Canada's Local Gardener Volume 3 Issue 1

Official English Language Magazine

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Issue 1

2021 • 1

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Contents volume 3

Canada’s local Gardener

44 Hello Canadian gardeners!........................................4 All about clematis.......................................................6 Rosemary.................................................................10 Improve your soil......................................................12 The exotic bleeding hearts.......................................14 Wildflowers and weeds: Viper’s bugloss.................17 Big wasps..................................................................18 Growing garlic..........................................................20 Spruce, pine, or fir: How can you tell?....................23 Proclaiming 2022 Canada’s Year of the Garden: A national movement to connect with plants....26 Patio or deck?............................................................28

50

ISSUE 1, 2021

55

Two Olde Dawgs: Vegepod harvest........................30 Tough houseplants that anyone can grow...........32 Instagrammable plants...........................................34 Composting primer..................................................35 Time to split?.............................................................36 Watch out for jumping worms...............................38 A garden and a disability....................................... 40 Beautiful Gardens: Stephanie Rose, Vancouver............................... 44 Doyle Piwniuk, Virden, Manitoba......................50 Francis Bird, Charlottetown................................55 How to get started....................................................61

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2021 • 3

Hello Canadian gardeners!

W

hat a wonderful summer I had! I travelled through the West with my mother, Dorothy, and we saw the most spectacular gardens. I went to one in Ontario with my husband, then did three on my own near Niagara, then travelled east by car with my younger daughter, Claire, and all of these with my camera to capture the gardens you’ll see in this magazine. I have the best job.

My conscience niggles that I need to come clean: I didn’t get to Newfoundland and Labrador this summer, and more is the shame for me because I have never been. But I’ll be flying there for sure next summer, and meanwhile, the incomparable Todd Boland from the Memorial University Botanical Gardens is writing a couple of garden stories from there.

Three of the gardens I visited are in this issue. Stephanie Rose is a writer and the driving force behind the website GardenTherapy.ca. Mom and I had a lovely visit to her home and garden in Vancouver in June and thrilled to see how she fits so much in such a limited space, and how she does it so beautifully. We also visited Doyle Piwniuk’s garden in Virden, Manitoba. Doyle is a tree man (and a Member of the Legislative Assembly) and the way he knits together his collection is spectacular. Finally, Claire and I visited Francis Bird in Charlottetown and we thoroughly enjoyed the unassuming, restful joy of his garden. I feel honoured to have been welcomed to these people’s havens.

Now, the first thing you will find in this issue is a feature on clematis, a genus with a dizzying variety of flowers.

We also have a feature on garlic from maritimegardening. com’s Greg Auton, and one on bleeding hearts from Todd Boland. There are shorter pieces on keeping rosemary alive inside and preparing your soil for the winter. Tree expert Michael Rosen gives various tips on how to tell evergreens apart, and I look into some of the giant wasps—both stinging and non-stinging—you may see in your garden.

We also have the first-person story of Linda Crabtree and how her garden came to be despite her disability. If this magazine tells me anything, it’s that you can do whatever you put your mind to.

Finally, I’m pleased to announce that Canada’s Local Gardener has been selected as the English magazine partner for Year of the Garden 2022. Watch Canada’s Local Gardener for more news about this very special year. We have a couple of surprises to come!

Check out the growing library of Canada’s Local Gardener podcasts!

Shauna Dobbie Editor shauna@pegasuspublications.net 4 • 2021

https://www.localgardener.net/ canadas-local-gardener-podcast/ Issue 1

Canada’s

Local Gardener Follow us online https://www.localgardener.net Facebook: @CanadasLocalGardener Twitter: @CanadaGardener Instagram: @local_gardener Published by Pegasus Publications Inc. President/Publisher Dorothy Dobbie dorothy@pegasuspublications.net Design Cottonwood Publishing Services Editor Shauna Dobbie shauna@pegasuspublications.net Art Direction & Layout Karl Thomsen karl@pegasuspublications.net General Manager Ian Leatt ian.leatt@pegasuspublications.net Contributors Greg Auton, Todd Boland, Ron Book, Linda Crabtree, Dorothy Dobbie, Shauna Dobbie, Josef Görres, Larry Hodgson, Ian Leatt, Keith Lemkey, Micheal Rosen, Nadina Smeed, Rob Wein.

Editorial Advisory Board Greg Auton, John Barrett, Todd Boland, Darryl Cheng, Ben Cullen, Mario Doiron, Michel Gauthier, Larry Hodgson, Jan Pedersen, Stephanie Rose, Micheal Rosen and Aldona Satterthwaite.

Advertising Sales 1.888.680.2008 Subscriptions Write, email or call Canada’s Local Gardener, 138 Swan Lake Bay, Winnipeg, MB R3T 4T8 Phone (204) 940-2700 Fax (204) 940-2727 Toll Free 1 (888) 680-2008 subscribe@localgardener.net One year (four issues): $35.85 Two years (eight issues): $71.70 Three years (twelve issues): $107.55 Single copy: $10.95; Beautiful Gardens: $14.95 150 years of Gardening in Canada copy: $12.95 Plus applicable taxes.

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Canada’s Local Gardener is published four times annually by Pegasus Publications Inc. It is regularly available to purchase at newsstands and retail locations throughout Canada or by subscription. Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted. Publisher buys all editorial rights and reserves the right to republish any material purchased. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without permission in writing from the publisher.

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2021 • 5

All about clematis Story by Shauna Dobbie, photos by Rob Wein

C. alpina ‘Helsingborg’.

W

here to start with clematis?

The ones you see are mostly the big-flowered trollops that clamber up a trellis, but there are many other types: small-flowered, multi-petalled and drooping bell-flowered examples, a couple of them native. Some don’t climb but grow as small bushes. There are even evergreen types, though those will only grow on the West Coast.

Different clematis bloom in spring, summer and fall and some will bloom in spring and fall. People always worry about when to prune a clematis; the answer is different, depending on when it blooms. Some bloom on new wood, some on old wood, and some on both. The ones that bloom on both new and old wood might do so at the same time or might do so at different times of the year.

Three pruning types Sources will tell you there are three pruning types.

Group 1 blooms very early on old wood. Prune these immediately after they bloom, but only if you need to for shape or to control the size.

Group 2 blooms on both old and new wood. You can prune these a wee bit in spring to promote branching.

Group 3 blooms on new wood, later in the season. Go ahead and 6 • 2021

C. cirrhosa ‘Freckles’.

C. armandii evergreen.

hack at them in the early spring, to four or six inches from the ground.

If you aren’t sure what type of clematis you have, wait a year to see when it blooms; then you’ll know for next year. Or maybe you won’t.

Don’t get fussed. If you leave it a couple of years, or even a few years, it will continue to bloom. If the blooming slows down from year to year, you know you need to prune it in early spring.

I have only one clematis, but it is a beauty. I didn’t know what cultivar it was until researching this story; it appears to be ‘Bourbon’, which puts it into Group 2. I’ve never pruned it.

Maybe I’ll give it a bit of attention next spring.

Caring for them All clematis like full sun but shaded roots, so consider putting a small shrub south of them or mulching well.

Most of them climb by having their leaves wrap around thin supports. A thick trellis of 1 ¾-inch slats won’t work, at least not without some help. To get a clematis to climb a wall or a lamp post, you’ll have to attach netting to it. (Paint the netting the same colour and you’ll hardly notice it.) They also like to climb through shrubs, which most won’t hurt, except C. terniflora and C. virginiana; these two are too vigorous for most shrubs and trees.

One thing to watch for is clemaIssue 1

tis wilt, a fungal pathogen. The wilt occurs very quickly, causing a branch to turn black. If you see it, cut the branch back to a healthy bit and bin the diseased portion. Hopefully you’ve saved the rest of the plant. Keep an eye on the plant and breathe easy; clematis wilt usually won’t kill an entire plant.

Species There are at least 300 different species of clematis, with hybrids and cultivars besides. There are species native to Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa and, of course, North America. Those grown in gardens are from a much smaller selection of species, including these: C. alpina, native to Europe.

Cultivars include pink ‘Constance’ and purple ‘Helsingborg’. ‘Stolwicjk’s Gold’ has purple flowers with gorgeous yellow foliage.

C. armandii, native to China, are evergreen. Recommended for higher Zones. Cultivars include the white ‘Snowdrift’ and white tinged with pink ‘Apple Blossom’, both hardy to Zone 7.

C. cirrhosa is native to the Mediterranean and requires a Mediterranean climate. An evergreen species, it has gorgeous cultivars like the pink-spotted ‘Freckles’ and ‘Balearica’, both hardy to Zone 8.

C. integrifolia, native to Europe and Asia and extremely hardy. This localgardener.net

C. integrifolia ‘Durandii’.

is one of the parents of ‘Jackmanii’, the well-known deep purple that was the first clematis to hit the big time in retail sales, back in the 1800s. Other cultivars are the nonclimbing blue ‘Durandii’ and the pure white ‘Alba’.

C. macropetala, native to Mongolia and Siberia. This one is very hardy too. Look for the cultivars ‘Maidwell Hall’ or ‘Pauline’ in lavender blue and, in a lighter lavender, ‘Wesselton’. ‘Markham’s Pink’ is the palest tint of pink. All are nodding, lantern-shaped types.

C. montana, native to Asian areas from Afghanistan to Taiwan. The specific epithet ‘montana’ refers to the mountains, not the State. Some of the clematis descended from it are the white ‘Alexander’, doublepetalled pink ‘Broughton Star’, and pink ‘Tetrarose’.

C. tangutica, native to Central Asia, this one is particularly nota-

C. macropetala ‘Markhams Pink’. localgardener.net

C. macropetala ‘Markhams Pink’.

ble for having yellow flowers.

Cultivars include ‘Aureolin’ and ‘Golden Harvest’. ‘My Angel’ is a particularly striking cultivar with downward facing lily-shaped flowers tinged rose on the outside and yellow on the inside.

C. terniflora, native to northeast Asia. This pretty, small white clematis has been naturalized through the eastern US but has become invasive in Florida.

C. texensis, native to Texas. It has rather tough petals but has proven useful as a parent to some crosses.

‘Duchess of Albany’ is pink with darker pink bands down the centres of the petals, ‘Princess Diana’ is rosy-pink, and ‘Etoile Rose’ is deep pink with lighter margins.

C. viticella, native to Europe.

It has been popular in English gardens for hundreds of years.

Cultivars include the deep purple ‘Polish Spirit’, double magenta

C. tangutica ‘Golden Harvest’.

Issue 1

C. viticella ‘Purpurea Plena Elegans’.

‘Purpurea Plena Elegans’ and red ‘Madame Julia Correvon’.

Native North American C. occidentalis, native to southern Canada and northern US. The flowers are sparser on the vine than others, so this is a rare choice for nurseries. Still, you might be able to find it at a nursery specializing in native plants. The big blooms range from purplish blue to reddish blue and occasionally white.

C. virginiana is native to Canada from Newfoundland to southern Manitoba, and through the US to the Gulf of Mexico. It is an aggressive grower covered in starry white flowers and can scramble up trees as high as 20 feet. If you want this plant, go to a nursery specializing in natives. C. terniflora is often mistaken for C. virginiana, both going by the common names of virgin’s bower and sweet autumn clematis. q

C. texensis ‘Etoile Rose’.

2021 • 7

Selected clematis hybrids ‘Barbara Jackman’: Pink with darker band on the petals.

‘Belle of Woking’: Fully double and almost-white, silvery-blue.

‘Blue Light’: Fully double light blue.

‘Comtesse de Bouchard’: Beautiful light pink.

‘Elsa Spath’: Rich violet blue, lightening toward the petal centres.

‘Ernest Markham’: Big, reliable magenta flowers.

‘General Sikorski’: Medium purple flowers.

‘Guernsey Cream’: Creamy white flowers with creamy white centres.

‘Mrs. Cholmondely’: Light lavender blue has stood the test of time, developed 120 years ago.

‘Nelly Moser’: Another oldie, this one is pink with darker red centre bars.

‘Niobe’: Beautiful dark red with yellow stamens.

‘Snow Queen’: Beautiful white with magenta-tipped stamens.

‘Star of India’: Dating back to the 1860s with reddish-purple flowers.

‘Ville de Lyon’: Another from the turn of the last century, this has red flowers lightening toward the centre and yellow stamens.

‘Belle of Woking’.

‘Comtesse de Bouchaud’.

‘Elsa Spath’.

‘Snow Queen’.

Canadian-bred clematis

Clematis Vancouver ‘Cotton Candy’.

C

learview Horticultural Products in Langley, BC, has bred several varieties of clematis.

Known as the Vancouver series, they’ve developed big-flowering beauties such as the enchanting

8 • 2021

Clematis Vancouver ‘Mystic Gem’.

‘Fragrant Star’, a white with burgundy-tipped stamens and a vanilla scent.

Fred Wein Sr, an original owner of the more than 50-year-old company, devotes most of his time now to breeding clematis while the younger

Issue 1

Clematis Vancouver ‘Danielle’.

members of the family are dedicated to the rest of the business. Operating mostly as a wholesale grower, they have a garden shop you can drop in on if you get to the Lower Mainland of BC.

