, an unnatural colour in any garden. My garage door was once painted in teal and it never quite worked. Come to think of it, I don’t believe I could name a plant that has teal flowers, apart from dye-dipped novelty bouquets. The leaves on certain eucalyptus could almost be called teal, I guess.

So who is it that makes the unilateral declaration that a particular colour should take over our lives, even if it “marries the vivaciousness and adrenalin rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.” (Those words are from Pantone’s news release.)

A little background here: Pantone Inc. is a company that offers a colour-matching system to standardize colours. This is used by designers and manufacturers to ensure colours match correctly. Simply put, the colour of products the world over — from toilets to teapots — should look identical if named Tangerine Tango, even flowering plants for the garden.

Presumably, this means there will be more orange plants available at garden centres this spring. Perhaps not quite Tangerine Tango, as breeding a new plant takes a little more time than mixing paint, although I’m sure industry insiders know a long time in advance what the yearly colours are to be. Regardless, I’m sure plant producers will be pushing out more orange ones, taking advantage of the heightened awareness caused by the intense publicity.

For myself, I’m afraid I don’t have that kind of commitment to trends in my garden.

And as for orange, sure, it is a lovely warm colour and I don’t mind a little splashed here and there. I have self-seeding calendula that splashes itself all over the place. I also enjoy tangerine orange begonias, tangerine orange canna lilies, and tangerine orange juice.

But I’ve also got a feeling I’m going to soon grow tired of orange in 2012 — especially after seeing Kevin O’Leary of TV’s Dragon’s Den and now Redemption Inc. in an orange prison jumpsuit.

Red is in, blue is out, purple is fading and green — well, we’re stuck with green. Gardening is about far more than a specific colour trend when there’s a rainbow of colours to choose from in all shapes, sizes and textures.

For me, and I suspect most gardeners, the garden is the one place where we can escape the madness of consumerism and relax. I plant what I want where I want without the slightest concern for what has been decreed the hot new colour. I’ll decide when I’ve had enough of a particular colour. In fact, just to be contrary, I think I might use an adrenalin rush to weed out all the calendula this year.

David Hobson gardens in Waterloo and is happy to answer garden questions, preferably by email: garden@gto.net. Reach him by mail c/o Etcetera, The Record, 160 King St. E. Kitchener, Ont. N2G 4E5

Pantone Colour of the Year

Pantone Inc. of New Jersey says it combs the world looking for colour influences before selecting its annual colour of the year.

Colours selected in previous years include:

• 2011 — Honeysuckle

• 2010 — Turquoise

• 2009 — Mimosa

• 2008 — Blue Iris

• 2007 — Chili Pepper

• 2006 — Sand Dollar

• 2005 — Blue Turquoise

• 2004 — Tigerlily

• 2003 — Aqua Sky

• 2002 — True Red

• 2001 — Fuchsia Rose

• 2000 — Cerulean

Another picture of CCJ

2012-01-08T17:15:00.003-05:00

C takes a picture

2012-01-07T20:39:00.002-05:00

Taken on the way home, by cell phone

Exotic vegetables coming soon from a farmer near you

2012-01-07T08:44:00.002-05:00

Rita Trichur
From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012

Farmer Jason Verkaik sees a business case for diversity in the vegetable patch.

Carrots and onions are his mainstay crops. But this third-generation grower is also experimenting with exotic produce such as Indian red carrots, Jamaican pumpkins and Mexican tomatillos at his Bradford, Ont., farm. This year, he’ll try his hand at fuzzy melons.

A box containing pinestripe eggplant grown at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, where a pilot program supported by a team of scientists, farmers, retailers and the federal government is aimed to produce exotic vegetables in Canada.

Beyond his own hankerings for such foods, Mr. Verkaik, who is of Dutch heritage, says demographic change is creating a burgeoning business opportunity for Canadian farmers at a time when major retailers including Wal-Mart Canada Corp. and Sobeys Inc., are experiencing growing demand for world crops. While recent immigrants are largely fuelling this trend, many exotic vegetables are already considered mainstream fare in cities across Canada.

“It really does start with that ethnic culture,” Mr. Verkaik says. “It starts there, but there are [business] opportunities to expand it further.”

Experts are still trying to quantify the market’s full potential, but one estimate pegs domestic sales of exotic vegetables at roughly $800-million a year. The bulk of that produce is imported from the Caribbean, South America and Asia. But with demand booming, Canadian farmers have a fresh incentive to carve out a meaningful slice of that market by diversifying their crops.

Although cooler Canadian climates can present a production challenge, scientists spearheading world crop research at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre near Niagara Falls, Ont., say a surprising number of exotic vegetables can be successfully grown across the country.

As they strive to get an upper hand on Mother Nature in the field, those researchers are also collaborating with farmers and retailers on expanding the domestic market for locally grown exotic vegetables and export opportunities to the United States. Their overarching goal is to increase the size of the market by making many of these South Asian, Chinese and Afro-Caribbean vegetables as mainstream as prepackaged sushi.

“Sushi was super exotic stuff 15 years ago and now you buy it everywhere – at the supermarket counter and all over the place,” says Vineland’s chief executive officer Jim Brandle. “It is sort of ubiquitous, good-for-you snack food. So, here is the same strategy.”

While a strong Canadian dollar makes vegetable imports cheaper, farmers and retailers are wagering that consumers will pay a premium for fresher, locally grown produce. That’s partly because new Canadians, many of whom are vegetarians, spend up to 40 per cent of their food budgets on vegetables, according to the research from the University of Guelph.

The trick, though, is consistently growing domestic crops that are as good – or better – than immigrants can get “back home.”

“It is a pure sensory response in a supermarket,” Vineland research director Michael Brownbridge says. “You see it: ‘Ooh. I want to buy it.’ You touch it. Different people, they smell it, they feel it, they’ll want to touch it. So you have to pass all of those criteria to get that into somebody’s basket for sale.”

Mastering the crops (and ultimately the taste) is a critical challenge, since importing seeds from other countries requires certification. Additionally, there is a lack of registered pesticides for many ethnic vegetables and the need for hand labour can increase costs.

Getting the science right, however, could prove highly lucrative to Canada’s entire food industry, which encompasses farmers, food processors, grocery distributors and retailers. Ethnic grocery stores are already ringing up annual sales of up to $5-billion and growing at a clip of 15 to 20 per cent a year, according to CIBC World Markets Inc.

Mainstream retailers, meanwhile, are working vigorously to poach customers. Chinese eggplants, bok choy and bitter melon are now regular features in the produce aisles at many Wal-Mart Supercentres. Sobeys has also taken a similar approach with its FreshCo banner. Loblaw Cos. Ltd., meanwhile, acquired Asian food retailer T&T Supermarket Inc. and Metro Inc. scooped up a controlling stake in Marché Adonis, a major Quebec-based ethnic-food retailer.

Michael Forgione, director of produce at Ontario-based Longo Brothers Fruit Markets Inc., says consumer demand for exotic vegetables has grown for more than five years. In addition to collaborating with local farmers, Longo’s uses test kitchens and in-store publications to educate consumers on how to prepare ethnic foods.

“What’s been working well for us or selling well in our stores is [Chinese] eggplant, baby bok choy, okra, Napa [cabbage], bean sprouts,” he says. Already, bok choy and Napa cabbage are among its locally grown offerings. The retailer is eager to expand that list especially since its president and chief executive officer, Anthony Longo, sits on Vineland’s board of directors.

Satnam Bhathal, a produce buyer at Golden Groceries Ltd., a South Asian supermarket retailer with five locations in the Greater Toronto Area, is also seeing growing demand from mainstream consumers for exotic produce. “Our employees obviously make it at home, right? So they [our customers] know they can get the information from us,” he says.

Nonetheless, coaxing consumers to pay a premium for locally grown produce can be a hard sell in an era of food inflation and stagnant wages. To illustrate that challenge, Mr. Bhathal says he can sell Mexican round eggplants for 99 cents a pound, but he’d have to pay $1.50 a pound for a comparable Ontario-grown product – before applying his own markup.

“Some customers do care about whether it is [grown in] Ontario,” he says. “But some, they look at price and quality. They don’t care where it comes from.”

Golden Groceries is already buying okra, long squash and Chinese eggplants from Vineland’s field trials and the early feedback has been positive – although some customers report the taste is not exactly the same as imports from the Dominican Republic. “I think, over time, [Ontario-grown produce] will get even better than what Dominican Republic produces,” he says.

Back in Bradford, Mr. Verkaik acknowledges that crop diversification is fraught with risk but he remains focused on the long-term business potential. For instance, he’s been growing the Indian red carrot, which is shaped more like parsnip and has a sweeter taste, for about eight years now. While he has yet to master it, he is leveraging the production knowledge of his South Asian employees and keeping costs in check by using his existing equipment.

Aside from domestic sales, he’s also betting on growing export opportunities to the United States, which is already Canada’s top market for vegetables. In particular, Mr. Verkaik sees escalating demand in cities like Chicago, New York and Boston.

“If it goes well, it [crop diversification] doesn’t cost you anything and you’ve made money,” Mr. Verkaik says. “If it goes bust in the field, you lose your input costs and you could have a few thousand dollars per acre, if not a little bit more, in loss.”

Queen given early Diamond Jubilee bling from Canada

2011-12-31T09:20:00.001-05:00

Postmedia News Dec 20, 2011 By Randy Boswell

Queen Elizabeth has received an early gift from Canada to mark next year’s 60th anniversary of her time on the throne: a diamond, gold and platinum brooch symbolizing her “special relationship” with a Manitoba-based military regiment.

The brooch, commissioned by the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery and designed by the Montreal jewelry firm Birks, features a maple leaf encrusted with 60 individual diamonds, a gold cannon and a stylized crown set with a sapphire, emeralds and rubies.
The Diamond Jubilee gift was personally presented to the Queen last week at Buckingham Palace by two senior members of the regiment, which is based at Canadian Forces Base Shilo, near Brandon, Man.

The regiment’s Colonel Commandant, retired lieutenant-general Mike Jeffery, said in a statement that the gift from “Her Majesty’s Canadian gunner family” highlights the “very special relationship” between the Queen and the artillery group.

Jeffery and the regiment’s senior serving gunner, Lt.-Gen. Stuart Beare, presented the gift to the Queen last Tuesday.

Elizabeth II became Queen of Canada as well as the Canadian artillery regiment’s honourary Captain General following the death of her father, King George VI, on Feb. 6, 1952.

Regiment spokesman Maj. John Stewart wouldn’t disclose the value of the brooch but told Postmedia News the cost was covered privately by serving and retired members of the unit and by Birks.

He described the brooch as a “celebration of mutual loyalty and respect” between the Queen and the Canadian regiment.

Birks, which was commissioned to produce a silver jewel case for Queen Elizabeth’s mother in 1947, has a “rich past as official purveyor to the Royal Family,” said company president Thomas Andruskevich. “We are very proud to be adding the beautiful Diamond Jubilee brooch to our list of creations for the Royals.”

The Queen has a demonstrated taste for brooches from Canada. It’s known that one of her favourite pieces of jewelry — and one she’s worn several times during visits to this country — is the so-called Williamson Brooch, a Canadian mining executive’s wedding gift to her in 1947 when she was known as Princess Elizabeth.

At the centre of that flower-shaped brooch is a huge, pink diamond discovered by Quebec-born geologist John Williamson at his mine in present-day Tanzania.

Elizabeth wore the piece to the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer and during a 2009 visit to Buckingham Palace by U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama.

The Williamson Brooch was among the items selected earlier this year from the Royal Collection of jewelry, artworks and historical artifacts for a special exhibition to be unveiled in Britain next year, celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

New picture of CCJ

2011-12-30T13:22:00.002-05:00

Here's a new picture of C. from her Facebook page.

Here's the latest in customer service outsourcing.

I'm not sure what to say about this next photo. It has nothing to do with C.

Gardening - Seed Catalogues

2011-12-17T09:09:00.002-05:00

(Picture: Pelargonium)

David Hobson, In the Garden
Friday, Dec. 16, 2011

In the garden: Seed catalogues make my spirits bright

Christmas cards have been arriving in the mail, along with the usual bills, setting up an emotional conflict, but fortunately, I’ve also received a few seed catalogues that support the good will of seasonal greetings.

There’s nothing like a colourful catalogue packed with spring dreams to lighten the mood during the short, dark days of December.

Even the few plants I have been growing indoors are feeling the effects of SAD — seasonal affective disorder. Only a few more days to the equinox, I tell the lonely pelargonium, and then it can stop straining for the light.

I may be feeling the effects, too, but thanks to the seed catalogues I can now spend quality time browsing through page after page describing flower, fruit and vegetable seeds. I could browse online, too, as there’s a website for every seed company in the world — plus countless seed-swapping gardeners who are willing to mail seed for almost every imaginable rare plant.

The digital world has rapidly changed the way we shop. And plants and seed are not excluded from that change. We may eventually see the demise of the printed catalogues as all seed merchants have an online version; in fact, some catalogues I’ve received already have a QR (quick response) code to direct smart phones to the website.

If you’re new to gardening and have never ordered from a catalogue, then it’s unlikely you’ll be getting one in the mail, but a phone call, letter, or email to a seed company will get you on their mailing list. Contact information can be easily Googled at a home computer or at the local library, where assistance is available. The big names for seeds in Canada include reputable companies such as: McFayden, Stokes, Veseys, Dominion, McKenzie, and of course, Ontario Seed.

It’s never been easier to buy seed, although there are plenty of places in the country beyond the internet and there are gardeners who simply prefer to be disconnected from the digital world. I am comfortable with it and yet I still enjoy flipping through the paper versions, highlighting the new, the unusual, and the reliable, knowing full well that I don’t have room in my garden for most of it.

Whether you purchase online or from a catalogue, here are a few tips for beginners:

Just like fashion photography, flowers and vegetables in catalogues are shown in the best light possible. And, like the models and celebrities portrayed in magazines, blooms and blossoms all look their best. Every petal and leaf, whether flower or vegetable, looks perfect without the slightest blemish — not a bug in sight.

There’s also the question of scale. I doubt you’ll see the flower on a forget-me-not looking as though it’s as large as a peony, but perspective in a photograph can be misleading and actual measurements of flower heads aren’t always given.

Hmm, a petunia that looks the same size as a peony? I don’t think so. This is where it helps to have a reference book or plant encyclopedia to verify details that may be lacking.

Height and spread are usually described, but keep in mind that these are under ideal conditions that your own garden may not provide. Variations in soil type, light, water and nutrients will all have an effect.

The other important thing to note is the growing zone number — indicating what plants will grow in different parts of North America. Our own area is considered zone five, so perennials that are rated to zones with a higher number than five will not be hardy here, and even those rated as suitable for zone five may be challenged some winters.

As I’ve discovered too often, as well, blue flowers don’t always turn out to be quite as blue in the garden as they were in the seed catalogue . . . but I can dream.

Gardening in Kitchener - The Environment

2011-12-17T09:05:00.001-05:00

David Hobson, In the Garden
Friday, Dec. 9, 2011

In the garden: Green thumbers should also be environmentalists

It was disappointing to see the lack of progress at the recent climate change talks in Durban, South Africa.

Governments are abandoning green initiatives to focus on the recovery of mismanaged economies despite dire warnings on the future of the planet. Consequently, chances are looking slim for an agreement among the 194 countries present that will lead to a reduction in greenhouse gases. It’s enough to make anyone want to retreat to the garden and simply hope for the best.

But burying one’s head in the compost pile won’t help at all. At least in the garden, there are positive things that can be done to help the environment.

Back in 2002, when the Kyoto protocols on climate change were making big news, I wrote a column suggesting a few ideas for the garden that would help improve air quality. Nine years later, it may seem we’re not much further ahead, but it’s interesting to see that some things have changed and improved, at least at the local level.

The concept of the 100-mile diet, where only foods produced within a 100-mile radius are consumed, is certainly taking hold, as people discover that food grown five or six metres from the back door saves enormous amounts of energy for transportation and tastes a lot better than fruit and veggies that had to be drugged for the journey (that’s how produce arrives in the store at peak ripeness).

One of the biggest changes is in the use of water. Supply costs for municipalities have risen substantially over the last few years as it takes a lot of greenhouse-gas-producing energy to pump water from the ground or a river, treat it, then send it down pipes to your backyard.

In the past, much was wasted by poor watering practices, whereas now the daily sprinkling of lawns has ended and that practice has become almost socially unacceptable. More and more front yards are now filled with plants and shrubs that have been selected for their ability to withstand drought conditions. And adding mulch and compost to flower beds is normal procedure.

Thanks to the green bin program, there has been a dramatic increase in the recycling of those wastes that can be converted to garden compost and made available to homeowners. This is great, although it does take a lot of energy to truck all that stuff around. The next step is to recycle these wastes right in the backyard. A huge pile of leaves will turn into garden gold in just a few months time.

One area where we are regressing is in the use of power around the yard. The leaf blower/vacuum, once rare, is replacing the broom and garden rake. It may be helpful for those with a huge property or physical limitations, but a cacophonic choral society in the neighbourhood is one thing we can do without.

Power tools all have an impact on air quality, especially that worst of polluters, the gasoline-powered lawn mower. Today’s push mowers do a fine job and, with other hand tools, are the most economical types of exercise equipment on the market — and far cheaper than the fees you will pay at a fitness centre.

I am happy to say that air quality has improved in Ontario — thanks to the restricted use of pesticides. No longer is there a chemical fragrance wafting over neighbourhoods each spring, a welcome change.

So despite what ultimately comes out of the discussions in Durban on greenhouse gases and climate change, there is much that has been done and can be done at the local level, especially by us gardeners.

Gardening in Kitchener

2011-12-10T08:49:00.002-05:00

(Cat picture - for no reason at all)

In the garden: Green thumbers should also be environmentalists

It was disappointing to see the lack of progress at the recent climate change talks in Durban, South Africa.

Governments are abandoning green initiatives to focus on the recovery of mismanaged economies despite dire warnings on the future of the planet. Consequently, chances are looking slim for an agreement among the 194 countries present that will lead to a reduction in greenhouse gases. It’s enough to make anyone want to retreat to the garden and simply hope for the best.

But burying one’s head in the compost pile won’t help at all. At least in the garden, there are positive things that can be done to help the environment.

Back in 2002, when the Kyoto protocols on climate change were making big news, I wrote a column suggesting a few ideas for the garden that would help improve air quality. Nine years later, it may seem we’re not much further ahead, but it’s interesting to see that some things have changed and improved, at least at the local level.

The concept of the 100-mile diet, where only foods produced within a 100-mile radius are consumed, is certainly taking hold, as people discover that food grown five or six metres from the back door saves enormous amounts of energy for transportation and tastes a lot better than fruit and veggies that had to be drugged for the journey (that’s how produce arrives in the store at peak ripeness).

One of the biggest changes is in the use of water. Supply costs for municipalities have risen substantially over the last few years as it takes a lot of greenhouse-gas-producing energy to pump water from the ground or a river, treat it, then send it down pipes to your backyard.

In the past, much was wasted by poor watering practices, whereas now the daily sprinkling of lawns has ended and that practice has become almost socially unacceptable. More and more front yards are now filled with plants and shrubs that have been selected for their ability to withstand drought conditions. And adding mulch and compost to flower beds is normal procedure.

Thanks to the green bin program, there has been a dramatic increase in the recycling of those wastes that can be converted to garden compost and made available to homeowners. This is great, although it does take a lot of energy to truck all that stuff around. The next step is to recycle these wastes right in the backyard. A huge pile of leaves will turn into garden gold in just a few months time.

One area where we are regressing is in the use of power around the yard. The leaf blower/vacuum, once rare, is replacing the broom and garden rake. It may be helpful for those with a huge property or physical limitations, but a cacophonic choral society in the neighbourhood is one thing we can do without.

Power tools all have an impact on air quality, especially that worst of polluters, the gasoline-powered lawn mower. Today’s push mowers do a fine job and, with other hand tools, are the most economical types of exercise equipment on the market — and far cheaper than the fees you will pay at a fitness centre.

I am happy to say that air quality has improved in Ontario — thanks to the restricted use of pesticides. No longer is there a chemical fragrance wafting over neighbourhoods each spring, a welcome change.

So despite what ultimately comes out of the discussions in Durban on greenhouse gases and climate change, there is much that has been done and can be done at the local level, especially by us gardeners.

A cat picture, just for fun

2011-12-09T11:49:00.000-05:00

Leaders in Agreement

2011-12-05T11:48:00.002-05:00

(Picture taken today - Dec 5, 2011)

Sarkozy, Merkel to outline grand plan for euro zone rescue
Catherine Bremer
PARIS— Reuters
Published Monday, Dec. 05, 2011 5:57AM EST
Last updated Monday, Dec. 05, 2011 11:19AM EST

France and Germany have agreed on a series of reforms to address the euro zone sovereign debt crisis that will be presented to EU President Herman Van Rompuy on Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday.

“We want to make sure that the imbalances which led to the situation in the euro zone today cannot happen again,” Mr. Sarkozy told a news conference.

“Therefore we want a new treaty, to make clear to the peoples of Europe, members of Europe and members of the euro zone, that things cannot continue as they are,” he added.

Mr. Sarkozy said that the new proposals would include a modified EU treaty, ideally for all 27 EU members, but that they were also ready to draw up a treaty for the 17 euro zone members though this would be open to others.

This treaty would include automatic sanctions for states who fail to meet the 3 per cent deficit rule, as well as a budget-balancing rule across the euro zone...

Gardening from Kitchener

2011-12-04T04:38:00.001-05:00

Gardener on your holiday gift list? Read on . . .

Is it December already? It still feels suspiciously like fall as the garden hasn’t had much of a solid freeze yet. If this keeps up, I may have to revise my fall cleanup suggestions, although this late in the season a little spade work in the vegetable garden is about as exciting as it gets.

Most gardeners have likely set thoughts of plants aside until the Christmas season has passed. They’re currently focused on shopping, but with the winter solstice approaching and seed catalogues arriving in the mailbox daily, it won’t take much to get them excited again. Opening a suitable gift on Christmas morning will do it — but if you have to buy something for a gardener, what’s it going to be?

There’s no lack of possible gifts to brighten up the lives of gardeners during December doldrums and it should be easy to find something suitable.

Gifts range from practical to quirky and it’s really down to the taste of the recipient. One more garden gnome when the backyard is already a gnome commune might not be appreciated. Nor will wordy plaques if there’s a complete library of proverbs and aphorisms lying around the flower beds.

Course, the beauty of garden gifts is that they can still be found a place in the yard, even if not obvious — lovely, yes, I have the perfect place for it.

I suppose I should help with gift suggestions, but I’m afraid I’m on the completely practical side with not a lot of interest in anything that doesn’t grow or doesn’t help me make something grow. The first category is difficult as anything that can be planted at this time of year is limited to a lucky find of bulbs lost among tree decorations at a hardware store. Other than gift cards for a garden centre, that leaves the things that will ultimately help make me grow things well — like tools, plant ties and supports, fertilizers. And, of course, books.

At this time of year, garden books are certainly more attractive than sticks and twine or a pail of 20-20-20 fertilizer, except finding the right book for the right person is the challenge. There are almost as many garden books as cookbooks out there and I hesitate to suggest, but here goes:

The serious indoor gardener — who calls all their plants by the correct botanical name — or anyone with an interest in tropical plants would love to receive a copy of Encyclopaedia of Tropical Plants: The Identification and Cultivation of 3000 Tropical Plants, by Ahmed Fayaz.

It’s from Firefly Books, has a suggested retail price of $75 and is an essential book for anyone needing accurate and detailed plant information. Also for the serious gardener is a pair of encyclopedic books by Geoff Bryant and Tony Rodd. Trees and Shrubs and Annuals and Perennials will make useful reference books. They’re also from Firefly books and listed at $19.95 each.

A locally produced and totally practical book I always like to mention is Gardener’s Journal, by Margaret Bennet-Alder of Toronto. It’s a daily journal and a remarkable source book listing everything garden related from radio and TV shows to landscape architects and plant societies. You can order it online at torontogardenbook.com for $24.95, plus $3 for shipping.

If those books sound a little too serious, there’s a new book out by Fergus author Sonia Day that should make for a wonderful winter armchair read. It’s called The Untamed Garden: A Revealing Look at our Love Affair with Plants. It has a list price of $26.99 and is published by McClelland and Stewart.

Sonia, irreverent as always, tells how plants have seduced us through the ages. From flirtation to rapture and everything in between, she provides tidbits and anecdotes from myth and history as she reveals our fascination with flowers. $26.99 from McClelland and Stewart.

I have a copy of this book on my desk, waiting for that winter morning when the garden has frozen solid, the driveway needs shovelling and I need a good chuckle. Has to happen soon.

Gardening Kitchener

2011-11-26T08:19:00.002-05:00

In the garden: England’s Alnwick Garden is a sight to behold

In northeast England, there’s an interesting new garden. New that is, compared to most gardens on the United Kingdom tourist route. Gardens dating back to Victorian times are the norm there, others are centuries older.

This one, however, only opened its gate to visitors 10 years ago, which made me almost first in line, relatively speaking, when I stopped by this fall to check it out.

The garden is located in the picturesque market town of Alnwick (pronounced Anick) in Northumberland County. Alnwick is a busy little place, described as one of the best places to live in Britain. Just a half-hour drive from the Scottish border, it’s been around for about 1,400 years.

It is dominated by Alnwick castle, home since the 11th century to a long line of powerful northern barons. Situated on the Great North Road that leads from London to Edinburgh, it was built as a first line of defence against the Scots. Today, the castle is home to the current duchess of Northumberland, a serious gardener who, instead of deterring visitors, decided the castle needed a little something extra to attract even more.

And so was created Alnwick gardens, designed by Jacques and Peter Wirtz, from Belgium.

Up against stiff competition from other, much frequented British gardens, Alnwick needed to be unique — and I’d say they achieved it. At most popular attractions these days, it’s a case of exit via gift shop, but at Alnwick I entered that way — kind of.

The access to the garden is through a visitor centre that was designed with people in mind. Resembling a huge conservatory, it offers all the usual facilities and is large enough to accommodate a good number of people should fine weather not coincide with their visit. In fact, the restaurant and the terrace outside offer the first view of the gardens, an impressive vista of the Grand Cascade, a massive stone water feature that flows toward the viewer down a gentle sloped bank beyond acres of lawn.

Reminiscent of the fountains of Versailles, and the largest of its kind, it is a state of the art operation with computers controlling a flow of 30,000 litres of water a minute. It can be viewed from afar or close-up from windows cut into the walls of the tunnel-like hornbeam pergolas that flank the sides and echo the curves of the stone work. Above are more fountains, pools, rills, and a place to view the cascade where it begins its flow.

The Grand Cascade makes Alnwick garden unique, but there’s more. It is a working garden, too.

On a small plateau at the head of the property is a walled garden growing every imaginable fruit and veg possible. It was here I discovered Strulch, a finely textured mulch manufactured from wheat straw that the gardener I spoke to was happy to rave about, particularly as it appeared to provide an effective defence against slugs and snails.

From the walled garden, I spent a while lost in the required maze, but it’s not just any old maze of cedar or yew hedges, but one of tightly grown bamboo. I did make my way out eventually, but the manner in which the bamboo swirled around the circuitous pathways, letting in just enough light from above, was mildly confusing. In the dark it could be panic inducing. I’m thinking that the duchess of Northumberland would have been a formidable foe in times of battle. No surprise, then, that she also has a famous poison garden, too.

