Getting Ahead of the Game

It is a pleasure to learn others having an appreciation of horticulture. For instance take student protesters in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, who have named themselves the Sunflower Movement. Van Gogh would have doubtlessly leant an ear. But the Sunflower Movement has been challenged by the status quo-appreciating Carnation Movement. Meanwhile officers of the island nation’s Central Investigation Bureau have rounding up gangster of the violent Bamboo Union . . .

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“In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love;/ And in summer,/ and in autumn,/and in winter –/see above,” penned E. Y. ‘Yip’ Harburg back in 1965. Meanwhile gardeners’ thoughts also turn to propagation . . . and more. Indeed, long-awaited spring may finally have arrived for northern gardeners. Still, the soil needs sometime to warm up. Sown to early, vegetable and flower seeds will rot. So how to tell if it is warm enough? In ancient eastern England, farmers would venture out into their fields after dark, drop their pants and sit on the soil. Failing to detect any discomfort, they knew it was warm enough to sow their crops. In urban areas, such might meet with disapproval, even hostility and visits by the constabulary. Perhaps a better guide would be waiting for the forsythia to burst into golden bloom. Such time heralds pansy planting but, despite garden centres’ headlong rush, other annuals are best left until well into May. Turning to inside décor, an additional disaster may be lurking this month for the pet cat. Easter is on its way and stores are full of lilies. These are much appreciated by most but not by Fluffy for which an encounter may prove fatal. Back outside, the time spent waiting for favourable planting conditions can be profitably spent in clearing, cleaning and controlling the first dastardly weeds. “Before a garden can be enjoyed for its beauty alone, much hard work must be accomplished,” advised the late botanist Anthony Huxley of the famous science and literary family. He continued: “Before his garden can be filled with pleasure-giving plants, the gardener must know his craft. Gardeners are first of all artisans, only secondarily artists.” Much later, Jeff Green has urged, “Remember, love is like a garden. It needs to be watered regularly. With tears.” There’s one in every crowd . . .

Diversion No. 1

A bronze statue of Norman Borlaug, the plant scientist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for developing high-yielding wheat crops, was unveiled at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. on 25 March to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth in Iowa. The statue depicts Borlaug taking field notes. As Jonathan Swift wrote: “Whoever could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind . . . than the whole race of politicians put together.”

Gardeners are not the only ones delighted to greet spring. Pesky pests are also stirring. Now is the time to take action before they become a problem. If you haven’t applied a spray of dormant oil, there are a few days before the buds leaf out. Considered a ‘natural’ control, it smothers hibernating bugs and their eggs. Homes are unhealthy where hygiene goes unpracticed by their inhabitants. No less so are gardens. Clean up all fallen leaves, cut back to ground level perennials and ornamental grasses left for their decorative value over winter. Cracks in sidewalks and between patio stones shelter both pests and weeds. Boiling water eliminates these – and effective, cheap and environmentally sound control. If hosta shoots are appearing – so are the slugs. Handpick (yech) and drop into a can of kerosene or bait with small sauces of beer. Birch leafminer is more of a cosmetic nuisance, but may be controlled by applying a voracious minute nematode in late April or early May to Betula species and cultivars. Garden centres may stock it or check out Natural Insect Control (NIC) who sell it under the name Birch Leafminer Guard. If all this seems too much, the overwhelmed might find solace in Lubarsky’s Law of Cybernetic Entomology: There’s always one more bug. A rumour going the rounds, however, claims that an environmentalist is attempting to create an aphrodisiac insecticide: it doesn’t kill the bugs but you can swat them two at a time.

Diversion No. 2

The disappearance of 30-foot high, ten-tonne mango from its plinth outside the north Queensland town of Bowen was claimed either a bizarre heist or a publicity stunt. Despite denials from the local tourist board it was both – and they were in on the plan. In less than 24 hours the missing monster was discovered in bushes behind the Bowen Tourist Information Centre and Nando’s chicken restaurant chain admitted they had laid an egg organizing the stunt with a mobile crane.

