Wes Porter

August:  A Caesar of a Summer

Time to reap the rewards of gardening. Lie back, suitable refreshment at hand – and plan for another year. Whatever chores are taken in hand, the best time is early in the day. Not too early, however. Allow the foliage to dry from overnight dew, irrigation or precipitation. Brushing past and through wet foliage is an excellent way to spread fungal diseases. Weeding and watering are the main preoccupations for the gardener this month. Pay special attention to containers. They can dry out amazingly fast under warm, windy conditions. A 10-inch-diameter hanging basket might have been soaked earlier but by late afternoon will be showing signs of distress.

Questions We Are Often Asked: Oncidium Orchids

Congratulations – you have joined the orchdelirium, those enthralled in collecting orchids. Especially in Japan, Oncidium or ‘Dancing Lady’ orchids are some of the most popular and easily raised. Hundreds of thousands are exported to Japan every year from Taiwan, which even boasts of an Orchid Island off its southeast coast.

Every Gnome Needs a Home

“’Muggles have garden gnomes, too, you know,’ Harry told Ron as they crossed the lawn. ‘Yeah, I’ve seen those things they think they are gnomes,’ said Ron, bent double with his head in a peony bush, ‘like fat little Santa Clauses with fishing rods . . .’” J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Gnomes, Gartenzwerg, first appeared long, long ago in European folklore as benevolent creatures who lived underground as guardians of treasure, mines and the like. They were believed to reward the good behaviour of farmers (Bauer), merchants and housewives (Hausfrau) with assistance in fields, shops and gardens (Garten) at night.

Weeds: If You Can’t Beat Them, Eat Them

According to a French proverb, bad plants don’t die. Weeds, which may be defined as plants growing where they are not wanted, may yet find many a use. Despite those “Rank weeds, that every art and care defy,” as the Rev. George Crabbe labelled them in his poem 'The Village,' many in the past have been put to good use by rural residents.

The Silly Season:  Happy Horticulture

In those far off days before PCs and the advent of Internet, July and August were known to the print media as the ‘Silly Season.’ Journalists dreamt up stories that today even the supermarket tabloids would turn down. Now the Silly Season is a year-round phenomenon, no less so in gardening than any other pursuit. Worse yet, the stories tend to be true.

New for You: Products for the Passionate Gardener

A recent issue of the trade periodical Canadian Garden Centre & Nursery featured a number of new products likely to be found in your local friendly garden centre. Some that caught the eye include: Hug-It Planters for New Locations “Hug-It” and “Flex-It” planters from Garden-Aire, feature a unique design that allows gardening enthusiasts to easily grow flowers, herbs or vegetables at a convenient height above the ground on trees, poles, posts, porch columns, etc. without any tools or hardware. These planters feature three-gallon capacity, knockouts for easy side planting and integrated water management that saves some water then routes excess away from the structure.

A Rose Primer

“A large rose-tree stood near the entrance to the garden: the roses growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily painting them red.” Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dobson 1832-98]: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1865. The choice of roses is astounding. Of the several thousand different cultivars internationally available, several hundred will likely be available within driving distance of you. Try visiting local rose gardens – this month is an especially good time – and noting names of those you prefer:

Roses are red, some even blue Lots of weird names, some scentless too

Bunga Bunga Amongst the Bugs

How many kinds of bugs are there? An estimate last year, according to the journal Science, based on mathematical modelling and a major bug-counting effort in New Guinea, puts the number of arthropod species in the tropics – which account for most of the animal species in the world – at about 3.7 million. And they feature such varied sex lives as to make Casanova look like a rank amateur. Of course, had the great seducer been a mantis rather than a Venetian, things might have come to an early end. Female mantis are prone to make a meal of their suitors following – sometimes even during – their copulation, commencing on their mate’s head. There is method in their cannibalistic madness. The male head contains the nerves that control copulation. No head, no nerves, nothing to stop the abdomen keeping up the good work.

Language of Flowers Gets Boost from Kate

On her wedding day, the Duchess of Cambridge chose ‘White Gardenia Petals’ by Illuminum, a little-known £70 fragrance. And that was not the only refreshing nod to the world of flowers that Kate has brought. Fiona Cairns, her wedding cake maker, worked with the royal bride to reproduce Victorian floral symbols over the edifice:

Peter Piper’s Peppers

If you’ve spent time mulling over the problem of the number of pickled peppers in Peter Piper’s peck, according to Rebecca Rupp, the answer in jalapenos is something around 225. People are plain fascinated with peppers, or to be formal, Capsicum, from the Greek kapto, to bite, as indeed sampling many of the fruits will reveal. And hot or not, one in four people eat peppers every day, according to The Cambridge World History of Food.