It’s located behind sturdy wrought iron gates emblazoned with skull and crossbones and a sign that says “These Plants Can Kill.” I joined the tour there, led by an enthusiastic guide with a gift for relating gruesome tales of the uses to which the plants have been put.

I concluded my visit whilst it was still daylight — too many ghosts of countless battles fought here, but a lovely garden to visit.

Gardening for cool weather

2011-11-23T07:23:00.002-05:00

(cold frame)

How you can still have a green thumb in the winter
DEAN FOSDICK
The Associated Press (to The Globe and Mail)
Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011

David Whiting is a Northern gardener who can't get enough of a good thing. He uses extenders to jumpstart his growing season in the spring and to harvest late maturing plants after the snow falls in autumn.

“You can do a lot when you throw a cover over crops,” said Prof. Whiting, a consumer horticulture specialist with Colorado State University Extension at Fort Collins. “All the heat is in the ground and these devices help recharge it during the day.”

By “devices,” he means cold frames, hoop houses, cloches, row covers and pop-ups, all of which create cozy microclimates that protect plants from seasonal chills.

Extenders harden indoor-started seedlings while speeding such perennials as asparagus and rhubarb toward maturity in the spring. They boost the energy of heat-loving plants like peppers in the summer, while sheltering salad greens, herbs and root crops well into the New Year.

“I use my cold frame for overwintering vegetables much as I would a cellar,” Prof. Whiting said.

Here is a glance at some of these time-tested tools, which can add months to your gardening calendar:

Cold Frames

Simple structures made from wood or cement blocks with window frames or clear plastic sheets hinged or draped over the top. “Cold frames can be used year-round,” said Barbara Larson, a horticulture educator with University of Wisconsin Extension. “You'll be able to harvest cool season vegetables through Thanksgiving.” That would include such things as arugula, kale, cabbage, cauliflower and leeks.

Hoop Houses

U-shaped plastic pipes or bamboo poles stuck into the ground and covered with polyethylene sheets. These greenhouses-on-the-cheap can be made tall or short, depending upon plant height. “The best and easiest way to use them is to put them over a raised bed,” Prof. Larson said.

Row Covers

Polyester or fabric covers that are laid over plants yet allow light, water and air to circulate. They protect tender edibles and flowers from wind and rain damage as well as temperatures dipping to -2 C.

Cloches

Transparent dome-shaped structures with the bottoms removed that can cover single plants. “A lot of people use old milk containers, but that actually slows growth because they're opaque,” Prof. Larson said. “Avoid them because they keep things cooler inside rather than warmer.”

Pop-ups

Tent-like frames that can be shifted from site to site. “They're affordable, easy to use and can protect to -4 C,” said Maree Gaetani, a spokeswoman for Gardener's Supply Co., in Burlington, Vt. “Some people use them for insect protection; others for frost.”

Prof. Whiting adds even more warmth into his cold frames with Christmas-tree lights and thermal space blankets.

He strings the old-style holiday lights inside and then plugs them into a timer. “It turns itself on at 5 in the evening and shuts down at 8 in the morning,” he said, adding that the lights add a substantial amount of heat. “In Fort Collins, you can grow almost through the entire winter using lights.”

Be careful, though, that you don't unintentionally provide too much protection. It can get scorching hot inside the extenders during the day if they're not properly vented.

“I've measured 54 C temperatures within an unopened cold frame while it was sunny and 2 C degrees outside,” Prof. Whiting said. “They have to be managed. You can't just look at them once in a while.”

Gardening Kitchener

2011-11-19T06:38:00.001-05:00

In the garden: My yard could be a treasure trove of lost items

I found my snips the other day while shovelling fresh compost around a few shrubs. They’ve been missing for months. I have others, but these were my all-time favourites: small, tough and would cut anything from wire to thumb-size branches — thumbs, too, probably, if I were not careful.

I knew they were in the garden somewhere, but where? I do have a habit of tossing things down, usually when I need both hands for something. It would help if I had fashionable garden clothing, maybe one of those classy jackets all covered in Velcro strips with hooks and loops for hanging tools from, but they never quite make sense to me. I’m supposed to attach the contents of the shed to the jacket or pants before I venture into the garden?

I much prefer to travel light, ambling back and forth to the shed whenever I need a different tool. I mean, if I’m going out pruning, I won’t be needing a bulb planter. And if I’m shovelling compost, it’s not as though I’d need a lawn rake hanging from my belt.

Oh, yes, that is where I found my snips — in the compost. Sadly, they’re rusted worse than the fenders on a ’72 Lada. Clearly, my compost is powerful stuff. I’ll try to restore them, but it may not be worth the trouble.

My snips were not the only thing missing in the garden. I still can’t find my machete.

A what, you ask! Yes, I have a machete. And yes, I may refer to my garden as resembling a jungle at times, but mine is a lightweight thing that couldn’t hack through a stand of bamboo even if Rambo were wielding it. I use it for chopping stuff up before it goes on the compost heap.

I don’t always do this as it isn’t essential — just depends what mood I’m in. Nothing to do around the yard and I’ll set up the tree stump and begin hacking away. It’s really quite stress relieving, whittling old hollyhock or delphinium stalks and stems down to size, especially ones that didn’t flower the way they were supposed to. What I should do is wave the machete at them when they are still growing.

Anyway, I can’t find it. It’s definitely not in the compost. I know because I sorted and screened the whole pile last weekend. My best guess is that it’s found its way into the garage, which is a bit of a lost cause now that I’ve dragged in pots of plants to overwinter.

If not in the garage, the only other likely place is under the patch of English ivy that’s establishing control at the bottom end near the veggie garden. If it’s in there, it will have to hack its own way out because I can’t see ripping out the ivy — I’d need a new machete for that.

I’m thinking I should maybe get one of those metal detectors. Who knows what I might unearth after 25 years of losing things around the yard. I know there’s a trowel or two out there, a dibble, a Phillips screwdriver, and all kinds of bottle caps — I have a habit of tossing them into flower beds to provide a little iron content for the soil — seriously. I suppose if they last, they will someday provide an archeological review of the drinking habits of an early 21th-century gardener. No, they weren’t all mine and they weren’t all beer bottle caps.

Another source of curious items is the bags of leaves I bring in from the neighbourhood to produce leaf mould. There’s always the odd artifact that was raked off someone’s lawn. I’d like to think my backyard could be a treasure trove of historical objects, but it’s unlikely as it was just a cornfield not that long ago.

There is one particular item, however, that I’m certain is buried there somewhere. I lost my wedding ring about seven or eight years ago. I think it was when I dug out the crab apple tree. It’s long been replaced, but I still hope to come across it some day, just as I did the other day with my favourite snips.

Gardening Kitchener

2011-11-19T06:34:00.002-05:00

Floriade is global, gardening spectacle

Got next year’s summer garden trip planned yet? For the last few years, I’ve made an annual pilgrimage each spring to the Chelsea Flower and Garden Show in London, England. It could be described as a world championship of gardening where the world’s premier designers compete to produce impossible designs and the latest plants are introduced like debutantes.

Next spring 2012, however, will be different. I’m planning to visit another garden show that vastly exceeds Chelsea in scope and size, a show that could be described as the gardening Olympics. It’s a much rarer event, occurring not once every four years, but only once each decade, the first one held back in 1960.

The event is Floriade, promoted as a World Horticultural Exposition, a global spectacle taking place in the southeast Netherlands, close to the border with Germany in the city of Venlo.

The word Floriade comes from the Latin term floriat — to design with flowers, and is pronounced ‘florry yada.’ Funny, I hear ‘flowery yard,’ which is equally appropriate as it is indeed a big yard; a 66-hectare park, in fact, encompassing five areas separated by woodland. Each area will be unique, filled with programs and activities where visitors, as the organizers say, will see, feel, and experience nature in a totally different way each time. The five themes are Relax and Heal, Green Engine, Education and Innovation, Environment, and a World Show Stage.

The Relax and Heal section area is to feature a garden designed in harmony with natural elements to balance the energy of visitors and simply make them feel good. Revitalizing — just the kind of thing that’s needed around midday when visiting any garden show. There’ll be tranquil Japanese gardens there, too, and a restaurant featuring tempting foods of the orient. A section called a “stadspark” will be filled with vibrant plants and flowers as only the Dutch can grow them.

An exposition is more than a show; it’s a place for learning and experiencing. The Green Engine section will focus on nature and industry, showing how horticulture is a huge economic driving force. It will have Villa Flora, an innovative, sustainable green office building containing an incredible indoor flower show. And of course, a Flower Bulb Pavilion to tell the story of Dutch bulbs with music, films, and fragrance.

In the Environment area, visitors can enter the Horticultural Pavilion to see displays of everything Dutch horticulture gives to the world.

There’ll also be an Avenue of Garden Cultures with international gardens designed to provide wonder and inspiration, and a pavilion devoted to Dutch agriculture and horticulture. It is to feature a sushi style conveyor belt filled with produce for sampling.

And then there’s the World Show Stage, the part of the park with a promenade of food, an open air theatre on a hillside, an eye-popping water garden, a pavilion featuring traditional buildings of Indonesia and, of course, more gardens, including an immaculate rose garden.

What Floriade really means is a massive, six month long, horticultural extravaganza running from April to October. Imagine, if you’re old enough to remember, an Expo ’67 for gardeners. That is Floriade.

That’s about as much as I know about it, enough to make me want to spend the summer in The Netherlands, except I’d have to abandon my garden.

Instead, it will be just a day there, but I’ll be spending a few days seeing more of the country including the famous Aalsmeer Flower Market before finishing off the trip back in England at the good old Chelsea Flower Show — couldn’t possibly miss it. If you’d more details of this trip or would like to join my group for this tour, contact me below.

Someone at school

2011-11-16T23:35:00.001-05:00

Kitchener Gardening

2011-11-12T16:42:00.001-05:00

In the garden: It sounds a little aggressive, but forcing bulbs is fun

The garden hasn’t frozen over yet, so I’m still puttering about, reluctant to pack it in until spring.

I usually feel a little rushed at this time of year, trying to get everything done before freeze-up, which can happen in November, but too often it stays relatively mild and then I find I needn’t have rushed after all, so I try to slow down and enjoy the days I can spend outdoors. It helps to remind myself that I once planted tulip bulbs the day before Christmas Eve, although I don’t recommend that level of tardiness as it relies on freakish good luck.

There is still time, though, to plant spring flowering bulbs, and come spring, you’ll be glad you did. Summer clothing may have long vanished from your shelves, but garden centres that operate seasonally aren’t in the same rush to restock their shelves. After the mums are gone, there’s lots of space, but that doesn’t mean they want to store flower bulbs for another year as it takes a lot of trouble and resources. This often means late-season bargains. I confess that I haven’t got around to planting any bulbs myself, so you may be racing me to the store looking for last-minute deals.

If planting bulbs in the garden in November doesn’t sound appealing, forcing them indoors is a fun option that’s also on my list. Despite the aggressive tone of forcing, don’t let that stop you — the bulbs won’t mind. Better to be in a pot of soil languishing in someone’s garage than in an arid storeroom or tossed into a dumpster.

Choice may be limited, but if possible, select earlier blooming varieties for forcing indoors. This is because of the lengthy chilling time that’s required.

Shorter varieties are best — leggy tulips flopped over will look like they’re feeling guilty about something.

Rather than tulips, try other spring flowering bulbs that may be easier to force such as iris reticulata, muscari, crocus, or hyacinth.

It varies depending on variety, but most bulbs will require a cool period of about 12 weeks to allow them to root out followed by three to four weeks in warmer temperatures to flower. Lengthening the chilling time will slow them down, but it shouldn’t be shortened as it is essential.

To plant, put about 5 centimetres (2 inches) of plain potting soil in the bottom of a pot. Place the bulbs gently on the surface and then fill the rest of the pot with soil. Water in to settle the soil around the bulbs. When you’re done, the tips of the bulbs should be just nicely covered.

The chilling temperature should be around 5 to 9 C (41 to 48 F) — about what it will be in a cold cellar. An alternative is a garage that isn’t left with the door open. By putting the pot inside a cardboard box up against the house side or end of the garage, the temperature should be close to the required range. If they do freeze, it won’t harm the bulbs, but it will slow down the rooting. And that’s all there is to it — except for setting a reminder to check on them once a week to ensure they don’t dry out.

After chilling, move the pots to a place with indirect sunlight and temperatures about 15 C (60 F) for a week or two. When the shoots are up a few inches, move them to a bright, sunny window to stimulate blooming.

To keep them in bloom, move them back to indirect sunlight or the petals will be flying off as they would in a spring heat wave. Meanwhile, I’m hanging in for a fall heat wave.

Kitchener Gardening

2011-10-30T08:05:00.002-04:00

In the garden: Yew could be the perfect Halloween tree

I have some catching up to do on what should be final tasks for the season. I’ll be spending this whole weekend in the garden, piling leaves and completing my annual compost pile cleanout, and I love it.

The result, apart from a tidier garden and a nice big pile of fresh compost, is me in my mucky boots and specialist garden clothes (whatever I happen to be wearing at the time), looking like a zombie.

This is so appropriate, given it’s Halloween in a couple of days. Other than that, there isn’t anything creepy around my place. I did see a pair of eyes staring at me from a dark corner in the shed one evening, but it was only a cat. And I do have a few plants out back that would be more than scary if one were to eat them.

In fact, to get to my front door, trick or treaters have to brush past one of the deadliest plants around, although I can’t see anyone passing up candy to chew on leaves. It’s a yew tree, or rather a shrub, and all parts of it are poisonous if eaten, except for the red fleshy part of the berry that surrounds the seeds.

The European yew is perhaps the longest living tree in the world, as old as 9,000 years, but dating is tricky as the boughs become hollow as they age, leaving no rings to count; yet the yew continues to grow on, uniquely resistant to rotting when limbs split and break.

Keep one long enough and the trunk could measure two metres across — and in exceptional cases more than three metres — but it may take an eon or two as they are slow growing.

Yews in Scotland have been dated to 2,000 years old, while in Spain a tree planted in 1160 today has a circumference of seven metres and has been designated a national monument. In parts of Spain, it was an All Saints’ Day tradition to place a branch of the yew on the burial place of those recently departed to help guide them in the afterlife.

European yews are often found growing in or near church yards in Britain and France where the branches would have been on hand as a substitute for palm fronds on Palm Sunday. When I was growing up it was said they were planted there to keep them away from browsing cattle in case any had a death wish. The more likely reason is they were there before the church was built, or the site was a place sacred to ancient druids who may have planted the trees.

Despite its poisonous nature, extracts from the yew have been used in the what-doesn’t-kill-you-will-cure-you practice of ancient herbalists. They may have been on the right track, as subsequent research has resulted in its use in the treatment of cancer.

Another historic use for the yew was in the production of bow staves, which were constructed with the sapwood on the outside and the heartwood on the inside. As the unique properties of yew cause the latter to resist compression and the former to resist stretching, the strength and efficiency of the longbow was greatly increased. Thanks to this, the highly regarded English longbow, made from yew, reputedly won them the battle of Agincourt.

The yew has long been associated with longevity, death, magic, healing, and has strong connections with the underworld, making it the perfect Halloween tree, so it should be most appropriate for me to stand at the door in my zombie garden clothes waving a yew branch — or maybe not.

Neat picture of Mt Rainier

2011-10-27T13:43:00.003-04:00

This is a photo of Mt Rainier in Washington State. You can see the shadow it casts on the clouds at dawn. Click on it to see it bigger.

Picture of two people we know

2011-10-23T16:38:00.003-04:00

The people we are know are standing at the left, and third from the right.

Click on it to make it bigger.

Kitchener Gardening

2011-10-22T05:16:00.002-04:00

(Picture - euonymus)

In the garden: While I’m raking leaves, I’m thinking ahead to spring

Stockpiling leaves for compost or mulch usually keeps me busy around the garden in late October. I also have a few last-minute tasks before freeze-up, but the excitement is definitely waning. Not that I’m concerned. I’m already thinking of next spring with plans forming for projects to be undertaken.

One in particular is to resolve the problem with my seven euonymus plants, one of which has reached the eaves trough at the rear of the house and is trying to snatch shingles off the roof.

I usually get the ladder out in mid summer and go at it with the shears, but that may no longer be necessary. The way things look, one more season and I’ll be going at it with more than shears; it will be chainsaws at dawn.

The problem is euonymus scale, armoured insects that suck the life out of plants. It probably started last year, but I never noticed and now I fear it’s too late. I should have been paying closer attention, especially as I wrote a column back in 2008 in response to queries about this pest.

Pest? It’s not a pest, a pest is an irritant, an annoyance, something that can be ignored or dealt with. If not caught early, euonymus scale is as relentless as the barbarian hordes that sacked Rome.

When I did write about euonymus scale, with hopeful suggestions on how to deal with it, I casually suggested I should issue a code red alert, but what did I do — I ignored my own advice.

I blame it on the new bifocals — took a while to get used to, which may be why I didn’t seem to have any insects pest in the garden for the previous year or so, at least not ones as small as scale insects. Lily beetles, Japanese beetles, rabbits; they were easy to spot, even fat aphids. But euonymus scale? Forget it.

The first symptom is falling leaves in summer. A closer look will reveal elongated, greyish-white bumps, about a couple of millimetres or so long on leaves and stems.

Had I caught it sooner, I may have been able to save the plants. The usual treatment is to cut out the infected parts and give the whole plant a dormant oil treatment in late winter, then a soap spray in May or June when the larvae are active.

I will try the above on the least affected of my plants in hope of getting another year or two out of them, but I’m not feeling overwhelmed with optimism.

Euonymus scale is becoming a major concern in some areas, so do check your plants. It can also be a problem on English ivy, American Bittersweet, and Japanese Pachysandra, and will sometimes affect boxwood and holly. So I’d take a good look at these plants if you’ve noticed any leaf drop or yellowing of leaves in summer. Catch it early and you might just save them.

It’s a shame that I may be losing my euonymus, but the loss opens up all kinds of possibilities for replacement. I won’t say I’ve grown tired of them, but I do have seven, which is plenty for anyone, so the chance to grow something different will be interesting.

But what? One possibility for the shady side of the house is a climbing hydrangea. They can ultimately reach 15 metres, which is more height than I need, but they are slow growing and can be kept under control. On the sunny side of the house, I can always add a couple more clematis to my collection, or perhaps a rare honeysuckle to add a little more fragrance.

By spring I should have a plan in place. Meanwhile, there are a few leaves that need raking. How exciting!

Globe Gardening

2011-10-22T04:59:00.005-04:00

This tree is a garden scene stealer
Marjorie Harris, Globe and Mail
Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011

Plant of the week

Fagus Purpurea ‘Roseomarginata’

Why you should plant it

This is my last plant suggestion of the year and I’m mentioning this tree because it is such a wonderful plant.

There is some confusion between this beech and the F. Purpurea ‘Tricolor,’ which looks similar. In any case, this purple-leaf form of beech has a pinky border on the foliage. A glorious addition to a small garden, it’s a scene stealer if there ever was one.

Where to plant it

It might get burned if it’s in too much sun, so put it in a place where it will be protected from the midday blaze. It can grow to 10 metres, but, in heavy clay, not quite that large. In the 15 years I’ve had one, I’ve experienced no problems with this plant except that it needs deep watering during a drought. A hit of compost is a good idea and so is mulching.

The branching is more horizontal than the usual beech, so place it carefully – i.e., not too close to other trees.

What it offers

This spectacular small tree can be used as a focal point or even as a way to perk up a dull hedge in the background. It grows slowly, with the most amazing leafing in spring. The bark is smooth and grey and the shape is attractive in winter. Backlit by morning or evening sun, this is a jaw-dropping plant and, in case you haven’t detected, one of my favourites.

Source and cost

I hope and trust that this specimen will be in all good Zone 5 and 6 nurseries next year. See you then.

-------------------------------------------------

How and when should I prune my evergreens?
Marjorie Harris

The question

I have a variety of evergreens. How do I look after them and when should I prune them?

The answer

Prune evergreens in the late winter or early spring, when you can observe how winter has damaged them. Brush off any browning of the needles with leather gloves just to make them look nice. Make sure they go into this winter with at least five buckets of water so they suffer as little damage as possible from severe March sunlight. They keep on transpiring all winter, so water right up to the last minute.

----------------------------------------------------

On vacation? This planter will water itself
Suzanne Gardner

“We’re excited about a new line of PREMIUM SELF-WATERING PLANTERS by the German company Lechuza (from $24.95 through www.lechuza.ca). They have a sub-irrigation system built in, so you can leave your house for a month and come back to healthy plants and flowers. You can use them indoors or out. And they’re super-light, so they work well on balconies for condo-dwellers, too.”

Suzanne Gardner is the owner of Toronto’s Suzanne Gardner Flowers

Globe Gardening

2011-10-18T16:35:00.003-04:00

Want local garlic? Grow your own
Wendy Leung
Globe and Mail
Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011

Buying garlic that’s not from China can be a challenge. Our domestic garlic industry has never recovered to its pre-1997 state, before the Canadian International Trade Tribunal found China was dumping its cheaper garlic in Canada. These days, domestic garlic production has become a “cottage industry,” says Jim Brandle, chief executive of the non-profit Vineland Research and Innovation Centre near St. Catharines, Ont. And in spite of increasing consumer demand for locally grown produce, farmers are still reluctant to ramp up the supply.That may explain why your local farmers’ market is constantly running out of the stuff. But don’t despair. Gardening expert Mark Macdonald of the organic gardening store West Coast Seeds in Ladner, B.C., explains how to grow your own:

Selecting

There are two types of garlic: soft-neck garlic, the shipping-friendly kind typically found in grocery stores, and hard-neck garlic, that’s commonly sold at farmers’ markets, since it thrives in colder climates. It’s possible to grow both types in Canada, but you may find hard-neck varieties more reliable.

Mr. Macdonald recommends a hard-neck variety called Red Russian, which, he says, is tasty and easy to grow. “It’s got more heat to it,” he says.

It may be possible to plant cloves from the garlic you buy for dinner. Organic garlic, purchased from a farmers’ market, will likely grow. But the stuff from the supermarket may not, as some growers give their garlic a blast of radiation or other treatment to extend its shelf life, rendering it infertile. For best results, buy bulbs at gardening stores specifically meant for planting.

Planting

Now is the best time of year to start planting. In B.C. and the maritime provinces, where the weather is milder, it’s possible to leave this as late as November. As a rule, though, plant before the first frost.

Separate your bulb into cloves, but don’t remove the papery skin. Each clove will eventually become a bulb. Plant them with pointed ends up, about 5 cm deep and 15 cm apart, in soil that has been mixed with some organic matter, such as compost or well-rotted mushroom manure.

Find a sunny spot. If you have a low, wet garden, consider building a raised bed. The cloves will need some moisture over the fall and winter, but they risk rotting in wet soil.

Growing

The next step is to wait.

“You really don’t have to do very much,” Mr. Macdonald says. Just keep the area free from weeds.

It’s not necessary to fertilize garlic, but if you want to give your crop a boost, add fertilizer in the spring, once it begins to sprout. Mr. Macdonald suggests using an organic, balanced fertilizer, or fertilizer that contains equal amounts of basic nutrients. (You can tell a fertilizer is balanced by its rating on the label. Mr. Macdonald says to look for one with an equal ratio, like “4-4-4.”) By around June, hard-neck garlic will begin to bloom, sending up “scapes,” or flower stalks. Soft-neck varieties do not produce scapes. Cut these off to encourage the plant to focus its energy on its roots. Don’t discard them, though. Scapes are delicious in pesto, salads and stir-fries.

Harvesting

Wait until about two-thirds of the plant has withered and yellowed before harvesting. In the Vancouver area, this generally happens around the end of July, but the best gauge of when they’re ready is to ensure the plant is well withered.When the lower portion of the plant has dried up, it’s a good sign the papery layers around the bulb have adequately formed, ensuring it will last in storage.

Gently pull up the plants.

Curing

If the weather is warm and dry, simply lay the uprooted plants on their side in the garden. Otherwise, bring them inside and lay them on a rack, out of direct sunlight in a well-ventilated area. Dry them for at least two weeks, making sure the entire plant is completely dehydrated and you see no signs of green.

Curing ensures the protective skin around the bulbs doesn’t get mouldy. Using a dry brush, clean off the dirt. If you’ve grown soft-neck garlic, you can braid the stems and hang it up to store. For hard-neck garlic, trim the stems down to about 10 cm. Cured properly and stored in a dry, well-ventilated place, garlic can keep for around six months.

Or you can just eat it fresh out of the ground.

But save a few of the fattest bulbs for planting. “You don’t want to eat the best-looking ones,” Mr. Macdonald says. “That’s going to ensure the best genetic traits for next year.”

Kitchener Gardening

2011-10-16T19:23:00.002-04:00

David Hobson, In the Garden

Time to clean things up before winter arrives

I suppose it’s time to think about bedtime for the garden. No need to panic. Do nothing and the garden will still be there in spring, albeit a little messy. That’s one of the main reasons to clean things up.

Typically the question is what to do about perennials — cut them down or leave them be? Not all perennials are the same.

The leaves of soft fleshy ones like hosta will flop down and lay on the ground, providing a little winter cover for the plant before eventually breaking down. They are not the most welcoming sight if they’re beside the front door, so removing the leaves before they get messy is worthwhile. If your hostas have been bothered by slugs, it’s a good time to spritz the soil with an ammonia solution, now and in early spring to kill off slugs and slug eggs. Ten parts water to one part ammonia is the most commonly suggested ratio.

Woody stemmed perennials can be left in place as the seed heads provide food for birds, plus the stems will trap insulating snow. Roses are best cut back to about knee height after the canes have turned brown. Some of mine are as tall as me and I don’t want to get whipped into shape by a rose cane should I happen to be out snowshoeing through my backyard. The real reason is to prevent damage to the bud union in windy weather. Pile compost or fresh soil about 20 centimetres high around the base of tea roses and similar roses. Remove in spring as they begin to sprout again.

Evergreen shrubs, including azaleas and rhododendrons need lots of water before freeze up, especially newly planted ones. We often have a few good rains before freeze up, but it can be deceiving. Evergreens lose moisture through their needles or leaves and can’t replace it, so make sure they don’t go into winter thirsty.

For many years it was the fashion to wrap every evergreen in the garden with burlap, but it really isn’t necessary. Freshly planted ones can use the protection, as can those in an exposed location, say where the wind whips around the corner of the house or shed. If they’re subject to salt spray near a road, a screen or wrapping will help, otherwise most will survive just fine if well watered.

There’s still time to plant spring flowering bulbs and these, too, need to be well watered.

Summer flowering bulbs like glads, dahlias, tuberous begonias, and calla and canna lilies need to be dug and stored if you haven’t done so already. Not all are stored in the same manner. They don’t need to be washed, but clean off any soil and discard any that are spongy, damaged, or ravaged by insects.

After the foliage of glads has dried, cut it off and shake any loose soil from the corms. Extra bulblets, or cormlets I suppose, can be removed and stored for future production. Cure the main corms on wooden flats or trays in an airy location for a couple of weeks, then after curing, remove the shrivelled old corms from the base of the new ones and discard. Store them in a cool dark place with good air circulation at a temperature of about 5 C. Mesh onion bags are ideal.