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2021 • 9

Rosemary

By Dorothy Dobbie

“As for rosemary, I let it run all over my garden walls, not only because my bees love it but because it is the herb most sacred to remembrance and to friendship, whence a sprig of it has a dumb language.” –Sir Thomas More

O

ne of the most fragrant herbs, rosemary is a member of the mint family.

You can tell by its square stems and opposite leaves, tiny flowers and strong scent, a sure indication of relationship to the family Lamiaceae. Its leaves are needle-like and the tiny blossoms are white, pink, blue or purple. Its Latin name is Salvia rosmarinus, which means “dew of the sea.”

Rosemary comes from the sunny, dry world of the Mediterranean, the first hint about how it likes to exist. This is a land where lawns are few and gravel or paving provides the ground covers because water is scarce. Rosemary is therefore drought tolerant and likes a nice loamy, well-drained soil.

It can get quite large under the right conditions and is used as a hedge and for topiary in its native habitat. There are also low-growing, creeping forms. Generally, it prefers a moderate, frost-free climate but there is a cultivar, ‘Arp’, that will tolerate temperatures as low as -12 Celsius and can stay outside in Zones 5 or 6 in the right conditions.

How to propagate Rosemary is easily propagated by taking soft 4-to-6-inch cuttings, stripping leaves from the bottom of the stem, and placing the cuttings in water to develop roots. Or add some growth hormone and plant directly into soil or even into some damp gravel or perlite.

Uses Valued for millennia, it was used in Egyptian burials. It showed up and naturalized in China as early as the Han Dynasty around 220 CE. Hungary water was a perfume made of rosemary mixed with alcohol in Europe, but rosemary is mainly famous for its use as a culinary herb, found in soups, casseroles,

Rosemary in blossom.

10 • 2021

Issue 1

localgardener.net

Rosemary’s culinary value has been celebrated for millenia.

salads and stews. It enhances chicken, lamb and pork and provides a pungent foil for oily fish. You will also find it used in grains, mushrooms, and onions among other vegetables. Sprinkle potatoes with rosemary and roast them.

Don’t overdo it, though. Too much rosemary can cause vomiting, spasms, coma and fluid in the lungs. On the positive side, just the right amount is said to help you sleep if slipped into your pillow.

Moreover, it is rich in antioxidants and is supposed to improve thinking ability, focus and memory.

Some people make rosemary tea by boiling the leaves in water. Use one 4-inch sprig of rosemary to 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the sprigs (or leaves) and strain. Or you can simply add two sprigs to a cup of boiling water and let it stand for 5 minutes. It can be flavoured with honey and lemon.

Bringing rosemary in for winter Growing rosemary outside is very easy. Bringing it inside and overwintering it is more of a challenge.

Keep it in a cool place. Around 10 to 15° Celsius is preferred but it can get by in a slightly warmer room in a cooler window location. It will do well for the first two or three months, but as the days get shorter and if it is too warm, it begins to fail, dropping leaves and even turning brown. Water sparingly. Do not localgardener.net

Overwintering rosemary isn’t hard if you learn what it likes.

Scan me Scan here to find a Garden Fresh Recipe for rosemary chicken! https://www.localgardener.net/fresh-rosemarychicken-recipe/

be tempted to increase watering as the plant will deteriorate even more, but do increase humidity. It

Rewards

likes dry roots and obtains water from the air around it, so one strategy is to surround the leaves with a plastic bag for a time.

Find the sunniest window possible and hope for the best or augment the light from an artificial source.

It can literally starve if it cannot synthesize due to light deprivation.

If all goes well and it gets through the tough times, rosemary will thrill with its tiny flowers. Depending on the variety, it may bloom in November and December or in early spring. q

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2021 • 11 28/04/2021 2:07:32 PM

Improve your soil

By Dorothy Dobbie

Fall is a good time to revitalize your soil.

W

hat to do now for springtime planting depends on what and where the planting is taking place. Requirements for container planters versus veggie growers versus perennial gardeners can be quite different.

Container planters Perennials planted in pots can find a home in the garden at this time when it is easier to see where the open spots are. If your perennial is in a liner pot, plant the liner pot with the perennial in it; then you can simply lift the whole thing in the spring and put it back in the decorative pot.

Annuals can be discarded on the compost pile or wherever. If there are garden beds, simply put healthy spent material on top of the gardens.

The dead plant will break down over 12 • 2021

winter and add nutrition to the soil.

Clean the pots. Get rid of any residual fungal or other unwanted residue.

When was the last time the planting medium in pots was replaced?

Chances are it has been two or three years or even more. Smaller blooms and more disease may also indicate that it is time for a change. This fall, empty all containers. Or, if they are very large, remove the top one-third of the material.

Don’t discard all that valuable soil. Spread it on the lawn or over the garden beds. The earth fauna will soon regenerate the spent material, adding microbial life and bringing up nutrients from far below the surface. Lusher lawns and better plant growth will result.

Either refill the containers now or Issue 1

wait till spring. Doing it now will allow the soil to settle over winter and leave plenty of potting room next season. Consider adding some natural garden soil to the pots, about 25 to 30 percent of the total.

This will inoculate the material with life that will help plants grow next year. Adding compost to the mix will be even better.

Perennial gardens The “perennial” discussion is whether to cut back plants in fall.

To some degree, this will depend on the gardener’s sense of aesthetics and where they live. In Zone 3 gardens, the advice is to leave this chore till spring, but this advice is useful to more benign climates as well, unless you have had severe fungal or other disease this season. In that case, remove spent foliage and discard or localgardener.net

burn. Do not compost.

Leaving the plants to fall on their own has several benefits. First, this provides an overwintering place for beneficial insects such as native ladybugs (the Asian kind look for warm places in and around the house).

Secondly, the fallen foliage collects snow, protecting the root crown of the perennial from freeze and thaw damage. Thirdly, the spent foliage will return their nutrients to the soil to nourish a new season of growth.

Should you cultivate? Recent studies show that this is only useful if there has been an infestation of some unwanted creature that might have laid eggs in the vicinity. Other wise, leave the soil undisturbed.

Now is a good time to add a top dressing of compost, topsoil or the fallen leaves from your trees (mulch them with your lawn mower to help them decompose) and you can do this with the spent plants in place.

They will break down over winter and do their part in making healthy soil for growing in next spring.

This is also a good time to divide perennials. The soil will still be warm enough to promote root growth before freeze-up so plants get a good start in spring. Fall dividing and planting shows where there is room to accommodate new plants.

Remember, this is general advice.

There may be areas of your garden that might need special attention, and you should seek local advice on these issues.

Don’t just rake your leaves, mulch them and spread them over your garden.

Vegetable gardens Because vegetable gardens are used intensively, they pose more of a problem in maintaining soil health. Firstly, most of the vegetables are foreign to the soil in which we grow them. We plant them in tidy rows to support our own needs, and to keep the resulting weed growth down, we till the soil.

There are both plusses and minuses to this. Tilled soil makes it easier for roots to establish, and neat rows makes it easier to harvest, and manage weeds and insects.

Most kitchen and yard waste can composted into valuable mulch. localgardener.net

Issue 1

But each year the plant must establish a new eco system. Harmful nematodes and other foes have not yet located their presence. But as time goes on, things change and the crop that did so well in year one begins to fail. Gardeners deal with this by rotating their annual crops, moving them to different locations each year. Exceptions are the perennial crops such as asparagus and rhubarb or herbs such as mint and thyme.

Clean up old foliage which may contain disease and insect eggs.

Dispose of it. Pull any emerging weeds. Till in areas where there were insect infestations.

Now is the time to add compost. If you don’t compost or you don’t have enough, purchase it at the local hardware or garden centre. You can dig it in; 2 to 3 inches in depth is a good rule of thumb. Anything deeper may not allow the cold to penetrate far enough to kill overwintering disease and pests. You can add more once the ground freezes.

The goal is to develop soft soil with good tilth. Tilth is the ability of the soil to hold air and moisture. Adding organics helps this as it encourages the activity of microbial life and in so doing releases the nutrition into the soil in a form that plant can use. If you squeeze a handful, it should hold its shape for a few minutes when you open your hand. q 2021 • 13

The exotic bleeding hearts Story and photos by Todd Boland

F

or many gardeners, one of the most elegant garden perennials is Japanese bleeding heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis. (The genus Lamprocapnos was separated from Dicentra a few years ago). Even the species epithet says it all...spectacular! Native to Japan, northern China and Siberia, this woodlander created quite a stir in Europe when first discovered since, at the time, no other garden plants had such bizarre yet beautiful flowers.

The arching racemes of pink, distinctly heart-shaped flowers in May and June are unmistakable.

Plants reach 2 to 3 feet with coarse, fern-like foliage that is waxy-green, often blue-tinted. The early spring growth is bright pink, a wonderful addition to the spring garden.

This most exotic of flowers is now a standard perennial in many gardens throughout Canada. Once quite rare but now readily available is the less vigorous pure-white form called ‘Alba’. Relatively recent is the red-flowered cultivar called ‘Valentine’. This is a Canadian introduction discovered as a chance seedling by a gardener in British Columbia. Perhaps the most spectacular of all Japanese bleeding hearts is ‘Gold Heart’ whose foliage is brilliant golden-yellow. The contrast between foliage and bright pink flowers is striking.

The remaining bleeding hearts, the true Dicentra, are all plants of much smaller stature, 12 to 18 inches, with more finely cut, fernlike foliage and smaller blossoms.

Most are native to North America with one outlier in eastern Asia.

The two most popular are the fringed bleeding heart, D. eximia, from eastern North America and Pacific bleeding heart, D. formosa, from the west. These species, while not as showy as their Japanese cousin, have a much longer blooming season, extending into late summer if moisture levels are adequate. Their growth is so vigorous that they make admirable groundcovers in shady areas.

The two species are quite similar but D. formosa is the more florifer-

14 • 2021

Lamprocapnos spectabilis.

ous and larger flowered of the two, with more selections available on the market. It has rose-pink, broader flowers and grey-green to bluegreen foliage on plants 12 to 18 inches tall. ‘Bacchanal’ is perhaps the most popular selection with greygreen foliage and wine-red flowers.

‘Aurora’ is a white-flowered selection. D. eximia has narrow, light pink flowers and pale green foliage on plants about 12 inches tall. The white form is called ‘Snowdrift’.

There are two ephemeral woodland species from eastern North America: squirrel corn, D. canandensis, and Dutchman’s-breeches, D. cucullata. Both reach 6 to 12 inches, producing white flowers in May. These are wonderful subjects for growing under taller deciduous trees and combined with other early-flowering plants such as spring bulbs, trout lilies, trillium and Issue 1

hepatica. Keep in mind that being ephemeral, they will go dormant and disappear by early summer.

The most dwarf and exquisite species is the alpine bleeding heart, D. peregrina. Plants have a delicate disposition, with fern-like, graygreen, ground-hugging leaves and 4-inch stems topped with a small cluster of pale to dark pink hearts. It is native to Japan, China and nearby Siberia. It is rarely seen and probably just as well as it is known to be very challenging to grow.

There are many dwarf bleeding hearts of hybrid origin on the market. Most are hybrids between D. eximia and D. formosa. ‘Luxuriant’, has very blue foliage, cerisepink flowers and grows about 12 to 18 inches tall. ‘Adrian Bloom’ is quite similar but has crimson-rose flowers. Other pink-toned hybrids include ‘Bountiful’ (deep pink), localgardener.net

Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Gold Heart’.

Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Valentine’.

Dicentra ‘Aurora’.

Dicentra ‘Luxuriant’.

Dicentra ‘King of Hearts’.

Dicentra ‘Burning Hearts’.

localgardener.net

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2021 • 15

Dicentra ‘Ivory Hearts’.

‘Stuart Boothman’ (rosy-pink), ‘Amore Rose’ (bright rose-pink) and ‘Spring Magic’ (pale rosepink). Among the white-flowered hybrids are ‘Langtrees’, ‘Margery Fish’, ‘Silver Smith’, ‘Sweetheart’ and ‘Snowflakes’. With the richest colour tending to bright red are ‘Fire Island’, ‘Red Fountain’ and ‘Fire Cracker’.

The ‘Hearts’ series are cultivars that infuse D. peregrina into the D. eximia and D. formosa hybrids.

These are the smallest bleeding heart hybrids, usually under 20 cm (8 in.), with many having wonderful blue-

Dicentra ‘Sulphur Hearts’.

tinted foliage. ‘Candy Hearts’ has dusky-rose flowers; ‘King of Hearts’, carmine-pink; ‘Burning Hearts’, cherry-red with super blue foliage; ‘Ivory Hearts’, white; ‘Love Hearts’, creamy-white with touches of pink; and the very unique and desirable ‘Sulphur Hearts’, the only primroseyellow bleeding heart, with the added bonus of exquisite touches of deep pink. Despite having the difficult-to-cultivate D. peregrina in their background, these hybrids are much more easily accommodated.

