June is strawberry month. Bernard le Bovier de Fontanelle, French essayist, briefly a lawyer but an appreciator of good food, claimed his long life was due to strawberries. He died in January 1757, just failing to celebrate his 100th birthday. In his late nineties, on meeting the beauty Madame Helvétius, he exclaimed, “Ah Madame, if only I were eighty again!” However, Roman statesman Marcus Porcius Cato, known as Cato the Elder and Cato the Ancient, who lived to be an octogenarian, was an enthusiastic consumer of cabbage and credited the leafy veggie with his longevity, long enough to father 28 sons.
Diversion No. 1
According to a new study in Environment and Behaviour, a small dose of nature can really give you a psychological boost, writes Josh Hrala, ScienceAlert. While nature is often cited for its positive, mood-altering properties, this is one of the few times scientists have been able to quantifiably study its effects. Looking at trees can reduce your stress levels, even in the middle of a city.
Good news and bad news from the State of the World’s Plants, released by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which involved more than 80 scientists. Taking a year to prepare, the report is a baseline assessment of current knowledge of the estimated 390,900 vascular plants known to science on the planet, the global threats these plants currently face, as well as the policies in place and their effectiveness in dealing with threats. One in five of these plants face the risk of extinction. Inevitably this includes newly described species – 2,034 last year alone. Hot spots for new discoveries are Australia, Brazil and China. So, as Erik Stokstad suggested in ScienceShots, if you think everything’s already been discovered, maybe you should ask a botanist.
Diversion No. 2
A “tough little” beer-loving pig abandon during the Fort McMurray evacuations was found safe thanks to the help of Twitter and Facebook, reported CBC News. Marshall, a black 4?-year-old pig was left behind when his family fled. On Monday evening the Alberta RCMP posted a Twitter photo of a constable feeding a pig watermelon.
Mulches are exemplary cultural aids in the garden. But they do have their problems. One of the fortunately less common is fire risk. Even a mulch walkway could lead a fire to your front door, advised CBC News in the wake of the Fort McMurray disaster. In fact, photos showed smouldering homes and access ways flanking lush green lawns in the earlier Slave Lake tragedy. Wise choices of building materials and landscaping could limit potential fire damage, experts say. When it comes to bark mulches, University of Alberta professor of wildfires Mike Flanagan told the CBC: “We have a simple test. If I drop to my knees and them stand up – if my knees are wet, it won’t burn.” So is the risk limited to residents of homes surrounded by boreal forests? Not a bit. We have seen a dry bark mulch in a city garden catch fire from a carelessly discarded cigarette.
Diversion No. 3
Chewbacca, the fictional ‘Star Wars’ hairy character, has given his name to a new species of flightless weevil beetle, Trigonopterus chewbacca, discovered in New Britain, Papua New Guinea, researchers announced in the journal ZooKeys
Used pantyhose or tights make an excellent, supple tie for growing broad bean plants, suggests Kiwi gardener Barbara Smith in the NZ Gardener. Ah yes, but they also make equal quality ties for stake tomatoes, cucumbers and similar comestibles. Cantaloupes grown up fences to avoid slugs can be supported in hammocks of the same if one is willing to endure the inevitable ribald remarks. Nor is that the end of their usefulness. Wrapped around an ornamental pool pump, there is no finer filter to protect clogging by debris. One problem Ms. Smith fails to mention: Bachelor male gardeners are on their own.
Is your basil in a bad way? Could be the earlier cold. But another possibility is a debilitating plague of down mildew disease. It first appeared on basil in the U.S. in 2007 and in Canada in four years later. So far only the new Ocimum basilicum ‘Eleonora’ variety has shown partial resistance to it, according to Richters Herbs. There are no known effective controls.
Diversion No. 4
Some have demanded why we didn’t write on 7 May ‘World Naked Gardening Day.’ The answer: we’ve previously covered it.
Horticultural Happenings
Rosy Rhubarb Festival, Shedden, Ontario – second weekend June
Rhubarb Rhapsody Rhubarb Festival, Dartmouth , Nova Scotia– June
Whoop-Up Days & Rhubarb Festival, Conrad, Montana – June
Rhubarb Fest Calgary, Alberta – June
Waterton Wildflower Festival, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta mid-late June
Bruce Peninsular Orchid Festival, Tobermory – early June; 44 wild orchids
Carrot and Stew Festival, Beypazan, Turkey – first weekend June
Aledo Rhubarb Fest, Illinois – early June
Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival, Warren, Arkansas – June; Miss Pink Tomato
Cherry Festival, Beaumont, California - June
Duluth Rhubarb Festival, Minnesota – late June
Heritage Turnip Green Festival, Easton, Texas – early June
High Desert Rhubarb Festival, Lapaine, Oregon – mid-June
Jacksonville Annual Tomato Fest, Texas – 11 June 2016
Lanesboror Rhubarb Festival, Minnesota – June
Lompoc Valley Flower Festival, Lompoc, California – last full weekend June
Manchester Rhubarb Fest, Iowa – first Saturday June
Midwest Tea Fest, Kansas City – early June
National Asparagus Festival, Shelby, Michigan – 10-12 June 2016
Pine Grove Rhubarb Festival, Colorado – mid-June
Portland Rose Festival, Oregon – June
Slocomb Tomato Festival, Alabama – mid-June; incl. Ms Tomato Pageant
Walla Walla Sweet Onion Festival, Washington – 18/19 June 2016
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.