The rhizomes of canna and calla lilies can be treated much the same as glads, but I find dahlias a little trickier. They grow from a tuberous root that either dries up or rots if the moisture level doesn’t suit them. I’ve had most success when I’ve stored them in slightly damp peat moss in an unsealed plastic bag. Again, store in a cool dark place, but occasionally check on the condition. Begonia tubers can be wrapped in newspaper as I find the paper picks up just enough moisture to preserve them. They prefer a slightly warmer storage temperature at around 10 C.

My personal winter storage temperature is around 20 C, but I’m not quite ready yet. I still have lots of last minute puttering to do, maybe weeks if we’re lucky. Weeds are still growing.

2011-10-08T13:05:00.002-04:00

This fall plant is a knockout (if you can get your hands on it)
Marjorie Harris
Globe and Mail
Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011

Lespedeza Thungburgii ‘Gibraltar’ (Bush Clover)

Why you should plant it

This old-fashioned end-of-season plant is a knockout, but it has been hard to get this year. This new cultivar is spectacular in autumn, with rich, rosy pink blooms that will last until frost. The fountain-like shape of the plant will fill out a dusty, boring area even though it is somewhat anonymous-looking the rest of the year.

Where to plant it

Choose a sunny-yet-shady area with well-drained but not rich soil and it will be quite happy. After it’s well established, it will even tolerate drought. It’s Zone 5, but in a protected spot with really good snow cover it might be worth trying one zone colder. By early autumn, it grows into a fountain-shaped, 1.2-by-1.2- metre form.

What it offers

The overarching shape and pea-like flowers are enchanting. The plant blooms on new growth and might die back to the ground in winter. If not, cut it back in spring and it will bloom beautifully all over again.

Source and cost

You’ll pay $15 for a one-gallon pot at Mason House Gardens in Uxbridge, Ont. (905-649-3532). Place orders now for next spring, when it will be available.

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How do you prune clematis?
Marjorie Harris

Q: I have four different kinds of clematis. In the fall, do I cut this plant to waist level? And do I do the same for all of them?

A: When to prune depends on the kind of clematis you have planted. You can leave them all alone, but then they won’t be floriferous.

Here is a very rough guide: If it blooms in early spring, cut it back after the flowers are finished (take out all the dead stuff and prune back to a manageable shape before the end of July).

Once autumn bloomers have finished, I generally cut them back so they don’t bang around during the winter, but many experts recommend waiting until spring (and you see new growth) and then cut them back to about 7.5 centimetres (three inches) from the ground. I usually put compost around the base and that does them very well. Check out www.gardenimport.com for more specific pruning dates.

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Who says you can’t look safe and stylish in the garden?
Karen Sealy

“Who says safety can’t also be stylish? I wear my EYE DIG IT SAFETY SUNGLASSES ($26 through www.digithandwear.com) all the time, whether visiting a job site or working on DIY projects in my own garden.” – Karen Sealy, principal at Sealy Design and host of HGTV’s Summer Home.

Gardening from Kitchener

2011-10-08T12:56:00.003-04:00

(A recent picture from Mars. There's no compost there)

David Hobson
In the garden: I favour a casual approach to composting

The end is near. Well, maybe not that near and not for everything, but it is inevitable. One killing frost and that will be it for many plants.

Flowers will fade, hostas will collapse, annuals will turn to mush and there’ll be leaves everywhere. I don’t want to sound depressing, but at this time of the year, I actually look forward to it. Visitors often say my garden must keep me busy. It does, but mostly in spring and fall.

Apart from watering, deadheading and pulling the odd weed, I don’t have much to do during slow summer months, but come October, I’m ready to work. Days are cool, the air is fresh, and I can find lots to do in the garden. After my seasonal review, I may move a few things around and it’s a good time to transplant most things. I’ll be dividing perennials that have exceeded expectations and outgrown their space and then I’ll be looking for new homes for the extras.

Meanwhile, as plants die off, there will be more fodder for the compost heap. I’ve been adding clippings and weeds to mine since spring, but it hasn’t grown much. In fact, it’s actually shrunk, which is what compost does. It’s the magical way nature breaks things down and recycles everything organic by turning it into compost, an amazing soil conditioner. Finished compost doesn’t look much different from soil, perhaps a little lumpier. It’s really just concentrated soil, filled with moisture retaining organic matter plus minerals and nutrients reclaimed from all the composted plant material.

When it’s spread around plants or dug into a new bed, the compost feeds the soil, a living organism filled with countless hungry insects, worms, microbes and fungi. They work away continuously, processing organic matter into a form that can be utilized by living plants. If you should take a walk in the bush this fall, take note of how no one there cleans up the dead plants or rakes up leaves, yet all that material eventually vanishes — magic. Composting in the backyard speeds up the process and makes things look a little neater. Even if we were to do nothing, all the plant material that dies off each fall would break down and return to the soil on its own.

I have a laissez-faire approach to composting — just an open pile in the back corner. I call it cold fusion as opposed to a pile that heats up. To get a compost heap to heat up, it needs a mix of nitrogen rich material (green stuff) and a source of carbon found in things such as leaves, straw, or sawdust. If the mix is right and pile is large enough, it will heat up surprisingly quickly.

There are lots of articles that suggest compost must be turned regularly. Yes, it does help speed things up by introducing oxygen into the pile, which aids the bacteriological process. The material will break down faster.

But do nothing and it will still decompose. The only time I work on mine is when I dig out the finished compost from the bottom and set it in a pile for use now or in spring.

There’ll soon be no shortage of leaves to add to your compost heap. I build one pile of leaves only and by spring, it’s only partially composted and retains enough structure to be used as mulch. Once spread on flower beds, this mulch eventually decomposes completely, vanishing into the soil.

If you’re adding to your compost pile this fall, don’t include weed seeds, or anything you might consider a weed if it were to show up everywhere in your garden.

Composting isn’t the end of them if the pile doesn’t heat up enough. They’ll remain viable and sprout wherever you spread the compost — but then again, pulling them up will keep you busy through slow summer months.

Marjorie Harris videos

2011-10-01T10:55:00.003-04:00

Eight new Marjorie Harris videos:

#1 - Plant bulbs in a container now to dress up your porch (come spring)
#2 - Which plants to cut back in your fall garden (and which to leave alone)
#3 - How to care for vines at the end of gardening season
#4 - How to plant bulbs now for beautiful flowers later
#5 - What winter mulching does for your garden
#6 - The best way to clean gardening containers
#7 - Create a winter look in your garden with these container tips
#8 - How to plant a tree in your garden

Gardening from Kitchener

2011-10-01T10:48:00.003-04:00

David Hobson
Friday September 30th, 2011

In the garden: Goldenrod . . . so misunderstood

Wild flowers here and in Mexico! I think we have the edge in fall. It’s really just nature’s way of going out with a bang, this annual fall display of colour, but over the last few weeks, driving along country roads, or for that matter, past any vacant lot, other fall colours have been highly visible, yet we take them for granted. I’m talking about the great swaths of late-flowering plants that are a prelude to the big show.

The most obvious is goldenrod and it’s hard to miss when it’s splashed across the countryside. Yes, I suppose many would call it a weed, but so be it, yet it is so misunderstood. Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) is blamed for causing allergies simply because it’s in bloom at the same time as allergy-causing ragweed, a sneaky plant with an inconspicuous flower that goes completely unnoticed while the poor goldenrod gets the blame.

It is possible that a person could be specifically allergic to goldenrod, but the pollen is sticky and heavy and doesn’t float through the air like ragweed — so unless the pollen is handled or snorted directly, it shouldn’t be a problem for anyone.

Goldenrod does receive the respect it deserves in Nebraska and Kentucky — it’s the state flower in both — and herbalists consider it useful in treating a number of ailments. Even Thomas Edison liked goldenrod. He experimented with the plant in the hope of using it to produce rubber which was in short supply during the Second World War. He had some success, including the breeding of a plant that grew to over three metres high. He did successfully produce rubber, but his process didn’t get much beyond the experimental stage and was ultimately abandoned by the U.S. government after it took over the research.

But I digress. In wonderful contrast to yellow goldenrod is the purple aster, not as prolific, but scattered among it everywhere. It is most likely the New England Aster formerly and formally known as Aster novae-angliae.

Asters underwent a botanical name change in the 1990s and this species is now referred to as Symphyotrichum novae-angliae. This was to distinguish old world plants (aster is the ancient Greek word for star) from our new world genus. I say “most likely” New England aster as I haven’t surveyed every purple patch, and for most people, purple aster is a sufficient description. But if you happen to be looking for a new hobby, try finding and identifying the almost 20 species of aster (oops — Symphyotrichum) growing in Ontario. Most are either whitish or purplish, so good luck.

Sticking their heads above the asters and goldenrods, you will see teasels. These are the brown, bristly seed heads of Dipsacus fullonum. This plant is considered an invasive on this continent, but I kind of like it. They make a nice addition to a flower arrangement, especially a winter display as they last for ages. A related species is known as Fuller’s Teasel, used in the past by the textile industry which made use of the prickly barbs to raise the nap on fabrics. Walk through a teasel patch and it will raise more than your nap — clingy to say the least.

Gardening in The Globe

2011-10-01T10:42:00.002-04:00

How do you look after a Caryopteris?
Marjorie Harris
Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011

THE QUESTION

This fall, I have planted the flowering Caryopteris ‘Dark Knight’ and ‘First Choice.’ How should I look after them?

THE ANSWER

Both magnificent choices for autumn colour. The deep blue flowers are late to come out and we need them. Bees love them. Make sure they are well mulched after hard frost. And when they start looking ratty (they will die back), prune them back to about a foot. They bloom on new wood, so they’ll be set to go in spring. If you are in a very cold area, wait until spring to prune. Once you can see the first growth, then cut back to that area.

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Why you need a pair of Wellys for the garden

“As the temperatures drop and the rain descends, Wellington boots are the perfect accessory to keep you warm and dry while you prepare your garden for winter. I love the way my red Hunter Wellingtons ($129.99 through www.getoutsideshoes.com and others) brighten up the job.” – Senga Lindsay, principal at Senga Landscape Architecture in Vancouver

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All the butterflies will love you after you plant this fall flower
Marjorie Harris

BUDDLEJA NANOENSIS ‘SANTANA’ (VARIEGATED BUTTERFLY BUSH)

WHY YOU SHOULD PLANT IT

The butterflies really love this one and it has just about the most reliable of all autumn flowers. In some areas, such as British Columbia, it can become invasive. In less favourable climes, though, it’s not too bad in its behaviour. But this cultivar is an eyeball-grabbing beauty. Its variegated foliage looks great all season long: It is deep gold and pale green, and the blooms are a glorious purple tone.
More related to this story

WHERE TO PLANT IT

In full sun, with good drainage. Though it doesn’t need a lot of fertilizing, it does need a rich soil. The deer don’t like it – yet. And while it doesn’t have high water needs once it’s established, it does require space: The height is almost 2m by 1.75m wide. It will probably die back in winter. If not, cut it down to about 30 cm from the ground in spring since it blooms on new wood.

WHAT IT OFFERS

This plant might not be widely available until next year and it is one worth demanding. The amazing foliage colour serves as a great background for other strong foliage plants, and it would sit perfectly in the middle of a border. If it’s out of your zone (Z6), try ‘Miss Ruby,’ which has a similar luscious bloom colour but silvery grey foliage. Buddlejas are a valuable plant in the ecological garden, and they look magnificent when other things start to tail off.

SOURCE AND COST

Get it for $18.99 (with an additional 25 per cent off during the current end-of-season sale) at Scentsational Plants in Victoria, B.C. and others.

BBC News about British Gardening

2011-09-30T09:49:00.002-04:00

(Buddleia, a favourite with the butterflies, is blooming for a second time this year)

Flowers bloom for a second time this year
By Jennifer Carpenter Science reporter, BBC News

UK plants are flowering for a second time this year because of the unseasonably warm weather. With temperatures soaring, plants such as foxglove and cowslip, which usually flower in the spring, are in full bloom six to eight months early.

Cold nights experienced across the UK in August are thought to have led to the early onset of autumn colours. This warmer spell now has plants acting like it is spring.

Gardeners at the National Trust's Wakehurst Place gardens in Sussex said they are working from a "new rule book" to keep up. "It is a very unsual year...I've been gardening for 30 years and have never seen anything like this," said Wakehurst Place's head Andy Jackson. "We are increasingly seeing that plants are not synchronised with what the weather is doing," he added.

In the last year, the UK experienced an incredibly warm winter, followed by a severe drought, then lots of rainfall and a cold snap in the summer, all before this warm spell explained Mr Jackson.

From mid-August, gardeners were seeing trees turning yellow and orange; it is unclear what will happen now with temperatures reaching into the thirties (eighties) in parts of the South, East and the Midlands.

The BBC's meteorologist Liam Dutton explained that the position of the jet stream north of the UK has allowed high pressure to build, bringing in the very warm air from western Europe.

Funny Sign

2011-09-25T22:56:00.001-04:00

Kitchener Gardening - Orchids & Spring Bulbs

2011-09-24T09:18:00.003-04:00

(Lady Slipper orchid)

In the garden: Orchid show opens at Hespeler arena

That was a frosty close call last weekend, but everything survived, even my impatiens and coleus. They’re soft stemmed plants, usually among the first to succumb to cold, while plants with woodier stems hold on a little longer.

Time may be running out for the flowering plants in the garden, but that doesn’t mean there will be a lack of colour. Ornamental grasses are looking their best now, as trees and shrubs begin their shift across the spectrum to take their place in another glorious fall production.

There’s another place to see brilliant colours this weekend. It’s the Central Ontario Orchid Society annual show and sale at the Hespeler arena, Cambridge. I went last year for the first time and now I’m an orchid grower. Not a particularly good one, perhaps, but they’re still alive and all three are flowering again, so I must be doing something right.

That’s summer colour, fall colour and potential winter colour covered, but what about spring?

Planted your spring flowering bulbs yet? The cooler weather should have lowered the soil temperature a little, close to the preferred optimum of below 16 degrees C. The reason we don’t plant bulbs in summer is because they might think of sprouting if they just came out of cold storage. From now until freeze-up is the best time to get them into the ground.

Success is almost guaranteed as the flower is already in the bulb, waiting for sprouting conditions, but a little care when planting will ensure they grow well and continue to produce blooms in years to come.

Plant about three times the height of the bulb, measured to the bottom of the hole. By planting a few bulbs slightly deeper, you’ll be able to stagger the blooming time and extend the display. Rather than planting bulbs individually with a bulb-planting tool, I prefer to give the soil a good turning and plant a group. I dig in organic matter like compost or rotten leaves at the same time.

If you do choose to plant bulbs individually, there are soil auger tools available that fit on an electric drill. Drill a little deeper and drop a little compost in to soften the bottom the of the hole and get the roots off to a good start. Don’t plant bulbs where the soil will be waterlogged over winter as this can cause them to rot.

For the less energetic gardener, I recently read of an experiment where, instead of digging holes for tulip bulbs, they were placed on the surface of a flower bed and covered with about 20 centimetres of mulch. They apparently flowered well, but perhaps only as a one time display, as I would think just a layer of mulch would make it a little too easy for squirrels or other pests to get at the bulbs, a frequent concern.

There are many suggestions to discourage critters from bulb hunting. Most effective is a barrier — chicken wire either on the soil surface or buried a five or six centimetres (about two inches) in the soil. The shoots will easily grow up through the mesh. Squirrels are attracted to bulbs by disturbed soil and by sniffing them out. There are countless suggestions on what to use to disguise the smell, everything from moth balls, pepper, blood meal, human hair to Irish Spring soap. Why this particular soap? Who knows? Is it effective? Maybe. True deterrents are daffodils and alliums. Since squirrels won’t go near them, stick with using them if you have a serious problem, or plant them among your other bulbs.

Looks like it’s going to be a busy weekend.

BBC Gardening

2011-09-24T09:08:00.003-04:00

23 September 2011

Plant hunters' legacy help Japan's threatened species
By Mark Kinver Environment reporter, BBC News

When Japan opened its borders in 1854, plant hunters flocked there in search of exotic species

The British tradition of collecting plants from all four corners of the world means the UK is now home to many Japanese species which are under threat in their native land, a study reports.

Botanic Gardens Conservation International found more than 350 such species in UK gardens and collections.

They also counted 106 vascular plant species in UK collections that were not present in Japanese ones.

They hope the findings will help protect potentially vital specimens.

The report found two species - a shrub, Flemingia strobilifera, and a fern, Hypolepis tenuifloa - growing in the UK despite being deemed locally extinct in their Japanese homeland.

"There was a period of time where it was very much the thing to do and go out and collect plant material, and Britain was probably at the lead of it," explained Suzanne Sharrock, director of global programmes for Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).

"It is fair to say that we have always had a tradition of gardening and an interest in plants.

"And - certainly among the upper classes - they wanted new and different plants that no-one else had. That was probably the spur behind it."

Japan became a magnet for plant-hunters in 1854 when its rulers ended their self-imposed 200-year trade exile, after accepting it would not result in the invasion of the nation.
Acer pycnanthum (Image: Westonbirt Arboretum) Maples' autumnal colours made the genus popular with western gardeners

The archipelago provided a number of biomes, from sub-tropical to sub-Arctic, which contained a rich array of botanical delights for those in search of new and commercially important species.

It is considered one of the Asia-Pacific region's biological hotspot, with an estimated 7,000 native species of vascular plants, of which 40% are endemic to the islands.

With such biological riches waiting to be harvested, Japan attracted botanists from countries across Europe, including the Netherlands, France and Britain.

In their numbers were the likes of Ernest H Wilson, a prolific collector credited with introducing about 2,000 species from Asia to the West, including the kiwi fruit.

Even today, species from Japan continue to attract the attention of western horticulturists, from maples and their autumnal display to the flowers of azaleas that signal the arrival of spring.

Dr Sharrock acknowledged the irony of finding that the plants' popularity in the West have played a part in their decline within their native habitat, pushing some species closer to extinction.

"There is a continuing push to look for new things, and some of the species that are now under threat are definitely under threat because they have been overcollected as a result of their popularity," she told BBC News.

The report identifies 50 Japanese gardens in the UK - including botanic gardens, arboreta and collections of Japanese plants - that collectively contain 356 species featured on the Red List of Japanese vascular plants (species with tissue to transport water and nutrients through the plant).

The species were identified through databases such as the BGCI's PlantSearch and the UK Tree Register.

They were then cross-referenced against the 2007 Japanese Red List to see which of the species were deemed to be under threat.

Dr Sharrock said that a number of species on the threatened list were relatively common sights in gardens and collections across the UK, including:

Magnolia stellata (often referred to as the star magnolia) - its flowers, which consist of up to 30 petals, open before its leaves. The first specimen was introduced to UK gardens in the late 1880s, yet within Japan it is only found in the wild and its habitat is under threat. As it is naturally only found in Japan, it is deemed to be globally endangered in the wild.

Acer pycnanthum - a rare maple, which is only found in Japan. There are an estimated 1,000 mature individuals remaining in the wild, which are distributed across approximately 60 locations. The expansion of commercial forestry is one of the main threats facing the species.

Dr Sharrock explained that in order to build on the report's findings, the BGCI would share the results with Japanese scientists.

"They feel the next step is to check the identification of these species to make sure they are correctly identified," she said. "Then it will be a case of looking at the size of the collection to see the amount of genetic diversity that is represented.

"If it is one plant growing in one place then, in terms of using it for conservation purposes, the scope is limited. But if it is a reasonable size collection or if it is found in more than one location, then it could form the basis of a conservation collection."

While the report focused on Japanese flora found in UK gardens, she added that the model could be applied to other nations as well.

"I think it is the same for all countries. Regardless of its state of development, every country in the world is grappling with extinction crises to their native plants," she observed.

"A developed country may have more resources to deal with the issue, but they also have a lot of competing demands."

Hot Water Heaters

2011-09-23T22:19:00.002-04:00

Water heater salesmen knocking again
New firm owned by familiar name

By Hugh Adami, Ottawa Citizen September 4, 2011

Remember Universal Energy Corp. and its parent company, Just Energy Group Ltd.?

Universal was fined $127,500 by the Ontario Energy Board in 2009 for noncompliant practices," which included false and misleading statements to consumers. A few months later, Universal was fined another $60,000, again for non-compliance complaints. Those complaints also involved false and misleading statements.

Universal, a hydro and gas provider, doesn't "actively market" anymore, says Gord Potter, Just Energy's vicepresident of regulatory and legal affairs. The big knock against Universal, and various others that came into existence after the Competition Bureau opened up the energy market almost a decade ago, was unscrupulous door-to-door sales agents. They were accused of misleading consumers with promises of huge savings if they switched energy providers. But the bills would often end up being much higher, contracts were long and cancellation penalties were exorbitant. The Public Citizen was able to get Lynne Cournoyer's Universal contract cancelled shortly after the single mother of two fell victim in 2009.

There's another Just Energy company making the rounds these days. National Home Services was acquired by Just Energy about two years ago. Among its services are water heater rentals. And if complaints from consumers are true, it would appear National's sales agents must have been transferred from Universal.

So far though, National hasn't run into trouble with regulators.

Potter says the company has a thorough followup process in ensuring that new customers know exactly what they're buying into, and contracts are very clear.

Still, there are plenty of stories about National sales personnel and the playbook of opening lines they use to get your signature on a new contract.

For example: "We're replacing all water heaters on this street with more energy-efficient ones. When would it be convenient for our installer to drop by with your new tank?"

A National sales agent used a similar line last February on Lucien Binette and Theresa Beaudoin, senior citizens from Smiths Falls. They thought it odd to be replacing a water heater that was only a year old, yet they agreed, signing a 15-year contract with National. But the paperwork indicated that their new tank was an E40G and the one removed was an E40G, too. So what are they saving in energy costs, they wonder. They know their rental fee is $2 more than Direct Energy's, but they did get the first two months for free. Another concern is that National still hasn't returned the old tank to Direct Energy, so the couple is still paying the rental on that tank as well. That's about $10 to Direct Energy and around $12 to National every month.

Potter says he'll make sure the old tank is located and returned.

There have been complaints about other companies renting water heaters - Ontario Energy Group, LivClean and MorEnergy among them.

The competition is obviously doing such a good job of luring away customers from Direct Energy and Reliance Home Comfort - which dominate the market - that the two have websites with warnings of salespeople with tall tales. Direct Energy also has a radio ad, warning consumers about water heater tricksters.

National is undoubtedly the biggest thorn for Direct Energy and Reliance. Water heater rentals at National alone have reached 120,000.

There have been various reports of sales agents telling potential customers that they are water heater inspectors from the government, their tanks are hazardous or their provider is no longer in business.

"You're going to have some consumer dissatisfaction," says Potter. "But overall, we run a very highquality (business).

"It's a very, very competitive market, There is a lot of activity. ... We happen to be the biggest competitor (to Direct Energy and Reliance). So they've become very, very aggressive in trying to stop the erosion of their customer base. It's understandable. And we're giving people great value."

The Ontario Ministry of Consumer Relations says water heater rentals was third on the Top 10 list of consumer complaints in 2010, with 1,974 - 502 more than motor-vehicle sales, which was fourth. Collection agencies were the worst, with 5,041 complaints, followed by home renovations/repairs, with 2,547.

Complaint statistics from the Ontario Energy Board's website are not the freshest, but Just Energy companies were leading the pack from January to March 2010 with a total of 334.

The board doesn't break down the number company by company. The Better Business Bureau says it has received 82 complaints concerning National Home Services from residents in midwestern and central Ontario over the past three years. Most were resolved. And an August 2010 CBC report says 20 complaints about National were filed with the Ottawa Better Business Bureau. Again, the majority were resolved.

Ottawa resident Claire Whitty contacted The Public Citizen about being "scammed" into signing a 15-year contract with Ontario Energy Group on Aug. 22.

"A young man in a uniform ... told me that Hydro Ottawa was replacing all rental hot water tanks with new ones that saved energy and would cut down on hydro costs."

The next day, she became suspicious and was able to confirm the story was bogus through Reliance, which provides her water heater.

Whitty, who is in her 70s, called the province's consumer services branch. It told her it has received many similar complaints. She was in luck though. Under Ontario's consumer laws, she had 10 days to cancel the contract without penalty. She phoned Ontario Energy Group to cancel the contract and also sent the company a registered letter. The installers never showed up, so she should be safe. I couldn't get through to anyone at the company to confirm her contract had been cancelled.

General advice when sales agents come to your door is not to sign anything until you have a chance to research what information they provide, or bid them a quick goodbye.

Gardening in The Globe

2011-09-17T14:32:00.003-04:00

A flower that takes your garden from yellow to scarlet
Marjorie Harris
Saturday's Globe and Mail, Sept 17, 2011

Plant of the week

Coreopsis ‘Red Shift’ (Tickseed)

Why you should plant it

This outré, heavily floriferous plant has daisy-like flowers that start out – as most tickseeds do – sporting a soft but bright yellow in July. As the days grow shorter and the evenings cooler, the crimson centre enlarges about the same time as all the other floral intensity hits in September, standing up to the wild brilliance in scarlet abundance.

Where to plant it

This plant needs full sun to do the job of transitioning from yellow to crimson and can only take a small amount of shade. It will bloom from July to the end of September into October. It has bigger flowers than most tickseeds and certainly makes a statement, growing 60 centimetres high by 45 centimetres wide in a nicely formed mound. ‘Red Shift’ needs ordinary soil and is, I’m told, deer-resistant.

What it offers

This plant is ideal for perking up the autumn garden. The ferny foliage looks lovely even out of bloom. Although it must be regularly deadheaded, it attracts bees and butterflies. The blooms are a great boost to the colours of the autumn border, providing nice motion to set off grasses and evergreens. It has done extremely well in containers and seems hardy to Zone 5 and possibly Zone 4 with lots of protection.

Source and cost

Get it for $8 at nurseries including John’s Garden Centre in Uxbridge, Ont. (905-862-6175).
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How do I prep my cedar hedge for the coming cold?
Marjorie Harris

The question

We just put in a new cedar hedge. When do we prune it?

The answer

Do other maintenance work before you think of pruning: Make sure each tree gets three buckets of water twice a week (or about an hour and a half with a sprinkler) and goes into winter well-watered through this method. Do this until frost is threatened.

You can leave the pruning for this year, but a year from now start it in late winter or early spring. Shape the hedge so the top is slightly narrower than the bottom so snow doesn’t collect on it and break branches. This is true for all evergreen hedges. With flowering hedges, prune after they’ve bloomed in spring or summer.
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A must-have composter to help make next year’s spring bountiful
Rosemary Little Jeffares

The Lee Valley Rolling Composter ($185 through www.leevalley.com)

“I love this composter. It turns and aerates the compost easily, and when the blend is ready, I can just roll it over to the place in the garden where it’s needed. At fall’s end, I’ll create a little hill in my garden made up of any unfinished compost and cover it in leaves. It’s the first place I’ll plant something wonderful in spring.”

Gardening

2011-09-17T13:39:00.002-04:00

In the garden: My mandevilla vine is waiting to hear its fate

If plants indeed have feelings, the mandevilla vine I’m growing in a container on the patio must be nervously wondering if I’m going to bring it indoors before the end of the month.

And it’s not alone. I suspect there are quite a number of similar vines around town that are anxiously awaiting their fate. Will they be abandoned, tossed on the compost heap, or only considered the morning after a frosty night? By then it will be too late.

Many gardeners thoughtfully bring these plants indoors before temperatures at night fall much below 10 degrees, thereby relieving them of any worries. But then the leaves turn yellow and fall off within days and the plant is tossed anyway. It’s a pity, as most can be overwintered successfully.