Last month we saw the Welsh celebrate St. David’s Day with leeks. The Irish followed with shamrocks on St. Patrick’s Day. So do not those whose ancestry dates back to Shakespeare’s Ssceptr’d Isle whoop it up with roses? A poll taken last year suggests that the English are “too nervous” to celebrate St. George’s Day – if they know it is 23 April. In fact, they are better able to correctly name the date of U.S. Independence Day. Or perhaps, being the last Wednesday of full week in 2014, it is also Administrative Professionals Day, formerly Secretary’s Day. So perhaps purchase roses for her – they are the floral symbol of England and St. George. This year, Palm Sunday falls on 13th April. It is a date of great significance to Christians everywhere – also to certain unfortunate palms. Many a potted palm will be sold in supermarkets – all well and good as they have a chance of surviving. A wild palm found only in South and Central America and threatened by the florists’ trade may not. The xate palm, Chamaedorea emesti-agusti, suffers because its fronds stay green for up to 40 days after cutting, almost entirely from wild trees. Consequently the xate palms’ very survival is endangered. It has not occurred to the thriftless local peasants to plant the palms or fickle florists to insist on supplies from cultivated trees. It is estimated that the trade in xate palm fronds is worth a staggering US$4-million annually – as long as C. emesti-agusti can be found in the wild. The 13th may not be a Friday but it will be an ominous date for yet another of the world’s rapidly diminishing flora

Diversion No. 3

A commemorative 50p U.K. coin that was produced five years ago with a limited run of 210,000 to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew has become something of a rarity, with some selling for £180 on eBay while others offer them at £500 each.

Edible hedges are nothing new: Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello in Virginia, divided much of the massive vegetable garden with them. Recently rechristened ‘vertical allotments’ in the U.K. by Mark Diacono in The Daily Telegraph, they offer an ideal solution for urban gardens short on space and privacy. The drawback, as usual, is two-fold: there is little to guide the northern gardener in sound selection of fruiting bushes while some pruning and other care is necessary. They are not a sound idea for the nattering nabobs of the social set. Taller hedges can by comprised of our own native serviceberry, buffaloberry, elderberry and highbush cranberry. Barriers of such will provide privacy as well as fruit. Lower hedges to serve as dividers a la T. Jefferson or to line paths might include old garden favourites such as black, red and white currants plus gooseberries – the last being a suitably prickly barrier. At least one gardener has even successfully formed a hedge solely of highbush blueberry bushes. Other shrubs for the more adventurous palate might include sea buckthorn, cornelian cherry, Nanking cherry, Japanese quince, Oregon grape and autumn olive. A new shrub to add to this list is blue honeysuckle, Lonicera caerulea, also known as the honeyberry or Haskap. A recently reduced northern native to cultivation here but already popular in Asia, the yellow flower give way to the blue berries in early summer. The low shrubs require full sun and prefer a high organic, neutral pH soil, where they will take up to four years to reach maturity. Two different varieties are required for crosspollination and good fruit set. Gardenimport.com offers Indigo Gem and Indigo Treat at $24.95 each or 3 for $67.50, plus the inevitable taxes and shipping charges.

Diversion No. 4

ORCHIDS: Optimisation through Research of Chemical Incident Decontamination Systems, a European program 2008-2011, recently in part declassified. (Declan Butler, ‘UK Rolls Out Terror-Attack Plan,’ Nature, vol.506 p.139)

If you are a gardener looking to make a stir you could do a lot worse than giving over space to relatives of our northeastern America woodland native Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum. Members of the vast Araceae family that includes such familiar houseplants as Aglonema, Dieffenbachia and Spathiphyllum, the Arisaema are cousins to the Lord and Ladies or Cuckoo Pint, Arum maculatum, of temperate Europe. Like these latter they only ask for a rich, moist but well-drained soil in full sun to light shade with little competition and disturbance. Not always easy to find, some are being offered online Gardenimport from $14.95 to $16.95 per corm (plus taxes and shipping) this spring. They include Arisaema consagganguineum from China, 90cm tall, A. constatum (100cm tall), A. griffithii, A. griffithii var. Pradhanii (30-60cm tall), and A. nepenthoides. Equally spectacular in both looks and scent is another Araceae, Saromatum venosum cheerfully and accurately christened by Gardenimport as ‘stinky.’ In northern climes, strictly for indoor culture, a weird and wonderful plant and a bargain at $7.95.