TRELLIS
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CIVIC GARDEN CENTRE IN METROTORONTO
A WALK
: (,
IN THE PARK 77
Join the Civic Garden Centre s Tour Guides on an informative walk in Edwards Gardens % on Tuesdays and e, W Thursdays at 11 am and 2 pm.
Civic Garden Centre Staff
Executive Director: Mrs. Sally Sullivan
Accounts: Mrs. Janie Brentnall
Editor-Trellis: Mrs. Iris Hosse Phillips
Horticulturists: Mrs. Anne Marie Van Nest
Mrs. Helen Craig
Librarian: Mrs. Pamela MacKenzie
Library Secretary: Mrs. Edythe Clapp
Maintenance Supervisor: Mr. Walter Marassutti
Programme and Special Events
Co-ordinator: Mrs. Dorothy Whiteman
Rental Agent: Mrs. Pamela Westwood
Assistant Rental Agent: Miss Mavis Griffin
Secretary: Mrs. Shirley Lyons
Trellis Shop Manager: Mrs. Jackie Brisby
Trellis Shop Assistant Manager: Mrs. Barbara Stephenson
Volunteer Co-ordinator and Publicity: Mrs. Carolyn Dalgarno
&\ Perennial . Flowers
Since 1975, we have been committed to producing a collection of perennial flowers second to none. Visit our nursery ororderby mail. Our descriptive illustrated catalogue
Crawfords Country Gardens
R.R.#3, Milton, Ont. L9T 2X7 (416) 878-0223
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Civic Garden Centre
GENERAL INFORMATION
Vol. 17, No. 6
EDITOR: Iris Hossé Phillips
ADVERTISING INFO: (416) 445-1552
Registered charity number 0228114-56 TRELLIS is published ten times a year as a members' newsletter by the CIVIC GARDEN CENTRE, 777 Lawrence Avenue East, North York, Ont. M3C 1P2. Tel. No.: (416) 445-1552. Manuscripts submitted on a voluntary basis are gratefully received. No remuneration is possible. Lead time for inclusion of articles and advertising material is six weeks: manuscripts and material must be received by the 15th of the month to insure publication. For example, material received by October 15 will be included in the December issue of Trellis Opinions expressed within do not necessarily reflect those of the Centre
The Centreis loca Edwards Gardens, at Leslie Street and Law eAu'ew:e East. It is a non-profit, volunteercasecgarden floral arts, and horticultural information organization with open membership.
Printed by York Printing House Lid J.UU. 5:00 p.m.
WINTER OPERATING HOURS
The Civic Garden Centre is open from November 1st to March 31st. Weekdays: 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Weekends & Holidays: Noon - 4:00 p.m.
Editorial
The Centre received an overwhelming response to its out-of-town garden tours. These tours are an excellent opportunity to view distinctive private gardens and learn how the gardeners aesthetics and skill shape their landscape. | hope to persuade one of the garden tour participants to write an article for Trellis.
On my recent visit to the library | was fortunate to find The Public Gardens and Parks of Niagara (1989) on the shelf. The book is part of the Niagara Heritage Series and is co-authored by Roland Barnsley, a landscape architect, and John H. Pierce, an environmental botanist at Niagara College. The book is a handy guide to the familiar and not so well-known gardens and parks of the area. One garden | plan to visit is the Victorian garden at the Whitehern estate in central Hamilton. The archives at Whitehern are open to the public and interested gardeners can view the plans detailing the evolution of the garden from 1853 to 1948.
During April my son s class spent a week at Dickson Schoolhouse at Black Creek Pioneer Village. The children acted and dressed the role of school children in the 1860s. was fortunate to be the class parent on one of the days and was delighted to view the pioneer gardens. My son was intrigued by the broom-maker and wants to return to the village this summer to see the tall broom-corn (Sorghum vulgare). | want to visit again to see the extensive L-shaped herb garden and the vegetable gardens in production.
Happy Gardening!