As for the falling leaves, this is what they do in fall and to some extent, even tropical plants will drop a few leaves. Lower light levels found indoors simply compound the problem. In some cases the plants don’t lose any leaves, even appear to flourish for a while, then it begins — a yellowing leaf here and there, and soon the vacuum cleaner is clogged with them.

The leaf drop can be due to the change in conditions or it could be insects, insects that love to spend the winter in a cosy living room where, unlike outdoors, there are no predators to limit their enthusiasm for reproduction. Aphids, mealy bugs, and white fly are among the usual suspects, plus a few soil dwelling critters that may or may not be harmful to the plant.

Here’s what to do before bringing your plants indoors — and this goes for all plants making a move.

First, wrap a plastic bag around the pot and tape it to the main stem. This is so the soil doesn’t become over saturated with whatever you use to spray the leaves. The spray may take care of a few soil pests, but too much isn’t good for the plant. It has been suggested that soil pests can be controlled by standing the pot in pail of warm water for 20 minutes. I’m not sure how effective it is, but if it’s hot enough to kill bugs, it may also broil the roots, so be careful.

As for the spray, you can use an insecticidal soap formulated for houseplants, or mix up your own soap spray at 20 parts water to one part pure soap. Horticultural oil is also an option if used according to directions.

When spraying, ensure that all foliage and stems are completely covered, over and under. The sprays are not supposed to harm leaves, but I always advise caution. Sometimes it’s wise to test on a couple of leaves first, although it will take a few days before any damage shows up. To be on the safe side, I like to rinse off the solution after about 15 minutes. Repeat the process about a week later to ensure you get all the pests. If you have to do this after you’ve brought the plant indoors, your plant will be more than happy to share a gentle shower with you (Watch the temperature and skip the conditioner!).

Once indoors, depending on how large the plant has become, place it in front of a sunny window, but avoid the hot air register as these plants like high humidity — regular misting or placed on a water-filled pebble tray. If conditions are right, it will continue to bloom for some time.

Alternatively, mandevilla can be cut back to about 30 centimetres, which will also take care of many pest problems. If it continues to push out new growth, fertilize lightly, otherwise none until normal growth resumes, usually in mid to late February.

If you aren’t able to provide optimum conditions, the alternative is to allow the plant to go dormant in a cool room where the temperature stays around 10 degrees. Water only enough to prevent the soil from drying out.

Now, go give some reassuring words to your mandevilla (also known as dipladenia) — and keep a close watch on the weather forecasts.

Shiba Dog

2011-09-12T08:47:00.001-04:00

This is Important - A Japanese Dog that Meows!!!

2011-09-11T11:03:00.001-04:00

Click on image below to run video taken from Japanese TV.

Apparently the dog was raised with a cat, so he ended up learning how to meow instead of bark. The dog owner also commented that she has never heard the dog bark.

wan wan nyan by islandlifer3

Kitchener Gardening

2011-09-10T07:12:00.002-04:00

(Image: Salvia - Victoria Blue)

In the garden: Salvia is a very versatile plant

The garden is as lush as it gets, teetering on the edge of wild abandon. On a misty morning the pathways are impassable without getting soaked from the waist down. Too many planters on the patio have exceeded expectations and now limit any kind of gathering to me and Sophie, our dog, and even then eye contact is a challenge.

All of this is because I plant more than I should, both in flower beds and in pots. I’m always squeezing in just one more plant. After planting in spring, the whole place looks sparse, disappointing. By summer it’s peaking, but in September the plants that initially moved slowly have literally risen to the challenge and are unstoppable.

Among them is salvia, one of my favourites. I have a number of varieties, including the popular and familiar Victoria Blue. I stuck in a few as filler this year and fill they did, growing beyond knee height.

I have other salvia, varieties that are not rare at all, but that are not always recognized as salvia. It’s no surprise, as my encyclopedia of garden plants has more than four pages devoted to this plant. They originate all around the world in temperate and tropical regions, on rocky slopes, dry meadows and moist grassland. Many are aromatic and most have square stems. Hairy leaves are also a common feature.

Salvia is in the family Lamiaceae, also known as the mint family, which includes herbs such as rosemary, sage, marjoram, oregano, thyme, lavender and mint. The salvia genus is comprised of about 900 species. Include sub species, hybrids, natural and cultivated, then throw in common names and keeping track is like first day back at school in a new class.

Although there are annuals, perennials and shrubs among the species of salvia, it’s the annuals that are typically available at most garden centres in spring. Among my favourites is Salvia patens Cambridge Blue, and blue it is — a lovely sky blue without a hint of purple.

Oxford Blue is darker. And despite being named for the rival universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England, it’s a variety that looks exceptional when paired in a container. Just to add to the naming confusion — and I don’t want to bog down this column in botanical nomenclature —there’s a second Oxford Blue listed, except it’s a different species — Salvia horminum.

And if that isn’t enough of a problem, it may be shown as Salvia viridis Oxford Blue, thanks to botanists disagreeing over the species name.

If you would like an even darker blue, look for yet another species — Salvia guaranitica. Black and Blue is a variety with smaller blue petals encased in almost black sepals, a unique colouring that attracts attention.

Don’t care for blue? Look for Salvia coccinea Lady in Red. Or for white, choose Salvia farinacea Strata. And don’t forget the lovely foliage of the perennial plant Salvia officinalis tricolour, better known as common sage. The variegated leaves are green and white splashed with purple. Grow it for herb value or as an ornamental plant.

Salvia is such a versatile plant. There’s one for almost every use or growing condition and enough colours to suit any taste. Many attract butterflies and humming birds, others are used as medicinal herbs, and one species provides psychedelic drug effects. Its legality is currently under review in some U.S. states.

I’m usually happy with the salvia varieties I find on garden centre racks in spring, but if I became tired of the ones I’ve frequently grown I can always seek out seed for rare varieties.

As for the names, once you have them in your own garden, call them whatever you like. I’m tempted to rename my Salvia coccinea Toll Booth — given the way it’s blocking my garden path.

Marjorie Harris Q&A in the Globe

2011-09-03T12:23:00.003-04:00

Marjorie H. did an online Q&A session at the Globe last Thursday
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How does your garden grow?

Moderator: Hello green thumbs and welcome to the gardening chat forum. Marjorie Harris is joining us live to take your questions. If you have a question, you can ask it here - or, if you'd like to show her your problem, email an image, along with a brief question, to garden@scribblelive.com

Newbie greenthumb: I bought some hostas for a shaded area of my garden. I've been told that I can cut them to make new plants. How exactly - and when - do I do this?

MH to newbie greenthumb: Hostas are wonderful plants and you can divide them up. But I'd wait until spring so they are easier to manage than they are right now. Wait until you see their snouts coming out of the garden, then dig them up and whack them in half with a shovel. Replant each half at the same depth as before et voila you've got two plants. If you do it now wait until the foliage starts to fade and you have to cut if off anyway. Make sure there's about six weeks before hard frost if you are going to do it now. I'd go the easy route: wait until spring.

newbie greenthumb: Thanks for answering my question. What do you mean by snouts, however? I planted full plants, not seeds.

MH to newbie greenthumb: The foliage on the hostas fades, turns yellow and you remove it to keep slugs from living there all winter. They're in dormancy all winter. In early spring start watching the spot where you planted the and you will see these little nubs coming out of the ground which will turn into the big luscious leaves. That's when to dig them up and divide them. But, as I say, you can do it now it just isn't as easy.

Sdbligh: When do I take the annuals out of my garden? I have some impatiens that are still in bloom.

MH to sdbligh - Leave annuals such as Impatiens alone until they get his with frost. One day they will look just fine and after a frost hit, they will look yucky. At that point pull them out of the garden and toss on the compost. Remember that some annuals will keep blooming until late in the year.

Sonia Gadhia: I have cedars in front of my house that have grown quite tall (almost up to the second storey!). I've heard I should trim them so that they will grow wider (to form a hedge, I guess). I'm not quite sure how to proceed.

MH to Sonia Gadhia: With cedars that tall, I'd recommend getting in a good arbourist to prune them properly. though if you are confident of your own ability make sure you have the right height of ladder and start trimming off the top. Make the top narrower than the sides so that snow doesn't collect and cause a fracture.

Michael R. Smith: I planted an outdoor herb garden this year (in a container). I'd like to do the same thing next year. Do I have to rip out the old plants?

MH to Michael R. Smith: If you have some perennial herbs such as lavender you can leave them in the container as long as it's bigger than 2' by 2' by 2'. They will stay in the container over the winter if you mulch it properly. Take out stuff such as basil and other annuals and toss them in the compost. Next year add some fresh compost to the top and start planting.

Hazel Sutherland: I live in Vancouver and for the first time I planted large white Calla Lillies in a container on my deck. Can I leave them in the container over winter? If not what should I do?

MH to Hazel Sutherland: You are so lucky. Callas are great plants and you should be able to leave them outside all winter. Make sure the container is off the ground sitting on a brick, water it well and then keep the container protected. If you haven't lined it with newspapers or styrofoam put some packing bubble around it just in case.

Nancy from Dundas: At the end of the season, when it is time to take the annuals and such out of the potsand containers, can I recycle the potting soil I used this year for next year, or should I toss in the garden and start new? Thank you.

MH to Nancy from Dundas - Yes it's a really good idea to remove the soil. What I do is dump it all together and add some compost to the top and just let it sit until next year; or put it in a bag with some compost. Next year you won't have to buy so much potting soil and you'll have a fairly lively batch working away from this year. Put some holes in the bag so that air can get in. And put it in a place where rats and mice can't.

Michael: My new euonymous plats are dropping leaves with black specks on the top side and what looks like colonies of tiny "white rice" on the undersides. I've seen it around the neighbourhood to. Help!

MH to Michael - euonymus has a problem with scale and it sounds like you've been hit with an infestation of them. Give it a good dose of soap and water the minute you see this stuff pop out: one tsp Ivory soap to a pint of water. Do it top and bottom. Research scale and see when the cycle is due to start and keep going with the spray. You may end up having to do some serious pruning of damaged stems

Dominiiphone: This my cherry tree. It had gorgeous pink blossoms in the spring and bright green leaves all summer. But as you can see, the trunk is in rough shape. It's been like this since I moved in (just over a year ago). Do I need to do anything about it?

Marjorie Harris (MH): That's not a very cheerful looking tree. It's very damaged and you've got a lot of stuff stuf around it which isn't doing it any good. Get a certified arborist to come in and look at it and see if it can be save. Right now I wouldn't count on it.

Sandi in St Thomas: Here's a video (not posted in blog) of our hornet problem. They're invading our siding - right above our garden, and making the enjoyment of that garden impossible! Any tips on attacking sneaky wasps, without getting hurt?

MH to Sandi from St Thomas: You can lure the hornets away from behind that meter by using a plate with some honey or fruit and then plug the space behind. Make sure they've all left the area before you do this.

Sheppard, Jim: Every year, it seems, our bush zucchini plants start our very strong, growing well, yielding lots of fruit. Then in late July or August, they start getting spotted or powerdery-covered leaves, which eventually turn yellow and die. The plants stop fruiting about the same time. Is there something we can do to prevent this? What's the cause?

MH to Sheppard, Jim - Don't plant in the same spot. It looks like powdery mildew with is a fungal disease. If the spores get into the ground it will infect the plant and you'll have a repeat. Move The plants to spot that is airy and humidity won't collect. Don't give up trying to grow them however.

Bcm: Jim in Mississauga has the exact same problem with zucchini that I do, judging by his picture! Maybe there is a vining version of zucchini that I can grow up my steel corkscrew tomato stakes that will keep the leaves from touching the soil?

MH to BCM: I don't know enough about growing zucchinis to give you advice on that. But it sounds smart. You see people putting melons and other vining plants into little cotton cradles to keep them off the ground. Why couldn't you do that with zucchinis?

Siva: We have some fruit trees, planted this summer, in the backyard ( cherry, apricot, and plum). Some of the leaves on the trees started having browning spots followed by holes in those areas. What can we do. We applied soap and water. It appears that the browning and the subsequent holes have slowed or even stopped. What else can we do. What causes this problem? Since the growing season is almost coming to an end, can we not do anything about it until next spring? Thank you.

MH to Siva Sound: fungal and those diseases are systemic so don't let any of the leaves linger on the ground or it will return next year. Give the area a good drench of compost tea to help it fight off this disease (have a look at the videos there's one in there about it). Cut off any branches that look diseases or dead and take it all right out of the garden. Keeping things clean this year might help them next year.

Betty R: Hi Marjorie - My garden has gone green; meaning, all my blooms are done. I've got one rose bush that's on its second round and just bought a hydrangea to go in with it, but I'm looking for some more perennials to add now that will brighten up the greener patches (more shade than sun; soil is clayey). Thanks!

MH to Betty R - There are some wonderful plants you can consider. Itea 'Little Henry' has such brilliant foliage colour you wouldn't notice the fading of the late season flowers. Yes there are hydrangeas but look for one called 'Fire and Ice' which has spectacular red stems though the flowers have long since faded. Perennials: well echinaceas, vernonia, veronicastrum are all in flower and are native plants. I've got asters and an artemisia called A. lactiflora 'Guizho' which is just about to burst into a brilliant white bloom; Phlox 'David' is still with us as re the eupatoriums. This is one of the most floriferous times of the garden with the right choices.

Diane: This summer the leaves of most of my peony bushes have developed what appears to be a covering of a white mildew. This has never happened previously. What might be the cause(s)?

MH to Diane: This has been a difficult year: too much water in spring then long hot periods. It's a fungal disease and as soon as the leaves start looking yellow, cut them off and get rid of them. You might want to try an organic fungicide before winter sets in.

Lwalker: I live in Toronto, and I have three tomato plants in my garden that have a lot of tomatoes on them, but none are turning red! Is there anything I can do? It's starting to get late in the season...

MH to Lwalker: Be patient with the tomatoes. We've got weeks of sunlight ahead of us and if you give them one last hit of compost: just water some in around the plants you might help them along. Don't rush. Be patient.

Dominiiphone: How do you know when a plant is truly dead? I planted this guy earlier this summer (right before the heat wave, unfortunately) and I fear he didn't make it. It's a fiery Japanese something (the tips of the leaves turn red). I also thought it was supposed to be an evergreen.

MH to dominiiphone: I hardly ever give up on plants but use the fingernail test: scrape a piece of the wood stem. If it's green on the cambium the plant's still alive. if not, it's cooked, croaked, fallen off the perch. Rip it out and start again. I say this but what I'd do is cut it back severely and see if it want to stay alive.

Dominic Girard: Question!!! What's the best way to get rid of scale on a staghorn fern? It's driving my boss crazy. He says scale is gross.

MH to Dominic Girard - The best thing to do would be to use denatured alcohol and rub them off. Dampen a cotton ball with the stuff (rubbing alcohol is fine) and dab away. If the infestation is so gross, take the worst leaves off but not until you've tried the alcohol swabbing.

mike to dominiiphone - if its a japense fiery red maple, it went dormant...we planted one this summer totally dried up and now it has started to find a new life and the leaves are starting to all come back...I wouldn't give up on it yet...

MH to mike - Good for you. Water it but don't overwater it. Try the nail test and be sure to mulch it well going into winter.

Tomato-ly Challenged: For years we've had problems with tomato plants and I did some research and thought we had "wilt". This year we bought "wilt-resistent tomatos", but still had the same problem - great early growth, then a slow dying-off of the lower foliage. We still have mediocre fruit, but the plants are soo ugly. Any suggestions? Could I have mis-disagnosed our tomatos?

MH to Tomato-ly Challenged - They (the experts) keep telling us never to plant tomatoes in the same spot. Could be there was some of the fungal disease still in the soil. Have you tried planting them in large containers where you can move them about so they get a maximum exposure to sun. And you don't want to overwater them either.

Dominiiphone - This is what my poor dying plant looked like originally (at the nursery).

MH to Dominiiphone - This looks like Pieris japonica and it needs acidic soil, some shade (hates being in the midday sun), regular watering and doesn't like being jammed in anywhere. It's a woody plant so if there's something living, keep encouraging it. Cut off all the dead stuff and see what you've got. What's your soil like? I used to try and grow this in heavy clay and believe me it won't.

Moderator: Thanks everyone for the terrific discussion. For more gardening advice, check out the Globe's gardening basics video series. Special thanks to Marjorie Harris. Happy gardening! Enjoy the beautiful fall season, all.

Kitchener Gardening 2/2

2011-09-03T11:41:00.002-04:00

In The Garden: My pre-fall workload is growing by the day

September already? My spring planting backache has only just receded.

The summer break, when deadheading and rogue weed pulling was about all I had to do, is over now. It’s pre-fall and with real fall arriving soon, I can look forward to resurrecting a few creaks.

This isn’t about putting the garden to bed. Fall is harvesting and preparing for next season, the second busiest time of year in the garden, maybe even the busiest depending on what I feel like doing now or leaving until spring. Perennials can be divided, for example, or new ones planted. I can do it in spring, but I can also do it this month.

I think plants prefer mid September to get established, unlike spring when they have to use their energy to push out new foliage. Anything planted now can focus on establishing a good root system. Early flowering perennials, especially peonies, are always better planted in fall. This is also a good time to see what fall blooming plants are available at the garden centres as they should all be in bloom. Look for popular ones like aster, helenium, sedum, and golden rod. Golden rod — in the garden? Yes, I have one. It’s not a wild golden rod, but a hybrid variety and it’s a little beauty.

Mums of course, will be on sale. They are designed to be mere container display plants and most aren’t planted in the ground. But if you get them in early, with a little mulch, regular water and a little luck, they’ll grow on in the garden next year.

Now is a perfect time for a second sowing of vegetables in the garden. Early varieties of cool weather crops like lettuce, Swiss chard, kale, spinach, carrots, and beets can all be planted now. Unlike spring, the soil is warm, but there’s less moisture available, so be diligent about watering to ensure successful germination.

The other big job at this time of year is spring flowering bulbs. It’s not time to plant yet, but they’ll soon be on sale. The end of the month will be plenty soon enough to plant them, so if you happen to pick them up or receive them by mail-order in the next three or four weeks, store them in a cool, dark place.

Then have your BlackBerry, iPhone, or preferred digital assistant remind you when it’s time to plant them. There must be an app for that. At least stick a note on the fridge so that I don’t receive emails in January asking me what to do with tulip bulbs discovered while storing away the Christmas decorations.

September is the time to look around the garden and see how things did. If you have favourite flowers that have gone to seed, collect the seeds as soon as they are ripe. Ensure the seeds are dry before storing or they may rot. They are best stored in cool, dark conditions with low humidity as heat and moisture are the enemies.

Check out the gardens of your friends and neighbours to see if they have rare plants you would like to propagate. Most gardeners don’t mind sharing seeds and cuttings at this time of year. I’ll cover the rooting of cuttings in an upcoming column.

It will soon be time to think about what to do with the tropical plants that have grown so well in containers on the patio. The hibiscus and mandevilla will have to come inside at the end of the month, so it’s time to think about the care they will need if they’re to adapt to life in the conservatory or sunroom, or jostling for space in front of the living room window, which is where mine end up.

Summer vacation in the garden is over. It’s back to work.

Kitchener Gardening 1/2

2011-09-03T11:39:00.001-04:00

In the garden: Use your camera as a planning tool

Aren’t digital cameras a wonderful tool in the garden?

I use mine to keep a pictorial record. Digital images are immeasurably useful when I’m trying to recall what is planted where. I can now check to see where flowering bulbs were growing in spring before I start searching in the fall to find an empty spot for a new plant.

No more mistakenly digging up daffodils in the fall to plant a new perennial — or worse still, mistakenly digging up daffodils to plant more daffodils. I’ve done it.

Then in spring, I can use the images to locate plants that are never in a rush to show themselves early. Instead of thinking a spot is empty because something croaked over winter, I can show a little patience and wait for the lazy ones to appear.

I can also compare my garden from year to year, to see how well plants have grown — or not. And with the date and time noted on a digital photo, I can tell to the minute when a plant should be blooming — OK, five more minutes and if I don’t see some action, you’re out of here.

I walk around taking shots in sequence of the whole garden, without much concern for quality or composition as it isn’t that important for my purposes.

If, however, I’m trying to create an image of my garden suitable for a glossy magazine, I take a little more care. Photography has always been a hobby of mine and consequently, I tend to take lots of plant and flower shots, always trying to improve on the last one. At least with digital, it’s now easy to take a hundred to get the perfect one — and the models don’t get antsy, except for the peonies.

Here are a few garden photograph pointers I’ve learned over the years:

Good light is essential. The couple of hours before sunset and after sunrise when light is soft and wind is calm are considered the golden hours. On hazy or cloudy days harsh sunlight won’t wash out the colours. I prefer these as sun reflecting from leaves can make them look shiny white instead of lush green. I reduce this by using a polarizing filter on my lens, but if you’re using a simple point-and-shoot camera, this may not be possible.

If you do want that “magazine shot” of your garden, good composition is essential. The garden may look particularly lovely, but picking up the camera for a quick snapshot will rarely produce a wow image. Try framing the scene with some foreground such as an overhanging tree branch, pointing through or over a garden gate, or try different angles until you see the one that works. I’ve taken countless pictures trying to get it right. It’s not always easy, but the end result is worth it.

Watch the background, too, and this goes for any photograph. It’s so easy to focus on a subject and totally miss the hydro pole growing out of the flower bed. Garden sheds and wash lines in the picture won’t enhance anything, unless you’re shooting for Shed and Wash Line Weekly.

This is also a concern when taking close-ups of flowers. The rose looks gorgeous — click click. Wait a minute, what are all those half chewed leaves doing in the background and how did that dandelion get in there?

This can be solved by manipulating the depth of field to blur the background. Switch from automatic and take a number of shots at different aperture settings to see how it works. Another solution is to add your own backdrop by positioning a sheet of cardboard or something similar behind the flower to totally isolate it.

Finally, always use a tripod and a cable release. Oh, and break all the rules, too.

Gardening Globe Sept 3 2011

2011-09-03T11:29:00.002-04:00

How to get a burst of colour in your autumn garden
Marjorie Harris
Saturday, September 3, 2011

Plant of the week

Crocus speciosus (Autumn crocus or Naked Ladies)

Why you should plant it

If you buy and plant this beauty right now, you will have dazzling blooms in a couple of weeks. No autumn garden should be without a patch of them. The striking blossoms come up without foliage (thus the “naked ladies” label), followed by little grass-like leaves. They are outrageously brilliant through late September into November. Anyone nervous about gardening should plant this one, as it can’t fail.

There is also Colchicums, which are likewise called autumn crocus, but they are a different (just-as-gorgeous) species and a lot more expensive; they flower earlier and have more shrubby foliage.

Where to plant it

Crocus speciosus, a Zone 4 plant, should be planted in groups of five or more in about 10 centimetres of soil in a patch that gets afternoon sun. Put them somewhere obvious so you can take in and enjoy the colours, which range from white (C. s ‘Albus’) to the defiant blue of C. speciosum to the silky almost-purple of C. s ‘Conqueror.’ Indoors, place them in a saucer with some water and, after they bloom, replant them outside for the future, sticking them in containers that you can move about, running them along a sidewalk to welcome guests or tucking them into the grass or beside trees (but not in deep shade).

What it offers

It’s impossible not to fall in love with this small miracle, a flash of neon colour quite unlike anything else at this time of year. Autumn crocuses are so adaptable and refreshing that you’ll want to collect lots of them. Be warned, though: Once they disappear, you may forget where you planted them. Next spring, however, a baffling grass-like foliage will pop up to remind you of their coming charm later in the year.

Source and cost

Get autumn crocuses through www.gardenimport.com (10 for $6.95) and www.botanus.com (10 for $6.50).
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Why won’t my ‘Endless Summer’ bloom?
Marjorie Harris

The question

Last summer, I planted an ‘Endless Summer’ Hydrangea bush in a shady corner of my garden, but I was disappointed that the blooms flopped over and thus added no real colour to the garden. They do, however, make pretty cut flowers, so this spring I added another in an empty spot right beside the first. It looks very healthy, but hasn’t produced a single bud. Why wouldn’t the second one bloom? And is there anything I can do to make the stems stand up so the flowers are actually visible?

The answer

Hydrangeas flop over when they don’t have enough light or water. You may not realize that the plant isn’t getting enough water if it’s in a shady corner (ergo rain shadow), so check this out first. As for the second plant, a lack of blooms might mean that there was a lot of frost kill of the buds, that your plant was over-fertilized by the grower to produce all those leaves or that you may be crowding it. In general, ‘Endless Summer’ needs morning sun and afternoon shade (that’s when the sun is broiling hot); you also can’t let it dry out and you can’t let it sit in water. As a remedy, why not move both of your plants into more light away from roots and rain shadows and see if they will give you better blooms. Do not fertilize now. Mulch well in late autumn. Only prune out the dead bits next spring.
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Gardening gloves you won’t even notice

“I love the MIRACLE WORKERS GLOVES by Watson ($9.99 through www.watsongloves.com). They have a nitrate coating for strength and comfort, and they give me a better tactile experience. I can work in them all day and barely notice I have them on.” – Landscape designer Beth Edney of Toronto’s Designs By The Yard (416-233-2836).

CJ Up North

2011-09-02T22:52:00.001-04:00

Globe Gardening

2011-08-26T07:13:00.003-04:00

Why is my new golden sumach spreading baby sumachs?
Marjorie Harris - Globe and Mail
Friday, August 26, 2011

The question: I have one of the new (or newish) golden sumachs, Rhus typhina 'Tiger's Eye.' The tag says that it doesn't travel, but I'm seeing babies pop up. Is this unusual?

The answer: This sumach was heavily marketed a few years ago as being different from Rhus typhina and other species in that it wouldn’t sucker. Now, however, we're finding that this form does indeed send out new plants, although not as quickly as other forms. From now on and in general, you will have to either keep it in a container plunged into the garden or be prepared to cut out the new ones. Just jam the shovel behind the new one and pull to get them out. In the right soil, they will also get very large.

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Have you planted this year’s hottest hellebore?
Marjorie Harris

Helleborus x ballardiae ‘Pink Frost’

Why you should plant it

A tailored, hugely floriferous plant, spring-blooming ‘Pink Frost’ is the hot hellebore of the year but almost slipped past me. In the search for as many different hellebores as possible to put in the garden, however, I finally came across it. There are so many species and varieties of hellebores around now that it’s fun to put a group with contrasting foliage (spiky, silvery, elongated and elegant, cut-leaf) together. This one resembles H. ‘Ivory Prince,’ which has become a great favourite in recent years. It has the same silvery tones in the leaves, but outward-facing pink rather than white blooms.

Where to plant it

In fairly humus-rich soil with good drainage and a bit of shade overhead. The only work involves cutting off any dead leaves in spring, although even that isn’t always necessary. A plant that looks great with hostas, ferns and sedges, it should have plenty of space (it can grow up to 15 inches in height and has a spread of 24 inches). Never let it dry out completely.

What it offers

Hellebores take a while to establish and then they are unkillable. They have magnificent evergreen foliage and will mound up in the most impressive way. Hellebores tend to come out so early in spring that some of them will bloom just above the snow, while others will bloom in summer through autumn; some will even re-bloom, although this is rare. Plant hellebores with early-blooming bulbs such as Eranthis hyemalis (so-called winter aconite) for a great contrast. This one might be hardy to Zone 5, but, if in doubt, put it in a planter: Hellebores are great container plants.