Cultivation of bleeding hearts is generally easy. Hardy to Zone 3,

Your Newest Member Benefit Extended ondemand access to quality Prairie Public and PBS shows Activate your Prairie Public Passport account now or contribute at prairiepublic.org/ passport.

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they may be grown across much of Canada. Being woodland plants in the wild, they appreciate a humusrich soil that never completely dries out. Dappled shade or morning sun with afternoon shade is ideal but they will tolerate full shade and even full sun if grown under moist cooler conditions such as coastal Atlantic Canada and British Columbia.

If conditions become too dry and warm, the Japanese bleeding heart may go summer dormant so it may be wise to combine them with ferns and hosta that can cover the bare space left by the faded plants. The other bleeding hearts are not as quick to go dormant, especially if kept moist.

Under ideal conditions, they will bloom from spring until fall, a feature rare in most perennials. Grow them as a groundcover or combine them with other woodlanders such as hellebores, small hosta, astilbe and Hakone grass. Every garden deserves at least one bleeding heart but with the varieties now available, try several of these most exotic of garden plants. q Todd Boland is the research horticulturalist at Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Botanical Gardens.

He is the author of several books, including Wildflowers of Nova Scotia, Wildflowers of New Brunswick, Wildflowers and Ferns of Newfoundland, Trees and Shrubs of the Maritimes, and Trees and Shrubs of Newfoundland and Labrador. localgardener.net

Wildflowers and weeds:

Viper’s bugloss

Photo credit to Kasjanek.

Photo credit to Lubiesque.

By Shauna Dobbie

A pretty plant with blooms along the stem.

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iper’s bugloss seems like an ugly name for what is really a pretty plant. It is hairy, along its stems and leaves, which gives it part of its unpleasant name; “bugloss” has nothing to do with losing bugs. It’s the anglicization of the Greek word for “ox tongue”. The hairs can be quite bristly, presumably like an ox tongue, and will cause contact dermatitis in some sensitive individuals.

This is a plant that you see in dry ditches when you’re driving down the highway in June, July and August. While you’ll definitely see it in southern Ontario, it is found in every province. It rises like a tower among other tough plants, with beautiful clear-blue blooms along localgardener.net

Viper’s bugloss growing with abandon along a roadway in Quebec.

the stem and growing to a couple of feet high. It’s in the same family as borage, though viper’s bugloss is known in scholarly circles as Echium vulgare while borage is in the genus Anchusa.

Viper’s bugloss originated in Europe, where it grows from southern Sweden and England all the way south to Spain and west to Asia. It came to North America from other gardeners who, like me, thought it was pretty enough for their borders.

It certainly did not come to North America with farmers of horses or cattle because it contains toxic compounds that build up in their livers and can kill them.

In people, though, it seems to be harmless enough. It is noted as a Issue 1

mucilaginous substitute for spinach, either cooked or raw, though it is recommended that eaters chop it finely so that the hairs aren’t so apparent. Medicinally, the leaves were touted as an antidote to viper bites (venomous snake bites), which gives it the other part of its name.

The plant has other medicinal uses as well, though isn’t used very often.

It has been noted as good for fevers, headaches and chest issues, and is reputed to be helpful in the boudoir as an aphrodisiac. Red dye can be made from the roots, too.

It loves sun and just about any soil that isn’t too rich or too dry. A biennial, it will grow a rosette of leaves in the first year and return with flowers in the second. q 2021 • 17

Big wasps

By Shauna Dobbie

Y

ikes! What’s that?

As a gardener, you thought you’d seen everything, but suddenly, you’re looking at a huge flying creature you swear you’ve never seen before.

It could be a wasp, but don’t worry; it probably doesn’t sting.

Here is a selection of the biggest wasps in Canada to help you identify that thing that gave you a heart attack.

Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia). The stuff of which nightmares are made. Well, along with media reports of “murder hornets”. The Asian giant hornets are far more likely to murder honeybees than people.

Queens can be 2 inches long and workers tend to be around 1.5 inches. The stinger alone can be a full ¼ inch long, four times as long as a honeybee stinger. They prefer forests or green spaces to live in, and in the past, they were found only in Asia.

For the last three summers, they’ve been found in the Vancouver area. Canadian and American authorities have been doing their best to eradicate them. If the insects get a foothold in North America, they could decimate honeybee populations. One hornet can decapitate 40 honeybees per minute by biting their heads off.

Asian giant hornets can kill a person who is not allergic, but at least 30 stings are usually required.

In Canada, the hornet hasn’t been found outside the Lower Mainland of BC. Cicada killer (Sphecius speciosus).

A kind of yellow and black wasp found only in the southern fringes of Eastern Canada, the cicada killer is often mistaken for a murder hornet because of its size of up to 2 inches. It isn’t interested in humans though; its target is cicadas. The female brings a cicada back to her nest and lays an egg on it. When the egg hatches, the larva eats the cicada.

Cicada killers have stingers and can sting you, but they probably won’t.

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The “killer hornet” got its name for killing honeybees, not humans.

Mud dauber preparing a ball of mud to grasp for flight.

Giant ichneumon wasps (Megarhyssa). There are a few species of these across Canada, but most have a body about 1.5 inches long with an alarming-looking spike of 2 inches or longer coming out the back of the females. People get upset upon seeing this because they think it’s a stinger. It isn’t, it’s an ovipositor—an egg-layer.

Ichneumon wasps lay eggs onto or into other living insects or caterpillars; when the eggs hatch, they Issue 1

eat their host.

Once you understand that the giant ichneumon wasp can’t hurt you, it’s fascinating to watch one flit from flower to flower, sipping nectar.

Black and yellow mud dauber (Sceliphron caementarium). This wasp is incredible to watch for how it builds homes for its eggs: they gather mud to form the structures.

Each egg gets a pretty big room because it is otherwise stuffed with localgardener.net

Photo by Ryan Hodnett.

Photo by Bruce Marlin.

A pelecinid wasp with her giant, jointed abdomen.

A giant ichneumon wasp. They come in various colours.

live spiders, paralysed by a sting from mama mud dauber. An egg hatches, eats some spiders, then pupates in the muddy home. Eventually, out comes an adult.

You’ll recognize this insect by its very long waist. The entire insect is about an inch long. This one is not aggressive, but the female can sting people who are persistently bugging her. You cannot see her stinger in most pictures because it is so short, but it is there. Follow the QR code for a picture.

In addition to the black and yellow, some are all-black and others, dark metallic blue.

Pelecinid wasp (Pelecinus polyturator). One more parasitic wasp in our giants list. This one is so strange looking, it absolutely must make the list. The female of the species is shiny black with a long, skinny, jointed abdomen that is about five times the length of the rest of her body. The male, well, you hardly localgardener.net

An eastern cicada killer lugging its prey back to the nest.

Scan me Find out what the stinger of the mud dauber looks like.

QR: https://tkahler.com/blog/2016/08/ mud-dauber-stinger/

ever see them here because the female can reproduce without the male. Really!

The jointed abdomen is for forcing into the ground to lay eggs on the grubs of June beetles. There is no stinger.

Paper wasps, hornets and yellowjackets. These are the social wasps that have stingers. They all have queens, drones and workers, and tend to the larvae in a hive, some above the ground, some below. A few aren’t too concerned Issue 1

about you, but a couple, particularly hornets and yellowjackets, seek you out if you have given offence to them by swatting them away. Studies show that one can remember your face, so act accordingly!

These are the ones that become ubiquitous in the late summer as they search for food in the dying days of their hives, while the flowers are fading. They are omnivorous, looking for sweet nectar from flowers and protein from insects and, as it may happen, the steak you are eating.

Try pointing a fan at the patio table while you are eating to discourage them or put a dish of sugar water at some distance from your party to provide risk-free food.

If the stinging menace is still buzzing about your group, go inside.

Nobody wants to be stung, so stay calm when you encounter them and move away. And if you are allergic, know where your epi-pen is. q 2021 • 19

Growing garlic Story and photos by Greg Auton

In my kitchen, garlic is almost as essential as salt and pepper.

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uman beings have been eating garlic for thousands of years, and while many claim that this ancient allium is good for your health, I sincerely doubt that any of us would know a thing about it, were it not for the fact that it enhances the flavour of so many of our favourite foods.

Imagine if there were no garlic in your spaghetti, pizza sauce, curry, chili, stir-fry, hummus, guacamole, coq au vin, plov, and so on, and so on, ad infinitum.

Suffice it to say, garlic is an essential ingredient in the culinary world, and for us gardeners, this is great news, because nothing could be more easy to plant, grow, harvest and preserve than garlic.

Variety There are two main types of garlic: hardneck and softneck. The key difference between the two is that hardneck produce a garlic scape

20 • 2021

(which we will discuss later) and the soft neck do not. I have never grown softneck garlic—and there seems to be fewer cold-hardy varieties of softneck garlic available—so for the purposes of this article I’m limiting the conversation to hardneck garlic.

Within the hardneck category there is a wide range of options, from mild to spicy. In my experience, there is more choice to be found by buying them online. Also, it bears mentioning that while many people choose to use grocery store garlic as seed stock because it tends to be inexpensive and readily available, certified seed garlic should be used. This is because certified seed garlic have been harvested and stored with that use in mind so the harvest and yield will be more reliable. There will also be less risk of bringing soil-borne pathogens into your garden, such as white rot, which can persist in your soil Issue 1

for years and make it impossible to successfully grow garlic.

When Plant garlic in the fall, sometime after the first frost. Where I live (Nova Scotia) that usually means late September or early October.

The trick to optimal timing with garlic is planting them early enough for them to establish roots before the soil freezes, but not so early that they begin to send up shoots and grow. It’s very hard to time this perfectly, but relax, it doesn’t have to be perfect.

In my experience it’s better to plant a little too early than a little too late. The fall root development has a meaningful impact on the yield the following spring, whereas there does not seem to be as much of a cost for the clove sending up a shoot in the fall. The shoot will die back over winter (unless your winter is super-mild) but the plant will be localgardener.net

Garlic scape.

fine and send up more in the spring.

Where Garlic do best with lots of sun and good soil, so pick a spot that gets lots of sun. If you are not sure about the soil’s fertility, amend it with some compost or well-rotted manure. If you are concerned about committing your best garden realestate to garlic as opposed to other desired crops, remember that they will be harvested in late July or early August, so that space will become available again in late season for moving in other plants as they are thinned from other beds. Fastgrowing fall crops like spinach can also be planted in your finished garlic bed at this time.

How The technique for planting is simple: put them in the ground about 2 inches deep, about 6 inches apart, and cover the ground with about 2 inches of organic mulch (grass clippings, leaves, straw – anything that will slowly break down and compost). The mulch does many things: • It stabilizes the soil temperature in the fall, so that warm days are less likely to cause the plant to send up shoots.

• It stabilizes the soil moisture level so that it’s kept within the range that the garlic needs.

• It suppresses weeds the following spring, while the bulbs push shoots up through it • It insulates the soil from the cold winter temperatures. This can buy you an extra month of root development in the fall as the mulch delays the freezing of the soil.

That’s it. Nothing else needs to localgardener.net

This garlic is ready to be pulled.

Scan me A video about Greg Auton making garlic scape paste https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiDQrlowsN4

be done except to harvest them next season. The garlic will take care of themselves thanks to their innate awesomeness and the wondrous benefits of mulching.

Harvesting garlic scapes Hardneck garlic give you the benefit of two things to harvest. Of course you get garlic bulbs, but in the spring you also get garlic scapes.

These are flower-like bulbils that begin to develop in late spring or early summer. They are easy to identify because they only grow straight for a matter of a day or so and then begin to curl and will form multiple curls as they develop.

Removing the scapes increases the size of the garlic bulb substantially (up to 25 percent), but they also are edible with a mild garlic taste which is about half of the intensity of garlic cloves. Generally speaking, it is best to cut the scapes off at their base after they have completed their first full 360-degree curl. When they are harvested at this stage of development, you get the most scape, while still being tender, at the least cost to the plant.

The scapes can be used immediately in your cooking for any dish that requires garlic, and they can Issue 1

also be stored. I have found that the best way to store them is as a paste in small jars in the freezer. The paste is prepared in a food processor, using salt, water, lemon and oil. The scapes can also be made into a pesto and stored in a similar way.

Harvesting garlic Later into the summer the plant leaves will begin to turn yellow and then brown and look like they are dying. It is around this time that the garlic need to be pulled. If you wait too long to pull them the head of garlic will begin to grow again, and it will not be as good for eating after that stage. A general rule of thumb is to pull the garlic when about half the leaves have died. For me, this usually happens around the 1st week of August, but this varies a week ahead or behind from year to year, and of course will vary according to regional growing conditions.

Storing garlic Garlic is very easy to store. I grow about 250 heads of it each year and simply store it in cardboard boxes on shelves in my garage, which stays at about 5 to 10 Celsius all winter long. After pulling the garlic, I cut the stems back to about 4 inches long and remove the roots without damaging the bulbs (the roots hold moisture—just cut them off with scissors). I then lay them out somewhere out of the sun with decent airflow. The simplest way to create such a space it to place them on a garage floor on a piece of cardboard, under a small fan.

