Wes Porter

Dinosaurs Romped Around the Ancestor of Tulip Tree

The modern-day tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipa, state tree of Indiana as well as Kentucky and Tennessee, can trace its lineage back to the time of the dinosaurs, according to research by an Indiana University paleobotanist and a Russian botanist published recently in the American Journal of Botany.

Fall Arrives & Some Final Garden Chores

“Ah, autumn in LA, when the stagehands spray the leaves such pretty colours, ” observed Conan O’Brien.

Questions We’re Often Asked: Bulbs

All too soon, summer blooming bulbs will fade and die as the first frosts arrive. Meanwhile, garden centres are overflowing with their spring cousins that require planting over the next few weeks.

An Array of Araceae

Chanel, the humorously named University of California Santa Barbara’s Amorphallus titanum or corpse flower, attracted predictable media attention on producing its odiferous floriferous display early last month. This is but the latest, and doubtlessly by no means the last, in a long line of such emergences by blooms that emit a putrid odour that has been described like a cross between rotting flesh and Limburger cheese.

Discouraging Squirrels, Mice from Bulbs

Zoologists know it as Sciurus carolinensis. What many a gardener call it upon discovering its depredation of freshly planted bulbs might be ‘you pollinating hybrid’ but is more often unprintable even in such intemperate times as these. Yet there are ways to discourage squirrels from digging up bulbs, as well as the lesser-recognized hazard, that of voles, often incorrectly called field mice.

Autumn Arrives with Fresh Air and Chores

“With autumn approaching, summer is nearly over, and that means that gardening correspondents all over the country are getting out the article they wrote this time last year and rephrasing it slightly,” opined Miles Kingston back in 1982. Sorry to disappoint you, Miles old bean, but despite suspicions from the editor what follows is as fresh as gardening can ever be. Some things, of course, never change; others mercifully go the way of the editorial blue pencil. ‘Twas ever thus and doubtlessly will remain so as long as we continue in our horticultural – and other – pursuits.

Gardening: Therapy for the Bereaved – And Others

Gardeners in general are cheerful souls only to willing to share their happiness with those they consider less fortunate (read: non-gardeners). A recent poll conducted for the British Gardeners’ World magazine confirmed this. Gardeners are less likely to display signs associated with unhappiness or depression and 90 per cent think it improves their mood, the survey found. The poll of 1,500 adults in the UK found that 80 per cent of gardeners feel satisfied with their lives compared to 67 per cent of non-gardeners.

Irradiation of Vegetables and Fruits

Those in favour of natural, organic produce are predictably against it. Health authorities often advocate it. Any word that implies radiation is likely to promote anxiety. But is this fear well founded or is it just another come-on by extremist environmental groups intent on keeping the pot boiling?

Poison Ivy Is a Rash Experience

It was a most enjoyable trip to the cottage to meet her future husband’s parents. But as he drove her back to the city, she felt nature calling. Obligingly, he pulled over alongside a convenient thick wood into which she excused herself for a few moments. It wasn’t until several hours later the dreadful truth emerged. The wood had been full of poison ivy. There followed several weeks of itchy embarrassment.

A Plant That Likes to Look Sheepish

Excitement raged amongst the more susceptible of the horticultural fraternity when the venerable Royal Horticulture Society announced that it had coaxed a “sheep eating” plant into bloom at its Wisley Garden in Surrey.

Is Something Bugging You?

Julius ‘Groucho’ Marx died on 19 August 1977, aged 87. When the media asked for an explanation of his death, grandson Andy Marx replied, “Too many birthdays.” Horticultural connection: Grouch once inquired of a tree surgeon if he had ever fallen out of a patient.

A Botanical Geography of Canada

Those intrepid souls who explored and assigned names to prominent geographical features from sea to sea to sea were, if not botanists themselves, either accompanied by experts in flora or had a good smattering of the science. Hence, time and again, gardeners may be reminded of a familiar flower, shrub or tree under the most unlikely circumstances.

You Might Give a Fig

And then again, you might not. ‘A cop who couldn’t have given a flying fig’: thanks to the Los Angeles Times you have this somewhat more refined expression to use at the next wine and cheese party.

The Flower with Lips Like Mick Jagger

On 27 July, Mick Jagger reaches the biblical ‘three-score-and-ten.’ Given the well-known lothario’s lifestyle this is surprising. Perhaps even more surprising is a plant from tropical America whose flowers are a fair imitation of the singer’s celebrated lips – or should that be vice versa?

The Seven Deadly Sins of Gardening

Back in medieval times those with money purchased indulgences to absolve their numerous sins. Unfortunately for the modern property owner no amount of the mullah can achieve the same, at least not horticulturally. Nevertheless black- and green-thumbed practitioners alike are liable to fall foul of natural inclinations . . .

A Baby, Bugs, Weeds, Exercise and Sins

Kate’s baby is expected Saturday, 13th July. Here’s wishing for a gardener’s bouquet of baby rose (Rosa polyantha) and baby’s breath (Gypsophila elegans) to the Duchess. But will the future heir to the throne have Cambridge blue eyes? Horticultural connection: Catherine and her sister Philippa were once upon a time snootily nicknamed ‘the Wisteria Sisters’ in society circles because they were, records Claudia Joseph in her biography, ‘highly decorative, terribly fragrant and with a ferocious ability to climb.’

To Pee or Not to Pee on the Garden

“I may not know much about nature, but five years living in raccoon-infested Toronto was good for something – the ‘# have a visceral dislike of male urine. If you don’t believe me, try it,” suggested John Ivison a few years ago in National Post. Meanwhile, outdoor types who do know much about nature, recommend urinating around the tent before retiring at night for the same purpose.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The famed Hanging Gardens of Babylon have been claimed in recent years to be the first known examples of green roofing. Or maybe they can be classed as the earliest attempts at hydroponics. Although they found fame as one of the Seven Wonders of the World there is one problem: They may never have existed. At least, not built be Nebuchadnezzar who ruled his city-state of Babylon 605-562 B.C.

Chelsea Centennial – A Blooming Success

Some one hundred years after Britain’s Horticultural Society received its ‘Royal’ designation it organized what became the world-famous Chelsea Flower Show. Now yet another century later, the show celebrated its centennial this past May.

Impatiens Downy Mildew, Begonias, Watering

As we warned last month, impatiens down mildew is expected to hit again this season. It has already been reported devastating plantings of this most popular annual in Florida. Some Canadian gardeners blamed overwatering for last year’s impatiens collapse. Alas, it was anything but, although watering at night is said to encourage the disease’s spread. Following last season’s experiences, many Canadian garden centres are battening down the hatches, stocking fewer flats and suggesting tuberous or multiflora bedding begonias as a substitute.