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What lawnmower is best for the home gardener?
Globe and Mail
Friday, August 26, 2011

“I love Gardena’s manual 380C Hand Cylinder Lawnmower ($199 through www.homedepot.ca). I use it twice a week to keep my lawn immaculate. It cuts like a golf-course turf-mower without the pollution and provides lots of exercise. It’s a great choice for a small property that doesn’t need a large gas-powered machine.” – James Dale, designer and co-owner of Earth Inc. Designed Landscapes in Toronto.

Globe Gardening

2011-08-20T10:11:00.004-04:00

This plant’s indigo blooms will freshen your late-summer garden
Marjorie Harris
Globe and Mail - Saturday, August 20, 2011

PLANT OF THE WEEK - Delphinium grandiflorum ‘Summer Nights’

Why you should plant it

If you need a surge of colour in the garden and you haven’t got a lot of space, this dwarf version of the beloved delphinium is a fantastic solution. It forms a delicate, shrubby mound with brilliant-toned spurred blooms. Grow several and you’ve got an excellent cutting plant. The colour is nonpareil.

Where to plant it

Give it some sun and follow the basic rule for all delphiniums – provide great drainage and good deadheading and this Zone 3 plant, about 25 to 30 centimetres high by the same amount wide, will perform for the entire summer.

What it offers

Rich indigo-blue blooms with a tracery of pink make ‘Summer Nights’ a plant that will go with all the stuff that looks a little dusty and tired at this time of year. It’s a good front-of-the-border option – back it up with other old-fashioned stalwarts such as hydrangeas and phlox, which it will outlive. Even better, it’s time to perk up containers, so take out what looks dull and replace it with this beauty.

Source and cost

Get ‘Summer Nights’ for $12.99 at such well-stocked nurseries as Toronto’s Fiesta Gardens (www.fiestafarms.ca).

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Image: Fothergilla gardenii

Why are my rose bushes sparse this year?
Marjorie Harris

The question: Two years ago, I planted three rugosa rose bushes in front of my front porch, which is east-facing and partly shaded by a maple tree. This year, the bloom was sparse. Should I move them? And what other easy-care, large-flowering shrubs should I put in their place?

The answer: Yes, move the rugosas to a sunnier spot, where they won’t have to tough it out with the maple and can get more light. An ideal shrub for that spot is Fothergilla gardenii (try the cultivar ‘Mt. Airy’).

It provides spring blooms (white) and magnificent autumn colour. Plant it in a well-excavated hole the same depth as the shrub and water deeply. Add a layer of compost around it.

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My gardening must-have: a wide-brim hat

“My job keeps me outdoors almost all day long, so the only way to survive the sun and heat is under a wide-brim hat. I have a vast collection of Italian-made Borsalinos (from $300 through www.forzieri.com).”

– Award-winning landscape architect Ronald Holbrook of Toronto-based Holbrook & Associates (www.ronaldholbrook.com).

Kitchener Gardening

2011-08-20T07:52:00.002-04:00

In the garden: Japanese beetles stopped in for a honeymoon weekend

The weekend when I held my open garden, a number of visitors showed up with small boxes or jars containing insects for identification.

Now, I’m no entomologist, nor a zoologist for that matter, but I do have a handle on most critters that show up on my patch. And the occupants of the containers were not strangers to me. “OK, you leave the lid on,” was my first comment to these visitors.

The bugs in the boxes had already appeared in my garden over the last two or three years, usually in small numbers that were easy enough to deal with.

But a couple of weeks back, whole squadrons flew in for a honeymoon weekend on my Virginia creeper and Boston ivy. You may well have seen them in your garden, too, judging by the reaction of those around when the container contents were revealed — Japanese beetles. The crowd groaned.

Japanese beetles are large, about 15 mm long and 10 mm wide. Their body is as big as a kernel of corn, with iridescent, copper-coloured wing flaps (elytra) and green heads. They are as bright and shiny as a freshly waxed VW beetle and just as easy to spot.

They feed on any of about 300 species of plants, including roses; maple, birch and linden trees; grape vines, fruit trees, corn, raspberries and blackberries. If you see skeletonized foliage, it’s evidence of beetle damage.

The beetles are easy enough to catch, unless you’re overwhelmed by numbers. They’re slow and clumsy, and don’t react when you sneak up on them. I check my roses daily to see if they are there. Any I find, I drop on the pathway — then I show them my hip hop moves.

Larger numbers can be shaken into a pail of soapy water. I’ve never used chemical pesticides in my garden and their use is now controlled regardless. So I tried spraying my Boston ivy with soapy water (20-1), which is supposed to at least deter Japanese beetles.

The next day they were back, looking even shinier. But a couple of days later, the numbers had decreased considerably and now I’m only finding a few.

This is no doubt due to the life cycle. These same beetles are the ones that lay eggs in lawns, which then become the grubs that feed on and destroy grass roots. The beetles emerge in late June through mid July to wreak havoc on foliage — and then reproduce, which, as far as I can tell, is what they were doing on my ivy because there were more playing leapfrog than there were doing any feeding — hence the honeymoon phase. Good for my ivy, but potentially bad for someone’s lawn.

Japanese beetles do have enemies. I watched sparrows zoom in to pick them off, but since just one beetle is a meal for a sparrow, and as beetles vastly outnumber sparrows, they won’t have much effect. Traps baited with pheromones are available for Japanese beetles and they do work, except they may attract even more beetles to your yard. Still, anything helps, especially if it’s attracting them out of my yard.

If there’s one thing that may reduce numbers for next summer, it’s the drought we’ve been having this year. Eggs laid in dry soil are less likely to hatch as moisture is crucial to the development of eggs and larvae. This is where I should advise against watering your lawns, but unfortunately, they will find other places to deposit eggs.

The only other control I’m aware of is an application of nematodes to lawns next spring to control larvae, but to be effective, correct time of application, weather, and specific soil temperature must all coincide.

This is gardening — something always eating something. Now, excuse me whilst I cue up some Kanye West on my iPod as I inspect my roses.

Gardening article from Monday 15th

2011-08-15T09:18:00.001-04:00

How to avoid garden brown-outs
COURTNEY SHEA
From Monday's Globe and Mail
Sunday, Aug. 14, 2011

Maintaining a garden is a harrowing task, especially in this heat-wave plagued summer, when even the greenest thumbs are watching their plants turn brown. Luckily, all is not lost – the dog days might be winding down, but garden season (roughly Victoria Day through Thanksgiving) is barely halfway through. Here are some tips on how to execute an effective mid-season spruce.

Whack those weeds

You’d think this would be obvious, but discouraged gardeners often throw in the trowel, inviting weeds to enact a hostile takeover. The first step to reclaiming your green space is to get it 100-per-cent weed free. “Weeding is probably the most unpopular thing about gardening,” says Jeff Sarty, a professional landscaper and star of HGTV Canada’s Decked Out, “but it’s also crucially important both for obvious aesthetic reasons, but also because any weeds allowed to grow in your garden are simply stealing moisture and nutrients from other plants.”

Water efficiently

When plants start to brown, amateur gardeners often go overboard on hydration therapy. “Drowning plants is also a hazard,” says Mr. Sarty, who recommends dousing plants in three inches of water once or twice a week. Of course, this depends on temperatures and levels of rain. To check your soil moisture, grab a knife and stick it about five inches down. If the soil is dry, it won’t stick to the knife. Mr. Sarty also recommends using rain barrels to store water rather than wasting it: “if it’s coming down from the eavesdrops, you might as well use it.”

Do a mid-season mulch

Mulching is a great way to re-energize lacklustre plants as well as the soil they’re living in. For the best results, buy any organic blend (cedar or pine chips are both good) from your local garden store and create a thick layer on top of the soil. “Mulching is a way to get ahead of any future problems – it’s proactive gardening instead of reactive gardening,” Mr. Sarty says. Just be sure not to skimp if you want to see an improvement – you want a layer of at least three inches deep, not just a dusting. “Laying out a little bit of mulch is like wearing a windbreaker in a snowstorm,” he says.

Invoke Edward Scissorhands

When it comes to the obviously dead or brown bits on otherwise okay plants, don’t be afraid to go a little snip-happy with garden shears or plain old kitchen scissors. (To determine whether the whole plant is dead, give a gentle tug – if the roots are firm in the ground, it’s still got a pulse.) Mr. Sarty recommends cutting perennials down to about half their size mid-season and of course deadheading (removing buds that have already bloomed). Deadheading will also give annuals an extra jolt of life, and may even induce a second flowering. “Any time you leave a plant with dead stems or buds, you are depriving nutrients from the parts of the plant that still need it,” he says.

Make a late summer splurge

“One mistake a lot of people make is blowing their full garden budget in the springtime,” says Mr. Sarty. Instead, be sure to keep a reserve for some August additions – especially after a particularly hot summer, where flowering plants may have gone through their life cycle faster than usual. The best part is that later in the season, nurseries will be offering deals on most of their remaining stock, including perennials that will return next year. Mr. Sarty suggests grasses, or try purple coneflowers flowers for a hit of colour.

And don’t do this: Give up and let your garden turn into a graveyard. There is always room for improvement (or more shrubbery).

Interesting Death Notice in Globe and Mail

2011-08-14T23:31:00.003-04:00

Saturday August 13, 2011

AUGUST 3, 1913 - AUGUST 8, 2011 'This is Lamont Tilden, speaking' That voice, speaking the line that ended thousands of CBC radio newscasts, arts and entertainment programs, and live broadcasts of state events on both radio and television for 40 years has been stilled.

Neil Lamont Tilden, known affectionately as Monty Tilden, died this week in Toronto having just passed his ninety-eighth birthday.

Lamont Tilden was a presenter for the CBC from the late-1930s to the mid 1970s. He was the longest-living CBC broadcaster from an era when formality and precision in language and personal presentation was the hallmark of the public broadcaster. In the early part of his career, he went to London and a stint with the British Broadcasting Corporation to ensure that its standard - still evident in the BBC's World Service radio and World News television - was instilled in the CBC's presenters. According to the letter recommending him to the BBC as a broadcaster from a Commonwealth country, he was described as 'intelligent, a hard worker, has had valuable experiences in radio and is particularly anxious to perfect himself by further studies.'

It is difficult to exaggerate the extent of Lamont Tilden's broadcasting career. Many examples can be found online at the CBC Archives. He reported on public events ranging from royal tours, the openings of parliament and state funerals, to Santa Claus parades. In a time before television, when cooking shows on radio had to be scripted as dramatic performances, he could be found in Eustella Langdon's kitchen helping her create her latest culinary treat. She always referred to him as 'Mr. Tilden,' perhaps to impress upon some listeners that his presence helping in her 'kitchen' was a purely formal relationship. He was also in broadcast studios presenting the country's great artists such as Glen Gould.

Whether a state occasion, a cookery program or an arts presentation, Lamont Tilden's on-air presentation involved a greater or lesser degree of a dignified voice. The formality might stray a bit when, for example, broadcasting a Santa Claus parade: 'And there he is now, the old gentleman himself, with his great white beard and red suit, greeting all the children with a hearty `Merry Christmas'' and then rhyming off the names of children who might be listening, including the names of his own children who indeed were listening.

His presentation on television was both on and off screen. As a lead news presenter, he 'anchored' the national news. But he was also heard on 'cutaway' Canadian ads on shows originating in the United States. He extolled the virtue of cars on the weekly CBC broadcast of the CBS eclectic entertainment program 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' and managed the same with cheese-related concoctions on NBC's weekly dramatic program 'Kraft Television Theatre.'

In addition to regular programming, Lamont Tilden also 'anchored' hastily arranged news programs now styled 'Breaking News,' but indeed important breaking news. The most notable example, available on the CBC's online archive, is the CBC's lengthy television broadcast a few hours following President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

He rarely 'flubbed' a scripted line. But if he did, he quickly recovered with an apology. One example was expressed on another 'breaking news' item: the launching of Sputnik, the first man-made item sent into orb around the Earth. Having said that the satellite was 'in an electric orbit,' he quickly corrected himself with his usual aplomb and an apology to the listeners: 'I'm sorry. That's `in an elliptical orbit'.' Perhaps he was apologizing for the news writer.

The early years of Lamont Tilden's broadcasting career were momentous times, notably when announcing the outbreak of the Second World War and later being a steady, informative voice relating both good and bad news. He hosted the 'Merchant Navy Program' and he was with British Prime Minister Churchill when he addressed Canadians from the Citadel in Quebec City. In the later years of Lamont Tilden's career he presented two major radio music programs: the weekly 'Folk Sounds,' devoted to important Canadian folk music arranged by the musicologist Edith Fowke, and 'Divertimento,' a late-afternoon week-day music program that probably was a boon to listeners stuck in congested 'after work' traffic. He was amused by one listener who complimented him on his 'Italian program.'

Though Lamont Tilden retired from broadcasting in the 1970s, he continued to work with the CBC as a language counsellor, not only instructing 'newcomers' on the proper use of the King's English, but also giving important lessons on breathing, how to do it and when to do it without impeding the flow of speech. Among papers retained by his family are scripts that contain his pencilled markings on scripts indicating emphasis and breathing. In his years away from the microphone, the CBC sent him to northern stations to give lessons. Elizabeth Hay's prize-winning novel Late Night on the Air relates the lives of several unlikely people who toiled in a radio station in Yellowknife. A reader might wonder if Lamont Tilden was the inspiration for her unnamed character whom the CBC 'brass' sent north to improve their standards.

Lamont Tilden was born into a large family in rural southwestern Ontario. Apparently his earliest experience in broadcasting was playing a guitar and singing on a local station operating in Harriston in the 1920s. In the early 1930s, he moved to Hamilton where he worked on a more conventional station, CKOC that, as most private stations, was affiliated with one of the two CBC radio networks. It was there that two important events occurred. He met Lilian Williams, a librarian who, with him and others, participated in a local drama group. He and Lilian married and had four children - Linda, Cynthia, Janice and John. His work on CKOC also came to the attention of the CBC in its formative years, and thus began his association with the Corporation. Lilian Tilden, who wrote timely columns for women in The Globe and Mail and the Family Herald died unexpectedly in the 1960s. Later, he married Margaret Heap Sangster, who had been a pianist, performing with her brother Harry, and had been widowed following the death of the musicologist and broadcaster Alan Sangster.

Gardening from Kitchener on Aug 13

2011-08-13T08:31:00.002-04:00

In the garden: Fungal diseases in soil can spoil tomatoes

Tomatoes are now ripening in this part of Ontario and consequently I’ve had a small crop of emails from folks with tomato problems — wilting leaves, rotting fruit and splitting skins.

Wilting leaves may simply be an indication of thirsty plant desperate for a drink. They should recover, after watering, but if they continue to wilt and begin to shrivel up, it’s the symptom of a pair of fungal diseases — fusarium and verticillium wilt — both caused by pathogenic fungi that are harboured in the soil.

Wilt may appear on a single stem before spreading to the rest of the plant, except that verticillium often waits until the plant is full of fruit.

I hate to use the term incurable, but by the time the leaves are drooping like the U.S. economy (and if they don’t recover after you’ve watered the plant) it’s too late and the usual recommendation is to destroy the plants after harvesting the fruit.

If you have a large garden, rotating crops will help avoid infection, but it takes four to six years before the pathogens are reduced in the affected soil. Do note that pepper, potato and eggplant are also susceptible to these fungi. And in the case of verticillium, so are strawberries and raspberries.

The solution is to plant tomatoes that are resistant to verticillium and fusarium. Look for VFN resistant on the label when choosing seeds or plants next year.

The other common problem — and I’ve had this in my own garden this year — is blossom end rot. This is where the bottom of the tomato turns black, then rots. It’s due to a calcium deficiency, but not necessarily in the soil.

During dry weather, the plant simply can’t take up enough of this important nutrient. And consequently, the fruit dies back at the bottom leaving the characteristic black or brown spot. Since this is an environmental problem, there are no sprays that will help.

There are a number of causes, but it happens often when water is infrequent, as it has been this summer. The plant needs enough water to ensure steady growth, otherwise it becomes stressed and end rot sets in.

Avoid cultivating around the roots, as this will also cause stress to the plant. Mulching around the plants is helpful. And if fertilizing, use one that is low in nitrogen and high in phosphate, such as 4-12-4.

Since blossom end rot is not a disease, it doesn’t spread between the fruit or between plants. So remove the afflicted and the rest may continue to ripen normally.

One question that often comes up involves the use Epsom salts around the plant. Epsom salt is a source of magnesium sulphate and an essential micronutrient. It is used in intensive farming where the soil has been shown to be deficient in magnesium, often where the soil is sandy or acidic. In the home gardens in this area, where soils are mostly clay based and alkaline, it is unlikely that the soil is lacking magnesium, so the adding Epsom salts won’t make a difference to the size or taste of your tomatoes.

So, what if your tomatoes have avoided both wilt and end rot and are ripening nicely, then overnight they split wide open. The problem in this case is infrequent water, followed by a month’s rainfall in one or two big storms. The tomatoes overindulge, slurping up so much water that they split their skins. Not much you can do except eat them.

Hmm, nothing better than a fresh, ripe tomato.

Gardening on Aug 13th

2011-08-13T08:24:00.003-04:00

The glamorous plant your garden needs
Marjorie Harris
Saturday, August 13, 2011

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Echinacea purpurea ‘Virgin’ (White coneflower)

Why you should plant it

Attractive to butterflies and other beneficial insects, coneflowers are hugely important plants in the overall environment and most gardens, even small ones, should have one or two. This virginal white cultivar is a more compact version of the native plant and will look fabulous tucked in with its rather leggy cousins. The bloom might not attract as many insects but it’s a beauty nonetheless.

Where to plant it

Coneflowers are prairie plants, so you can throw anything at them: terrible soil, hot conditions; they still have to be watered in, though, until they’re firmly entrenched. Coneflowers need fairly good drainage, but I’ve seen them grow in clay. And they must have sun. This smaller Zone 4 version grows to 50 by 50 centimetres and will keep blooming from now until the end of September.

What it offers

Its very glamorous pure white, which is hard to find in most plants, will be a knockout next to almost black sedums and other coneflowers. Plant purists won’t like it (they’ll probably think it too frilly), but Dutch landscaping great Piet Oudolf does, so pick your poison. It has a light scent and is hard to beat for size and ruggedness, too.

Source and cost

Find it at such well-stocked nurseries as Toronto’s Fiesta Gardens (www.fiestafarms.ca) for about $21 a plant.

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What are these little plants sprouting on my lawn?
Marjorie Harris

The question: My front lawn, which contains a honey locust tree, is beginning to sprout all sorts of little plants since we tried not to mow during the heat wave. What are they?

The answer: You did the right thing by halting lawn mowing when it’s incredibly hot. But if those sprouts have a nice lacey-frondy look, they are probably from the honey locust, an incredibly fast-growing tree much beloved by civic park departments because of this very trait.

Honey locusts are not long-lived and so have to reproduce any way they can, including suckering madly about in nicely watered lawns and sending out massive numbers of seeds (much loved by bunnies and deer). My advice would be to get rid of the tree and get something more sensible in there.

The Gingko biloba, for instance, is well-adapted to dealing with pollution, has deep roots and will put up with neglect once established.

Pictures of M

2011-08-12T09:59:00.003-04:00

More CJ Plant Pictures

2011-08-07T19:52:00.003-04:00

CJ plant pictures from Toronto

2011-08-07T19:46:00.003-04:00

Marjorie Harris Gardening

2011-08-07T19:40:00.000-04:00

How much should I water trees and shrubs?
Marjorie Harris
Friday, July 29, 2011

Q: I’m confused by how much water I should be giving my trees and shrubs at this time of year. Can you help?

A: It doesn’t matter where you live: Make sure you are watering your trees and shrubs deeply at least two to three times a week. Do this by dumping at least five buckets of lukewarm water around each one, which is more water-efficient than using a sprinkler. Alternatively, just dribble water from the hose around the base of each major plant. The water must get below the root system to do any good and this takes patience. With containers, make sure you can see the water drip out of the bottom before you stop. As for the rest of the garden, use the hose on specific plants. Be patient and do it early in the morning to give the plants a chance to hold up against the killer rays of the day.

Globe article on womens' tennis

2011-08-06T12:55:00.000-04:00

The riddle of tennis: where did the rivalries go?
DAVE McGINN
Aug. 6, 2011

One of the hottest tickets at the biggest women’s tennis tournament in Canada is to see four men play.

For the first time, the Rogers Cup Toronto is holding a tournament within a tournament, in which former Grand Slam champions Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Jim Courier and Michael Chang battle one another at the same time as the women’s event.

“It’s really, really been a hot seller for us,” says Karl Hale, tournament director of the Rogers Cup Toronto.

The Rogers Legends Cup, and the original advertising for the tournament itself – “Come for the ladies, stay for the legends” (since changed to the more innocuous “Making History, Re-Living History” following accusations of sexism) – may both have been intended innocently enough, but it’s hard not to see them as an acknowledgment that the women’s game is not enough of a draw compared to what’s on offer at the men’s tournament in Montreal, especially at a time when women’s tennis finds itself in a state of flux.

Crowds at the Rogers Cup in Montreal this year are almost certain to see the same superstars battling it out on centre court as they have before, but no such guarantee exists in Toronto, or much of anywhere else in the world of women’s tennis, for that matter.

Lately, that world has faced a number of challenges. Not only does it lack anything close to the rivalry that exists between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, it has also been hobbled by a raft of injuries and retirements, creating an absence of top talent that leaves fans wondering who to root for. Add to that the fact that the current No. 1 player in the world, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, has yet to win a major, and you’ve got a big problem.

“You definitely need your stars to be champions at the highest level of the sport,” Hale says.

That certainly hasn’t been a problem in men’s tennis.

Novak Djokovic, the current No. 1 singles player in the world, already has three Grand Slams under his head band, including victories at this year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon. Those wins have come at a time when tennis is enjoying arguably the greatest rivalry in the sports history.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have combined to win 16 of the past 20 Grand Slams, and have faced one another in the men’s singles finals of Grand Slams six times in that period.

Nothing even close to that rivalry exists in women’s tennis, which makes it harder to fill seats.

“It does draw the fans, it does draw attention,” says Mary Joe Fernandez, the former tennis great turned commentator. “People love rivalries.”

The Grand Slam battles between Federer and Nadal may be the most intense in men’s tennis, but they’re not the only examples of the same men facing one another during the past 20 Slams. Federer and Andy Roddick met at the U.S. Open final in 2006 and again at the Wimbledon final in 2009. Federer and Andy Murray have also met twice, at the U.S. Open in 2008 and last year’s Australian Open.

And on the women’s side? On only one occasion have the same two women met more than once in the singles finals in the past 20 Slams, when Venus and Serena Williams went head-to-head in back-to-back Wimbledon finals in 2008 and 2009.

The consistency in the men’s game, and its relative lack on the women’s side, is perhaps better gleaned from this more telling – and some say problematic – statistic.

The men’s singles finals at the past 20 Grand Slams have been won by just four players: Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and 2009 U.S. Open winner Juan Martin del Potro. On the women’s side, that number stretches all the way to 10.

“You can’t have 10 or 12 different winners. It’s really hard for a fan base to develop and follow those players. It would be nice to have three or four who are week-in, week-out fighting for the championship with a strong fan base behind them,” Hale says.

Men’s tennis today actually resembles the women’s tour of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Monica Seles and Steffi Graf dominated Grand Slams, says Fernandez, who reached No. 4 in the world in 1991, winning both a French and Australian Open doubles championship as well seven singles titles and 17 doubles tour titles during that talent-laden period.

“The men’s game is really where the women’s game used to be, where you have the big top three or four players getting through almost on a weekly basis, and it was tough to get through, to get past them. That’s changed now,” she says. “The depth is greater now.”

The women’s tour has also fallen victim to circumstances outside its control.

In 2008, Justine Henin retired while ranked No. 1 in the world. She came back at the start of 2010, only to retire again because of an elbow injury this January. Kim Clijsters left the game to start a family in 2007, returning in 2009. Maria Sharapova lost 10 months because of a shoulder injury in 2008. Serena Williams, by far the most dominant player in recent years, was sidelined from July of last year to mid-June by two foot operations and a blood clot in her lungs.

“The top players have just not been able to compete on a consistent enough basis where all of them are playing at the same time,” says Tracy Austin, a former world No. 1 whose own career was cut short because of injuries.

Meanwhile, the most dominant men have remained healthy, with minor exceptions.

“That’s really enabled the men’s tour to create these rivalries because all four of them have been healthy for extended periods of time and have been able to compete against each other,” says Austin, Rogers Sportsnet’s TV analyst for broadcast coverage of the women’s draw at the Rogers Cup.

The Women’s Tennis Association has taken steps to address the problem. The so-called Roadmap was heralded as introducing the most sweeping reforms in Tour history when it was unveiled in 2009. It shortened the season, provided more breaks for top players and reduced top player tournament commitments, among other reforms.

“Far too many players were withdrawing from tournaments due to injury and fatigue. Fans didn’t know if players would show up,” Stacey Allaster, the WTA’s chairman and CEO, said in an e-mail.

One of its most prominent features, designed to promote player health, expanded the off-season to nine weeks from seven.

“Ending the season earlier is definitely a huge plus,” Fernandez says. “Players need time to recover, to rest and then to build up again.”

The Roadmap’s success is clear from what’s happening in Toronto this week, Austin says.

“You see it at the Rogers Cup this year where we have more of the players. We’ve been hit so frequently at the Rogers Cup with players that have had injuries, so it’s wonderful to see the field is so strong,” she says.

Clijsters, Sharapova and the Williams sisters are all competing, as is Wozniacki, the defending champion. So too is Li Na, an exciting up-and-comer from China who won this year’s French Open and was the runner-up at the Australian Open in January.

Perhaps sensing that the women’s game is on the rise, or maybe just needing any boost it can get, the WTA launched the “Strong is Beautiful” campaign in May. The global ad campaign, which features 40 players and will be unveiled in 80 markets over the next two years, hopes to broaden the sport’s fan base by attracting them to the skills, and looks, the game has to offer.

But sexiness can’t equal success. Still, there are signs the game is becoming stronger, especially in its international reach. Allaster points out that earlier this year there were 10 women from different countries in the world top-10 rankings.

Women’s tennis may be coming out of its state of flux and on its way to more consistent, exciting play. But whatever momentum it is slowly regaining rests on one factor above all others, Hale says.

“You’re going to see women’s tennis take off over the next two years – if they stay healthy.”

Gardening from Kitchener 2

2011-08-06T10:29:00.002-04:00

In the garden: Whimsy is in the eye of the beholder

A friend mentioned the other day that every garden should have a touch of whimsy about it.

I tend to agree as my own garden has a few items that would meet the definition: Whimsy — lightly fanciful, out of the ordinary, or unpredictable. As for the latter, I have plenty of unpredictable items, mainly plants — they’re definitely unpredictable and often unreliable.

Whimsy may only be in the eye of the beholder, as there’s a fine line between whimsy and why does he have that piece of junk sitting in the middle of garden. I once had the notion to pick up an old British phone booth, one of the big red ones with the little glass panels. I figured it could at least double as a greenhouse.

I never did acquire one and now I’m glad, as it would have been greatly out of proportion in my garden. I have seen them used, though, and when placed correctly, say around the corner on a meandering path, half hidden in foliage and waiting to be discovered, they do have a certain charm.

Not so with fake plastic fire hydrants. There’s a place for them and it’s not in my garden. I have a real one out front and there’s nothing whimsical about it, sticking out as it does like a gigantic dandelion.