Leave them like this for about a week, then cut the stems back to about 1 inch and box them up. As long as they stay reasonably cool 2021 • 21

Garlic in a box for storage.

(under 10° Celsius but above freezing) they will not sprout all winter long. If you want to put some of these aside for seed garlic, pick your biggest and fattest ones; the bigger the seed garlic, the bigger the garlic! It’s a hard discipline to maintain, but successfully replanting your biggest and best garlic will yield results that will make you the envy of your garlic-loving friends.

Final thoughts Organic garlic is easy to grow but it’s not cheap to buy. If you use a lot of garlic in your cooking, why not try planting some this

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fall. When you consider the fact that there are about five cloves per garlic head, and that each of those cloves can be grown into a garlic, it’s a financier’s dream: in one year you get back five times what you invested. Set aside a percentage of that yield to replant and you get free garlic for life, and while this will not make you rich, it will save money. Based on a conservative estimate of 2 dollars per head, my 250 garlic will cut this year’s grocery bill by 500 dollars. All that for a few hours work? That’s time well spent! q

localgardener.net

Spruce, pine, or fir: How can you tell?

Story and photos by Micheal Rosen

Black spruce.

I

f we were to be more honest on the choice of tree for our flag, it would not have been the mighty maple but based on sheer abundance it would have been the black spruce (Picea mariana). Majestic it ain’t but it sure would have saved me explaining for much of my career to my western brothers and sisters that “…there is actually a species of maple that does grow in every province in Canada….”

True story: when Québec needed an arboreal emblem in the 1980s they gravitated towards the beloved maple. Unfortunately, il a été pris par les fédérales (it was taken by the federal government). The Minister of Natural Resources asked the chief forester what the most common tree in Québec was, to which the forester replied, “Why, c’est l’épinette noir (black spruce) M. le Ministre.” So off localgardener.net

Alberta dwarf white spruce.

they went to the Abitibi region to look at les épinettes noirs. One glance at its skinny trunk, flaky bark and ubiquitous ball on top, and the Minister made an instantaneous decision: no way would this ugly tree represent Québec. And so, Québec went ahead and adopted the yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), a noble hardwood with interesting characteristics but with much less significance for the province.

Because most Canadians live in the south in a landscape dominated by deciduous trees (also known as hardwoods or leafy trees) we do not realize how much of Canada is conifer. Conifers (or evergreens) are by far the predominant tree in Canada.

Of the 348 million hectares of forest in Canada (9 percent of the world’s forest) 236 million hectares (or 68 Issue 1

percent) is conifers with another 55 million mixed wood, which can have a large component of conifer as well.

We are indeed an evergreen nation.

Conifers are more scientifically known as gymnosperms (which means naked seed) having an exposed seed (or ovule) unlike angiosperms (flowering plants, deciduous) whose seeds are covered by a fruit (or ovaries). In the case of conifers, a male cone produces pollen which in turn can fertilize a female cone which then produces seeds. You can identify a tree from its cone, but thankfully there are other ways to distinguish conifers as well. Personally, I advocate the “roll and grab test” of the needles as a first cut in distinguishing all conifers.

Spruce When you pick a spruce needle, it is always singularly attached to the stem 2021 • 23

White pine needles.

and rolls easily in your fingers (unlike fir or hemlock).

When you grab a bunch of the needles, they will prick you a bit, unlike fir, pine, or hemlock, which is another telltale sign.

The cones between the spruces are quite variable. Some are long, like Norway spruce (Picea abies) at 6 inches; others like black spruce are short, at 2 inches.

The native spruces can be limited for landscaping purposes. White spruce (P. glauca) can be difficult to grow in the city (e.g. black spruce – forget it) although there are cultivars such as the dwarf Alberta spruce (P. glauca ‘Conica’) used for this purpose.

Norway spruce (P. abies), a European non-invasive species can do well in the urban situation as does the USAnative and better-known Colorado blue spruce (P. pungens). Other spruce species raised for landscaping purposes includes Serbian spruce (P. omorika) and oriental spruce (P. orientalis) Pine The pines are memorialized in many pictures by the Group of Seven and others and are widely desired for landscape plantings around the world.

They have more than one needle attached to the stem in what is called a bundle sheath, which can roll in your 24 • 2021

Balsam fir needles and bark.

fingers. A bundle sheath has two, three or five needles, which are soft when you grab them.

The twos and threes are known as hard pines, based on their wood, and includes the native jack (Pinus banksiana), red (P. resinosa) and lodgepole pine (P. contorta). They have serotinous—or resin-sealed—cones which open with intense heat like wildfire.

The soft pines include the white pines (P. strobus and the western P. monticola). These are five-needle pines; you can remember it because there are five letters in w-h-i-t-e. White pine cannot tolerate the salts used for de-icing in the winter although many cultivars have been produced for landscaping.

In the urban situation, other exotic pines are used including Austrian pine (P. nigra) a two-needle pine with its long needles and tolerance to street salt; Mugo pine (P. mugo) which forms multiple, low stems; Swiss stone pine (P. cembra) a hardy, slow-growing pine resistant to street salt; and Scots pine (P. sylvestris) whose many cultivars are used across Canada. Others include lacebark pine (P. bungeana), Japanese red pine (P. densiflora), limber pine (P. flexilis), shortleaf pine (P. echinata), Korean pine (P. koraiensis), Japanese white pine (P. parviflora), ponderosa Issue 1

pine (P. ponderosa), the three-needle pitch pine (P. rigida), loblolly pine (P. taeda), Japanese black pine (P. thunbergia) and Himalayan pine (P. wallichiana). Some of these exotic pines can have disease problems, with Scots pine sometimes producing a poorly formed tree which can be invasive in certain areas.

Fir The classic Christmas tree due to its naturally triangular form, balsam fir (Abies balsamea) is found right across Canada.

Its needles, singularly attached to the stem, do not roll in your fingers and when you grab them, the needles seem soft and luxuriant.

It produces a resin on its bark that you will remember forever if you get it in your hair.

The cones stand upright in the tree unlike pine or spruce.

A short-lived, very shade tolerant conifer, its use in landscaping is limited although other firs such as Cilician fir (A. cilicia) and white fir (A. concolor) seem to do better.

Sometimes Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is called a fir with its upright cones (it is not) but it remains a tree best found in the natural forest where it can grow great lumber on very tall and large trees. localgardener.net

Eastern white cedar ‘Globosa’.

Other conifers Hemlock has a noticeably short needle with a pale underside that does not roll in your fingers and is quite soft when you grab a branch. It is slow growing and long lived and is infrequently used for landscaping. Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is the most widely planted hemlock in Canada.

Yew (sometimes mistakenly called juniper) deserves special mention because, while not being a major component of our forests, it provides the basis for a great deal of landscaping in Canada due to its easiness to prune and its limited height. It too has a flat needle and a soft touch when grabbed. The most common type is English yew (Taxus baccata) in which many cultivars have been produced. It can grow in the shade and is widely used in Canadian gardens.

Junipers are one of the most used and important trees for landscaping, especially for groundcovers but also for windscreens, hedges, rock gardens and such. It also has a telltale blue berry used to flavour gin.

Their needles are short and prickly and do not roll in your hand. The main species used include: Chinese juniper ( Juniperus chinensis) which has hundreds of cultivars, common juniper ( J. communis) native to Canada, localgardener.net

Tamarack.

as well as shore juniper ( J. conferta), Dahurian juniper ( J. davurica), creeping juniper ( J. horizontalis), Japanese garden juniper ( J. procumbens), savin juniper ( J. sabina), Rocky Mountain juniper ( J. scopulorum), singleseed juniper ( J. squamata), the native eastern red cedar ( J. virginiana) and several others.

They can be confused sometimes with the junipers, but both the eastern white cedar (Thuya occidentalis) as well as western red cedar (T. plicata), have flat, splays of needles and small cones that are distinctive for conifers. The cedars are widely used for landscape plantings due to their rapid growth rates and ease of pruning.

Eastern white cedar and western red cedar consist of many cultivars, some of which assume a decidedly global or pyramidal form, attractive to some homeowners. Another species of cedar, widely used in landscaping is the oriental arborvitae (T. orientalis).

The false cypress is an interesting family of conifers. These are pyramidal trees, with closely pressed, oppositely budded, frond-like branches.

Their use in landscaping has increased in recent years, especially in warmer climates. Specimens include PortOrford cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsonia), Hinoki cypress (C. obtusa), the Issue 1

native yellow-cedar (C. nootkatensis), Sawara false cypress (C. pisifera) and Atlantic white cedar (C. thyoides), which seems to be the most widely cultivated false cypress for landscaping.

A very interesting tree that is being more widely planted, probably due to climate change, is the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides). With its flattened, linear and oppositely budded needles it has a beautiful reddish bark valuable for landscaping.

Rediscovered in the 1940s in China, it had been found in fossils over 100 million years old.

Finally, the larches deserve mention. Technically conifers, they lose their needles annually in a fall colour display that can be very beautiful. They are an interesting tree with a needle that cannot roll but is soft to the touch, borne on short shoots called spurs. Species include the native tamarack (Larix laricina) as well as many cultivars of both European larch (L. decidua) and Japanese larch (L. kaempferi). q Michael Rosen is a Registered Professional Forester and Certified Arborist based in Cantley, Quebec. He is the former President of Tree Canada and can be reached at mikerosen95@outlook. com.

2021 • 25

Proclaiming 2022 Canada’s Year of the Garden: A national movement to connect with plants

The Year of the Garden 2022 invites everyone to ‘Live the Garden Life’!

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ardens and gardening contribute to the development of our country, our cities, and the lives of Canadians in terms of health, quality of life, inclusion, environment and sustainability. Gardens are cultural landscapes, and their aesthetic, horticultural, historical and environmental richness evokes interest in young and old, allowing people from all walks of society to connect. Gardens often serve as a shared third space in communities and enable people to link back to the land.

The Year of the Garden 2022 is the Centennial Celebration of Canada’s ornamental horticulture sector marked with the 100th Anniversary of the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association. From January 1 to December 31, 2022, a national celebration will 26 • 2021

Scan me

To find out more about the Year of the Garden 2022! https://gardenscanada.ca/year-of-the-garden/

commemorate Canada's rich garden heritage, celebrate today's vibrant garden culture, and create legacies for a sustainable future.

Numerous promotions are planned to highlight a year of exciting activities, celebrations, special events organized by members of Canada’s Garden-Family that will take place in communities, schools, businesses, public gardens and Issue 1

backyard gardens in all parts of Canada.

The Year of the Garden 2022, led by the Canadian Garden Council in collaboration with members of Canada’s Garden-Family, will engage Canadian gardeners, families, students, tourists and communities and invite them to ‘Live the Garden Life’.

A year-long marketing campaign will focus on our unique Canadian garden culture and history in the context of post-pandemic recovery and the challenges that we face, like environment, health and Truth and Reconciliation. The ‘Live the Garden Life’ campaign will guide the conversation on the importance of public and private gardens in our rural and urban landscapes. By focusing on people and connecting them to the benefits of plants, we will create more healthy and localgardener.net

Gardening is a great way to engage the entire family.

enjoyable communities alongside helping people adapt to the changes occurring around us.

Gardens and gardening: connecting Canadians Canada's passion for gardens and gardening has never been more evident than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canadians turned their yards into practical and beautiful garden sanctuaries, and research suggests that this trend is set to continue as 83 percent of Canadian households garden.

“Canada a garden nation? A nation of gardeners? You bet,” says Alexander Reford, President of the Canadian Garden Council and Director of Reford Gardens—Jardins de Métis. “Gardening is a shared passion from coast to coast to coast. Not only do our gardens allow us to enjoy the flavours and freshness of vegetables, herbs and edible flowers, but our flowerbeds and gardens also nourish our health and happiness. Our world needs more gardeners, and Canadians lead the charge to plant to make a better planet. The Year of the Garden 2022 is an inclusive national celebration of what we are and where we are going—a nation of gardeners." The legacy of the Year of the Garden 2022 will be an improved quality of life for Canadians through sustainable development to fight climate change, impart significant health and well-being benefits, facilitate inclusive communities and our process of truth and reconciliation, and drive economic growth.

Aside from the immediate health benefits that gardens provide, such as being outdoors, exercising and increasing mobility, gardens also serve as a place of solace and mental rejuvenation as we find our way through this global pandemic, the importance of public spaces that are inclusive of all individulocalgardener.net

For Canadians, gardening is a shared passion from coast to coast to coast.

Our flowerbeds and gardens help nourish our health and happiness.

als and are outdoors continues to be increasingly important.

The Year of the Garden 2022 would not be possible without the support and partnership with numerous members of Canada’s Garden Family. The Canadian Garden Council is please to collaborate with Canada’s Local Gardener as the official Year of the Garden magazine to reach Canadians from coast to coast.

For more info on Canada’s Year of the Garden initiatives, promotions, partners and sponsors and opportunities keep consulting this magazine and visit www.yearofthegarden.ca.

Who is the Canadian Garden Council?