Iris Phillips
MEMBERS PROGRAMME
Wednesday, June 20
7:30 p.m.
Ann Milovsoroff RBG - More than a Glorious Park
Ann Milovsoroff holds the Garfield Weston Chair of Landscape Horticulture, Royal Botanical Gardens. Refreshments served Non-Members $4.00
President s Report
1989 was, by the standards of recent years, a quiet one at the Centre. We had not consciously decided to take stock, to work hard at what we were already doing, but that is very largely what we did. The result was that we undertook few new initiatives, but our regular activities did very well. Through the Gate and Catch the Gardening Spirit were once more sold out, most of the people attending the Third Great Gardening Conference thought it was the best yet, and we had over 400 people here for the Edwards Foundation Lecture. The plant sales organised by the staff were profitable, as well as providing a useful service to members. The Master Gardeners Programme has proved invaluable to the Centre, and | would like to congratulate our horticulturists Anne Marie Van Nest and Helen Craig for all the effort that they have put into that programme. It was an honour for me to be present at the first graduating ceremonies in March. Mistletoe Magic, our reborn Cornucopia, got off to a great start in its new manifestation. The Members Programmes attract larger and larger audiences. The staff started coming to grips with their computers and began to find them valuable. Our Horticulture department organised a summer camp, and together with the Master Gardeners and other volunteers continued the service of guided tours through Edwards Gardens.
One important new initiative received a set-back when our application to the Provincial Department of Tourism and Recreation for $500,000 to help finance our projected expansion was refused. We needed about $1.5 million, of which about half was contingent on our getting that grant. We have learned some lessons, and will try again. Even this disappointment points up how much the Centre has changed; who would have imagined a few years ago that we would soon be seeking to expand our facilities.
Our willingness to contemplate expansion has been linked to the financial health of the Centre. In the four financial years 1986 through 1989 we have added staff, given the staff well deserved substantial salary increases plus bonuses, and still added $120,000 to our accumulated surplus. So much for academic economists who have never had to meet a payroll! While all of the staff, under the able guidance of our Executive-Director, Sally Sullivan, contribute directly or indirectly to this prosperity, | would like this year to say a special thank-you to our rental agents Judy Lundy and now Pamela Westwood for their splendid work, and to Jackie Brisby and Barbara Stevenson and their volunteers in the Trellis Shop. In 1983 the Board actually debated whether or not the Trellis Shop should be closed. In 1986 net revenue from the Shop was $69,000; in 1989 it was $107,000, an increase of 55%. In the same period, non-book sales increased from $147,000 to $272,000, an increase of 85%: book sales went from $76,000 to $131,000, an increase of 72%. These results have been possible because of the increased traffic at the Centre, which results from having many more events, and, of course, from the quality of the Shop. A good example of the way in which an event can contribute to the income of the Shop was the weekend of the Third Great Gardening Conference, when the Shop sold $11,000 of books.
Two articles which appeared recently in the Centre s magazine Trellis dealt with the Centre during the decade of the '80s, and it was pleasurable to be reminded of many of the Centre's activities and developments during that period. But as read the articles, | was struck by an oddity, that there was not a single reference to the most dynamic element in the history of that decade at the Centre, and that was the part played by the Board. | cannot let this occasion pass without paying tribute to the members of the Board, for they have not only frequently been the inspiration for new events and activities, they have also frequently been central to the administration and execution of them. Some activities at the Centre are almost entirely the creation of the Staff the Plant Sales, the Master Gardener s Programme, Guided Tours of Edwards Gardens, and the Summer Day Camp come to mind and none of the activities would be possible without them, and without our wonderful
volunteers. But Catch the Gardening Spirit, which has just enjoyed its greatest success, sprang from the mind of our President-to-be, Sue Macaulay; Through the Garden Gate, the summer visit to Toronto gardens which has been such a triumph, was conceived by Peter Thomas and Heather MacKinnon and is chaired by Heather MacKinnon, who does a considerable amount of its planning; our renewed tours to gardens outside Toronto, which have been greeted with enormous enthusiasm, have been prepared and planned with meticulous detail by Bayla Gross, and our Fall fund-raiser, Cornucopia, now Mistletoe Magic, has been, in my last year at the Centre, vigorously presided over by Camilla Dalgleish and Anne Bawden. And | cannot leave the subject of the Board without once underlining how lucky the Centre has been to have two fine Treasurers in the last five years, Bob Saunders and Ken Laundy, nor can | neglect to say a word of thanks to Klaus Bindhardt who has worked so hard in the last two years on problems of funding. The Board of the Centre has not been a passive Board, but an active, shaping Board, and to all of its members | offer my grateful thanks.