I prefer whimsical items that turn up on their own; things I find or recycle rather than stuff I could buy at a garden show, although there’s nothing wrong with Victorian gazing balls, whirligigs or miniature plastic replicas of European castles if that’s your preference.

I always say your garden is your own place and you can place anything you like in it. If I do have a word of caution, it’s don’t over do it — unless clutter is your thing.

Plaques, sundials, wind chimes and even statues can add whimsy, depending on what the statue is actually doing. If it brings a smile to your face, it could be classed as whimsical, but don’t break out in laughter if the proud owner just purchased a Henry Moore sculpture.

I don’t have a Henry Moore, or a Michelangelo, but I do have a gnome.

Yes, I know, garden gnomes are down the art scale somewhat, but we are talking whimsy here. At least my gnome is hard to spot as he’s unpredictable, disappearing for months at a time, then turning up suddenly to catch me by surprise when I’m pruning or on my knees weeding.

Some of my whimsical touches are things I’ve made — like the cement fedora for instance that is currently growing a fine crop of hens and chicks around the rim. Other found items are old bits of driftwood similarly adorned and an old bird cage, which really should hold something feathery.

Unusual pots and planters are one way to add whimsy and they can be found everywhere — from junk dealers to antique stores, at garage sales and even on garbage pick up days — remember, recycling is righteous.

Among my containers I have a number of old galvanized pails hanging on my fence that I was told were once sap buckets — no, I didn’t find them in the bush. I have coal scuttles and mop buckets, too.

There are some items that I don’t consider whimsical. I’m sorry, but an old barbecue doesn’t quite do it for me, and anything that has seen service in a bathroom is pushing the limits — funny the first time but then an old joke that won’t go away.

Gardening from Kitchener 1

2011-08-06T10:26:00.002-04:00

Picture: Verbena bonariensis

In The Garden: It’s been dry, but some plants rise to the challenge

This has been a challenging month in the garden — one of the driest in years and much too hot for many plants, whether watered or not. I hate to use a sprinkler as it’s never the same as a solid rain, but I at least have to try and keep them happy until they get a good soaking.

But overall, the garden isn’t looking too bad. In fact, some plants have risen to the challenge and excelled.

This year I planted a few Verbena bonariensis. Don’t confuse this one with the small, familiar bedding plants. There are about 250 species of verbena in the form of sub-shrubs, perennials and annuals scattered around the world, including Verbena canadensis, which as the name suggests is a native Canadian. Bonariensis is from tropical South America and being curious about the name, I did some research and discovered it refers to Buenos Aires — what’s in a name, indeed.

From Brazil to Argentina, it’s a perennial plant; here it’s an annual, although it may self seed. In more temperate zones to the south, it’s considered an invasive weed. Fortunately, we’re in the lucky zone.

It has an open, airy nature and is often suggested as a plant that’s suitable for the middle or even front of a bed, where it allows tantalizing glimpses of the plants behind as the tall stems wave gently in a breeze. They certainly do, except I planted too many and they’ve grown so well that the pair of canna lilies at the rear are barely visible. Grows to 1.5 metres (four feet), the label said, and now they’re as tall as Victoria Beckham in her five-inch stilettos.

Apparently, Proven Winners is marketing one called Little One that only reaches 60 centimetres (two feet). I don’t mind my lanky crew as they are putting on a show. The individual flower heads are small, about the size of a dime, but are arranged in groups. If they were dimes, I must have a couple of thousand dollars worth — no I didn’t count them.

Verbena bonariensis isn’t fussy about soil providing it’s well drained. It grows best in sun or a little shade. Among its other qualities are that it flowers from summer through fall. The flowers are purple with a rose centre and are attractive to humming birds, bees and butterflies, but they don’t attract insect pests — and rabbits won’t eat them, unlike my beans.

The plant is even heat and drought tolerant, so it looks like I made at least one good choice for this summer. If your garden is struggling, do water wisely. I prefer doing it early in the day so that plants can build up a reserve to get them through the hottest periods. It’s better to water once deeply than to water lightly and frequently.

Mulch is wonderful for keeping down weeds and reducing evaporation from the soil, but it can work both ways. A light sprinkling only soaks into the mulch and never reaches the soil. Watering the leaves, meanwhile, apart from washing dust off, doesn’t help at all, but I often see it being done.

Water you container plants enough that the water runs out the bottom drainage holes, but be aware that if the soil is dry, the water can pass straight through. You may think you’ve done your bit, but the plant is left gasping. I sometimes water my containers in two stages by giving them a splash to moisten the soil, then a more thorough watering a few minutes later. Next summer, nothing but Verbena bonariensis.

Gardening in the Globe

2011-08-06T10:18:00.002-04:00

This plant will bring all the butterflies to your yard
Marjorie Harris - Globe and Mail
Friday, Aug. 5, 2011

Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Fascination’ (Culver’s Root)

Why you should plant it

This is a new cultivar of a magnificent native plant and one of the best butterfly attractors around. It blooms from now until October or first frost. Keep it going with rigorous deadheading. It will form a clump of one by 1.2 metres, so it needs to be well sited. The mauvey-pink is delicious and will work well with almost any tone of foliage (purple and yellow especially).

Where to plant it

This Zone 3 plant needs rich, moist but well-drained soil and grows fairly well in shade, although it stands upright much better in a sunny spot. It’s an undemanding plant and you want it where it will make a statement. It divides easily in spring.

What it offers

The blooms look a wee bit like a veronica and it mixes well with ornamental grasses, which would make a handsome solution for a difficult corner. It also looks great with Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium spp) and smaller cultivars about the same size, which together will create a gorgeous drift of colour lively with the hum of bees and the movement of butterflies. You can’t lose with this plant.

Source and cost

Find it for about $10 at specialty nurseries like Mason House Gardens in Uxbridge, Ont.

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This simple, subtle support helps your garden stand tall

“This WAVY HALF-CIRCLE SUPPORT from Lee Valley ($4.95 through www.leevalley.com) is perfect for helping gorgeous August perennials like purple cornflower, sunflower and sneezeweed to stand gracefully tall.

"This one is special because it stays hidden among the leaves and stems, which gather in the curves to look more natural as they grow.”

– Janet Ennamorato, landscape designer, Creative Garden Designs in Toronto (416-707-5655)
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Harmless or evil: Are pill bugs destroying your garden?
Marjorie Harris

The question

I do a twice-daily slug hunt and my garden plants are much better for it, but the lower leaves on some plants have holes. I see a lot of pill bugs (the ones that roll up into a ball). Is this bug benign or evil? Should I be trying to eradicate it or is it beneficial?

The answer

Good idea to be on the slug hunt, but there are so many bugs around this year. Pill bugs, munch away in the compost, are pretty useful. But it’s been a big year for earwigs, which are probably doing the chewing on your plants. So kill earwigs (you can buy earwigs traps) but not pill or sow bugs, which mainly go in for decaying stuff.

Japanese Garden

2011-07-26T18:42:00.002-04:00

How to find tranquility – and inspiration – in Japanese gardens
Dave Carpenter
ROCKFORD, Ill.— The Associated Press
Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Japanese gardens are about inspiring and soothing the soul. And you don't have to be a gardening expert or Zen Buddhist to appreciate all they have to offer — the beauty, the tranquility, even the Zen.

Anderson Japanese Gardens, a five-hectare wonderland of landscaping and design, is regarded as one of the top Japanese gardens in North America, along with ones in Portland, Ore., and Delray Beach, Fla.

Almost every day diverse groups of visitors can be seen strolling through the site: hospice patients, cancer survivors, people practising yoga and tai chi, grief counsellors, church congregations holding services and just plain tourists.

Reflecting a design that originated in 12th-century Japan, the gardens contain a large pond, a five-storey waterfall, a granite pagoda, curving bridges over boulder-strewn streams, and well-manicured plants and trees leaning toward the water. They attract about 40,000 visitors a year in this city 130 kilometres northwest of Chicago.

“It's a great space to cast away a lot of the baggage of the modern world and tune back into something more elemental,” curator Tim Gruner says.

The gardens were the inspiration of industrialist John Anderson. During a business trip to Oregon in 1977, he visited the Portland Japanese Garden on a cab driver's recommendation, and was so impressed by its calm and serenity that he decided to create his own version. He invited the garden's highly regarded Japanese landscape architect, Hoichi Kurisu, to Rockford and asked him to design a garden around a swampy pond next to his new hillside house.

Construction began the next year, with Mr. Kurisu remaining faithful to the style and methods used in Japan's Kamakura period, for structures as well as the dozens of natural features. An authentic Japanese guesthouse, tea house and gazebo were built by a traditional craftsman using just files, chisels and hammers.

The gardens were opened to the public in 1998 when the Andersons turned them over to a foundation.

John Anderson, 69, recently handed off the chief executive's duties to his son, David, but remains actively involved. Mr. Kurisu, too, still visits periodically to provide guidance.

“There's a lot of little detail,” Mr. Anderson says. “If you fly through, you miss it.”

The gardens embody three essential elements of Japanese gardening: the permanence of stone; plants for texture and colour; and the soothing, reflective qualities of water. And, yes, even the most basic of backyard gardeners can take home ideas on how to use those elements themselves.

With input from curator Mr. Gruner, here are some tips to help create the feel of a Japanese garden:

- Prune heavily Pruning keeps plants in proper scale for their space. It also makes your garden more interesting if you can see through to the other side. Prune in a way that creates a sense of mystery – a little added texture and depth.

— Lean your plants Lean plants in to a focal point, whether it's a waterfall or your front door. Plants leaning in toward the sidewalk make for an inviting, comforting feeling.

— Incorporate water features The sound of running water creates interest in a garden. It also attracts frogs, dragonflies, and birds bathing and preening.

— Use big rocks Go with the biggest rocks you can afford, handle and move. “You don't have to have boulders, they're just really great,” Mr. Gruner says. You can also use rocks to change the flow if you have a water feature.

— Think character and colour Restrained use of unusual plants and trees, or those of contrasting colour, will enhance a garden. One good option is dwarf white pines, which have great character, few disease problems and grow in small spaces.

— Apply whimsy carefully Whimsical features such as wind chimes, stone frogs or humorous sculptures can spice up a garden, but don't overdo it. If the oddities play off nature (no gnomes, please) and are carefully integrated, whimsy can work.

— Visit model gardens Take a look at some other gardens that “really pop,” Mr. Gruner says, and adapt the features you think work best.

Gardening in the Globe

2011-07-22T12:57:00.002-04:00

Why are your summer plants turning brown – even in the shade?
Marjorie Harris
Globe and Mail - Friday, July 22nd, 2011

Q: I’m having problems with my Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ – the leaves become covered with brown spots in July and August when the weather is hot and humid. The plants are in dappled shade.

A: It is probably a fungus. I have found that these plants do well in terrible soil, but really, really thrive in well-drained. Those in a raised bed do even better. In this case, it might be too much rain and the humidity. Replant it in a raised bed, give it a hit of compost and live in hope. It’s a good plant, although one Brunnera to be wary of is B. ‘Langtrees’ – it has a pretty variegation but will spread everywhere.

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Lay down the line in your garden with this handy tool

"I use my Garant Turf Edger ($19.99 through www.homedepot.ca) to make a nice line between the flower beds and the grass in the garden. It helps keeps the grass out of the flower beds, too." – Sandra Winstanley, maintenance supervisor at Dale’s Gardening and Landscaping Inc. in Markham, Ont.

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Campanula poscharskyana ‘Blue Waterfall’ (Serbian bellflower)
Marjorie Harris

Why you should plant it

Campanulas of all species and colours are great perennials: really tough and able to stand up to almost any weather. This Zone 5 beauty is a wonderfully decorative plant with light green foliage and starry deep-blue blooms that will carry on most of the summer. It’s a great little edger in and around steps or a rock garden and will make a fluffy groundcover (but not for walking on). It grows quickly and sprawls elegantly.

Where to plant it

Locate it in full sun or part shade in almost any kind of soil. It tends to be drought-tolerant after it’s well established, which means lots of water for the first month. If you need to spread it around, it’s easy to divide after flowering. It grows from 15 to 20 centimetres high and 45 to 60 centimetres wide.

What it offers

Rabbits tend not to nibble away at this plant if they’ve been infesting the garden. It looks fabulous in those barren spots under roses and shrubs. And what a perfect way to enhance a container that’s lost its zip or is drooping with the midsummer doldrums. Divide up one plant and stick each piece into the edge and let it drip down the side.

Source and cost

You can get it for around $9.99 a plant at such specialty nurseries as Vancouver’s Southlands Nursery.

More CJ in CR

2011-07-19T16:40:00.002-04:00

CJ in CR

2011-07-19T16:35:00.003-04:00

Gardening from the Globe and Mail

2011-07-15T12:56:00.005-04:00

When and how do you divide peonies and irises?
Marjorie Harris - Globe and Mail - Friday, July 15, 2011

Now that irises are out of bloom and look miserable would be a good time; make sure that you re-plant them at the same soil level they were at originally and so the sun hits the corms of the irises. I usually transplant peonies after they are out of bloom but a bit later in the season; you have to be careful that you don’t plant them too deep – make sure that the eyes are at the same level in the soil they were before. In both cases, just whack them in half or in four with the sharp part of a shovel. Make sure you have a nice well-developed hole the same depth as the root system of each plant. Add lots of compost to the top of the soil after watering deeply and do it on a cloudy day.

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If you hate weeds, you should own this garden tool

“I love my Dutch hoe ($14.99 through www.homehardware.ca) for weeding because you can cover a large area with it and, if you visit it regularly, you don’t eventually have to pull out any weeds – you just decapitate them with the hoe.” – Jonas Spring, owner of Ecoman Landscape Ecology & Food Systems in Toronto.

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Add a striking centrepiece to your garden with Bear’s Breeches
Marjorie Harris

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Acanthus hungaricus (Bear’s Breeches)

Why you should plant it

If you need a statuesque plant or a striking specimen, this acanthus is ideal. It has large, pillowy, deeply lobed leaves and pale pink/purple and white racemes – all gorgeous. But you must be patient because it takes a while to get established. It’s a good July bloomer.

Where to plant it

This acanthus needs full sun, but I’ve had it in a bit of shade and it’s grown well if slowly. It will grow as much as 80 centimetres high and 60 centimetres wide and forms a very strong clump coming from basal leaves. A species from the Balkans, it can be pretty tough and gets along in fairly thin soil, but add lots of compost anyway and don’t let it dry out. Make sure it has space as it will develop powdery mildew if it’s crowded.

What it offers

The fairly large clump this Zone 5 plant creates is a guaranteed showstopper. It is, however, a one-off, so don’t put in a big group of them. Plant it with something equally interesting, such as a blood-red grass or a small shrub. Once it gets established (give it a year or two), cut the flowers. They look great in a vase and dry out for arrangements very successfully.

Source and cost

Find Acanthus hungaricus at specialty nurseries such as Toronto’s Fiesta Gardens (416-537-1244) for around $16.99.

Gardening

2011-07-13T06:53:00.003-04:00

Urban gardening blossoms
Shelley White
Globe and Mail Blog
Monday, June 27, 2011

If you’ve been feeling the pinch at the grocery store lately, you’re not alone.

By now we've all heard the price of food in Canada is rising. Economists are predicting that Canadians will be paying between 5 and 7 per cent more for groceries on average by the end of year, due to bad crops around the world, oil prices topping $100 (U.S.) a barrel and a sluggish economic recovery. That 5-to-7 per cent rise means an extra $340 (Canadian) a year, for a family spending an average of $400 a month on groceries.
More related to this story

But is there a way to pay less for your family’s food, without subsisting on macaroni and canned tuna fish?

I grew up on a farm in southwestern Ontario and as you might expect, everyone had a garden in their yard. Fresh vegetables were a given all summer and if you were into canning, you could enjoy the fruits of your labour all winter as well. It’s something I took for granted (and I certainly wasn’t much of a help with the garden), but I have wondered lately whether it’s something I could do now - despite being a total urbanite.

It seems I may be on to something. Rising food prices and an interest in knowing where their food is coming from has led some urban dwellers growing vegetables in their backyard.

There are a host of online resources for anyone who wants to give it a go. Gardening Know-How gives advice on creating rooftop gardens, “vertical” gardens (for small spaces) or planting in containers (when you don’t have an appropriate plot of land). Toronto Balconies Bloom is a hub for people seeking advice on how to grow food on their urban balconies. And Daniel Hoffman runs The Cutting Veg, a website dedicated to helping people grow their own food. He gave these four tips on how to create an urban garden, on behalf of Consolidated Credit Counselling Services of Canada:
- Feed your soil lots of organic matter before planting, whether it be kitchen scrap compost, animal waste or mushroom compost.
- Mulch your garden with straw or leaves. It will help retain moisture, keep weeds away, increase your soil’s heat and enrich the soil.
- If this is the first time you’ve tried gardening in your backyard, ask neighbours with gardens what works well for them in your particular environment.
- Think you’re too late in the season to plant? Never fear – you’ve still got time for tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, beans, eggplant, peppers, basil, carrots, beets, potatoes, onions and salad greens.

For those of us with a black thumb - I’m including myself in this category, since I once killed a snake plant, which thrives on neglect - there are ways to utilize the potential bounty in your backyard without having to do all the work yourself.

Companies have been springing up that specialize in helping city folk create edible gardens. In Toronto, Young Urban Farmers and Backyard Urban Farm Company will set up, plant and maintain your edible garden. City Farm Boy will design, build and maintain your backyard garden in Vancouver, and The Urban Farmer will help you install “edible forest gardens” in that same city. It might seem counter-intuitive to pay someone to grow cheaper food in your backyard, but presumably you could eventually learn to do it yourself.

And if you’re really into farming in your backyard, you can go beyond vegetable matter and into living, breathing livestock – depending on where in Canada you live. The city of Vancouver allows homeowners to raise up to four chickens in their backyard for the purpose of egg production. (Victoria, Surrey and New Westminster, B.C. have similar laws.) While it’s not legal to sell these backyard-fresh eggs, you certainly can consume them. Just don’t go trying it in Toronto or Calgary or Montreal – it won’t likely endear you to the neighbours and you could get yourself fined.

You might want to go with some nice beetroot instead.

Gardening and allergies

2011-07-11T07:12:00.003-04:00

(Unrelated picture - Greenland)

Got allergies? Here’s how to garden
Adriana Barton
From Monday's Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, July 10, 2011

Jacynthe Bouchard doesn’t dare dig weeds or trim foliage in the Japanese-style garden outside her Victoria home without taking precautions.

She wears long sleeves, takes antihistamine and asthma medication, rubs pollen-blocking cream around her nostrils, and changes into her gardening clothes in the basement to avoid spreading allergens through the house.

Then she puts her mask on.

The pollen-filtering mask her husband discovered in a paint shop has been “a saviour” for her as a gardener, Ms. Bouchard says.

She didn’t indulge in her passion for years after she was hospitalized due to bronchial damage caused by a severe allergic reaction to pollen and moulds while gardening. But as a masked gardener, she admits, “you do get funny looks.”

For green thumbs like Ms. Bouchard, allergies to tree and grass pollens, bee stings, moulds, weed saps and strong scents can be a torment.

Even so, there are plenty of ways to manage allergies without giving up the joys of gardening, says Thomas Leo Ogren, a horticulturalist based in San Luis Obispo, Calif., who has studied allergens for three decades.

One approach is to use allergen-avoidance tactics such as wearing protective gear or gardening on calm days after heavy rains, he says.

The other is to plant a low-allergen garden.

Mr. Ogren encourages allergic gardeners to practise “botanical sexism” by choosing mainly female plants for their garden of Eden. Only male plants produce pollen, he points out, and “female plants, by their very nature, are designed to trap pollen.”

A hedge of female yew will capture ambient allergens blowing from city streets, he says, and help restore the gender balance in urban areas.

In recent decades, cities all over North America have planted row upon row of male bushes and trees to avoid the cost of cleaning up messy seeds and fruit, he adds. “This is what’s driving high pollen counts in urban areas.”

But choosing female plants is easier said than done. Most trees are produced asexually from patented clones, Mr. Ogren explains. Since few plant nurseries discriminate by gender, the sex of a plant may be tough to determine unless it’s seeding or fruiting (which indicate it’s female).

To make things easier, he has identified the predominant sex of hundreds of individual cultivars and included them in an allergy ranking of 3,500 plants in his book Allergy-Free Gardening.

Determining a plant’s potential to trigger allergies isn’t a just matter of doing pollen counts, says Mr. Ogren, who considered 150 different criteria in his ranking system.

Rhododendrons and azaleas are not heavy pollen makers, for example, but the powders they produce are highly toxic. “I would never plant them outside a bedroom window.”

Mr. Ogren notes that the chemotherapy drug Taxol is derived from the yew tree. He’s had clients complain of symptoms such as headaches and fatigue, which he attributed to pollen from male yews blowing through a window all night long.

Exposure can be significant, he says, “but it never comes up on any allergist’s radar.”

Aside from pollens, strong botanical scents such as oil of rosemary bother some gardeners, particularly asthmatics. Touching certain plants, such as hydrangea, can cause itchy skin, while the milky sap of common weeds such as spurge is highly allergenic for many people, Mr. Ogren says.

Contrary to popular belief, allergic gardeners needn’t rip out their lawns to avoid grass pollens. In fact, “a well-maintained lawn is a very good pollen trap.”

Many grass varieties that grow well in Canada don’t produce pollen until they’re much taller than the average lawn, including certain types of fescue. For a soft texture and easy maintenance, Mr. Ogren recommends a female clone of buffalo grass, which grows in dryer regions and can be mowed as little as three times a season.

In choosing plants, safe bets include the female trees of holly, willow, poplar and ash; certain perennials, such as peonies; and annuals including petunias and impatiens.

If replanting isn’t an option, gardeners might be better off wearing allergy combat gear like Ms. Bouchard. Her garden was beautifully landscaped when she bought her home several years ago, she says, and she was loath to redo the flower beds, rock gardens, treed areas and goldfish pond.

In her mask, passersby during the H1N1 virus scare mistook her for a germaphobe, Ms. Bouchard recalls. But the pollen-filtering headgear allows her to garden for up to five hours at a stretch, compared to 10 minutes without covering her face.

“In my case, it does the trick.”

Tips for allergic gardeners
- Change clothes right after gardening; shower and wash hair to remove allergens.
- Use gravel or oyster shells around plants instead of wood-based mulch, which retains moisture, promoting moulds.
- Attract birds to the garden to eat insects that trigger allergies.
- Ask a non-allergic family member to mow lawns and deal with compost, a breeding ground for moulds.
- Keep house windows closed during mowing and for a few hours afterward.
Sources: Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Organiclifestylechoices.com

Recommended plants
- Forget-me-nots (Myosotis)
- Petunia (Petunia)
- Pansy, violet (Viola)
- Spring-flowering crocus (Crocus)
- Gladiolus (Gladiolus)
- Peony (Paeonia)
- Hens-and-chicks (Sempervivum)
- Fuchsia (Fuchsia)
- Poppy (Papaver)
- Chinese lantern (Physalis)

Plants to avoid:
- Chrysanthemum, daisy varieties (Chrysanthemum)
- Oakleaf and PeeGee hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia and H. paniculata)
- Buttercup (Thalictrum)
- Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota)
- Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum)
- Tansy (Tanacetum)
- Lilac (Syringa)
- Lavender (Lavandula)
- Pot marigold (Calendula)
- Ivy (Hedera)
Source: Allergy-Free Gardening by Thomas Leo Ogren

Gardening in the Globe

2011-07-08T18:28:00.002-04:00

Add freshness to your garden with ferns
Marjorie Harris - Friday, July 8, 2011

PLANT OF THE WEEK - Athyrium ‘Ghost’

Why you should plant it

This tough-as-boots cultivar of a garden favourite – the Japanese painted fern (the other parent is the lady fern) – combines the best of each: vigour and delicacy. ‘Ghost’ comes out maddeningly late in spring, but, when it does, bursts onto the garden scene with a freshness that’s breathtaking. Factor in space and room to admire it.

Where to plant it

Part shade, good loamy soil and lots of compost will turn ‘Ghost’ into a huge plant. Unlike other ferns, it has a more upright habit. Since it can grow to 90 centimetres high (and 18 centimetres wide), don’t crowd it next to other large plants. It’s a specimen – and therefore needs to be seen on its own. Make sure it’s kept in relatively moist conditions; refresh compost at the end of the season. It’s deciduous, so, if it’s looking ratty, cut off any dead-looking fronds. New ones emerge all season.

What if offers

The pale silver/grey leaves of this Zone 5 plant make bold-hued hostas look even better, stand up to the visual competition of big-leafed plants like ligularia and add visual depth to any border. If you love bulbs, this is a good choice to cover up the fading detritus. And it looks fabulous as a companion for Japanese maples.

Source and cost

You can find ‘Ghost’ in major garden centres for $18 to $21.

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How do I keep a sumac under control?
Marjorie Harris

The question: We live on the crest of a hill, below which are various trees and shrubs that seem to grow wild, including a sumac. Although we like the look of it, it's a constant battle keeping it off our lawn: The roots and shoots are everywhere, especially this year for some reason.

Is there a way to stop or contain the spread?

The answer: Sumac is an intrepid but fearsome traveller and this year, with all the rain, it’s become a real pest.

You'll have to create a buffer zone between the jungle and the lawn. Dig a trench and sink plastic or metal edgers as deep as you can. This won't completely halt the movement of the roots but it will slow them down. In the lawn areas, meanwhile, excavate all around the invading sumac and rip it right out. Chop at the roots as ruthlessly as possible. Re-sod or plant other shrubs in its space, although few things will stop its inevitable spread.

It’s a lifetime commitment to keep it at bay. In autumn, though, you will love those colours so much you’ll forget about the aggravation until the cycle begins again next year.
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Make like Batman and grab a gardening belt
James Warkentin, garden superintendent at VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver (www.vandusengarden.org).
Friday, July 8, 2011

“I swear by my gardener’s tool belt, which holds not only tools such as secateurs but also other essentials such as water bottles and sunscreen. Lee Valley sells a great one ($16.95 through www.leevalley.com).”

Gardening

2011-07-02T06:49:00.005-04:00

This astounding plant will bloom all summer long
Marjorie Harris
Globe and Mail Update
July 1, 2011

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Clematis ‘Meinie Belle’

Why you should plant it

If you want something that will bloom all summer long, this astounding clematis will do that. The range of clematis available to consumers is shrinking because it’s hard to grow these plants well for mass consumption.

Last year, I recommended C. ‘Duchess of Albany’ and hardly anybody in the country carried it. Well, this one is even better and there is at least one outlet, www.gardenimport.com, that ships it all over Canada. A gorgeous vine, brilliant colour and the fact that it’s a viticella (which means it’s a species that’s very tough) round out its many charms.

Where to plant it

Plant it so you can bury the top two inches under the level of the soil. Make sure the roots are shaded, which is easy enough when you put it near a fence with other plants around. Cut the existing vines down five centimetres and let it get growing again. This is very difficult, but you end up with a much stronger plant.

What it offers

Many years of bounding energy. A pink bloom with slightly darker edges in a soft bell shape. It has a growth of up to two metres, so it’s not going to swamp a fence or a trellis. And it really does bloom all summer. We need more plants like this one, which will grow from Zone 4.

Source and cost

Order online through www.gardenimport.com for $25.95 plus shipping.