Founded in April 2014, in collaboration with the Canadian Nursery LandIssue 1

scape Association (CNLA), the Canadian Garden Council fosters awareness, development and growth of Canada's garden experience sector—our garden culture. Council membership reflects partnerships among all sectors of the horticulture, public garden, gardening, tourism and associated industries on a regional, provincial and territorial basis, enabling the Council to address the full range of issues facing the garden experience sector. Our vision is to champion the garden experience sector's contributions to the well-being of Canadians, the sustainability of our communities and promote the joys and benefits of gardens, gardening, urban and municipal landscapes, and living green infrastructure. q 2021 • 27

Patio or deck?

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hen I'm conducting an assessment with a client of their backyard needs, the question of deck or patio always comes up. The things one should assess to better answer that question is, is privacy an issue? What is the budget? Decks will typically be more expensive than a patio.

You also need to consider, what is the elevation at the access point from where your traffic would interact?

What is the purpose of the deck or patio? Is it for barbequing only, so just off the kitchen? Or is it a full outdoor kitchen you're looking for. Does it include a dining area, how many people would you usually sit? What are the light lines to the area, is it full sun all day or full shade, is it 16 inches or 42 inches off the ground? You need to consider privacy issues on a deck that’s high off the ground. What will your site lines be from the inside looking out once you’ve added a 42-inch railing onto the deck? Anything over 24 inches will require railings Consider the different opportunities of adding retaining walls to your property. They can add interest, practicality and function. Retaining walls will add dimension to the yard, but does the topography of your yard need it? Now if you're fortunate enough to live on a property that has elevation change, like backing onto a retention lake or overlooking a mountain, or if the yard is large enough to add some contour with berms and swales, retaining walls can introduce a nice element of contrast, along to the function to the space.

Just remember, whether you're installing retaining walls, planters, or patios, proper installation is paramount. Ensure the base is adequate, that proper drainage has been considered. If building retaining walls that are over 32 inches high, ensure proper geogrid or tie backs have been installed. For patios, ensure they will drain properly: are you using jointing sand for the joints or polymeric sand?

They both have pluses and minuses, but the jointing sand will allow for better drainage, polymeric sand won't.

During hot dry seasons though, as much of Canada just had, if moisture doesn't penetrate under the patio, the

28 • 2021

By Keith Lemkey

Patio and raised deck.

Retaining wall.

ground below loses moisture, which allows the sub grades to shrink or sink, which means your patio will sink as well. The plus of polymeric sand is it dries hard so there will be very few things growing out of the joints.

There are lots of options available of paving stone and retaining walls, Issue 1

different colours, textures, sizes, and finishes. Just make sure whatever you choose, you choose to install it properly, or have it done by professionals.

There is no savings to a project that fails due to poor installation. q Keith Lemkey owns Lemkey Landscape Design Ltd. in Winnipeg, Manitoba. localgardener.net

Join us and watch us grow!

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Local Gardener Videos Created for Canadian Gardeners!

Available for free at localgardener.net localgardener.net

Issue 1

2021 • 29

Two Olde Dawgs

Vegepod harvest

By Ian Leatt

Taking stock of the Vegepod harvest.

The nights are drawing in, The rain has finally started to drop, The warm summer nights are cooling down, It’s time to harvest my crop.

–Ian Leatt

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aving first planted the vegetable seeds in the Vegepod in mid-May, it was exciting to see how the results were going to turn out. Lessons have been learnt along the way. Plans are now in place for next year. Let’s talk about the successes and failures.

Like all vegetable growers, you learn that distance and spacing is important between rows. The right amount of sun and water is equally as important.

Seems like we forgot some old lessons.

Let me explain.

The young celery plugs were planted on the edge, some 8 inches apart, leaving enough room to grow and spread—or that is what I initially thought. Boy does it need a lot of water. Alongside these, a single row of green onions. That was my first mistake: celery grows much bigger than I originally estimated, covering 30 • 2021

Scan me Click here for to see what the Two Olde Dawgs have done with the harvest from the Vegepod https://www.localgardener.net/ratatouille/

the young seeds of the green onions, which take some time to germinate. Honestly no success. The green onions are still trying to grow some 90 days from planting. Lesson learnt.

Then came the radish. We all know that radish grows rapidly and within 55 days we were eating them, although in truth, all leaf and not much root. Perhaps thinning would help for a better crop?

Then six rows of onions. I must admit I was pretty excited to grow Issue 1

onions because I use them a lot in cooking. They started great. But what I didn’t realize at the time was, onions do not need as much water as celery, consequently they started to rot, from too much water. Lesson learnt.

The final couple of rows were dedicated to carrots. They take some time to grow but were successful. It seems they like a lot of water and soft soil, in part to help the root grow strong and true. The tops were pretty long and I had fears that it was all show, however the proof was in my patience with the resulting good-sized carrots.

Lessons • Don’t plant seed green onions too close to fast-growing vegetables, they need lots of light.

• Onions do not like a lot of water.

• Thinning radish will help with a better crop.

All in all, the Vegepod produced and I call the first year a success.

The enjoyment of course is always in lessons learned, and I feel I have learnt enough to make changes to my crop for next year and hope to enjoy the fruits of continued labour as the years progress. q localgardener.net

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Ratatouille ere’s what I made out of the fruits of my labour.

Here is what you will need: 1 onion, sliced into thin rings 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 medium eggplant, sliced 2 zucchini, sliced 2 medium yellow squash, sliced 4 Roma (plum) tomatoes, sliced 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 4 sprigs fresh thyme Salt and pepper to taste

How to: Preheat oven to 375° Fahrenheit.

In a large casserole dish, pour localgardener.net

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil. Place the sliced tomatoes and parsley in the dish, spread the minced garlic on top, then add the sliced onion.

Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. Using your mandolin, carefully slice the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash very thin.

Arrange the sliced vegetables over the tomato, onions and garlic in the dish, alternating vegetables and overlapping them so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Cover the dish with a Issue 1

piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside.

Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see the tomato sauce bubbling up around them.

Ratatouille can be served alone, or with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, or with some crusty French bread. Serve as a main course or on a small plate as an appetizer.

I trust you will find, as I again did the other day, that this makes for a great hearty vegetarian dish! q 2021 • 31

Tough houseplants that anyone can grow

By Dorothy Dobbie

Pothos.

Philodendron.

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here is no such thing as a brown thumb, only busy people who don’t have time to fuss over the green things in their homes. So, to help you, we have compiled a list of a few plants that are never-miss. They can tolerate neglect and spring right back when you think they are on the brink of death and gratefully un-wilt, drop a sad leaf or two, but smile on you with perky leaves and even some blooms when you turn your attention to them for a moment.

Philodendron Number one in my home is a plant that doesn’t look its thirty-some years.

It has no drainage and has not been repotted for at least two decades. I am speaking of the pretty little philodendron in my bedroom. It is never fertilized and watered only occasionally when it looks very dry. If I neglect it too long, it will transform a leaf into yellow as a signal.

Philodendron hederaceum, also known as heartleaf philodendron, is a mildly vining plant, tumbling pleasingly out of its pot. Give it a haircut once in a while and put the cuttings in a glass of water. They will grow roots and can stay in that water as long as you like. Repotted, the cuttings can provide a gift for a lonely friend.

Philodendron has some important relatives that are almost as tough.

Philodendron bipinnatifidum, a largeleafed variety will fill an empty corner that doesn’t get direct sunlight. On the other hand, Philodendron ‘Birkin’ is a cultivar much in the news these days as the new kid on the block. It is not easy care, needing lots of humidity, so if you don’t have a lot of time to devote to your plants, shun this shiny little striped beauty.

Pothos Philodendron is easy to confuse with pothos, Epipremnum aureum, (also called Devil’s ivy) another hardy, vining plant that has variegated markings of gold, white or yellow on its leaves. The leaves are narrower than those of the heart-shaped leaf of the philodendron, but larger, thicker, and

Spider plant.

Issue 1

localgardener.net

Peace lily.

waxier. Philodendron leaves are also a darker green. Pothos tolerates even less light than philodendrons.

Both are easy to grow. My pothos is probably 20 years old and takes just as little care as the philodendron.

Peace lily Spathiphyllum is the formal name for the peace lily which hales from South America and didn’t come to the attention of the west until the late 1870s. But what a blessing this discovery was to plant-shy householders. Here is a tough but beautiful plant that needs the smallest amount of attention to bloom in gratitude.

Neglect watering and it may wilt, but it will spring back right away when you get around to it. Let it dry out too long and it will turn some of its leaves brown, but it sheds them happily and puts out new ones with a little attention. If leaves turn yellow, chances are you are giving it too much water. It always enjoys a few periods of drought.

Peace lily doesn’t like the sun’s rays striking it directly, so give it an empty corner and a little extra light if you want it to bloom. As for the blooms, they look like white flags of peace, hence the name. The white is called a spathe, which protects the spadix, the spike of tiny flowers at the centre.

Propagation is through division.

If you are determined to baby this plant, perhaps fill the watering can and leave it overnight. Although peace lily is pretty good at pulling localgardener.net

gases such as benzene and formaldehyde from the air, it is a little sensitive to chlorine in city water.

These plants come in sizes small, medium, and large. ‘Petite’ is only 8 to 10 inches tall. ‘Mauna Loa’ which received the Award of Garden Merit at The Royal Horticultural show, is medium sized at 2 to 3 feet. ‘Sensation’ is 4 to 6 feet tall. ‘Nojo Lime’ has—you guessed it—lime leaves, and ‘Domino’, another medium, has variegated leaves.

Spider plant Indomitable might be the other name for spider plant, the intrepid and cheerful outreach plant.

So named for the spider-like plantlets the mother plant flings out, Chlorophytum comosum is one of the most popular houseplants there is. It too is indifferent about light, although more indirect light will lead to more plantlets and a happier, more exuberant plant.

Once again, fertilization is a luxury it seldom needs—too much of this treat can turn leaf tips brown. Water when the soil dries out. Let the water run through the pot and you have a happy plant.

There are both variegated and unvariegated varieties, although the pretty white and green leaves of the variegated type are a cheerful sight in the middle of winter. Propagation is simple. Just snip off one of the babies, called spiderettes, and set it on top of some moist soil.

Thank you, South Africa, for this gift to the plant-starved winter world.

All four of the above plants are good for the household air, cleaning up gasses and restoring oxygen. They are a perfect addition to the apartment or home. q

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Toxicity

hree of the four plants listed above are mildly toxic to pets, most causing mouth irritation, probably enough to keep your pet at bay.

Spider plants are listed as nontoxic to dogs and cats, although spider plants have a mild hallucinogenic effect on cats who can get diarrhea from ingesting the leaves. Hang a spider plant from the ceiling where it is out of reach if pets are a concern.

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2021 • 33

Notebook

Instagrammable plants

Orchid.

Snake plant.

Peace lily.

he folks at DIYS.com looked at the most-hashtagged plants reputed to bring good fortune on Instagram. Here are the results.

Orchids (Orchidaceae) The most popular plant to bring good fortune on Instagram is the orchid with 9,318,051 hashtags. Whilst common, potted orchids can offer more to your life than looking pretty in your living room. In fact, according to feng shui, the orchid can bring you fortune in love. Whether you are looking to find a significant other or want to nurture your current relationship, getting your hands on this plant might help.

Snake plant (Dracaena trifasciata, formerly Sansevieria trifasciata) In second place is the snake plant with 448,417 hashtags. If you feel like the vibes are off, the snake plant is said to be great at exuding a strong protective energy whilst absorbing any poisonous gasses from the air and protecting the

household from negative chi.

Peace lilies (Spathiphyllum) The third most Instagrammable plant is the peace lily with 234,997 hashtags on the ‘gram. According to feng shui, peace lilies have the ability to clean any negative energy in your room. Additionally, this plant requires little effort to care for, which makes it ideal for those with little to no experience in caring for plants.

Rubber plant (Ficus elastica) In fourth place is the low-maintenance rubber plant with 142,357 hashtags on Instagram. The plant’s round glossy leaves are symbolic of money and prosperity and simultaneously remove negative energy from the room.

Jade plant (Crassula ovata) The fifth most Instagrammable plant is the jade plant, with approximately 141,961 people on the ‘gram posting about it. If you’re a business owner, you will most likely want to receive a jade

plant as a gift as many say it brings prosperity and success.

Methodology DIYS.com sought to determine the most popular lucky plants on Instagram.

A seed list of popular plants known to bring luck were analysed from various sources.

Total Instagram hashtag counts were obtained for each plant within our sample. Special consideration was given to the selection of hashtags used for each plant. Where appropriate, variations of each hashtag were considered, along with irrelevant ones omitted from the study.

The resulting dataset was utilized to produce a table displaying the total Instagram hashtag count per plant. The aforementioned table reveals the 10 most popular plants on Instagram, thereby concluding our story.

The data was obtained on the 14th of July 2021. q

Photo by Mokkie.

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Rubber plant.

34 • 2021

Jade plant.

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Notebook

Composting primer We get helpful reminders about all sorts of things gardening from time to time.

Most of them are pretty facile, but this one from Sod Solutions is worth a look. If you’re thinking of composting or if your compost game is weak, have a look.

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hat exactly is composting?