My own primary areas of responsibility have been the Members Programme, the Edwards Lectures, and the Great Gardening Conferences; they also included the John Brookes Workshops, and the special lectures of Jane Brown. | thought you might be interested to see who has spoken here in the last six years; as you can see, there have been over 70 different speakers at the Centre. There is hardly a distinguished name in the Anglo-North American gardening world who has not been to the Centre, and one of the accomplishments of our programmes has been that the profile of the Centre has been raised in a way that makes it progressively easier to extend invitations with confidence that they will be accepted. This has not been done at the expense of the local scene. The gardens of Patrick Lima, David Tomlinson, Cy and Molly Baker, Marion Jarvie, Barrie Porteous, Muriel Stafford, Amy Stewart have all been featured here, and our speakers as you can see from your list have included a wide range of local experts. | owe a special word of thanks to Dorothy Whiteman, Special Events Co-ordinator, with whom | have worked closely on all of these activities.
This has been for me, as member of the Board for six years and your President for four, a mostly happy and satisfying time. It has not been without its disagreeable moments; however, on balance, it has been a real joy, and a chance to make many new friends. Not everything that | had hoped to see accomplished has been, but then there have been exciting developments which | had not foreseen. Two areas still need, | believe, some special attention, and | would like to conclude by saying a few words about them.
The first is our education programme. We offer a good range of courses, and education clearly extends well beyond what is offered in formal programmes. But what we do is totally ad hoc. No one thinks seriously and continuously about what we offer, why we offer it, how the courses are or could be part of a programme, who we involve as teachers, how we appraise the teaching. This is a Board failure; that we have a decent programme at all is a tribute to the staff who have carried the responsibility for its preparation without any guidance. We have partly excused ourselves by saying that we don t have the space for an augmented programme, though when we have a net surplus this year which is almost equal to half of our rental income, our space shortage may be more imaginary than real. We have been, as | said earlier, trying to raise funds to expand, and that is a desirable objective. But future expansion should not be used as an excuse for inaction now, and we should in any case be cautious about adding space before we have fully and efficiently used what we already have.
My other area of concern is membership. Membership fees have been raised twice in the past four years. The second increase, from $15 to $25 for a single member, | opposed obviously unsuccessfully! From an income point of view, the increase has been very productive, and $25 is not a great sum to pay for all of the benefits that the Centre offers. But there was a very real cost; we probably lost several hundred members (I say probably
because that is an estimate. Until we had our computers, we never knew precisely how many members we had). The attractiveness of our overall programme means that we continue to gain new members, but we must be careful of squeezing out people whose benefits from the Centre are not considerable, such as out-of-towners whose benefit is primarily the Trellis Magazine (describing events they will never attend), and people who simply cannot afford one more membership in this organisation or that.
What | believe we need to do is to make serious efforts at encouraging membership through more aggressive marketing of the Centre, especially to groups that the Centre has not traditionally reached. | have sensed resistance to this notion at the Board level, that we are doing just fine as we are, that they won't be interested in us, so that we shouldn t bother to try anything special. But we are an institution of the government of Metropolitan Toronto, and our search for more generous funding from government is unlikely to be well received unless we can show that we have made a concerted effort to reach all of Toronto s would-begardeners. One small effort in the right direction was the recent day devoted to vegetables, a day which | hope is only the prelude to a magnificent fall fruit and vegetable show.