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You’ll want more than one pair of these secateurs

My must-have tool is a pair of Swiss-made Felco Hand Clippers or secateurs ($62.99 through www.amazon.com). I have a couple in my car for work and one at home for my garden in the east end [of Toronto]. Most gardeners have experienced pain in the thumb or wrist and I am in my 16th year with Plantscape, so I bought ergonomic secateurs large and small.
More related to this story

- Jenny Harper, gardener and manager, Babyn’s Plantscape Design in Toronto (416-467-0969)
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How do you fertilize patio plants?
Marjorie Harris

The question: How do you fertilize patio plants? I have your books and have used your methods, but somehow my flowers are not as robust as the nursery stock. I do not like to use the ‘blue’ granules sold by every gardening centre. Doing so seems chemical.

The answer: Don’t use chemicals – make yourself some compost tea instead. Combine one part compost to six parts water in a pail, let sit for a week (some recommend three weeks) and then cut in half with water before using. Apply about once a week to your plants.
More related to this story

These days, I'm using mushroom or duck compost on the top of my pots and things do look good.

Gardening - Lettuce

2011-06-28T18:56:00.002-04:00

Here's a story from the Associated Press...

When it comes to lettuce, hot weather is not your friend
Lee Reich
The Associated Press
Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Homegrown lettuce is so tasty and tender for salads. It's also cold-hardy, so can be enjoyed almost year round – the earliest salad fixings coming from transplants that begin as seeds sown indoors in winter, and the latest ones from plants sheltered beneath plastic or glass tents.

But special tricks are needed to pick lettuce from the garden now, when it's hot. This time of year, lettuce tends to bolt – that is, to flower and make seeds. Once a flower stalk starts pushing up through the whorl of leaves, those leaves turn bitter and tough.

Actually, flavour plummets even before the stalk becomes evident. Keep a close eye on your lettuces, and you'll see that the leaves undergo a slight colour change from shiny, vibrant green to dull, slightly bluish green.

Like any plant or animal, lettuce has to reach a certain age before it can make seeds and reproduce. So one obvious way to keep your salad bowl filled with tasty lettuce is to keep sowing seeds so you always have young plants to eat. (Try planting lettuce about every three weeks all summer. Just a little at a time, though, because three weeks after you start eating one planting you'll be eating the next sowing's harvest.)

Lettuce also bolts in response to the combination of long days, dry soil and hot temperatures. Spring and fall lettuce rarely bolt because, although the plants might be old enough to go to seed, the days are just too short.

You cannot do anything about summer's long days, but you can do something about water and heat. Start by always planting lettuce in soil well-enriched with compost, leaves, straw, manure or some other organic material. They all help soil to hold moisture.

Also water regularly, which makes lettuce taste better anyway. Lettuce needs the equivalent of 2.5 centimetres of water a week, measured into a rain gauge or some other straight-sided container. If Mother Nature doesn't provide water, you do it: once a week with a sprinkler (which takes about an hour) or spread through the week with a drip irrigation system.

And, yes, you can also do something about the temperature. Just as you cool off by moving out of the sun, so can lettuce. The plants tolerate shade this time of year, so cobble together a temporary wooden or plastic frame for supporting cheesecloth, wooden lathe or some other material that offers about 25-per-cent shade. Or let your garden space do double duty, and grow lettuce in the dappled shade of cucumbers, squashes, gourds, tomatoes or pole beans trained up stakes or an inclined trellis.

You can also plant lettuce near the cooler, eastern side of your house or garage. Frilly and red-leafed Lolla Rosa is one of a few lettuce varieties pretty enough to decorate a flower or shrub bed; the dappled shade beneath the other plants will keep Lolla Rosa from bolting, for a while at least.

And speaking of varieties, genetics also plays a role in how fast plants bolt, so plant those that are slower to do so. Among the best for growing in sultry summer weather are Blackseeded Simpson, Buttercrunch, Kagran Summer, Salad Bowl, Red Salad Bowl, Oakleaf, Deertongue, Diamond Gem and Graquerelle du Midi.

3 from The Globe

2011-06-27T05:37:00.004-04:00

Lure butterflies to your garden with this leafy beauty
Marjorie Harris
Globe and Mail Update
Published Saturday, June 25, 2011

Calycanthus floridus (Carolina sweetspice)

Why you should plant it

This shrub is native to eastern Canada and one of the loveliest there is. The large, exotic-looking banana-shaped leaves and extraordinary chocolate/magenta blooms can be a focal point in any garden. It is also a magnet for native bees and hummingbirds. Since it’s in the magnolia family, it does bear a resemblance, but it’s those leaves that are the main attraction.

Where to plant it

This plant is extremely reliable in the right spot: from bright sunlight to light shade. Deciduous, it needs rich, moist (though not boggy) soils. It might sucker, although I haven’t seen this happen so far. This is truly a plant without problems. But it does need some width. Give it a good hit of compost after planting.

What it offers

This is a Zone 5 shrub with a startling and dramatic profile. It will grow up to two metres tall, but may get a good deal wider than that. Give it the width and you’ll have a showstopper. In fact, why not plant this instead of a Japanese maple on the front lawn? Although it blooms in June, the leaves alone are worth the trouble to find it. It may be difficult to source in the west.

Source and cost

Look for it at specialty nurseries such as Lost Horizons (www.losthorizons.ca) in Acton, Ont. It costs around $30.

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The sexiest gardening spade around

“I love the entire collection of Radius garden shovels available at Lee Valley, but the transplant spade ($39.90 through www.leevalley.com) is especially sexy.

These lightweight tools have round-cushioned handles to minimize wrist stress.”

– Lynda Fulton, gardening writer and co-founder of the popular online magazine Covet Garden (www.covetgarden.com)

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How much should I prune?
Marjorie Harris

The question: I have a lovely tree peony that is currently in full bloom. The front two stems are quite thick and in danger of breaking off because the flowers are so heavy. I will have to trim the stems as the plant is going to pull itself out of the bed.

How much can I take off?

The answer: As a rule, never take off more than a third of a plant. Just trim it for safety at the moment and then prune more heavily after the bloom is finished. These are tough plants, so you only need five to eight stems a plant.

In the spring, cut out unwanted stems and limit the lateral buds so the plant doesn’t get crowded. Don’t prune the first few years.

If the plant is weak, remove all of the buds to let it build a strong root system. These plants last forever if treated properly.

Gardening Kitchener

2011-06-27T05:18:00.003-04:00

(Unrelated photo: Letter carriers are coming back - Be careful)

In the garden: It may be summer, but think spring and keep planting

Last Saturday, one of my roses finally bloomed, only a couple of days after my peony flowered. This is happening a week or more later than it usually does in my garden — a similar pattern for most plants this year. Eventually, things will catch up and the season will appear as normal.

Nature has a way of dealing with the vagaries of weather, usually by panicking plants into producing more seed or causing growth spurts. On the other hand, it can be the cause of no growth or no seeds.

I often hear the question: Why isn’t my (fill in the blank) plant blooming this year? Without being specific, either nature or the gardener is responsible, and the gardener is always trying to control nature. Unfortunately, I’m afraid nature has a considerable weight advantage and a lot of tricks up her voluminous sleeve.

I just read about one of these tricks on a blog by Ken Thompson, a British plant biologist, in regard to why oak trees sometimes fail to produce acorns.

His theory is that oaks, and similarly beech trees, synchronize their seed production in a given area by producing bumper crops in some years and then skipping others.

Regular acorn production means a reliable supply of food and a subsequent increase in the population of seed scavengers like mice or squirrels. By skipping acorn production for a couple of seasons or even more, the oak trees starve the critters into birth control. And then, after a break, the trees again produce an overwhelming supply, more than can be eaten, ensuring survival of their own species. Makes sense to me.

Now liken this to our current situation where an imbalance in seasonal weather has caused a disruption in flowering times. This has had an unfortunate effect on plant retailers, especially the smaller, local nursery growers that depend on their spring sales. They can’t bounce back as easily as mice and oak trees.

This year, a cool wet spring put many people off planting around the traditional 24th of May. Unfortunately, a belief lingers that plants must be in the ground before golf, beach, and barbecue season arrives. This is a reasonable assumption when limited time has to be apportioned, but it means the garden is bereft of colour when it needn’t be.

When bedding plants were sold mostly in cell packs, it was important to get them planted as early as possible. But now that many flower and vegetable plants are sold as singles in larger pots, there’s more flexibility in planting times. In fact, with a little extra care and a plant in good condition, it’s possible to continue planting well into summer. This includes larger container grown perennials and shrubs.

For best planting results, here’s what to do:

Plant in the evening when it’s cooler. Before planting, water the ground and the plant while it’s still in the pot. When digging the hole, loosen up the soil beyond the hole to encourage rooting out. Try not to disturb the roots unless the plant is root bound and don’t leave the roots exposed to sun or wind.

If the plant is root bound, gently tease out the roots a little. After planting, water again and then frequently until the plant is established, but don’t drown it.

I like to make a depression in the soil around the plant to channel water to the roots. If located in full sun, a little shade for a few days will be helpful. A throwaway umbrella stuck into the ground makes a handy sun screen.

So it may be summer now, but think spring. Nurseries have a bumper crop this year that they need to move out and consequently, there are some great bargains — up to 40 per cent off in some cases — so take advantage of a seasonal imbalance.

Giant Hogweed

2011-06-20T08:05:00.002-04:00

A local story about Giant Hogweed appeared our Waterloo Region Record newspaper's website today. I've edited it a bit to remove local references.
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Region losing battle against invasive plant

KITCHENER — It’s big, mean and hairy and it doesn’t belong here, but it may be in the neighbourhood to stay.

The giant hogweed is an invasive plant from Asia that was brought to North America about a century ago and has been making its way across southern Ontario in recent years. In 2008, the Region of Waterloo designated it as a noxious weed. ...

A member of the carrot and parsley family, the hogweed grows in moist soil along rivers and in ravines. It suffocates local vegetation and can grow to more than four metres tall. It has wide green leaves with a cluster of white flowers on top, along with a stem that has purple blotches and is extremely hairy.

A single plant can produce about 100,000 seeds, so its spread can be quick and overwhelming. Stewart recalls an area of the city where they were sure the plant had been eradicated, only to find hundreds there the next year. Despite its stubbornness, Stewart still appreciates the plant’s stature.

“It’s a very impressive plant, wow, is it massive,” says Stewart, before quickly adding, “just don’t touch it.”

He doesn’t laugh while giving that warning. The sap of the plant is a caustic substance, and skin which has contacted the sap becomes extremely sensitive to sunlight, leading to burns and blisters that remain for a long time and can scar. If the sap gets into your eye, it can cause serious and possibly permanent damage.

“A friend of mine got burned because of it, and they had to treat it with steroid injections and it took a long time to heal. It was nasty,” says Stewart.

Currently, city staff wear suits with rubber gloves and boots when removing the plants by digging them up, or by removing the flower of the plant to stop the seeds from spreading. While Stewart says they are doing all they can, he admits that hand-digging each plant is “becoming overwhelming.”

According to Stewart, the only effective way to kill them is to inject a pesticide into the plant. However, provincial legislations restricts the use of pesticides unless it is threatening agricultural land, meaning that the city can do little to stem the tide in parks.

“We are between a rock and a hard place,” says Stewart. “We just feel like we have our finger in the dyke right now.” ...

Eventually, Stewart thinks that the plant will become like a poison ivy, with the city having little to do but inform people of its dangers.

“I don’t know what to do,” he admits. “It’s almost to the point where all we can do is educate the public to please stay away.”

Peonies

2011-06-19T09:55:00.003-04:00

Peonies: garden gifts that keep on giving
NANCY O’DONNELL
The New York Times News Service
Published Sunday, June 19, 2011

Peonies are in bloom and it’s now that many folks who don’t grow them wish they did while others wonder why theirs aren’t flowering like the neighbour’s.

Paeonia hybrid is the official name for the bush-style peonies common in our area of upstate New York. The colours range from the purest white to dark, rich reds and all the hues in-between. Their blooms can be single or double flowered, the latter reminding me of the tissue flowers we all used to make our moms back when.
More related to this story

When choosing, check out their bloom time. Peonies are like tomatoes and tulips, some bloom early, some mid-season and others late. By mixing the bloom periods you can extend their show from mid-May through June.

Peonies are long lived – 50 to 60 years is not an uncommon life expectancy. In addition, their tuberous roots can be divided and passed down through generations allowing them to garner the term “heirloom plants.”

They bloom from mid-May through June; since they bloom prior to July 4, they should be divided in the fall. As for planting, fall is also best, but many nurseries offer them for sale in the spring. The drawback to planting in the spring is they tend to suffer a bit of a setback for a year or two as they prefer the cooler soil temperatures of fall for root development.

Peonies can be purchased as either plants or as tubers. Regardless of how you buy them, here is the trick to planting them: If you look at the topside of the tubers you will notice red “eyes” or bumps. These “eyes” are where the shoots emerge from come spring. To properly plant a peony these “eyes” must be planted no deeper than one to two inches or they will not flower.

If you are ogling your neighbor’s spectacular peony blossoms and crying over the lack of your own, the first place to start is to check the planting depth. Keep in mind, a layer of mulch counts, so if applying mulch, do so very thinly.

Peonies are definitely not shy when it comes to demanding full sun and a rich, well-drained soil that is moisture retentive. They are very heavy feeders and a rich organic soil that will provide a season-long natural nutrient source is highly recommended. You may top dress the crown area come fall with bone meal and gently scuff into the soil. Then, in early spring, apply a complete granular fertilizer such as 5-10-5.

For a pH, peonies require a 6.5 to near neutral and will reward you handsomely with stately, shrub-like plants that can easily max out at close to a meter in both height and width. Even after their bloom, the plant that remains is stunning. By the end of August, its leaves will begin to turn their autumn hue of burgundy. In late fall, cut the stems right to the ground and remove all leaves and stems from the garden to discourage disease from overwintering.

As for problems, if your plants suffer from buds that form, then turn brownish-black, look as if they are growing fuzz during wet periods and refuse to open, chances are they are being attacked by Botrytis blight. At this time in the growing season there is little you can do except remove the infected buds and flowers, disposing of them in the trash, not the compost heap. Come fall, be sure to cut and completely remove all plant debris. Then, next spring, when the red pointy shoots emerge from the ground, treat them with a fungicide labelled for Botrytis control every 10 days.

Ants are not a problem, just a nuisance. They are attracted to the sugary excretion from the flower buds and eventually move on. When you cut the flowers to bring indoors, gently shake them upside down in the garden to dislodge any ants.

Lack of blossoms can signal the peonies were planted too deep. Come fall, they must be raised up. Other reasons could be excess nitrogen, which would result in excessive green leafy growth at the expense of flower bud formation. There could be a lack of phosphorus – applying bone meal every fall is a good organic, slow-feed remedy to that problem.

A lack of flowers could also signify an inadequate amount of sunlight.

Other possible problems include late frost, which can affect the bud, or competition from weeds or other plants. Remember that peonies are heavy feeders and sharing (nutrients and soil space) is not in their vocabulary.

Once planted correctly, peonies are self-sufficient for years and years. Then, when your children have their own gardens, you can pass some tubers to them and they to their children and on down through generations to come.

Gardening by Hobson

2011-06-18T18:40:00.006-04:00

Picture: Gold Heart

In the garden: My Gold Heart flowered beautifully, but it wants more shade

Last spring I planted Dicentra spectabilis (Gold Heart), commonly known as bleeding heart. It’s a familiar old favourite, except this variety has lovely chartreuse foliage that initially lights up a shady corner in early spring and then rewards you with rosy-pink flowers.

Dicentra die back early on and vanish for the summer — and consequently, I’d forgotten about my Gold Heart until it reappeared this spring. It flowered beautifully, but hasn’t grown very much, which I suspect is because its pale green foliage is susceptible to sunburn, not something it had to worry about this spring, but I will move it before it vanishes again.

I’ll give it an even shadier spot where it can impress me even more, perhaps with the candelabra primula I also planted last spring. That plant is looking very healthy and about to flower.

The candelabra type is one of my favourite primroses. If you’ve never grown one, you’ll love them. They don’t stay squat like many typical primroses (there are more than 400 species), but shoot up a tall stem that pops out a perfect whorl resembling a candelabra.

But back to health and hearts.

I have another plant that is sometimes called bleeding heart, one with flowers that have a white calyx surrounding pinky-red petals.

It’s unrelated to Dicentra and it loves the sun, but with one major drawback: it isn’t hardy. It will have to go indoors for the winter. That’s not surprising as it is native to tropical West Africa.

Another name for it is bleeding glory bower. But enough with the blood. Its botanical name is Clerodendrum thomsoniae, named after Rev. William Cooper Thomson, a 19th-century missionary and physician in Nigeria. I’m sure he wasn’t the first person to see this plant, as countless local people would have been familiar with it. But he brought it to the attention of his fellow Victorian plant lovers who gave him credit for this in the name.

Clerodendron is in the same family as verbena — verbenaceae — but you wouldn’t know it. It’s a climbing vine that can grow to four metres, which may cause a problem when I bring it indoors, although it can be trimmed to size. Right now I have it in a pot where it’s doing it’s best to strangle a bamboo cane. I’ve seen this plant in all its glory, growing in a large tropical greenhouse, and was thrilled to find one at a local garden centre.

It appears to be enjoying our summer on the patio and as things warm up, it should excel. Mine is growing upwards on canes; without support, it would simply flop over and become a trailing vine. Apparently, it can also be trained as a shrub.

Growing conditions call for well-drained soil, sun or light shade, and average moisture levels. It will have quite a thirst when it takes off and it is a heavy feeder so it will need regular fertilizing. The flowers are produced on new growth, meaning the more it grows, the more it will flower, meaning maybe I should have stuck it in a larger container or I’ll be standing over it with a watering can.

Here’s a tip. If you plant your own containers and they have exposed soil, do add a layer of mulch to help retain the moisture. I use fine wood chips, coir or pebbles and find it makes a huge difference when it comes to watering.

Speaking of containers, I fully intended to prepare fewer this year, but after a quick count I find I may have overdone it again. Is 100 too many? Not really, but I may need a larger watering can.

Dormice are Cute

2011-06-18T07:45:00.002-04:00

From a recent BBC article - The English Dormouse

Gardening - Three items

2011-06-18T07:29:00.002-04:00

Get your hands on this hot, new plant
Marjorie Harris
Globe and Mail - Saturday June 18, 2011

Hakonochloa macra ‘Fubuki’

Why you should plant it

Want to be on top of the newest plant? Well, this is it. Japanese forest grass has been a favourite among gardeners for many years, but this is the newest of new forms. This Zone 5 variety makes a dramatic edger to a border or in a container and is especially fabulous with dark plants behind it. It also makes a glorious mound and will soften the ugliest of stone or wooden edges along driveways and decks.

Where to plant it

These ornamental grasses seem to put up with almost any conditions, but reasonably good soil with decent drainage will allow it to thrive in moderate sun or fairly deep shade. If you divide or pick off each little stem, you’ll end up with individual plants. Once mature (about two years), it develops a fibrous root and will require serious muscle to divide.

What it offers

A cascade of white and green just delicious in its impact. ‘Fubuki’ is a shade-tolerant plant, so you can brighten up a corner with it. It will grow – very slowly over a few years – to 30 centimetres with a spread to 45 centimetres. This year, put it in a pot and then transplant it to the ground in the autumn and let it mature. If it’s like all the other plants in this family, it will not disappoint.

Source and cost

Get it for $16.99 at specialty nurseries such as Plant World (www.plantworld.net) in Toronto; it will be in a wider range of nurseries as the season goes on.

Visit www.marjorieharris.com for more gardening and plant information.

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Help, goutweed is taking over my garden
Marjorie Harris

The question: Do you have any suggestions on how to remove goutweed?”

The answer: This loathsome plant, also known as bishop’s weed, will take over every part of the garden very quickly.

Never use it except in a concrete container in dead shade. If you can, cut existing growth back to the ground, cover it with black plastic and hold it down with bricks at the edges. This will fry the plant.
More related to this story

Over time, keep cutting it to the ground until you starve the roots. It will be a long, long job, but persevere. The more you pull at goutweed, the more its brittle roots will form new plants. And if it goes to seed, it could infect a whole neighbourhood.

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Keep your kids safe with organic dirt
Globe and Mail - Saturday, June 18, 2011

“The hottest item right now has to be organic dirt (such as Hillview Top Soil, $2.99 per 30-litre bag).

For a while now, customers have been complaining that their kids were getting allergies from playing in the dirt in their gardens. When I investigated, I discovered that a lot of bagged soil is laced with chemicals, so I went to our soil company and told them to bag only soil that is organic for us.
More related to this story

We’re now the only downtown Toronto garden centre to have gone 100-per-cent organic [dirt] and we’ve never been busier.”

– Master gardener Judy Clarke of East End Garden Centre (www.eastendgardencentre.ca) in Toronto

Three by Marjorie Harris

2011-06-11T08:07:00.002-04:00

This vibrant blue plant blooms for weeks on end
MARJORIE HARRIS
Globe and Mail - Saturday, June 11

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Salvia nemorosa ‘May Night’

Why you should plant it

Providing a shock of blue so intense it hurts your eyes, this durable plant can make a border appear to be thickly planted because (unlike most perennials, which quit after a few weeks) it blooms for weeks on end.

Where to plant it

It definitely needs sun, although I’ve had it in partial sunlight (less than four hours a day) and – unlike other salvias, which need full sun – it’s still done well. Once established, it will be as close to drought-tolerant as possible. Choose well-drained soil in areas where you are having trouble covering up the detritus from bulbs. It will overshadow almost anything around it.

What it offers

A sensible clump size of up to 60 by 60 centimetres. Strong, slightly wrinkly leaves and brilliant indigo spires. It’s a bee and hummingbird magnet. If you have a country garden plagued by deer, plant it at the edges of the garden and it just might discourage them. They supposedly don’t like it.

Source and cost

You can find ‘May Night’ salvia, for approximately $22, at specialty nurseries such as Toronto’s Fiesta Gardens (416-537-1244).

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What should I do about a plant covered with nasty-looking scale?

The question: I have a corkscrew hazel that is covered with some nasty-looking scale. Will the plant die? Should I spray it with horticultural oil?

The answer: It could be scale or it could be Eastern filbert blight, which produces scale-like lesions that feed on filberts; it goes in cycles and can spread by wind or rain. In either case, cut out all the affected areas and get the wood right out of the garden. (Don’t bother to compost it. And make sure you clean your secateurs well afterward.) Then use a fungicide, applying it exactly as directed.

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This tool works like a charm at getting rid of weeds

To get rid of lawn weeds without the use of herbicides or other chemicals, I use the THE WEED HOUND ($22.99 at Home Hardware locations across Canada) to extract them by the root. You drive it into the ground using foot pressure, then tip it to pull out the roots. It works like a charm, but the ideal time to use it is after a rain, when the earth is soft. It also aerates the soil, making it doubly efficient.” – Landscaper Gary Ross of Designed and Delivered in Newmarket, Ont. (905-713-9210)

Gardening in France

2011-06-11T08:00:00.002-04:00

In the garden: Giverny is like a living gallery of Monet’s art

It was a single red poppy in a field of wheat beside a busy parking lot that caught my attention.

The solitary flower had a calming affect on me — after having just spent too short a time whirling through Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny in France. It’s a busy place, visited as it is each year by half a million art lovers and gardeners from around the world.

Those are the two main reasons to visit — to see what inspired Monet’s paintings or to see the garden he created — or both. In reality, it is hard to separate the two. I suppose I approached it as a gardener, but as soon as I stepped into the garden, it became less about plants and more about the images before me. I felt I was strolling through a living gallery of Monet’s art.

The sight of the oh-so-familiar water lily pond, featured so often in his paintings, did manage to evoke a little gardener envy. The strolling pathway meanders around it, bordered by weeping willows, Japanese maples, bamboo and irises, allowing for a constantly changing perspective of the famous lilies. I crossed over one of the most painted and photographed bridges in the world beneath a huge blanket of wisteria. When in bloom a week or two earlier, the fragrance would have been heavenly.

I skipped taking my own picture of the bridge, crowded as it was with pond viewers, and left to enter the main garden. The two areas are separate, each a couple of acres in size and divided by a busy road. Monet (1840 – 1926) began developing the gardens after moving there in 1883. Then, 10 years later, he bought the land across the road and had the pond dug. In his time he would only have had to dodge the occasional horse and cart on the road. Today, distracted visitors can cross safely by way of a tunnel.

The garden is described as a Clos Normand, enclosed by walls and planted much as an English cottage garden filled with annuals and perennials and roses. Oh, the roses — huge and healthy, masses of them all in bloom growing over arbours and walls, competing with clematis, fighting for space on the ivy covered house and filling flower beds.

The beds are simple and not for the neatnik. They’re long and narrow and don’t meet any concept of current landscape design. They stretch down the gentle slope from the house, each one a slightly different palette from its neighbours, filled with endless clumps of plants chosen to contrast or complement in colour, texture, shape and size. When I visited, it was the peak time for the poppies, which were purple and mauve against a perfect shroud of Verbena bonariensis — just one example of Monet’s artistic skill. He sure knew his colours, I tell you.

Due to the number of visitors, the narrow inner walkways between the beds were cordoned off, which is wise. Fill them with people and it would look like a checkout line at a garden centre. It would also increase the maintenance work for the gardeners, all eight of them.

The head gardener is now British-born James Priest, who only started his job June 1, a couple of days after I visited. He’s a 53-year-old Kew-trained horticulturalist from Liverpool, but he has lived in France for 27 years. Priest has stated his intent is to ensure Monet’s concept is fully realized with a review of the original garden.

After Monet died in 1926, the garden deteriorated and was eventually abandoned. The flower beds were covered in turf and the pond soon filled with silt. Restoration was begun in the late 1970s by Gerald van der Kamp, curator of the property, along with head gardener Gilbert Vahe. His retirement after 35 years opened up an opportunity for Priest to take over.

After only an hour or two there, I had to leave as well — to return to my own garden where there are a couple of poppies waiting to bloom.

Coming up on CBC's Sunday Edition

2011-06-10T16:23:00.003-04:00

(Picture - Mary Anning - discussed in Hour 3)

From CBC Website:

Coming Up on The Sunday Edition - June 12 2011

Hour One - The films of Norman Jewison are marked by three things--- superb camera technique, compelling narratives, strong performances by the actors.

And more than just a touch of class.

He is a director's director working across a variety of genres----comedies, thrillers, human drama, musicals, and themes of social and racial justice.

In a career spanning 50 years, his films have been nominated for 46 Academy Awards and have won 12 Oscars.

He has worked with the biggest stars in Hollywood---Al Pacino, Steve McQueen, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte.

He has come a long way from East End Toronto and early Canadian television where his first job was directing a puppet named Uncle Chichimus.

Next month, he will be 85 and his passion for life and movies has not abated one bit.

This morning, a conversation with Norman Jewison about art, movies stardom and his next project.

An hour-long Brunch with Mr. Jewison. And he even brought his own food.

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Hour Two - In our Middle Hour, meet Fares Mekideche, of Montreal.

Not only is he an expert in serving up the gastronomical delights of his native Algeria, he is also a very funny comedian.

And in his nightclub act, he manages to combine both talents.

Producer David Gutnick reports, eats and laughs in Hour Two.

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Hour Three - Mary Anning was young, poor, uneducated. She lived in England in the early 19th Century. She supported her family by scouring the beaches of Lyme Regis for "curiosities" - tiny fossils frozen in time.