It is the natural process of recycling organic material such as leaves and vegetable scraps into a dark rich substance that avid gardeners fondly refer to as “black gold.”

Why compost?

The organic matter in compost helps soil retain nutrients and water, benefiting your plants in many positive and noticeable ways.

It eliminates the need to buy commercial soil ‘boosters.’ Composting also minimizes the strain on landfills, thus helping the environment. It minimizes the need to bag grass and leaves and reduces your family’s trash.

(Lawn and garden waste makes up an astonishing percentage of the country’s total trash.)

It is simple to do and can be a family project.

And…let’s not forget that it is essentially free. It might require some sweat equity building and mixing, but it yields almost immediately for the fruits of one’s labour.

How do you make a compost pile?

Step 1: Find an outside space that is roughly 3 by 3 feet. Because of the minor odours that may emanate, a common compost location for most homeowners is near the spot you store your trash cans.

Step 2: Create a structure. Either build a pen or purchase a compost bin or bag from your local hardware store. For those who are crafty, there are plenty of DIY projects that require minimal material and time to generate great-looking results. A quick Google search will likely yield the compost bin that is right for your space.

Step 3: Get the process underway.

With bin or bag in place, it is time to get started. Begin by collecting brown matter such as leaves or dead grass to be placed at the base of the bin or bag.

Fill up about 1/6th of the bin to start.

Step 4: Go green next. Place green

localgardener.net

matter, such as used veggies or fresh grass clippings into your pile. Try to avoid meat scraps and bones as these attract unwanted guests and take considerably longer to break down.

Step 5: Water. Water. Water. It is important that once you have your brown and green matter assembled in the bin to water them both. Moisten to the point that the contents begin to feel like a damp sponge. Do not be afraid to use your hands as a gauge.

After all, you are making dirt.

Step 6: Mix the brown and green matter. Be sure to mix your newly forming compost as thoroughly as possible. Unsure? Mix some more.

Step 7: Repeat steps 2-6 until your bin or bag is filled. That should take approximately three different mixtures with each double step filling up about 1/3 of the bin.

Step 8: Cover with a lid and get baking. That is an essential part of being a compost master.

Step 9: Check your compost progress every few days. If it is starting to dry out, add water. If it is starting to smell, rest assured that the natural process is in full gear.

Step 10: Expect “black gold” after 4 to 5 weeks. The compost you have created is rich in carbon and nitrogen, exactly the nutrients your plants need to be healthy.

Step 11: Transfer the magic. Place new compost in a container and distribute around the base of each of your plants. A solid handful or two Issue 1

per plant should be sufficient.

Step 12: Repeat the process. Enjoy the fruits of your labour again!

How does it work?

Compost results from the breakdown of different types of organic material at the molecular level by microbes. Simply stated, think of microbes as little piranhas, solely interested in feasting on organic material. When a hot humid environment is created, a conducive ecosystem for microbial growth results. The more microbes, the faster the organic material breaks down. As these microbes feast, they excrete a by-product. This by-product is what we are looking for: a substance full of critical nutrients including carbon and nitrogen. In essence, microbes break down organic material and excrete compost. Microbial poop equals nutrient-rich compost.

Are there any negatives to composting?

The only obvious concern is the odour produced. However, many compost smells resemble that of a dirty clothes hamper. If located properly, that should be of little concern.

So should the minimal outdoor space it requires.

Effective composting takes a little bit of ongoing effort accompanied by a good-sized helping of patience. The depth of the rewards your plants and the environment reap are well worth both. q Written by Sod Solutions Content Strategist Valerie Smith.

2021 • 35

Notebook

ome perennials need to be divided every three to five years.

Which ones need it and when?

They’ll tell you.

Some perennials will look kind of dead in the centre if you look at them from above. Others will just start blooming less than they did in previous years.

You can divide any time after the plant has bloomed provided there is enough growing season left for the plant to recover from the process.

If you’re nervous, go with this rule: anything that blooms in April, May or June, divide right after blooming.

Anything that blooms in July, August or September, divide in early spring.

In general, don’t divide on a super hot and muggy day. And water the plant you’re going to divide a day before, so it’s well hydrated.

Before you dig up a plant for dividing, it’s best to prepare the site it’s moving to. Some plants don’t do well for long if they’re dug up. You can put wet cloths or paper towels around the roots if they won’t be replanted immediately.

In addition to improving plant health by dividing, you can increase the size of your gardens or share plants with friends and neighbours.

Step 1: Dig up the plant. Loosen the soil all the way around the dripline of the plant with a spade or fork and gently try lifting. If it doesn’t lift, loosen the soil a little deeper.

Step 2: Cut the mother plant at the roots into (generally) four pieces.

Some you can divide with your hands, some you need spades, knives or even saws to divide.

Step 3: Plant in the new place and water.

That’s it! Your new divisions should grow much more happily than the original plant.

Don’t divide these Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) Delphinium (Delphinium × elatum) Garden sage (Salvia officinalis) Lavenders (Lavandula) Rose campion (Lychnis coronaria) Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) Sea hollies (Eryngium) 36 • 2021

Photo courtresy of Proven Winners.

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Time to split?

To divide or not to divide, that is the question.

Silvermound (Artemisia schmidtiana) Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) Hand divide Blanket flowers (Gaillardia) Bleeding hearts (Dicentra) Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans) Columbines (Aquilegia) Coral bells (Heuchera) Cranesbills (Geranium) Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) Deadnettle (Lamium maculatum) Epimediums (Epimedium) Foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia) Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica) Hellebores (Helleborus) Jacob’s ladder (Polemonium caeruleum) Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) Lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina) Moss pink (Phlox subulata) Primroses (Primula) Pulmonarias (Pulmonaria) Pussytoes (Antennaria dioica) Issue 1

Sea thrift (Armeria maritima) Speedwell (Veronica spicata) Spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites) Stonecrop (Sedum spectabile) Sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) Wormwood (Artemisia ludoviciana) Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) Use a spade or fork Anemone (Anemone × hybrida) Asters (Aster) Bee balm (Monarda didyma) Bellflowers (Campanula) Big bluestem grass (Andropogon gerardii) Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia) Blood grass (Imperata cylindrica) Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) Catmint (Nepeta × faassenii) Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) Daisy (Leucanthemum × superbum) Daylilies (Hemerocallis) Forest grass (Hakenochloa macra) Fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) localgardener.net

Blanket flower.

Garden phlox (Phlox paniculata) Gaura (Gaura lindheimeri) Goldenrods (Solidago) Gunnera (Gunnera manicata) Hostas (Hosta) Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum) Ligularia (Ligularia dentata) Masterwort (Astrantia major) Monkshood (Aconitum napellus) Penstemons (Penstemon) Perennial sage (Salvia × superba) Pinks (Dianthus plumarius) Poppies (Papaver) Red hot pokers (Knifophia) Sedge (Carex morrowii) Siberian iris (Iris sibirica) Silver grasses (Miscanthus)

Bee balm. localgardener.net

Columbine.

Yarrow.

Snakeroot (Cimicifuga racemosa) Switch grass (Panicum virgatum) Tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata) Turtlehead (Chelone glabra) Yarrow (Achillea filipendulina) Saw the crown into quarters Astilbes (Astilbe) Bear’s breeches (Acanthus spinosus) Bluestar (Amsonia) Doll’s eyes (Actaea pachypoda) Foxtail lilies (Eremurus) Gayfeather (Liatris spicata) Goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus) Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum) Lilyturf (Liriope spicata) Male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas)

Catmint.

Meadowsweets (Filipendula) Peonies (Paeonia) Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum) Cut the rhizomes or tubers with a knife Arum (Arum italicum) Bergenia (Bergenia cordifolia) Corydalis (Corydalis lutea) Irises (Iris) Lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) Rhubarb (Rheum palmatum) Rodgersia (Rodgersia pinnata) Spurge (Euphorbia griffithii) Wild ginger (Asarum europaeum) q

Turtlehead.

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2021 • 37

Watch out for jumping worms Story by Larry Hodgson, Photo by Josef Görres.

Amynthas agrestis worms on a mulched bed.

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siatic jumping worms (Amynthas agrestis, A. tokioensis and Metaphire hilgendorfi), also called snake worms or crazy worms, seem to have been introduced accidentally into the southeast United States in the 19th century, probably through contaminated nursery stock imported from Japan or Korea. But they’re spread into the North seems recent, within the last 15 years. They’re already present in all Northeastern US states and lately seemed to have pushed across the Midwest showing up here and there and now across the Rockies into Oregon and to have jumped the border into Ontario, although their presence is still very sporadic throughout this vast territory.

What are they?

Jumping worms are large, plump earthworms, up to 8 inches in length, looking much like the common earthworm (Lombricus terrestris), also called nightcrawler or dew worm, but with a startling habit: they jump and thrash when disturbed! They’re very animated and tend to remain on the soil surface.

Their subsequent movements are snakelike rather than wormlike, as they slither from side to side. As for why they’re called crazy worms, well, I think any earthworm that jumps when you bother

38 • 2021

Scan me

Check out Larry Hodgson’s internet blog The Laidback Gardener here! https://laidbackgardener.blog/

it is likely just a bit crazy, don’t you?

They’re not just present in northeastern North America. They’ve become established many other parts of the world. In the southeastern US, where they’ve been around for more than a century, they may be called Alabama jumpers or Georgia jumpers. In Europe, when they are also now present and spreading rapidly, a different series of Amynthas species seems involved.

How to recognize Them If jumping and thrashing isn’t enough warming that these are not your average earthworms, look at the clitellum, the “ring” earthworms have around their body. That of the jumping worm will be smooth and light-colored, sometimes almost white, not the same color as the rest of its skin as that of the nightcrawler, and almost flush with the skin rather than bulging and ridged. They’re dark Issue 1

worms, almost gray in color, with a glossy smooth skin. They will occasionally lose their tails as a defense mechanism to escape predators.

Jumping worms don’t dig tunnels, nor do they feed underground, but remain near the top of the soil, in the top few centimeters, feeding on leaf litter. Instead of leaving their excrement in little piles of castings as is typical of nightcrawlers, they cover the soil surface with dry, grainy, pellet-like castings that look somewhat like dry coffee grounds, keeping seeds from sprouting and destabilizing soils.

They are best recognized in late August and September when they have reached their full size.

Life cycle Unlike nightcrawlers, which can live six years or longer, jumping worms have an annual life cycle. The adults die in late fall, but leave tiny cocoons, difficult to spot, that overwinter. They have been known to survive temperatures as cold as -40 Fahrenheit. They grow quickly in the spring, outcompeting and often eliminating other earthworms.

Hermaphroditic, they can reproduce sexually, but also parthenogenetically, producing cocoons without fecundation, so it takes only one to start a new colony. There are two generations per localgardener.net

year (three in mild climates).

One beacon of hope is that they seem to prefer neutral and alkaline soils to acidic ones, which could help slow their invasion some areas.

Damage done Jumping worms live in denser numbers than regular earthworms and thin the layer of forest litter (duff) at a speed unknown in other earthworm species, reducing it by 95 percent and leaving the soil essentially bare. The degradation of the litter is so rapid that the nutrients released cannot all be absorbed by the soil and plant roots.

It’s like a fast-release fertilizer instead of a slow-release one and results in the impoverishment of the upper layers of soil, the compaction of lower layers and the pollution by nitrogen and phosphorous of nearby bodies of water.

Jumping worms also consume plant seeds and rob the soil seed bank of its reserves. As a result of that and of the environmental degradation they cause, the forest floor becomes depauperate in plant species. Native species dependent on thick leaf litter are eliminated, mostly replaced by invasive exotic weeds. They are equally damaging in forest and prairie environments.

Animals are likewise affected. Salamanders and many bird species will not

eat jumping worms, spitting them out or avoiding them after an initial tasting. Ground-nesting birds disappear.

However, moles will eat them, so can be helpful in controlling them.

How to avoid jumping worms In many areas, such as in Wisconsin, pamphlets are available to help gardeners identify the pest.

It is believed the current sporadic diffusion of jumping worms into northeastern North America has been largely caused by the transport of contaminated nursery stock and by their use in as fishing bait. For that reason, the following control methods can be helpful: • Pay careful attention when sharing and moving plants. Always check for worms. Buy bare-root stock when possible.

• Clean compost, soil and debris from vehicles, personal gear (including boots and shoes), equipment and gardening tools before moving to new sites.

• Do not buy or use jumping worms for bait, vermicomposting or gardening.

• Only purchase compost that has been heated to appropriate temperatures for a sufficient duration.

• Dispose of any live worms in the trash or place them in a bag and leave

them out in the sun for at least 10 minutes. Then throw the bag away.

Likewise, dispose of any fishing bait responsibly.

You can used a mustard solution to check for crazy worms.

• Check your property for earthworms using a mustard solution. (Don’t worry, it’s harmless to plants!) Mix a gallon of water with 1/3 cup of ground yellow mustard seed and pour slowly into the soil. This will drive any worms to the surface. If you discover jumping worms, avoid moving plants or soil from your yard.