May | conclude by thanking you, the members, for this opportunity you have given me, and for the wonderful support that you have given to our activities here. | know that, under our new President, we shall advance on new fronts, and | ask you to support her as generously as you have supported me.
FOI' the lOV Of gardens.
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If you need any advice to help make your garden even lovelier, just ask. Advice is free and - .our staff is expert. They ll help in any way they can all for the love of gardens, at Sheridan. ?ll-JlElS{IEQIAEh! trees grown on our own farms. And all of our nursery stock is guaranteed for one full year.
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Letter to the Editor
| was interested to read Mr. Nord s letter (March Trellis) concerning the landscaping at the National Gallery and the Oakes Garden in Niagara Falls. | have not seen the former, which from all reports seems to be an attempt to recreate a typical northern Canadian landscape, which to me is rather pointless when there are thousands of acres of the genuine thing within a very few kilometres of the gallery. Also | must admit that | fail to see how geraniums and impatiens fit into this concept, | must see it on my next visit to Ottawa. | am, however, a great admirer of the Oakes Garden. On my first visit to this garden | was, like Mr. Nord, not overly impressed, but on subsequent trips (as part of the inevitable Grand Tour for overseas visitors) | often forego invitations to ride the Maid of the Mist for the umpteenth time in order to spend time in this garden. At first | did not realize what a near perfect example of an Art Deco garden this one is, particularly in the design of the buildings, fountains and stonework which is unusually fine.
My curiosity about the designers of this garden grew so | contacted a good friend, Frances Blue, who has an exceptional collection of articles on landscape architecture in Canada. She has been collecting these for over forty years and kindly sent me a copy of an article written soon after the garden s completion in the 1930s. This article described the Oakes Garden as an all-Canadian project which, to quote represents a concerted public spiritedness on the part of the designers, officials and workmen . The article goes on to say that the garden was designed by Dunnington-Grubb and Stensson, landscape architects, (Mr. Dunnington-Grubb's portrait hangs in the Floral Hall at the Civic Garden Centre), W.L. Somerville was the architect who designed the pergola, two pavilions and the gates. The article says that the design was adapted from the 18th century French style, tailored to the special needs of the site. | think the writer was mistaken in interpreting the style, but | have the advantage of hindsight, the design was extremely modern for the time, the Art Deco period was comparatively short, extending from the end of the Great War to about 1935 when this distinct international style was first given the title Art Deco. Whether this garden has been listed as a heritage site | don t know. If not, it should be as Art Deco gardens are not common anywhere in the world. For readers who are interested in this period and allied ones, there is also a fine Art Nouveau sundial located close to the rock garden at the Experimental Farm in Ottawa.
David Tomlinson Merlin s Hollow
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Garden Potpourri
by Anne Marie Van Nest
Gardening can be hazardous to your health!
What danger lurks in your backyard? Take this quiz of plant poisons.
a) Related to the tomato and potato, Bittersweek Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) is a persistent weedy vine that is poisonous only when the berries turn red.
b) The Black Locus (Robinia pseudoacacia), a member of the pea family has a smooth dark brown seedpod containing poisonous seeds.
c) The red juice from the Bloodroot rhizome was used by native Indians to paint their faces and garments.
d) The Castor Qil Plant is an exotic ornamental plant for the garden. Its good properties (used as an airplane lubricant, in hydraulic brake fluids, paints and varnishes) outweighs its poisonous properties.
e) Foxgloves are an important source of the natural heart stimulant digitalis that cannot be duplicated synthetically.
Answers
a) False. All parts of the Nightshade plant are deadly poisonous. Look for the pinkpurple star shaped flowers with yellow stamens during the summer.
b) True. Although, very important as a durable timber tree the Black Locust is classed as a dangerously poisonous plant.
c) True. Juice from the native wildflower Sanguinaria canadensis was used for ceremonial and medicinal purposes 400 years ago. Presently, the juice has been found to be caustic and capable of destroying tissues.
d) False. The seeds from the Castor Oil Plant, Ricinus communis contain one of the deadliest toxins known. One bean could kill a child.
d) True. Digitalis is prescribed by doctors to strengthen the heart and cannot be reproduced synthetically. The foxglove is extremely poisonous. Just chewing a leaf may cause sudden heart failure.
