Wes Porter

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.

Most Recent Articles by Wes Porter:

Accepting Asparagus May 12, 2018

Paul Harvey: “Government has to be cut back like asparagus . . . every day . . . or it gets away and goes to seed.”

Annuals for Shade May 6, 2018

Tulip Time and Tomato Preparation May 5, 2018

May is National Limerick Day

Questions We’re Often Asked: Dutch Elm Disease April 28, 2018

Hi-Rise Horticulture April 22, 2018

A final word of advice: don't step back to admire your work

Paper Birch April 22, 2018

Lawn Mowing Safety April 15, 2018

Mycoheterotrophs: A Wander in the Woods April 14, 2018

Herb of the Year: Hops April 8, 2018

Rain is a Four-Letter Word April 7, 2018

Questions We’re Often Asked: Lilies by Any Name March 31, 2018

Strange Garden Beliefs March 31, 2018

Palms: A Frond Indeed March 24, 2018

Shillelagh: Ancient Hibernian Anesthetic March 17, 2018

Women’s Day March 8: Baret the Botanist March 10, 2018

The first woman to circumnavigate the world was an eighteenth-century botanist, Jeanne Baret

Invoke St. Gertrude for Gardens March 3, 2018

St. Gertrude of Nivelles

Questions We’re Often Asked: Moth Orchid Care February 28, 2018

These orchids are amongst the toughest of their kind. It takes but a modicum of additional efforts to have them as permanent household guests

Potager du Roi: The King’s Vegetable Garden February 24, 2018

Planning for a home vegetable garden this spring? Spare a thought for the French Sun King's Potager du Roi at Versailles

Poisoning by Plant Cyanogens February 22, 2018

Whether apple pits, apricot kernels or more sinister sources are a painless or painful way to depart the mortal coil is controversial

The Latest Buzz on Neonicotinoids February 15, 2018

Controversy has accompanied neonicotinoid pesticides ever since their commercial introduction in the mid-1990s

Snowdrops and When to Plant Them February 8, 2018

There is something about these seemingly fragile first signs of spring that attracts enthusiasts

Gardening Improves Lives February 1, 2018

"The discoursing of women at sea was very unlucky" and "occasioned the storm."

January Hortic Birthdays January 31, 2018

Alice Eastwood, Canadian-American Botanist January 29, 2018

Most botanists would be proud to be honoured in the name of a single plant genus; Alice Eastwood is remembered in two

Turning the Heat on Firewood January 22, 2018

"One can enjoy a wood fire worthily only when he warms his thoughts by it as well as his hands and feet."

Questions We’re Often Asked: Slugs as Pollinators January 15, 2018

So sorry, but marauding mollusks must be regarded as cum grano salis, taken with a grain of salt. And that, come to think of it, is a gooey way to dispense with slugs: sprinkle with salt and watch them dissolve into purple pulp

Spanish Moss: Decorator’s Delight January 8, 2018

Fashionable florists have discovered dried Spanish moss as an attractive inclusion

BULBS FOR GOOD SCENTS January 1, 2018

Delicious scents of hyacinths and narcissus are wafted to distract from the winter weather.

Questions We’re Often Asked: Christmas Trees December 30, 2017

Fun Facts and Figures about Christmas Trees

Norse God Baldr Killed by a Mistletoe Dart December 23, 2017