When she was 12 she discovered the entire skeleton of an Ichthyosaurus. And thereby virtually invented the science of paleontology.

Mary Anning is the focus of Joan Thomas's second novel, Curiosity, which was long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller prize.

In the skillful hands of novelist Thomas, Mary Anning comes alive as a young girl breaking new ground in a science dominated by men.

Joan Thomas will be here to talk about Curiosity in our final hour.

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Elsewhere in the program - some thoughts on great art and ghastly artists, teaching secularism in university and how all those free points programs come with strings attached.

Roaming cats - Article from Discovery.com

2011-06-10T11:40:00.002-04:00

Cats Do Roam, Tracking Shows

Feral cats can cover hundreds of acres, while house cats are found to sleep or sit still most of the time.

By Emily Sohn
Friday June 10, 2011

When your cat leaves the house, it may roam farther than you think, suggests a new study, covering as much as five acres.

But even adventurous house cats cover much less ground than feral cats, whose ranges sometimes exceed 370 acres. Owned cats also move around a whole lot less, especially at night. They visit fewer kinds of habitats. And -- cat owners may not be surprised to hear this -- they sleep much more.

The study was one of the first to document where cats go and what they do when people aren't around. And as mysterious as cats may like to think they are, getting a better idea of their patterns may ultimately help people protect felines and the environments they live in. Roaming cats hunt birds and other animals, and they can spread diseases to wildlife, people and other pets.

"If your cat goes outside and there's no way for you to know what happens to it, it's very difficult for you to make educated choices," said Nohra Mateus, a veterinarian and epidemiologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey in Champaign, Ill.

Only one previous study has used radio collars to compare owned cats with wild ones, said Margaret Slater, a veterinary epidemiologist with the ASPCA in Champaign. That study, which took place in Texas, found that feral cats roamed farther than owned cats did. A group of feral cats that was fed in designated locations had smaller ranges than unfed wild cats, but they still traveled further than free-roaming house cats did.

For the new study, Mateus and colleagues put special collars on 18 owned cats and 24 unowned cats, all living in Champaign-Urbana. All of the collars were equipped with radio transmitters. More than half of the collars also held activity sensors, which measured tilt and vibration as indicators of how active cats were at any given time.
shakespeare

After following the cats for 16 months, the researchers documented a dramatic difference in how much the two groups moved -- both in distance covered and number of minutes spent being frisky.

While house cats wandered over a range of just under two hectares (4.9 acres), the researchers reported in the Journal of Wildlife Management, feral cats covered an average of 157 hectares (388 acres). One wild cat covered close to 550 hectares (1,359 acres). The feral cats also entered a larger number of landscapes, from farms and grasslands to forests and urban areas.

On a day-to-day basis, house cats were much more relaxed -- sleeping or sitting quietly 80 percent of the time, compared to their wild peers, who were inactive just 62 percent of the time.

Even during their waking hours, house cats were pretty mellow. They spent 17 percent of their time doing low-intensity activities. High-intensity action took up just three percent of their time. Feral cats, on other hand, were highly active 14 percent of their time and were involved in low-intensity activities 23 percent of their time.

In a smaller sample of 39 cats, the researchers reported that one of 12 owned cats died during the study period after being struck by a car. Meanwhile, six of 23 wild cats died or were presumed dead. Coyotes killed two. One was found in a dumpster. Three just disappeared.

"I see this as a cautionary tale for cat-owners," Slater said. "If you allow a cat outside, there's a chance it's going to get into trouble and get killed."

The study also supports arguments for neutering, feeding and providing shelter for feral feline populations, Slater added. Those efforts shrink the animals' ranges, which puts less pressure on prey animals and minimizes the risk of conflict with roaming house cats.

Perhaps most interesting to cat-lovers, the study offers new insight into what their furry friends do all day and all night long.

"Just last night, I was sitting outside, talking with friends, and their cat was hanging out with us on the front porch," Mateus said.

When the cat took off, Mateus asked her friends if they had ever wondered where there cat goes. The owners said the cat just wandered around the house. But when they took her suggestion and followed the cat, they all ended up across the street in a neighbor's backyard.

"They said, 'Hm, we better go get him before he gets into trouble," Mateus said. "It's kind of interesting how far these cats go without us knowing."

Cat !!!!

2011-06-08T12:28:00.003-04:00

The Harpers' New Kitten

2011-06-05T18:27:00.002-04:00

The PM and his family has a new kitty. They are asking for name suggestions on his Facebook site.

Gardening from Kitchener

2011-06-04T07:47:00.002-04:00

(unrelated picture - England in the Spring)

In the garden: Don’t stop now, there’s deadheading to be done

Looking for a job in the garden this weekend? Thought you could sit back and relax on the deck after all the frantic planting is completed?

How about a little deadheading?

It sounds ominous, and it is for the plants. It frightens them into producing more flowers.

Use a light pair of pruners or a pair of scissors to snip off the spent flower heads, or use your finger and thumb to pinch them off. Some densely flowering annuals such as lobelia respond well to a shearing right after the first flush of blooming. A few weeks later, they’ll produce a fresh, spring-like growth of blooms.

Deadheading is very important with annuals that are planted in containers, where the amount of blooming can be diminished due to constricted root growth and hotter soil conditions.

Many perennials respond well to an early trimming. In the United Kingdom, this is known as the Chelsea chop, as it’s done at the end of May when the Chelsea Flower Show is happening.

Plants with multiple blossoms, like phlox, can be given a good trim. The result will be a stockier plant with more flowers. Garden chrysanthemums respond especially well to deadheading as well. In fact, it’s recommended they get a trim just as they’re beginning to produce flower buds. Do this until the end of June. Early blooming perennials can be cut back after blooming and they may produce a second flush later in the season. This works well with delphiniums.

Cutting back slows a plant’s natural tendency to stop growing. It prevents the spent flowers from going to seed and it spurs root growth that will result in more flowers.

June pruning is also a way to restrict the height of a plant. One that normally grows too tall and looks out of place will benefit from an early trim. Don’t leave it too late or there will be no flowers.

As other perennial blooms fade, prune back stems to the first full set of leaves below the flower. Prune and deadhead around plants that are overshadowing smaller plants. This will allow the smaller plants to get plenty of sunlight. Deadheading of perennials such as day lilies (hemerocallis) or Asiatic lilies (Lilium) stops the seed-producing process. Although these plants will not bloom a second time, they will put all their energy into next year’s growth. And energy is what we need — especially on the weekend.

If you still have lots of energy, this is also good time to mulch, if you haven’t done it already. By now, the soil has well and truly warmed up and everything in the garden should be flourishing. But it may not last. Next thing you know we’ll be into a drought and facing watering bans.

Mulch everything. It will not only help your flower and veggie beds retain moisture, it will suppress weeds, and boy, do I love to suppress weeds.

It’s simply a matter of covering the soil. The only question you need to ask is, do I want it to be pleasing, or do I just want it to do the job. I guess if you want to mulch the front flowerbeds, you’d better go out and buy attractive wood chips, since aesthetically pleasing pretty well rules out using rotten leaves or the old newspaper. Yet newspaper does make excellent mulch. Use it in the veggie garden, weighed down with stones or even a few clods of earth. Your veggies will love you and the weeds will hate you.

One other thing, don’t place mulch right up against plants, or against the trunks of trees — bark needs to breathe.

OK, now you can sit on the deck.

New Pictures from Toronto

2011-06-04T07:41:00.006-04:00

Gardening in the Globe

2011-06-04T07:33:00.003-04:00

Refresh an old border with this dynamic new plant
Marjorie Harris Globe and Mail
Saturday, June 4, 2011

PLANT OF THE WEEK

Heucherella ‘Sweet Tea’

WHY YOU SHOULD PLANT IT

To add a hit of bronze-orange, a hot new tone, to your garden. Heucherella is a cross between heuchera (coral bells) and tiarella (foamflower) and combines the hardiest quality of each. Since it’s a hybrid, it won’t seed about. The colour is amazing and will brighten up a boring area of any border since it will tolerate some sun.
More related to this story

WHERE TO PLANT IT

A truly marvelous shade plant, Heucherella ‘Sweet Tea’ will want well-drained soil (but don’t let it dry out) and lots of organic matter (such as a big handful of compost at planting) added to the surface. When planting it, make sure that the hole is as deep as the root system of the plant (i.e., almost twice as wide), then water the hole, pop in the plant, tamp the soil down and water again. Add the compost to the surface all around the plant.

WHAT IT OFFERS

A way to refresh an old border with a dynamic new plant. This one grows about 60 centimetres tall and wide and has a soft-edged profile with deeply cut leaves that will add oomph to hostas. It’s an especially engaging edge-of-the-border plant.

SOURCE AND COST

Find it at Loblaw stores (www.loblaw.ca) for about $10.
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Can I plant veggies in my ornamental garden?

The question: I want to have vegetables in my ornamental garden. Can I plant them with the annuals and perennials that are already there?

The answer: . This has become a really attractive way to grow and present vegetables, especially if you are growing them in the front yard or along a boulevard. Be sure, though, that you only eat vegetables that are planted 25 feet away from a main road.
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In terms of incorporation, mix the really ornamental ones such as red kale and Brussels sprouts with perennials of the same height. Use lettuces and crops such as arugula as edgers and groundcovers respectively.

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Tying plants and vines is a cinch with green outdoor Velcro

One of my favourite garden “tools” is green outdoor Velcro (from $3.20 per 30-foot roll through www.leevalley.com), which I use to tie plants and vines. I swear sometimes that my clematis grows 12 inches a day and this product makes it so easy [to support it]. I just keep moving the Velcro band up the vine and don’t have to worry about tying little knots and having them come loose. – Meredyth Hilton, garden designer and co-owner of Toronto-based Artistic Gardens Inc. (www.artisticgardens.ca)

Growing Corn at Home

2011-06-01T10:06:00.003-04:00

Picture - Earlivee Corn

Yes, you can grow sweet corn in your backyard
LEE REICH
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Rumour has it that the place to grow sweet corn is in a farm field. Backyard gardens, the reasoning goes, generally are not large enough to make the harvest worth it, and pollination problems are likely with small plantings.

Well, that isn’t necessarily so. By choosing varieties with care, providing good growing conditions and using a few tricks, you can harvest one ear of the best-tasting corn imaginable for each square foot planted.
More related to this story

Variety selection is important for scrumptious sweet corn. If space is at a premium, grow varieties that ripen quickly (Golden Midget, Earlivee and Quickie, for example) and have shorter stalks.

But also choose varieties for flavour. Yellow corns generally have “cornier” flavour; white corns a purer sweetness. Varieties such as Honey & Cream and Bodacious pack both yellow and white kernels into each of their ears.

There is no need for garden space to be devoted only to corn. Before planting the corn, while temperatures were still cool, you could have planted radishes, leaf lettuce, spinach, arugula and other quick maturing vegetables that enjoy cool weather. After the corn harvest, you can plant bush beans, late cabbage or broccoli.

The trick is getting corn in and out of the ground fast, to free space for other vegetables. Corn varieties that mature quickly are one way to do this, but avoid growing only early maturing varieties because their flavour generally is not as good as that of longer ripening varieties.

You also could get it in and out quicker by planting seeds in three-inch pots, and letting plants spend three to four weeks growing there rather than taking up space out in the garden.

Corn is a hungry plant that needs rich, moist soil and at least six hours a day of sunlight. Close planting without attention to soil and water results in nubbins rather than plump, well-filled ears. So add plenty of compost to the soil along with a high nitrogen fertilizer, such as two pounds of soybean meal for each hundred square feet.

For close planting, grow corn in double rows of “hills,” a hill being a cluster of three or four plants. Hills ensure good pollination. Space each row of that double row two feet apart, with two feet between hills. You won't be able to walk between the double row, but you can harvest from each side. If you garden in beds, just plant two or more rows of hills down the length of each of your beds.

Once up and growing, corn needs little – but regular – care. Keep weeds at bay with shallow hoeing or by smothering them beneath a thick mulch of some organic material such as leaves, straw or compost. Mulch also conserves water, which you should supplement during dry spells so that plants receive the equivalent of about an inch of water each week. Measure water from a sprinkler or rainfall into a straight sided container, such as a coffee can.

Avoid “worms” that sometimes burrow into the tips of the ears by cutting off the silks as soon as they start to dry, or by putting a few drops of vegetable oil on those silks. Or do nothing, and just break off the wormy tip before you eat the corn.

Speaking of, your reward should arrive two to three months after planting. Timely harvest is all-important for the best-tasting sweet corn. Start your countdown when silks first show at the tips of the ears; expect to eat those ears about three weeks later.

When ready for harvest, an ear looks and feels full, and its silks have browned but are not yet brittle. If you are inexperienced at harvesting corn, pull back the husk to check that the kernels are plump and ooze a milky juice when pressed with a fingernail.

Pull down on a ripe ear to rip it from its stalk, then take a bite right away or bring it to the kitchen for cooking. Either way, each bite will be a reminder that sweet corn is worth growing in the backyard.

Roof Gardening

2011-05-31T22:00:00.002-04:00

Gardening on your roof? It’s not as hard as it sounds
SEAN O'DRISCOLL
SAN FRANCISCO The Associated Press
May. 31, 2011

On the roof of the Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, gardeners use wine boxes and coconut cores. In Philadelphia, they plant between the roofs of row houses. In New York, one homeowner installed steel beams.

As more people turn to roof gardens to grow their own food, they are coming up with all kinds of ways to keep those plots light, and avoid roof sagging and cave-ins.
More related to this story

“Weight is a huge factor,” says Josephine Quiocho, a project organizer at Graze The Roof, a community garden that grows spinach, mustard, kale, sweat peas and other crops on Glide Memorial's roof.

Graze The Roof has perfected an ultralight “soil” that includes coconut core and perlite, a volcanic mineral that aerates plants. “The coconut core allows more air into the soil, lightens it up and helps trap moisture. We don't need heavy, water-clogged soil that can weigh on your roof,” Ms. Quiocho says.

The Glide Memorial farmers grow their crops in bread boxes and wine boxes, in part because the boxes are light, in part to show congregants that they can grow plants in containers found around the house.

In New York, Lize Mogel took a structural approach: She had five steel beams constructed under her roof so she could begin planting a roof farm later this year. Ms. Mogel, an artist who has grown roof crops for years, always dreamed of having a full roof farm.

“I had to do renovations anyway, so I spoke to the architect and it didn't cost that much more to reinforce the roof,” she says. “Because the steel beams will be attached directly to the gratings on which I'll grow the crops, the gratings can take a massively heavy load. I could raise elephants up there if I want.”

For urban farmers with weaker roofs, shaving off every pound of extra weight is a hobby in itself.

Jay Sand, a co-ordinator with the Philadelphia Rooftop Farm, is working with “farmers who want to be architects and architects who want to be farmers” to transform the city's roofs. After many hours of study, Mr. Sand and his group focused on expanding co-operative efforts across Philadelphia's famous row houses.

“We decided not to grow on twin roofs, where one brick wall is shared between two houses. For the next growing season, we're focused on row houses with two brick walls between houses. They are absolutely perfect because you can hold a lot of support,” says Mr. Sand, a music teacher.

His group is now talking to block captains and resident groups to get more people involved this year.

“I use a light wooden platform to grow my own crops,” Mr. Sand says. “If we want to expand the project, we'd like to spread loads between people's roofs.”

In Chicago, Heidi Hough, who co-writes a blog for rooftop farmers called greenroofgrowers.blogspot.com, has turned her passion for urban agriculture into a search for the perfect lightweight roof garden.

Above her home, she grows plants on wooden platforms, which helps take pressure off the roof. A local hot-dog factory also gives her plastic pickle barrels which she “recycles and upcycles” to make planters for vegetables. Ms. Hough and some friends have developed an irrigation system that requires little soil and water, vastly reducing the weight of the farm.

“You can buy very good, lightweight irrigation boxes, but we just looked around and copied the system with our own material,” she says.

Ms. Hough grows her plants with one 5-gallon bucket planted inside another, minimizing the amount of water used and reducing the weight on the roof. She uses lightweight peat moss and vermiculite, a mineral often used in soil-less gardens.

Because roof farmers only use as much water as they need, they have to be wary of evaporation.

Ms. Hough uses a plastic covering over her peat-moss mix to stop evaporation, while Johanne Daoust, a Toronto roof farmer, uses “shade cloths” she spotted for sale while travelling in China. The cloths block the sun while allowing a free flow of air to the plants.

“Everybody you speak to has their own way of planting those roofs,” Ms. Daoust says. “If you can pick your own breakfast every morning instead of having it flown 3,000 miles by cargo plane, then you are doing it right. As long as you take precautions, if can transform your life.”

Three by Marjorie Harris

2011-05-28T11:18:00.004-04:00

THREE SHORT ARTICLES BY MARJORIE HARRIS

This plant delivers a serious hit of garden colour

Marjorie Harris - Saturday, May 28, 2011

Pelargonium (a.k.a. Geranium) ‘Rocky Mountain Red’

WHY YOU SHOULD PLANT IT

You want a hit of serious colour and especially a pure (i.e., bluish) red.

WHERE TO PLANT IT

This is a South African plant, so it will want warmth and can take blazing sun. It’s especially great in containers. (If it comes in an inelegant hanging basket, just pull it out and transplant it.) Despite this plant’s toughness, do not overwater it, as doing so introduces all sorts of fungal diseases. Simply spray the top of the plant with tepid water, keeping the bottom barely moist. Pick out the dead blooms the minute they look awful.

WHAT IT OFFERS

This plant is a bloom factory, but only if you deadhead it regularly. And it provides instant colour for baskets and containers. In garden beds, it makes a dynamic filler. Combine it with plants such as indigo-blue salvias for a knockout traditional look.

SOURCE AND COST

‘Rocky Mountain Red’ geraniums are available at Loblaw stores (www.loblaw.ca) nationwide. Two baskets cost $25.

Visit www.marjorieharris.com for more gardening and plant information.
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From winnowing out stubborn weeds to hacking through tough soil, this tool does it all

“The tool I reach for the most is my Cobrahead weeder and cultivator ($24.95 through www.cobraheadllc.com). Its small, sharp head makes it great for winnowing out stubborn weeds, hacking through tough soil and root mass, making planting holes for small bulbs – you name it. If the Cobrahead gets too grubby, I just throw it in the dishwasher (dunno if you’re supposed to do this, but oh well).” – Aldona Satterthwaite, executive director of the Toronto Botanical Garden (www.torontobotanicalgarden.ca)
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What do I do about heavy clay soil?

The question: I have clay soil so heavy you could make ashtrays with it. What can I do about it?

The answer: There is no quick fix, but the best way to improve clay is to fork together one third horticultural sand (it’s special gritty stuff) with two thirds compost (or a combination of compost and manure) and mix it into the top of the soil.
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The idea is to improve the texture of the soil with lots of organic matter. Doing so will attract worms, which will do an effective job of working the clay into a more manageable loamy mix. If you have really tough clay, excavate several inches down, then add good topsoil (no peat moss or you’ll end up with concrete) and finally the above mix. But again, improvement will take time, so be patient.

Gardening in the Wet

2011-05-28T08:43:00.003-04:00

(Photo: from the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey: Early man gets angry at the weather)

In the garden: Soggy planters may need some help with drainage - David Hobson

I can’t recall a wet, soggy spring like this one, certainly not one that had its own song — Rolling in the Deep by Adele, a No. 1 Billboard hit.

Most trees and shrubs love the extra rain as it ensures there’s plenty of moisture in the ground for the summer months. Other plants may be affected depending on their appreciation for wet feet. Freshly planted ones are the most vulnerable, particularly those where there is poor drainage. If they are sitting in a low spot, a few channels poked into the soil with a stick will help a little — remember, like on the beach.

I have planted a lot of containers over the last couple of weeks — and these especially can suffer from too much water.

Last week I ran around with a dibble poking a few holes deep in the soil to ensure excess water heads straight to the bottom of the container and out the drainage holes — make sure these are clear and able to drain. I’m sure it helps a little. Other than that, apart from moving planters out of the rain, the only alternative is an umbrella for each. It would at least brighten up the yard.

Good drainage is essential in containers and is just as important in any place in the garden, yet it’s a factor that isn’t always considered when laying out a design. I’m fortunate in that my yard has a gentle slope that allows it to drain naturally. And although I have disrupted it by adding flower beds all over the place, I’ve managed to ensure excess water can still find its natural way out.

Yards around new houses these days are designed to drain gently away from the house or by way of swales. These are shallow depressions, usually between houses. Problems begin, however, when these elevations are changed or when swales are filled in or blocked when a flower bed is installed.

Too often, the first flower bed is along a newly installed fence, which often follows the natural drainage line. Fill it with soil or with a shed and the flow is disrupted. It can mean the bed can become waterlogged when there’s a soggy spring like this one. Worse still, it can cause water to be redirected toward the house, which is never a good thing.

If you’re still at the planning stage and haven’t yet built any flower beds or vegetable gardens, take this into consideration. Take a look at the yard after a heavy rain and note where the wettest places are. If beds are already there, say against a fence and heavy rain is causing ponding, correct it by burying a piece of pipe to allow the water to pass through the flower bed and out the other side. Obviously, this is best done before the bed is in place.

Almost all the extra water comes from the eaves troughs. It’s important that the down pipe terminates well away from the foundation and away from flower beds. This can be accomplished by simply adding an extension. The other source of water is the discharge from sump pumps. In newer areas, these lead directly to a storm sewer, but in older areas they discharge to surface. If this describes your situation, ensure these pipes are clear and empty out well away from the house. In fact, take advantage of this and extend the discharge pipe to wherever you need the extra water.

Come summer, this will all be forgotten. We’ll be complaining about lack of rain and singing a different song. You must remember the band America’s song A Horse With No Name . . . “and the sky with no clouds, the heat was hot and the ground was dry . . .”

Chelsea Flower Show

2011-05-26T14:49:00.004-04:00

Chelsea Flower Show opens with royals, roses and grand designs
Madeleine Cowley
London— Reuters
Tuesday, May. 24, 2011

Vertical gardens, carnivorous plants, English roses and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II launched the U.K. summer social season at a preview for the Chelsea Flower Show this week.

The tallest garden and the biggest to have ever been built at Chelsea were among 17 exhibits along the main avenue of a gardening show, which heralds the start of an English social season that includes Ascot, Wimbledon, Henley Royal Regatta and the Glyndebourne opera festival.

Celebrity gardener Diarmuid Gavin’s audacious gold medal-winning Irish Sky Garden was the largest garden ever built at Chelsea and includes a hanging garden winched 82 feet (25 metres) in the air.

Next door another gold-medallist was a six-storey vertical allotment sponsored by Do-It-Yourself retail chain B&Q, which showed how to use cramped urban space. At 30 feet, it was the tallest garden ever featured at Chelsea.

Star power was at full luminosity for the media preview ahead of Tuesday’s opening to the public.

Besides the queen, actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Vanessa Redgrave, model Jerry Hall, socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, shoe designer Jimmy Choo and Carry On star Barbara Windsor wandered through the exhibits.

Prince Albert of Monaco was the highlight of the gold medal-winning design on show from his principality, while British actress Helen Mirren posed for photographers with “Helen,” a carnivorous plant launched at the show. She and comedian Bill Bailey each had a flesh-eating plant named after them.

“I’m immortalized in the form of a carnivorous plant, not something that happens every day,” Bailey said, speaking in support of the Sumatran Orangutan Society.

The lingering afterglow of this year’s royal wedding lived on with the launch of an English Musk hybrid rose and a sweet pea both named William and Catherine, after Prince William and Catherine Middleton, who married in April.

There was little sign of austerity Britain at the event.

Champagne flowed, scantily clad models posed in the foliage, enticing pools sparkled in the sunshine and a steel band created a jaunty atmosphere.

After a long harsh winter followed by a record heat wave, the most appropriate show garden was perhaps the Australian effort, presented by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.

Botanist and planting celebrity Roger Elliot told Reuters how the team used only native species and authentic outback sand and mudstone to capture Australia’s diverse climate and terrain.

“The story of the garden is the journey of water across the country,” he said.

Inside the main pavilion, exhibitors presiding over tens of thousands of individual blooms kept an eye on the gaggle of judges as they made the rounds.

Exhibitor Chris Blom’s fifth-generation family gardening business goes back 151 years, has been present at Chelsea since 1948 and has won 60 gold medals.

Blom – whose Dutch grandfather survived detention by the Gestapo during the Second World War by sharing his passion for tulips with a like-minded interrogator – has been coming to Chelsea since he was eight.

“Us little lads had to water the pots, my whole life has revolved around tulips.”

The Chelsea Flower Show, which is organized by the Royal Horticultural Society (www.rhs.org.uk) runs from May 24-28.

Deer in Gardens

2011-05-25T17:46:00.002-04:00

How to keep deer out of your garden
Dean Fosdick
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Sometimes even a doe-eyed Bambi will wear out its welcome. Deer have been banned from many gardens, orchards and woodlots because they damage or destroy many tender shoots, fragile saplings and emerging blooms.

“At high density, deer will eat just about anything on the landscape,” said Paul Curtis, an extension wildlife specialist with Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. “Orchard and nursery industry crops are particularly susceptible. It's almost impossible to plant without some kind of deer protection.”
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That can range from netting and fences (the latter at least 2.5 metres high and electrified) to free-ranging dogs, repellents and deer-resistant plants – often in combination.

The problem is significant, especially in emerging communities outside of urban areas.

“New houses out in rural areas have become deer sanctuaries,” Mr. Curtis said. “Most [subdivisions] become no-hunting zones. That makes for subsidized grazing.”

Deer bring other costs, too, including automobile accidents, Lyme disease and extensive wildflower and forest losses.

“They can really do a job on hardwood seedlings browsed during the winter months,” Mr. Curtis said. “Trillium and several kinds of lady's slippers [orchids] are particularly sensitive to deer grazing. We have a seven-acre wildflower garden on campus and we've had to put a 10-foot-high [three-metre-high] fence around it.”

Not everyone likes installing physical barriers, however.

“Part of having a garden is surely an attitude of wanting to be part of nature rather than shutting yourself off,” said Ruth Clausen, author of the new book 50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants.

No plant is deer-proof, Ms. Clausen said, but the animals are selective feeders and will ignore certain plants if offered alternatives.

“Many stunning plants are unpalatable to deer because of their poisonous compounds, fuzzy or aromatic leaves, tough, spiny or bristly textures.”

Well-known plants that Ms. Clausen labels “deer candy” include, phlox, azalea, chrysanthemum, clematis, day lilies, hostas, hydrangea, leaf lettuce, petunias, strawberries and ornamental sweet-potato vines.

Plants considered deer-resistant include certain marigolds, peonies, yarrow, bleeding hearts, many hellebores, English lavender, Japanese painted ferns, daffodils and ornamental grasses.

Other expert suggestions for reducing damage from deer:

- Use combination planting in mixed beds and borders. Integrate at-risk plant species with deer-unfriendly natives.

- Hang plants and birdfeeders high. Remove shrubs or understory plants that give deer shelter and invite them to linger. Prune low-hanging limbs on fruit trees.

- Place plant containers near the house or beyond the animals' reach on patios and decks.

- Add yard art or ornaments that frighten deer. Strips of light-reflecting aluminum and objects with moving parts often prove effective, Ms. Clausen said.

- Orchard fruits, vineyard grapes and acorns littering the ground constitute a deer feast. Gather them up.

- “Plants that are strongly aromatic usually are left alone,” Ms. Clausen said. “That includes most herbs.”