Plants on trial
The following charges have been made against these plants. Be the judge and jury to decice if they are guilty or innocent.
1. The bark and needles of the Hemlock were instrumental in the death of the Greek philosopher Socrates. Take the statute of limitations into consideration on this one.
2. Lovage (Levisticum officinale) has been accused of matchmaking. It was used as a love potion between many people during Chaucer s time.
3. The stems from the perennial vine Cynanchum nigrum have been observed to grow so vigorously that they could strangle a dog.
4. Mistletoe has been charged with living off the goodwill of other plants.
Answers
1. Verdict Not Guilty. Socrates drank a potion of Poison Hemlock, Conium maculatum when he was put to death by the Athenians. It was not the native forest tree.
2. Verdict Not Guilty. Lovage or Loveparsley has misled people for 600 years.
There are no amorous qualities except those related to its breath freshening properties.
3. Verdict Not Guilty. The stems can reach 6 feet (2m) in length and smother other plants that lie in its path. But not a dog.
4. Verdict Guilty. A parasitic shrub, Mistletoe attaches itself to the branches of deciduous trees and obtains nutrients from the host.
Sex in the Garden
Did you know that. .
1. Male Begonia flowers are often far showier than the female ones. Many of the large flowering types have single female flowers and fully double male flowers. Remove the females for better blooming.
2. Holly plants are dioecious with two types of plants, male and female. Naturally, one of each is needed for berry production.
3. Wild Ginger, Asarum canadense has moroon flowers hidden under heart shaped leaves. The native wild plant produces a foul smell similar to rotting meat to attract flies for pollination.
4. The Ginkgo tree is one of the oldest trees on the earth. Fossil records show it was living 150 million years ago. The sex of a tree is a concern for many Ginkgo owners. Fruits from a female tree are extremely malodorous when they fall to the ground. The tree though, will not fruit until it is over 20 years old.
5. Male and female flowers are present on most cucumbers. Adverse weather conditions could prevent insects from pollinating the female flowers. This will result in poor misshapen cucumbers.
6. Corn is pollinated by the wind. Plant corn in blocks so that each ear is fertilized.
Red Wigglers at The Civic Garden Centre
by Barbara MacGowan
Guided tours at the Civic Garden Centre have taken on a new twist or should we say wiggle!!
To promote children s tours at the Centre and to inform the young people about home composting, we purchased one pound of Redworms to demonstrate Vermicomposting or composting with worms. Vermicomposting is the answer for balcony gardeners and winter freeze-up. These little wigglers are incredible garbage eaters that expel their own weight every day. Even a small bin will yield hundreds of pounds of rich, sweetsmelling compost. Finished compost can be harvested in as little as two or three weeks. Not only are worms great producers of compost, they are also extremely prolific. An egg takes about three weeks to hatch and about five weeks to mature enough to breed. Don t worry about overrun as other factors will control population. Worms will eat any type of kitchen waste including vegetables, fruit, coffee grounds, tea bags and egg shells.
The Civic Garden Tour Guides are developing a tour aimed at children from ages 8 - 11 and called Nature Recycles in Edwards Gardens. The tour is dedicated to making children aware of nature s way of recycling through visits to the natural decaying process in the woods and viewing man' s efforts at recycling through Bin Composting in the back yard and composting with worms in your basement.
