Wes Porter

Elderberry: Herb of the Year for 2013

Thanks to the International Herb Association, since 1991 in the week proceeding Mother’s Day, we celebrate National Herb Week. This draws attention to herbs, their uses and herbal businesses and history. Such was the success that four years later, the IHA decided to add a Herb of the Year and this year on 5 May a National Herb Day.

Summer Bulbs Brighten the Garden

“I used to think that tuberous begonias were plants that only old people grew,” wrote Anne Raver a few years ago in The New York Times. She and many, many other people are in increasing numbers discovering the delights of summer blooming bulbs.

Elderberry: Herb of the Year for 2013

Thanks to the International Herb Association, since 1991 in the week proceeding Mother’s Day, we celebrate National Herb Week. This draws attention to herbs, their uses and herbal businesses and history. Such was the success that four years later, the IHA decided to add a Herb of the Year and this year on 5 May a National Herb Day.

Mother’s Day, Lawns and more…

“Chilling with my family today, enjoying my garden in the spring,” tweeted actor Michael Caine, unlike many other thespians a keen gardener. It is doubtful this chilly spring in southern England. Or hereabouts for that matter, where the climate has been distinctly moist. Some have gone as far as to proclaim it Queen Elizabeth weather: a long reign.

A Canadian Geographical Kitchen Garden

If we are to judge by the names of Canadian geographic features, the early pioneers had extensive kitchen gardens and perhaps more extensive diets than commonly acknowledged. As befits a nation with considerable Irish input, potatoes lead the way claiming no less than 39 places – plus six Spuds.

Royalty in the Garden

Prince Charles has received wide and often derisory attention for his horticultural pursuits. But he stands with his feet planted on a firm grounding. Royal enthusiasm for gardens, gardening and horticulture date back centuries before the emergence of the present House of Windsor in the second decade of the past century.

The Quirky Quince

In the Anglosphere, many a plant is regarded as an aphrodisiac. However, in Germany numerous plants are considered beneficial for the bowels. This may explain the predominance of English across the world while the Teutonic languages languish in comparison.

Spring:  New, exciting and different

Romans celebrated the festival of Flora, goddess of flowers and the spring, in the last days of April and the beginning of May. This seems a more sensible date than 21st March, at least for northern gardeners. But can anything hold back gardeners: buds start swelling, bulbs busting into bloom and redwing blackbirds staking out their territories?

Cutting the Blarney: What Is Shamrock?

“I know I’ve got Irish blood because I wake up every morning with a hangover,” explained Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher. Some 28%, or over nine million Canadians claim Irish ancestry. And 17th March falls on a Sunday this year, making it more amenable for the wearin’ of the green, parading and partaking of copious libations to the blessed St. Patrick, who is believed to have died on this day in 461 A.D.

Feast of the Flowers

It was Easter Sunday 1513, when the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon wet his boots wading ashore onto what he believed was but another Caribbean island. In his native Spain Easter was called Pascua Florida or Flowery Easter. Hence the land became La Florida.

Horticultural Hot Beds Perfect for Propagation

Late last year pineapple fruit were produced in extreme southwest England and with some hyperbole proclaimed to be each worth £10,000. Grown at Cornwall’s Lost Garden of Heligan, suitable tropical conditions were created utilizing 30 tonnes of horse manure, urine and straw.

March:  A Month of Leeks, Shamrocks and Lilies

There has been a four-letter word on northern gardeners’ lips: snow! Whatever assorted groundhogs from Winnipeg through Wiarton down to Gobbler’s Knob may have fondly imagined, an early spring is not likely this year. Thanks though to various and varied cultural celebrations, we celebrate through March with everything from leeks to lilies with shamrocks tucked somewhere in between.

Questions We’re Often Asked

“It says on the bottle plant food to feed every two weeks. But you’ve written earlier not to feed during December, January and March. So who’s right?” The short answer: I am.

What’s in a Flowery Name?

Gardeners – and others – delight in naming their daughters after flowers. Running the gambit from Althea to Zebrina there’s a garden of delight gurgling in the cradle.

Barely Wine from Australia

“To be happy for an hour, have a glass of wine. To be happy for a day, read a book. To be happy for a week, take a wife. To be happy forever, make a garden,” quoth Ambrose Congreve, who died aged 104. He might have something there, many a gardener would concur.

Viva La Difference – Orthoptera Style

He slaps a box of sexy chocolates onto your tum. Enchanted, you gobble them up only to discover a few hours later you’ve been impregnated. Meanwhile your gallant beau has gone hopping on his way. Such is love life among orthopteran bush cricket Poeclimon veluchianus.

Gift plants for the Year of the Snake

Gung Hay Fat Choy – Happy New Year!

Making an Ash of Themselves?

No one was present to note the arrival of Chalara fraxinea in Zabodny, Poland, some time prior to 1992. Since then, the deadly fungus disease commonly called ash dieback has run rampant through Europe killing almost every ash tree its spores have alighted upon. More recently it has threatened the ashes of Britain.

A Century of Sheridan Nurseries

“A quarter-century ago, on the eve of my departure from London, friends and relatives were sympathetic. A colonial career offers the last refuge to the inefficient, forced out, by competition at home, into the wolf-infested wilderness, the ice and the snow. A much travelled uncle said that Canada might be ready for my profession in fifty years.” Thus did Howard Dunington-Grubb, founder of Sheridan Nurseries, look back a quarter century later to his arrival in the Toronto of 1911.

Indoor Plant Care, Outdoor Chores

This is a bad year for those who suffer from triskaidekaphobia – fear of the number thirteen. But this shouldn’t worry gardeners. When landscaping, as a general rule odd numbers work better than evens. And thirteen, of course, is an odd number.