By Wes Porter ——Bio and Archives--July 6, 2016
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What happens to the veggies when you go on vacation? In Britain, anxious gardeners are seeking out horticultural help to tend their vegetables while they’re away. A new YouGov survey commissioned by Wyevale Garden Centres suggests almost 45% of gardeners call in a sitter to look after their plants while they’re away on vacation. The rise of the tomato sitter, The Mail On Sunday labels it.Canada’s beloved red maple and iconic sugar maple may not survive the current climate warming. Neither may the eastern white pine, Ontario’s provincial tree nor Quebec’s yellow birch. The length of every year’s tree growing season will become longer because winters will be warmer and shorter, leading to less frost. It also means that precipitation might drop as well, writes Josh Hrala in ScienceAlert of a NASA study. Some trees just can’t take it, such as the above along with eastern hemlock. Others will flourish. Included in these are silver maple, northern red oak, white oak, basswood, black walnut and beech. It has been said that a man does not know the true meaning of life until he plants a tree under whose shade he will never sit. If climatologists are right, neither will his descendants if he chooses the inappropriate tree.
After a tussle with a lawnmower, a frog travelled more than 1000km across Australia. A green tree frog was flown from Mount Isa across Queensland, Australia for life-saving treatment at Frog Safe, a frog hospital in Cairns, antipodes media reported.Another hoary horticultural legend reemerges thanks, as is not unusual, to the British media, that of ‘lettuce opium.’ As far back as the Ancient Egyptians it was believed that lettuce was a soporific – or was it an aphrodisiac? So persistent were the claims that up to the outbreak of World War II the mild sedative lactucarium was derived from wild lettuce Lactuca virosa. Alas, the salad serving lacks this attribute. Nevertheless, with the dawning of the Age of Aquarius optimistic individuals encouraged smoking lettuce. It failed to deliver the required high while not making flower children smell any better. In high doses, wild lettuce may elicit euphoria, excitement and arousal – an aphrodisiac. This though, is the reason not to feed lettuce to your pet rabbit British experts have revealed, which can make them lethargic and give them a euphoric high. And you thought their legendary abilities require no such encouragement. Diversion No. 3
Investors with garden gnomes and barbecues may be able to claim more than $1500 in extra cash flow at tax time, according to a quantity surveying firm, writes Jennifer Duke in The Sydney Morning Herald. Backyard fencing, clotheslines, sheds and in-ground swimming pools can offer a substantial sum on a depreciation schedule as can artificial turf, tennis court nets, kids swings and gym equipment. In Australia, yes – but would it work here?Britain may be reeling in Brexit but, bankers notwithstanding, life flows on. At London’s Tate Modern, the marvels of botanical artist Georgia O’Keeffe are on display from 6 July through 30 October. Born on a farm in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin in 1887, she studied at in Chicago, and New York City where she met her photographer husband. The journal Nature records that her visceral, often quasi-abstract evocations of botanical morphology in close-up paintings of irises and petunias helped establish Georgia O’Keeffe’s early career in 1920s New York. She later spent much of her time in New Mexico, painting many flowers there and on her worldwide travels. She died in 1986.
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In addition to looking nice, covering soil with wood mulch can actually help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, UBC research shows [Source: Agricultural Water Management]The British capital also features the Royal Horticultural Society Hampton Court Place Flower Show in early July. Closer to home, both Grand Falls and Hartland, New Brunswick host potato festivals while Lamèque welcomes the unique Peat Moss Festival. Over Confederation Bridge, O’Leary boasts of – what else – the PEI Potato Blossom Festival. Down in Atlanta you will find the Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival challenged only by Tomatopalooza in Raleigh, North Carolina. Cucumbers are the thing though in Kedainiai, Lithuania. Globe trotting can engender a thirst and what better place to quench it than in Australia’s ‘Top End’ city of Darwin. The principle import is said to be bureaucrats and the exports empty beer cans. However, many of the latter are retained to build boats for the celebrated Darwin Beer Can Regatta. Cheers.
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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.