Wes Porter

Is Ornithomancy Strictly for the Birds?

In Ancient Greece, it was the practice to ornithological observation in the hopes of predicting future outcomes. The Romans, great admirers of all things Greek, adopted this form divination with gusto. According to British media, ever eager to enter into such suggestive behaviour, lasses looking for love on Valentine’s Day should turn to bird ornithomancy to discover whom they will marry. The practice dictates that the first bird an unmarried woman sees on Valentine’s Day is an omen of her future husband’s character.

Orgasmic Orchids

“Despite these glorious shenanigans of blooms and birds and bees, plant sex is really plant-to-plant,” recently wrote Susan Milius in Science News. This research field, she explained is not just the familiar and huge endeavour to understand how flowers lure, manipulate and even betray the animals carrying pollen from he parts to she parts.

Dion O’Banion – Chicago’s Famed Florist Revisited

Last November, we wrote of the life and death of Dion O’Banion, Chicago’s famed florist – and mobster. A correspondent and descendant residing in the southeastern U.S. has written to question whether O’Banion was indeed both a Roman Catholic and son of a recent Irish immigrant.

Winter half over:  Green thumbs are twitching

Halfway through winter and down in the valley the willows are indicating spring is on the way. Twigs of our native black willow, Salix nigra, have turned orange, while those of introduced weeping willows, S. babylonica, from eastern Asia are a bright yellow. Just a minute there – didn’t you just say weeping willows are from eastern Asia? So why does the botanical name suggest they originated in the fabled Babylon?

Questions We’re Often Asked: Something’s Bugging My Plants!

First you notice something is amiss with your indoor plants. The foliage is becoming mottled. Eventually it dies and falls to the floor. As you pick up the leaves, you notice a strange substance like soot there. The remaining leaves are sticky with glossy patches and again, perhaps spotted with black powder.

It’s the End of the World, Baby!

Yes, indeed: it’s the title of the 2012 Campari calendar featuring Hollywood actress and model Milla Jovovich in various fetching poses. This will make it the thirteenth edition of said calendar. But then if you suffer from triskaidekaphobia you will not want to have been counting to that dread number.

That Was the Year That Was

Unfortunately the editors of Bartlett’s and similar standard reference books seem singularly uninterested in quotations pertaining to horticultural affairs. In an effort to correct such erroneous exclusions, we have collected a few made over the past year by those either engaged or otherwise in gardening and associated pursuits.

Gardener’s health

“The money for these delights I earned in the winter by shoveling snow in our driveway and various sidewalks in the neighbourhood.” Katherine Hepburn: Me: Stories of My Life (1992)

Then Again There Are Other Ways . . .

A Christmas gift for that favourite gardening relative or friend? No problem if you are close enough to visit Richters in Goodwood, Ontario, a short drive northeast of Toronto. Through until 22 December, visitors to the gift shop can select wonderful herbs, seasonal greenery, stocking stuffers, books, herbal ideas and much more, all the while sipping mulled cider, nibbling on herbal goodies and enjoying festive music. Richters is located on the south side of Highway 47 a kilometre east of Goodwood.

Simple, Inexpensive Garden Gifts

Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, chose a gift to get her out of a jam. What could she give her new husband’s grandmother, the Monarch who has everything, as The Mail on Sunday phrased it. She apparently solved the problem by opting to give the Queen jars of her very own strawberry jam and plum conserve – Her Majesty prefers simple, homemade gifts such as these.

Decorating for Christmas 2011

Just as the rest of the western world is bidding a fond adieu to the remains of the festive fowl, merry merchandisers meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, will be dictating what they fondly believe will be next season’s decorating trends. Christmasworld show features six trade floors filled with the latest in floral supplies, ribbons and packaging, seasonal decorations, party items, and yet more must-haves for the fashion-conscious host.

Celebrate the season ouside and inside

It was Ogden Nash who summed it up with: “Oh, give me an old-fashioned Christmas card/With mistletoe galore, and holly by the yard/ With galumptious greens and gorgeous scarlets . . .” Yup, that will just about do it before we return to the more mundane things in a gardener’s life.

Golden Opportunities

All that glisters is not gold, oft have you heard it told ~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice True, but there’s still gold in them there hills – and elsewhere. At prices today, mines long believed played out are being revived near and far. When gold reached $1,063 an ounce Toronto-based Romarco Minerals Inc. reopened the historic Halle Gold Mine near Kershaw, South Carolina, the only gold mine east of the Mississippi.

Questions We’re Often Asked: Easy Indoor Plants

Urban folk are becoming more and more inclined to apartment living. Half the population of Canada’s largest city, Toronto, now live thus and condominium construction shows no signs of slackening. Neither though does the desire to green the indoor environment, removing pollutants without mechanical filtering systems. Additionally, increasing numbers of office administrators are realizing that indoor plants have practical benefits, encouraging efficiency and reducing absenteeism.

Are There Zombies in Your Garden?

Halloween may have come and gone, but there are still could be some weird and wonderful happenings lurking there, waiting for another season. As for elsewhere, well, you had to ask, didn’t you?

Threats from Eris, Dysmonia and Ataxaphobia

A few weeks ago came that much-anticipated event, the annual Ig Noble Award ceremonies at Harvard University. Results were anxiously scanned, hoping against hope that they included horticultural happenings. Thanks to a Japanese team led by Naoki Urushiahta, president of SEEM-based Tokyo, we were not disappointed.

Questions We’re Often Asked: Fungus Gnats

The philosophy of live and let live has its limits. One of these comes when small flies attempt to share your wineglass with you. “Fruit fly,” you cry while the little beast does the backstroke in your Chilean Santa Rita Reserva.

Creating a Stink to Bug You

Coming soon to you . . . the brown marmorated stinkbug or if you prefer, Halyomorpha halys. The Asian invader was initially confirmed from Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1996. Since then it has been identified in 33 other states.

Neat New Ways to Greet from Holland

Clever people, the Dutch: What better way to acknowledge a kind deed or thought in this green age than ‘Greetings That Grow.’ The packaged 2-in-1 of greeting card and gift come in six choices to suit the occasion. Each includes seeds, a coir disk planting medium, along with a 4-inch (10 cm) terracotta pot. Choose dwarf sunflower seeds to say ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘Thinking of You’ with, of course, forget-me-not or sage. ‘Thank You’ acknowledgment comes with pansy or thyme, sweet pea for ‘Celebration’ and tea for ‘Friendship.’ If none of these express exactly the right thought, then write you own on a blank card accompanied by basil seed. Your local friendly garden centre is the place to look for these neat ideas.

What’s in a Name?

As a girl, one of the favourite books of Katherine, now Duchess of Cambridge, was Anne of Green Gables. Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery was a keen gardener herself – and an observant one. Not only did she record many garden and wild plants in her novels about the feisty redheaded orphan from Prince Edward Island, but also local associations.