How to control jumping worms There is presently no viable control method for jumping worms, although studies are being carried out on possible repellents and pesticides, notably dousing the soil with products containing saponins, such are tea seed meal, and prescribed burning. Presently, the only effective control is preventing their spread.

You may not have jumping worms in your garden yet and, if so, that is a state you’ll want to maintain. Keep an eye out for this new invader!

Larry Hodgson is the author of the blog Laidback Gardener. This article appeared on January 5, 2021, and is reprinted with Larry’s permission.

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2021 • 39

A garden and a disability

By Linda Crabtree, C.M., O.Ont.

Photos by Ron Book, Linda Crabtree and Nadine Smeed

Pink dogwood and Japanese maple at front of house.

W

hen my husband, Ron Book, and I bought our 60-by-120-foot corner lot in 1988, we had no intentions of having a garden …ever.

I designed our home using the concepts of Universal Design because I was born with a progressive genetic neuromuscular condition (CharcotMarie-Tooth disease, or CMT) that has left me, at 79, unable to stand. I am also losing the use of my hands.

Back then, I could walk but we were running a world-wide organization for people with CMT so there was little time for gardening.

A layer of landscaping material and tons of Lake Erie beach stone, along with a truckload of granite boulders from a local vineyard, went into the areas of our lot facing the street on the east and south. I was given 24 hours to find trees. The landscapers were coming the next morning. I wanted black pines but settled for Scots pines.

I was told they wouldn’t grow too tall.

They were wrong.

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Linda drawing a foxglove on the lounge.

I had once marveled at a pink dogwood in full bloom and vowed that if I ever had the space, I’d have one, so a pink dogwood and a Japanese maple went into the front. The south side of the house got five pines, a smoke bush and several dogwoods.

We live in the Southern Ontario CaroIssue 1

linian forest area near Niagara Falls.

Flowering dogwoods thrive here and we now have 14 on the property.

In 2002, after 18 years, we passed the CMT organization on and I began to explore our neighbourhood on my electric scooter. I would stop in front of rosebushes and want to take localgardener.net

Samantha at work on the deep shade circle garden.

home just one perfect bud but they were always somebody else’s. I think it was then that I decided that I wanted a garden of our own.

Our first garden was a 20-foot bed beside the driveway, planted in white, yellow and pink roses.

The backyard, which is a small fenced-in private enclave just off our family room, initially had a waterfall and a small 6-by-10-foot pond.

A goldfish slaughter by raccoons and a constantly leaking waterfall saw us end up with a large bubbling granite rock, the top slightly scooped for a birdbath. Birds love it and the sound of moving water is incredibly relaxing. The yard is surrounded by some 50 cedars and there are two very tall ‘Shademaster’ locusts overhead giving the area a cathedral-like feel. A concrete slab path lets me keep tabs on everything. I can still hold a light pen and watercolour brush and have spent many an afternoon out there on an upholstered automatic bed painting.

It is my little piece of heaven.

Niagara is wine country and my next venture was a raised garden in seven half wine barrels at 50 dollars each. Ron drilled, lined and elevated them on large oak blocks so that I can simply pull up in my scooter and plant, weed and pick. Those barrels have been a source of enjoyment for many years. localgardener.net

Linda’s tools for tending the garden.

Ron takes care of the watering.

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West down Canada Post path.

I can still hold a light pen and watercolour brush and have spent many an afternoon out there on an upholstered automatic bed painting.

It is my little piece of heaven.

Wine barrels cut in half make handy planters.

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Over the marigolds into the circle garden and beyond.

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Linda’s work in progress.

Because my hands are extremely weak, and I have no grip or pinch, I use a variety of utensils from the kitchen as garden tools and even then it is difficult. But if you love what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter how hard or how long things take.

In 2018, my niece, Samantha, worked with me to design a deep shade garden under a mature blue spruce, original to the property. The area behind the tree had simply been a place for discarded garden paraphernalia. Now it is quite lovely and has a path into it.

When the Scots pines got so tall that there was nothing to see except trunk, we had them cut down. That left a huge open area on the south side of the house. I began with hydrangeas and hostas next to the house and on the other side of a walkway, initially installed for Canada Post to get around the corner, started filling in with perennials between the dogwoods and smoke bush. I had and have no real plan, I just buy what intrigues me and makes me want to paint.

When it became clear that Ron was not into tending a garden—he has enough to do with shopping, houselocalgardener.net

A mix of colour in the perennial garden.

work and meals—I found a very capable woman who loves gardens as much as I do. Nadine Smeed keeps the gardens looking beautiful, plants what I buy, and humours me when I have “a thought.”

So, it takes three to keep this garden: I plan, buy and work the Issue 1

barrels; Nadine plants, weeds, and tends, and Ron waters and keeps things neat. I have an accessible garden I can enjoy on my scooter and beautiful views from our patio, dinner table, the family room sofa and my bed. And, I can cut a rose anytime I like. q 2021 • 43

Photo by Eduardo Cristo.

Butterfly pea flower iced tea.

Stephanie Rose next to her vertical herb garden.

Beautiful Gardens Stephanie Rose Vancouver

Story by Shauna Dobbie, photos by Shauna and Dorothy Dobbie 44 • 2021

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S

he pops open a panel on the inside of the van and shows us a fridge, then lifts a shelf above and shows us a sink with a spray hose. Stephanie Rose is showing us her ‘van life’ vehicle. This is how the award-winning author, permaculture designer, Master Gardener and founder of GardenTherapy.ca gets away, with her kiddo, from her garden and her studio. And it is fascinating. She bought it used, on a whim, a couple of years ago.

The van is just one surprise we learn about Stephanie during our visit to her Vancouver home; my mother, Dorothy, and I stopped in on our tour across Western Canada.

Another surprise is when we have refreshments on her deck. She pours out some sapphire blue butterfly pea flower iced tea, almost too beautiful to drink. Then she transforms it with localgardener.net

the addition of lemon juice, which turns it a gorgeous shade of electric purple. Who doesn’t want a bit of magic on a hot day?

I’ve looked up butterfly pea flower since then, wondering if it has another name that I’ve heard of. It turns out most people buy it dried for making tea or for colouring Thai foods. The beautiful shade indicates that it is full of anthocyanins, like blueberries. The Latin name is, controversially, Clitoria, referring to its rather carnal form.

Stephanie’s yard steps down from the front street into a shady sunken garden. Here, we were surrounded by Japanese maple, ferns and hydrangeas.

A sprawling juniper next to Hakone grass on one side of the steps, a painted fern next to a Hart’s tongue fern on the other. Tucked around the corner, there is a modish burbling fountain whose sound competes with the hum localgardener.net

A pond in a half barrel. The white flower is yerba mansa.

of the surrounding city.

Travel the narrow path between the house and a hedge and you come to a backyard, which is tiny but which you cannot take in with one view. There is an espaliered apple tree growing four varieties of apple, supported by a tall deck over the walkout basement. A corkscrew hazel contorts in front of an old window turned garden art and gives me a newfound love of this tree.

A trellis with horizontal bars along the neighbour’s property has a variegated euonymus scrambling up, way up.

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There are pots of flowers and sedums and Japanese maple. (Oh, to be able to grow a Japanese maple in a pot in most of Canada!) There is a classical iron fountain with a lion’s head spitting water into a fluted bowl against the shed wall at the back of the garden, and a mini pond in a halfbarrel closer to the middle, one of the projects from her upcoming book.

The pond is just big enough to hold a few exquisite water plants, but it is decorated with a branch of the corkscrew hazel that makes it look like it sprang to life unbidden; this kind 2021 • 45

The edge of the espaliered apple tree and a hammock

of touch is typical of the reflection Stephanie puts into every aspect of her garden.

On the other side of the garden, toward the back, a series of long horizontal wooden planters, one above the other, contains much of the vegetable garden where she grows herbs and other edibles for use in the garden crafts, plant-based beauty and growing food stories on her website. Other herbs and veg are planted all around the garden, in amongst flowers and shrubs. She makes the most out of each inch of this limited space.

Now, the shed wall, the one with the fountain…. You walk into the tidy garden shed at the back of the yard

A view of the very full back garden.

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chair.

and enter a clean and complete studio where Stephanie films many of her how-to videos and courses. She has situated some lights just so and can put a camera front and centre. The studio is full of supplies for her projects and a cushy and decorative easy chair for work off camera.

Her website, if you haven’t encountered it, is GardenTherapy.ca. It’s named for the therapy she has taken from the garden. Years ago, Stephanie was struck by a debilitating illness, when the most she could do was to sit outside for five minutes per week.

Over time, she built up her strength to create her garden, bit by bit, and to write about it. She says that the localgardener.net

A corkscrew hazel in front of an old window.

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2021 • 47

A bowl of sea thrift welcomes you to the front garden.

garden saved her, and you can sense the mutual love between it and her.

The work life she balanced before becoming ill was in marketing.

Combining that with becoming a Master Gardener helped her achieve some serious adulation in the gardening world. Today she has 11 books published along with a host of online courses in gardening, permaculture, herbalism, and natural skincare projects. She has a new book coming out this spring called The Regenerative Garden: 80 Practical Projects for Creating a Self-sustaining Garden Ecosystem, filled with small-scale permaculture ideas for your garden. q

Photo by Stephanie Rose.

Scan me To see more of Stephanie Rose’s garden scan here! https://bit.ly/StephanieRoseGarden

Stephanie’s kiddo found a ripe strawberry.

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The front of the house.

Tucked around the corner, there is a modish burbling fountain whose sound competes with the hum of the surrounding city.

The door to Stephanie’s garden studio.

Chinese fairy bells ‘Moonlight’. localgardener.net

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The century house in Virden.

Beautiful Gardens Doyle Piwniuk Virden, Manitoba

Story by Dorothy Dobbie, photos by Dorothy and Shauna Dobbie 50 • 2021

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oyle Piwniuk is a tree man.

The colour, texture and form of trees inspire him, particularly during the autumn changes when some maples take on a dress of crimson. In Manitoba, where gold is the colour of the season, red in the landscape is a novelty. It shows so well against the dark green cedars and black spruce trees that populate the area.

Virden, a small town in Manitoba’s oil patch just off the Trans Canada Highway on the way to localgardener.net

Doyle just inside the arbour.

He likes to plant his trees in clusters that show off their colour and shape, setting pyramidal cedars against globe forms and the spreading branches of nesting spruce.

Regina, is where Doyle lives in a century-old house with his wife, Michelle, and two young adult kids, Aiden and Jillian.

Somehow, he manages to maintain his lovely garden even though he spends months every year in Winnipeg as the Deputy Speaker of localgardener.net

the Legislature. And, as any rural MLA knows, constituency work is about travelling around the riding, staying in touch with the needs of his constituents, and making sure they know he is on top of current events in their communities. Not that this phases Doyle. He has Issue 1

endless energy and a refreshing zest for life.

He likes to plant his trees in clusters that show off their colour and shape, setting pyramidal cedars against globe forms and the spreading branches of nesting spruce. As contrast, he might plant 2021 • 51

The heavy wooden gate.

a sugar maple in the centre so that, come fall, there is a symphony of colour to admire. Throughout his property, among the 41 trees he has planted, there are multiples of several species of sugar maples: ‘Autumn Spire’ red maple, ‘Northwood Red’ maple, ‘Lord Selkirk’ and ‘Rocky Mountain’ sugar maples, and Korean maple, which he says is hardier than the coveted Japanese maple.

He calls himself more of a landscaper than a gardener, but he could teach most landscapers a thing or two about plants. For example, he uses masses of low growing, 52 • 2021

golden sedum to set off back-toback ponds, always punctuated by his first love, woody plants such as dwarf globe cedar, which he keeps neatly trimmed but not rigidly pruned.

Doyle’s tree love is not limited to maples and spruce. Smitten with their brilliant chartreuse colour, he has planted 13 ‘Yellow Ribbon’ cedars. He has a Manchurian ash, a pin oak, a hackberry, and honeysuckle shrubs. False spirea cuddles the pizza oven on one side with blue spruce and golden cedar on the other side, all backed by a thick planting of Virginia creeper. In one Issue 1

sheltered spot is his prize: a young Gingko biloba, which he planted 16 years ago in memory of his father who passed away from cancer.

Hailed as the living fossil tree because it has been unchanged for more than 200 million years, gingkoes grow slowly but can reach from 1,000 to 3,000 years old under the right conditions. Its large, fanshaped leaves turn golden yellow in fall, sometimes in stages with bands of gold and green. A happy gingko will reach 50 to 90 feet tall with a spread of 30 to 40 feet and it is reasonably hardy to Zone 4. In Doyle’s garden, it has just begun its localgardener.net

Looking over the edge of the outdoor kitchen, the pizza oven is on the left and the fireplace is on the right.

long journey. “The first five years were difficult. There was a lot of winter kill,” he says. “The last five years the tree has adapted to our climate. It is now over 9 feet tall.”

Doyle’s tender care and sheltered yard has no doubt contributed to the success.

