WhatFinger


Thinking on seasonal plants makes scents

Gardening in the Merry Month of May



You thought this spring weather was testing? Environment Canada’s 2011 weather calendar tells us on 9th May 1923 Point Pelee, Ontario, that 10 days previous, high winds blew away freshly planted onion seeds; reseeding had just been completed when on this date a snowstorm struck with powerful winds and low temperatures. Ah yes, those were the good old days, weren’t they now? But it’s time to go fossicking for flowers through garden centres. Thinking on seasonal plants makes scents. Modern plant breeders aren’t much help here. In their search of cents they have lost the scent. Far too many new offerings lack this, surely one of the essential attractions of any garden. Then there are the old-timers – usually far less hard on the pocketbook than new introductions.

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Over the past twenty years (give or take, of course), so many new herbaceous plants have been introduced, inevitably many old-time favourites have been forgotten, writes David Van de Ven in Landscape Trades. Truthfully, he says, many of the old-time perennials should be forgotten, many were overly aggressive or melted in the summer heat . . . However, a substantial list of plant material seems to have been overlooked, simply because of new introductions. Van de Ven is particularly taken with Aconitum, older forms of Iris sibirica and Phlox sublata. Then there are shrubs, especially the dwarf and unusual evergreens, heathers, rhododendrons, Japanese maples and bamboos such as those featured by Vineland Nurseries, Beamsville, in Ontario’s Niagara Peninsular.

Diversion No. 1

In a study to be published in the journal Food Research International, Guelph researchers examined hundreds of studies on commonly used consumable aphrodisiacs to investigate claims of sexual enhancement – psychological and physical. They found Panax ginseng, saffron and yohombine, a natural chemical from yohimbe trees in West Africa, improved sexual function [Source: 24 Hours]. May is also gladiolus planting time – ‘gladdies” our gardening buddies across The Pond call them. They’ll burst into bloom two-and-a-half to three months after planting. Gladioli are best planted repeatedly, adding more and more to beds, replanting new batches every 10 days or so. If possible locate at the back of the perennial border, against a fence for support. Come fall, leave the foliage to die back naturally then lift the corms, clean, dry and store in a cool but frost-free place until the following season. Then there is Gladiolus flanaganii, commonly known as the Suicide Lily. Its native habitat is the steep cliffs the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa which somewhat discourages viewing in the wild. The same country is home to around half of the more than 250 species gladioli.

Diversion No. 2

Do plants really love the sound of music? Do vegetables thrive on Verdi, will flowers blossom if they hear Handel? The Sunday Telegraph’s Michael Leapman looked into the claims. Over the years, he says, several genuine pieces of research have been carried out, suggesting that plants do indeed have some capacity to respond to sounds. Plants seem to enjoy easy listening music and even jazz. But the plant world’s apathy to rock music seems common to every scientific study: they become spindly and die prematurely. ‘Early outbreak of mass-wisteria’ was a header in the Brit-based Daily Mail as mid-April temperatures hit +25ºC in Blighty. Much of Canada could only wish for the same. Environment Canada was depressingly accurate: a cool and wet spring. On the plus side – and there always is in gardening – flowering bulbs remained in bloom for longer than usual, weeds delayed and the annual onslaught of pests yet to inflict us. No reason of course not to ignore unwelcome weeds until absolutely necessary. Early and constant attention is the one and only answer. Hoe or hand weed in the beds, pour boiling water into cracks and crevices in pathways.

Diversion No. 3

“Potato preservationists” with the Global Crop Diversity Trust plan to send seeds of more than 1500 types of Andean potato to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, 1300 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. These seeds come from Potato Park, a 10,000-hectare reserve in Peru established by indigenous groups to preserve potatoes and their role in local culture, according to the journal Science. What tools do you really require to maintain a garden? Check out professional maintenance gardeners’ trucks and you might be surprised at how few are necessary. Square- and round-nosed spades, digging fork, gravel rake, fan or leaf rake, hoe, crescent-bladed bed edger, hand trowel, hand shears, pruners will suffice for most situations. True, professionals are enamoured with power equipment – the noisier the better. But a hand mower will suffice for many a private property. Much other machinery is an accident waiting to happen. Adding insult to injury, the dollars expanded on them – and their upkeep – could be better spent on plants. Will Kate Middleton’s choice of floral decoration for her wedding mark a change in fashion. At the bride’s request, the displays were based on growing, living plants rather than cut flowers. And an additional welcome touch was that the trees, shrubs and flowers were all British and locally sourced. Some florists might shudder, but not London-based florist Shane Connolly, 47, who said the idea was not to create gasps of “wow, what an extravagance,” but “how beautiful.”

Diversion No. 4

Police in Whitby, Ontario, reported the man who owned a dog playing on the lawn was on his front steps one evening when a coyote came from the side of the home and carried away the pet. A short time previously miles to the west in east Toronto, another pet pooch was fortunately rescued from a similar coyote attack. Such events may create a whole new meaning to the term ‘dog food.’ Ah, how nice it would be to have plenty of money. Like J. K. Rowling, creator of the “Harry Potter” series of novels which have sold 400 million copies and become movies. “It’s marvellous with her money she could make my garden look like a pimple,” art historian and landscape gardener Sir Roy Strong observed. In 2001, Rowling purchased the 19th century estate Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay near Aberfeldy in Perth & Kinross, Scotland. Ms. Rowling also owns a $9 million Georgian House in Kensington, West London, and in 2009 purchased a 31-room mansion in Merchiston, Edinburgh. Now she has obtained an adjacent property for another million or so, which will be torn down to, create a formal Renaissance-style garden. This will include a rectangular pond, geometric pathways and various sculptures. A sundial made in 1732 will sit at one end of the garden, while a whipping stone, originally used to punish thieves, will be located prominently elsewhere. As a finishing touch, the author plans to build Hagrid’s Hut at the back of the garden as a summerhouse for her family. Perhaps appropriately, as Hagrid was the giant school groundskeeper who accidentally informed Harry, Ron and Hermione of many things whenever they visited. It must be nice to be both a successful novelist and keen gardener.


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Wes Porter -- Bio and Archives

Wes Porter is a horticultural consultant and writer based in Toronto. Wes has over 40 years of experience in both temperate and tropical horticulture from three continents.


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