May is a Gardener's Paradise

May is the month of tulips. The world’s biggest and best display run though the month in Ottawa, putting lie to the claim that the best view of Canada’s capital city is in the rearview mirror. The city sheltered the then Princess Juliana of the Netherlands while the Nazi ravaged her homeland in World War II. Following victory in 1945 she presented Ottawa with 100,000 tulip bulbs. This year, the display will top 300,000 flowers and is expected to attract more than half a million visitors during the peak time 13 to 23 May..

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Diversion No. 1

“Don’t forget Mother’s Day. Or as they call it in Beverly Hills, Dad’s Third Wife Day,” reminds Jay Leno. Up in Canada some claim Mother’s Day falls not on the second Sunday of this month but nine months after Father’s Day in June.

Garden centres, supermarkets and big box stores eager to cash in on growing garden interest commence offering starter plants of tomato, pepper and eggplant this month. Unless a warming climate has blessed your garden with a warm, 12°-15°C (55°F) soil, it is still too early to plant these tender tropical plants out. The first week of June is often better timing. When choosing which plants to purchase, avoid those already bearing miniature fruit; they may never recover from the shock to a new location and bear but a few measly fruit. However, at any time avoid working with wet plants as it can spread disease.

Diversion No. 2

Fresh seaweed and broccoli leaves are now being sold at Brit supermarkets explains The Daily Mail, querying ‘are kale’s salad days over’ and also interestingly tells us seaweed comes from the sea. P.J. Wodehouse once suggested he wouldn’t reveal ‘the slugs in your salad days.’

The exotic epiphyte Medinilla magnifica is well-named. One of the world’s most spectacular blooming plants, it originated on the Philippine islands of Luzon, Mindoro, and Panay, but has now been raised commercially in Canada, recently even reaching into supermarkets. Locate in filtered bright light or a north window, keep barely moist and spritz daily. Fertilize biweekly when not in flower – the 20-30cm leaves are worth encouraging for their attractive veined appearance. The masses of pink flowers in pendant panicles beneath bright pink bracts are up to 50cm long and will reoccur in spring through summer on the one- to two-metre tall shrub.

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Diversion No. 3

Teaneck, a northern New Jersey town, plans to acquire 20 air horns to help its residents deal with aggressive wild turkeys [Source: ABC News]

For over three decades Jim and Simone Lounsbery at Vineland Nurseries have been an exceptional source of ‘special plants for small spaces,’ allowing urban gardeners to grow more specimens in restricted city gardens. Their 2016 catalogue reflects this compactness, available online at HYPERLINK "http://www.vinelandnurseries.com" [url=http://www.vinelandnurseries.com]http://www.vinelandnurseries.com[/url] or for Cdn$2.50, and featuring many hard-to-find species and cultivars.

Diversion No. 4

Stockton, California police say two men stabbed each other in a fight that began after one of them defecated on the other’s lawn, reported The Stockton Record

Witches’ Sabbath: in medieval folklore is a midnight orgy of demons and witches that in German folklore is believed to occur on May Day Eve or Walpurgis Night; also called sabbat. According to Rebecca Rupp, wearing a wild radish allowed the bearer to see witches, at least on this occasion. The fresh seed pods of rattail radish (Raphanus caudatus) are harvested in 50-55 days from sowing in spring, with seed available from Richters 2016 Herb & Vegetable Catalogue

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While Ottawa celebrates the Tulip Festival and Toronto the Forsythia Festival for other folk May spells the arrival of the first of the season’s comestibles. Pennsylvania has its celebrated Intercourse Rhubarb Festival in the community of that name. For Germans it is the Spargetfest in Schwetingen for white asparagus. Likewise Bologna, Italy sees the Sagra dell’Asparago Verde or Green Asparagus Festival while in Evesham, Gloucestershire, they get off on the British Asparagus Festival. Back this side of the Atlantic West Brookfield, Massachusetts, offers a novel combination in their Asparagus and Flower Festival. Up in Michigan there is the Empire Asparagus Festival. Meanwhile, the Hastings Potato and Cabbage Festival kicks in St. Augustine, Florida but the North Carolina Potato Festival in Elizabeth City limits itself to spuds only. Many are the floral celebrations around the world this month, culminating with what many hold to be the ultimate with the venerable Chelsea Flower Show in London 24-28 May. This year the featured theme is ‘Health, Happiness and Horticulture,’ as organizer Royal Horticultural Society continues seek to ‘Green Grey Britain.’ Award-winning designers focus on strong links between gardening and wellbeing not forgetting the British Eccentrics Garden plus 100 specialist plant breeders, nursery and societies . . . For many though Moncton, New Brunswick has the best way to meet the merry month of May. There they host the Atlantic Beer Festival. Cheers!

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