Landscaping with Lucy Lawless

Hollywood star Lucy Lawless is returning to her roots. Born in the upscale Mount Albert area of Auckland, New Zealand, the spectacular 5-foot-11-television actress (35-25-36) is converting a large part of her tony estate into what has been described as a multi-dollar eco-friendly Garden of Eden. The Xena actress and Greenpeace climate change ambassador is converting two of her four consolidated properties – with a total worth of more than $7 million – into a 1600-square-metre garden. The cost of the garden design alone would probably exceed $10,000, and the final bill could run into hundreds of thousands, an award-winning landscape designer told New Zealand’s Herald on Sunday.

‘Pearls of Aphrodite’ All the Rage in Europe

The latest luxury ingredient in these decadent times is what is euphemistically known to the hedonistic Euros as ‘white caviar.’ Or, if you must know, eggs of the North African Great Grey Snail, a domesticated form of Cornu aspersum. Raised by a small but growing number of helioculturists or snail farmers in France and Spain, a single snail lays about 100 eggs weighing about three grams twice a year. These are also known as ‘Pearls of Aphrodite’ for their supposed aphrodisiac quality. Rich Romans, Egyptians and Greeks once positively doted on them but strangely despite their supposed encouragement to ancient love life, these civilizations no longer flourish.

An Odiferous Araceae

The Arum Family, Araceae, features many fascinating and unusual plants among its 105 genera comprising about 3,000 species. Those cultivating native plants will be familiar with jack-in-the-pulpit and skunk cabbage. In the house, the list extends from Aglaeonema on through Caladium, Calla, Dieffenbachia, Epipremnum, Monstera, Philodendron, Spathiphyllum to Syngonium and many, many others. Those who avoid botanical names will perhaps be familiar though with Spathiphyllum as the Peace Lily or Spathe Flower. Spathe from the strange white shielding structure that partially envelopes that equally strange, frankly phallic-like erection arising in its centre. Technically this is known as the spadix and is a collection of many minute flowers.

Garden Weather:  Warm & Wet—Or Perhaps Dry

Environment Canada is predicting a warmer-than-normal summer across the country based on its forecast for June and July. Precipitation is predicted to be above seasonal for most of the country. However, if you are reading this in southern B.C. or the Greater Toronto Area, check the sprinklers. The weather wonks predict below seasonal normal precipitation for some of the nation’s most enthusiastic gardeners. Then again, if your lawn scorches or the geraniums croak, it may be premature to blame global warming, as Tom Spears writes in the Vancouver Sun. Indeed, a study published recently in the journal Science notes that climate hasn’t changed in much of North America – yet. In fact temperatures over most of North America have resisted the global trend.

New for You – Products for the Passionate Gardener

Our second look at some of the many new products that have come to our attention and might be considered worthy of your interest. Please note that none of these have paid to be mentioned, nor offered “freebies” – although aged journalism wisdom has it that if it can be eaten, drunk or smoked in one day it is not a bribe, which seems to let us out.

Questions We Are Often Asked: Growing Vegetables

“Who’s next?” merrily warbled satirical lyricist Tom Lehrer. He might have been commenting on the food revolution that is encircling the globe. Soaring food prices have in part triggered crisis from Egypt to England, China to Chad. Even the world’s richest nation is not immune. U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama is writing a book about the vegetable and fruit garden she started at the White House.

A Bouquet for Mother’s Day

Flower sales flourish for Mother’s Day. Garden centres and jewellery outlets can also count on additional attention. But flowers are the thing this 8th May. Mother’s Day is the second-biggest fresh-flower buying occasion in North America after Valentine’s Day. Growers from near and far are grateful. Truckloads arrive at the Ontario Flower Growers daily auctions at ‘The Clock’ in Mississauga on the outskirts of Toronto. Giant jets touch down at airports across the country from such locations as the Netherlands, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Mountain Pine Beetle Branches Out

A bug barely the size of a grain of rice has burst out of British Columbia and now threatens the entire boreal forest clear to the Atlantic coast. The mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae, is native to North America. In British Columbia, they infested lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta var. latifolia, and larvae spending winters under the bark of mature pines. Until the late twentieth century, the pest was largely controlled by the harsh winters of the provincial interior. Then climate change stepped in with devastating effect.

Gardening in the Merry Month of May

You thought this spring weather was testing? Environment Canada’s 2011 weather calendar tells us on 9th May 1923 Point Pelee, Ontario, that 10 days previous, high winds blew away freshly planted onion seeds; reseeding had just been completed when on this date a snowstorm struck with powerful winds and low temperatures. Ah yes, those were the good old days, weren’t they now? But it’s time to go fossicking for flowers through garden centres. Thinking on seasonal plants makes scents. Modern plant breeders aren’t much help here. In their search of cents they have lost the scent. Far too many new offerings lack this, surely one of the essential attractions of any garden. Then there are the old-timers – usually far less hard on the pocketbook than new introductions.

New for You – Products for the Passionate Gardener

Check this space over the next few months for some of the many new products that have come to our attention and might be considered worthy of your interest. Please note that none of these have paid to be mentioned, nor offered “freebies” – although aged journalism wisdom has it that if it can be eaten, drunk or smoked in one day it is not a bribe, which seems to let us out.