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.
Black, red and white currant bushes--all highly productive even in light shade. If you are into jams and jellies--and what gardeners are not?--then you might explore further, much further.
Once tasted, though, you're hooked--black current jam and ice cream; red current jelly with roast duck; white currant eaten out of hand.
Ibogaine, anyone? Gwyneth Paltrow believes the African hallucinogen will become more mainstream. Paltrow made the claim in a recent interview with the New York Times to promote Goop, her lifestyle brand. No mention that ibogaine has been linked to at least 19 deaths. And other health threats. Or that it is severely restricted in most Western countries.
So ignoring yet another bout of Paltrow pseudoscience, what is ibogaine, where does it come from, and what are its known effects?
A multitude of books and businesses have been founded on compost. Wastrels from Washington to Eureaucrats in Brussels happily pump confiscatory taxes into its encouragement. Yet it is an amazingly simple process. And of course like all such, things occasionally go wrong and make a pong.
"As for the garden of mint, the very smell of it alone recovers and refreshes our spirits, as the taste stirs up our appetite for meat," declared the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder almost two thousand years ago. Aristotle is claimed to have recommended peppermint as an aphrodisiac. Nothing much has changed, except for a plethora more offerings--enough to fill an entire border.
And why not? Mints are an easy growing, versatile family, flourishing in light shade and moist soils. Located in the family of the Lamiaceae, they are cousins to basil, catnip, rosemary, sage, oregano and many other herbs, all distinguished by their square stems. Depending on the source, there are 13 to 18 species. However to the despair of botanists, nature being nature and ignoring taxonomical niceties, natural hybrids occur.
Down at the Garden Club, it all started when somebody quoted, "March winds and April showers, make way for sweet May flowers." This caused a round of reflection. The club's oldest member ruminated that he was no longer to play Romeo opposite Taylor Swift . . . but perhaps King Lear with the Kardashian sisters. Specifically in Act Two's weird weather. "Ah yes," noted our irrigation expert, "something Noah would have envied, eh. Actually," he went on, "about this time of year, the jet stream moves northwards, allowing wetter weather to move in. It was a popular English saying by the mid-1500s." The oldest member gazed morosely into his pint glass. "Tastes like some of it landed in this beer. But as Al Jolson sang, "Though April showers may come your way/They bring flowers that bloom in May." All the other members nodded.
Two hundred years of Irish reliance on potatoes proved an abundance of the staple assured an equal abundance of progeny. Size of families in the Emerald Isle was taken as proof that potatoes were an astounding aphrodisiac.
In the year 1699 then-52-year-old Maria Sybylla Merian crossed the Atlantic Ocean to study the plants and animals in Dutch Suriname. The professional artist and naturalist had financed the expedition herself. Even more extraordinary in the days when science was almost the exclusive preserve of men, she was a divorced woman with two daughters.
"If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion" -- William Shakespeare
A third look at delicious berries on bushes for the home garden, here's on that--unlike most--may be raised in light shade. Prolific from their second year on, also referred to as 'brambles,' the fruit have solid centers, unlike raspberries which are hollow.
There are few things more Canadian than maple syrup. Almost 90% of world production is Canadian. about 73,000,000 litres. Quebec world leader with 70% of global production with Ontario second largest Canadian producer, contributing almost a million litres per year. Most exports are to United States, with smaller amounts to Germany, Japan and the UK. Yet strangely, it is the US which claims a National Maple Syrup Day--and on 17th December rather than in March, prime sugaring off time in most areas of production.
How cold was it? Members at the Gardening Club questioned after the earlier polar vortex intrusion. "Colder than a lawyer's heart," opined the aged Rosarian. The resident herb expert disagreed. "Colder than a politician's handshake," was her view. "Colder than a bank loan officer's look," suggested the DYI enthusiast, who had recently been rejected by his bank for a garden improvements loan. All were in agreement though when upspoke the most respected president: "So cold, politicians had their hands in their own pockets."
Sooner or later a curious kid will inquire: why does some fruit have seeds and others don't? Even more embarrassing is the follow up: if there are no seeds, where do the plants come from?
The answer, like the question, is two-fold. One dates back to the dawning of horticulture. The other emerged from recent discoveries in plant genetics.
"Forget Frogmore Castle: Come back to Toronto Harry and Meghan!" The Toronto Star headlined late last year. Toronto has more ducal lodgings--the Casa Loma, perhaps--and far superior landscaping than Frogmore. Alas, it is unlikely the couple will relinquish England, however asinine.
Over 5,000 years ago in the Amazon Basin, on the borders of todays northern Ecuador and southern Columbia, early horticulturists discovered the delights of chocolate. Spare a thought for these unnamed innovators when gifting chocolates this Valentines Day. As Michael Levine observed,"Chemically speaking, chocolate really is the world's perfect food." That is more than left for us by world leaders--past and present.
"Blueberries, strawberries and blackberries are true super foods. Naturally sweet and juicy, these berries are low in sugar and high in nutrients--"they are among the best foods you can eat," exulted Joel Fuhrman. We take our second look at a bush fruit for the modern garden: blueberries
Are blueberries worth some extra preparation? You decide. For unless your garden soil is on the acid side, with good moisture retention, work is involved. Blueberries, Vaccinium spp., are very shallow-rooted shrubs, requiring acidic, moist soils.
Late last year, officials in the major Spanish city of Cadiz announced they would deport 5,000 unwanted pigeons 500 miles away rather than cull them. Elsewhere, opinions vary on Columbina livia, the domestic or feral pigeon.
Robert Benchley, writer, humourist and movie personality was not a fan:
Valentines Day is here again, encouraging amorous activities. Alice Murphy, writing in the Australian Daily Mail, says our sense of smell is heavily responsible for who we are magnetically drawn towards. According to science, she claims, there are the five most sensual scents, all plant-based: chocolate, rose, citrus (lemons, limes, oranges), mint (peppermint or spearmint), and lastly vanilla. Here's hoping she or others are not allergic to any of these.
"We want our tea," demand Marco and Giuseppe, gondolieri, in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers. One of the most delightful of the Savoy Operas, it was first performed in London, England in 1889. It was, however, supposedly set over a century earlier, in 1750 Venice.
The tale of tea originates many millennia earlier and far to the east. Twenty million years earlier, in the area of today's Assam and southwest China, there arose and evergreen shrub or small tree, today's Camellia sinensis.
Rain is a four-letter word--and so is snow. But ice is just three letters . Unless that is one slips on it. As Carl Reiner once opined, "A lot of people like snow. I find it an unnecessary freezing of water." You could, as New Zealanders do, wear socks over your shoes. Or, as The City of Toronto once urged, "Be nice--clear your ice." Ah yes, but what with?
Millions of Christmas trees find a multitude of applications once their principal use is completed. Stripped of ornaments, tinsel and lights they join loose branches and cedar rope in many a recycling app.