Doyle uses trees in a myriad of ways: planted in pleasing groups as ornamental features in the front garden, to serve as a dense privacy shield between his property and that of the neighbour (who appreciates this as much as Doyle does), and a backdrop to day-to-day living in the beautifully designed courtlocalgardener.net

yard at the back of his gracious old, brick house. “The house was built in 1905 by William Thomas Manser who also built the Auditorium Theater in Virden in 1911,” he says with pride.

In its day, the Virden Auditorium was the centre for the performing arts in western Manitoba, according to Gordon Goldsborough of the Manitoba Historical Society.

It was built, as was Doyle’s house, of a local brick made in Virden.

In Doyle’s yard, which heavily features this brick, the master mason was his friend Rudy Leroy.

He also constructed the pizza Issue 1

oven, the outdoor kitchen, and the huge stone fireplace that Doyle and Michelle have surrounded by comfortable couches and easy chairs. The yellow brick is set off by planters and ornamental features in blue, deepening in some cases to cobalt blue.

One end of the brick-paved yard is anchored by a three-season greenhouse set on a stone foundation that Rudy built, with a little help from Doyle and Aiden, this past season to replace the previous wooden base.

Exotics such a hibiscus and bougainvillea add punches of 2021 • 53

Detail from the gingko tree.

colour and enhance the tropical feeling promoted by the lush green of the setting.

At the other end of the courtyard, the entry point, is a stunning arched oaken door. This was built by a local artisan, Robert Heath, originally from England. The door is set between two brick pillars, built by Rudy, and highlighted

with an inset of cobalt blue tile.

The entire garden offers a pleasing journey with different moods that change from “room” to “room”, each with its own special personality and highlights.

The garden is a lot like Doyle, filled with unexpected insights, delightful surprises and lots of warmth and good humour. q

Scan me To see more of Doyle Piwniuk’s garden scan here! https://bit.ly/Doyle-Piwniuk

Tender bougainvillea bloom on the patio.

54 • 2021

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localgardener.net

The house, in central Charlottetown, is fairly close to the street.

F

rancis Bird has moved across the country a few times, but he’s always had a garden. The current iteration is in Charlottetown, fairly close to the centre, around a cozy, white clapboard house with brown shutters. He shares the house with his almost-grown daughter, Lily, and their Pomeranian-Pekingese dog, Makiki. Other gardens have been in Winnipeg and Victoria, and the next will likely be Windsor, Ontario.

When he was a young boy, he saw a circular garden bathed in the gold of sunset and was so enchanted, his parents gave him part of their yard to make a garden. In the years since, he has always had something growing, whether on a balcony or in the ground.

Beautiful Gardens Francis Bird

Charlottetown, PEI Story and photos by Shauna Dobbie.

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Hostas around St. Francis, who is the patron saint of animals and environment.

The whole is a charming mix of cared-for colour and letting the flowers do what they will. Enchanting.

Diverse plantings in the lawn.

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The Charlottetown garden is pretty and old-fashioned, with contented blue hydrangeas and yellow goldenrod filling their spaces. The backyard is big and the gardens had been quite extensive until the previous owners, who blamed the flowers for their allergies, tore most of them out. They left behind some tulips and hostas, but the rest comes from Francis either planting or discovering them under the sod.

“As I dug out gardens and planted year after year, I found it amazing how many plants grassed over for years returned, particularly tulips, peonies and daylilies,” he tells me. Peonies are a notably long-lived perennial, but I had no idea they could sleep underground for several years then come back to life when a caring hand clears away the soil. What a joy to find these precious things!

He sees the garden as an extension of the living area. There is a writers’ group that Francis is part of, and he hosts meetings outdoors in the warmer months. A deck with a table and chairs makes a rustic setting for outdoor meals, and I can imagine dinners filled with bonhomie that last until well after the July sun goes down.

The front of the house is very close to the street, which is not unusual for the time it was built. The swath of yard allows for a couple of shrubs and some flax to bloom. Around the side is a big rowan tree, covered with frothy white blooms and loud with bees.

Just in front of the rowan, helianthus buzz with abandon and a couple of shy ligularia send up yellow spires.

Around the side, along a weathered picket fence, pink filipendula interrupt blue hydrangeas. The whole is a charming mix of cared-for colour and letting the flowers do what they will.

Enchanting.

In the back there is a huge and aged linden tree dominating the yard. Francis has planted a little red wagon here, full of pots of red dahlias. Behind the tree is a curious series of singly cultivated flowers. Out of this hole in the sod comes a rose bush, out of another grows an Asiatic lily, and another sports a spray of dianthus. It forces you to consider the plant on its own, not surrounded by other textures, shapes or colours. Francis has lounged in the centre of these before and says it is magical.

Blue hydrangeas and pink filipendula. localgardener.net

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Two of the Art Deco figurines that were on display in the garden.

Around the yard there are bits of personality. The day we were there, there were a couple of art deco China figurines on display. He says he’ll change these depending on the season or the occasion, and notes that he never has to worry about them going missing in this island community. The garage is festooned with a couple of colourful umbrellas and a swirling line of music cut from metal. These fit in easily amongst baskets of begonias hanging from the eaves.

Francis is (kind of) retired from teaching now, though he always finds a job here or there to keep him busy.

This vocation has taken him from coast to coast so far. Lily’s mother is moving to her hometown of Windsor, Ontario, soon; Francis figures he’ll move there too, so the parents and daughter can all be in the same city. He is thinking of a smaller place, perhaps a garden-level apartment with a small yard for his passion.

Big or small, it is sure to be spectacular and shine with bits of his personality. q Scan me To see more of Francis Bird’s garden scan here! https://bit.ly/Francis-Bird

A little red wagon with pots of dahlias.

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Goldenrod set to bloom.

I

A pitcher with some recent blooms.

Does your garden make you sneeze?

f you think your garden is causing your allergies, give a little more thought before tearing out flowers.

The weepy eyes and endlessly running nose you experience outdoors is caused by airborne pollens.

Anything with attractive flowers is likely to be pollinated by insects, which means the pollen is heavy and sticky and doesn’t travel on the wind.

That’s why flowers have pretty colours and delightful smells: to attract bees, butterflies and birds to visit. Pollen sticks to the creature who brings it to the next flower.

There are some plants in our gardens that depend on the wind for pollination, and those you need to watch out for: grasses and some trees. There are also some uncultivated plants, like ragweed. Most people who think they’re allergic to goldenrod?

Nope. It’s ragweed.

Of course, this only helps so much when you’re buried in tissues and drowning in mucous and tears. Do you care if it’s hyacinth or pussy willows making you sick? Probably not. But now you know.

localgardener.net

A tangle of flax in the front yard.

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Looking to grow your gardening skills?

Canada’s Local Gardener magazine puts what you need to know right at your fingertips!

Download Canada’s Local Gardener app on your mobile device and discover other digital editions of the Gardener safely and quickly!

Issue 1 For more details go to localgardener.net • Connect with us

60 • 2021

localgardener.net

How to get started

A

re you starting your very first garden? Congratulations!

There are several little details to take you from the idea to your first year of blooms or food. Here is a primer that will get you through with most plants. This guide will be printed at the back of every issue of Canada’s Local Gardener.

May you have a long future as a gardener, during which you add techniques from others and elements you discover that work for you.

Happy gardening!

How to start a garden 1. Make it smaller than you think you’ll need.

2. Mow the area, then lay down 7 to 10 sheets of newspaper over the grass or weeds.

3. Water the newspaper.

4. Pile on 4 to 6 inches of triple mix soil 5. If you want, pile on 4 inches of cedar mulch.

6. Plant bedding plants.

Containers 1. Outdoor containers should be larger; smaller ones will dry out too quickly.

2. Hanging containers will dry out faster than those on the ground.

3. Drainage is important. If there are no holes in the container and you can’t put holes in it, put plants in a plastic liner pot and into the container.

4. Use potting soil for containers, not triple mix. localgardener.net

5. Feed container plants something like liquid kelp or Miracle Gro. They’re different from in-ground plants.

Bedding plants 1. Water bedding plants the day before you plant them.

2. Dig a hole a little bigger than the pot the plant is in.

3. Remove the bedding plant from the pot. Squish the pot to get it out.

4. Gently spread out the root ball on the plant, put it into the hole and backfill around the root ball with soil.

5. Fibre pots: remove the plant and compost the pot.

6. Cell packs: if a plant comes in four or six attached plastic containers, they are four or six small plants, not one big one.

7. When you are done planting in a bed, water it well.

Fall bulbs 1. Fall bulbs bloom in spring. They include tulips, crocuses and daffodils.

You can plant them until the ground is frozen.

2. Plant bulbs in a hole that is three times the depth of the bulb. If a bulb is one inch high, plant it three inches deep. If it’s 3 inches high, plant it 9 inches deep.

3. You can plant each bulb in one hole or plant more bulbs in a wider hole. Leave one to two bulb-widths between them.

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4. If you have chipmunks or other animals that will disturb bulbs, put chicken wire over the bulbs before filling in the hole with soil.

Direct-sowing seeds 1. Prepare an existing bed by removing weeds and mixing in compost or topping with triple mix.

2. Either follow the directions on the seed packets, ask the person you got the seeds from, or follow the suggestions below.

3. Some seeds need light to germinate: ageratum, balloon flower, browallia, columbine, gaillardia, geranium, impatiens, lettuce, lobelia, nicotiana, osteospermum, petunias, poppies, savory, snapdragons.

4. Other seeds should be covered lightly with soil: alyssum, aster, balsam, beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celosia, corn, cosmos, cucumbers, dianthus, eggplant, marigold, melons, morning glory, nasturtium, peas, pepper, radish, spinach, squash, tomato, zinnia.

5. Plant seeds about as far apart as you imagine the grown plant will need. Or plant them less far apart then thin them when they are too close together. Thin seedlings by snipping them off so you don’t disturb the roots of neighbouring plants.

6. Water new seeds with the mister on your hose nozzle so they don’t wash 2021 • 61

away, but water them thoroughly.

7. Keep seedlings in a damp bed until they are 1 to 2 inches high.

Weeding 1. Weed the day after it rains or the day after you water. It is easier to pull weeds from damp soil than from dry soil.

2. Hoe tiny weedlings in the spring.

3. If you don’t know what it is, wait until you do know before pulling it.

4. If you can’t pull a weed out, cut it off at ground level. Do this as often as needed, which could be daily. Eventually it should die from lack of sunlight.

5. Mulching can control weeds and make weeding easier.

Watering 1. Always water new plants gently but well.

2. Water more deeply and less often.

3. Water the soil, not the plant, but don’t worry about plants getting wet.

4. Watering in the morning is best, but time of day doesn’t matter that much.

5. Outdoor pots need water frequently, possibly every day.

Pests 1. Don’t treat for pests unless they are truly decimating your garden.

2. Many insects are beneficial to the garden. Several non-beneficial insects will attract beneficial insects to your garden.

3. Funguses and insect-eating plants will usually go away if treated with neem oil.

4. Aphids can be kept under control by spraying them off with water. It won’t kill them, but it will slow them down.

Sun 1. Six or more hours per day of 62 • 2021

Scan me Explore Canada’s plant hardiness site. http://www.planthardiness.gc.ca/

direct sun qualifies as full sun.

2. Three to six hours qualifies as part sun.

3. Less than three hours qualifies as shade.

4. Dappled shade can be any of these, depending on how dappled the shade is and for how much of the day.

5. Full sun is necessary for most vegetables. Part sun is acceptable for leafy vegetables.

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6. Pay attention to the tags on plants at the nursery. You can experiment with plants outside the recommended sun requirements, but be prepared for whatever the result is.

Zones 1. Hardiness Zone is a number given to your geographical area to indicate whether a plant will survive the winter. You can find the hardiness Zone for your area online at planthardiness.gc.ca. Or you can ask at your local garden centre what Zone you are in.

2. Zones don’t matter for annuals.

For perennials, they will give you an idea of what survives. For trees and shrubs, they are pretty accurate.

3. Canadian hardiness Zones and USDA hardiness Zones are different. A rule of thumb is to subtract one from the USDA Zone to get the Canadian Zone.

4. There are microclimates in every yard. Proximity to the house or a fence or position on a hill will change the climate.

5. Your local garden centre will not sell you plants that won’t thrive in your area. Or, if they do, they will issue a warning.

Fall clean-up 1. Rake leaves off lawns and into flower beds.

2. Remove very diseased plants.

Throw them out.

3. Everything else can be left for birds, insects and other animals.

Much of it will compost in the garden over the winter. q

localgardener.net

Invincibelle® Spirit II Hydrangea: $1 PER PLANT DONATED TO THE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION ®

2021

Before they reach your garden, our flowering shrubs undergo years of trials and testing for color, quantity of blooms, stem strength, foliage and ability to thrive with ease. Only a few prove they’re worthy of the #1 plant brand.

provenwinners-shrubs.com

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2021 • 63

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“creating award winning landscapes since 1981” Phone 204-667-0278 | lldesign@gatewest.net | www.lldesign.mb.ca

lemkey landscape design ltd

Chosen as one of the top four landscape designers in Canada - Natural Landscape Magazine Toronto | First Green for Life Award

From concept to creation, let us help you create an oasis in your own backyard with your personal taste in mind. We look forward to working with you.

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