LIST OF DONORS
Mrs. E. Hinder: Ruth E. Caston; Bernard T. Clarke; Mrs. J.F. Brooke, Mrs. C.G. Bishop; Alen McCombie; Mr. & Mrs. L.R. Douglas; Mrs. Susan Macaulay; Ronald W. Shaw; Mrs. Jean Hunt; Mrs. Grade MclLean; Mr. Robert Saunders: Ms. Toshi Oikawa; Mrs. Eric Hoffman; Roy Adachi; Marcia E. Knowles; Mr. Brian Bixley; Mrs. Anne Bawden; Mrs. Marilyn Cullum; Susanne Robson; Michael Laing; Edith Staples; D.A. De Nure; Frances Gilbert; Mrs. W.P. Wilder; William Nigh; W. Grant Ross; Alison Fryer; Anne Marie Van Nest; Miss Margaret C. Smith; Mrs. Peggy Norwood; Miss Barbara Adams; Mrs. Beth Kilner: Carl Brown; Mrs. Gertrude Middaugh; Ms. Ivana Drapal; Mrs. Jean Iron; Mrs. I. Gosart; Mrs. Herta Mathes; Marilyn Noell; Klaus Bindhardt; Marion Warburton; Mrs. Pamela Hallisey; Bettyann Archer Elliott; Dr. & Mrs. H.M. Taylor; Mrs. Shirley Young; Jane C. Taylor; Miss Margaret C. Smith; Patti Corbett; Mrs. Philip Jackson; Jack G. Barnett; Georgina MacLennan; Mrs. Pamela Furter; Mrs. Anne L. White; Alex R. Drummond; Emil D. Grahovac; Linda Low; Mrs. J.D. Bodley; Margaret Sharp; Mrs. June Knapp; Ms. L. Doyle; Miss Ruth Bolt; Helen Ohorodnyck; Mrs. J.W. Paul; Mary Chisholm; Adair Hope; Mr. William Young; Dr. M.F. Stewar; Miss J. Kerr-Lawson; Miss M.K. Davidson: Paul Smith; Mrs. Grace Neely; Dr. Blair Fearon; George H. Dority; Julia W. Harvie; Mrs. D.E. MacNeill: Mr. & Mrs. Ken McFarquhar; Sandi Sloan; Mrs. Marion Auburn; Mrs. D.S. Chant; Mary Shortt; Ms. Ruth Wiens; Grant Filson; Mrs. Amy G. Gunn; Mrs. Bayla Gross; Helen Craig; Mr. & Mrs. David Andrews; Mrs. Elinor Price; Mrs. Marjorie Madora; Miss Isabel Nortrop; Mr. Howard Nichols: Donald C. Miller; Mrs. G.S. Elliott; Avivah Goodbaum; Mrs. R.F. Hetherington; Mrs. Ann J. Watson: Mrs. Barbara Devitt; Mr. B.M. King; Konrad Radacz; Mrs. J. Roberts; Elsa Broder; Miss Mabel Geary; Mr. & Mrs. L. Swain; Phyllis Holmes; L. Lavina; Dr. & Mrs. Douglas Firth; Dr. & Mrs. G.M. Horne; Miss Sandra C. Peterson; Mrs. M. Killey; Mrs. Carol Rykert; Mr. & Mrs. R.W. Dunlop; Mrs. R.J. Helmstadter; June Rossall; Christine Ramsingh; Mrs. Margaret Aldworth; Miss Isabel Russell; Mrs. T.H. Murphy; Wan Kho; O.J. Muller; Mrs. C. Stewart; Alexandra Murray; Mrs. W.O. Twaits: Mr. & Mrs. D.A. Hargrove; Jane McLaughlin; Mr. & Mrs. John Dembeck; John Carroll; Mrs. Leslie Laking; Mary Anne Struk; Margarete Leiper; Marion Moore; Miss M. DeFreitas; Mrs. R.W. McMeekin: Miss Marion Nicholson; Alen McCombie; Mrs. G.W. Jacobi; Mrs. J. Reidak; Anne Chang; Mrs. Pleasance Crawford; Mrs. Shirley Gies; Louise Black; Anne Chang; Mary Carole Lant; Ronald W. Shaw: Mr. David Hamilton; Mrs. M.E. Bezoff; Michael Armstrong; Miss Joyce Leaver.
MEMORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Mrs. Elizabeth Messenger
ORGANIZATIONS AND FOUNDATIONS
Edwards Charitable Foundation gave a total of $47,974.21, a portion of which funded the Memorial lecture programme.
The sum of $32,646.00 was received from the Ministry of Tourism and Recreation Wintario Development Program to purchase computer equipment.
The Southern Ontario Unit of The Herb Society of America gave $500.00 to the Library.
Toronto Hobby Greenhouse donated $609.00.
DONATIONS TO THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE
Woods Gordon: Darrell Kent Real Estate Ltd.; Ridpath s Limited; York Printing House Ltd.; Unitype.
WE WISH TO ACKNOWLEDGE THOSE DONORS WHOSE GENEROUS SUPPORT DURING 1989 ENABLED US TO CARRY OUT CURRENT PROGRAMMES AND SET ASIDE FUNDS FOR FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS AND PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT. OUR THANKS GO OUT TO ALL DONORS AND VOLUNTEERS WHO HELP RAISE FUNDS.
Coming Events at the Centre
Ann
Registration Deadline: July 7,
Aug. 1,2,3 GREEN THUMBS CAMP
Children 8 to 11 years 9:30 am - 12 noon
Members $65.00 Non-members $75.00 and 1:30pm - 4:00pm
Summer Course on Basic Flower Arranging
Fulfill your artistic needs by taking this comprehensive course. The emphasis is on plants, both cultivated and wild, useful for flower arranging as well as for drying or preserving for future use. The first session is a lecture and demonstration showing the principals of flower arranging. Please bring a notebook and pencil. The following sessions are practical work. Suggestions on the type of plant material that you should bring will be made at the first session. Containers and mechanics are available at the Trellis Shop.
Registration deadline: July 6th
Fee: $45.00 members, $55.00 non-members
Time: 1 pm to 3 pm
6 week course on Tuesdays, July 10, 17, 24, 31, August 7, 14
Instructor: Pearl Wilby
""""" Please register me for Basic Flower Arranging 4045A ke Phone
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Anatomy of a Garden
by Janet Davis
Now that June has arrived and my garden has greened, | can once again gaze out the kitchen window without being cast into a state of shame and depression.
Having spent the winter poring through a two-foot stack of glossy garden books extolling the virtues of old stone walls, Irish yews and pleached hornbeams in small garden designs, | came to feel the symptoms of a new seasonal affective disorder related to Canadian winter: B.O.B. That s the acronym for bereft of bones , and that was the sad conclusion | came to whenever | gazed at my garden from December to March.
| consoled myself that the books were all British, that Irish yews would not survive winter north of the Carolinas, and that at least three of the gardens were managed by the National Trust. But | could not avoid the reality of what lay beyond my kitchen window. No bones. . . My predictable perennial perimeter in snowless midFebruary looked more like the deserted track at Daytona than a cottage garden in the Cotswolds.
When | first made my garden in 1984, planted in a feverish flush of fondness for perennials, not bones. Bones were expensive, even the kind of bones you find in swamp cedars, euonymus, and the dreaded Hick s yew. When wanted height, | wired pink clematis to the fence, planted 2-meter buff lilies, and tucked in tall white boltonia. But no bones. | convinced myself that putting in a row of kaempferi azaleas at the back of the border constituted structure. And in a fit of asceticism, | planted a few small hollies facing east. But bones they weren't. Cartilage at best.
| was a bloom junkie. | spent the next few years cultivating phlox of all colors, rare perennial geraniums, unusual campanulas, violets, single peonies, double balloonflowers and tetraploid daylilies. But bones were boring. Besides, my neighbors gardens embodied the Japanese notion of borrowed
scenery let them be my bones. Beauty bush, hydrangeas, paper birch, and an old apple tree grew in their yards, but formed a beautiful backdrop to my flower gardens a bone graft, if you will.
After six years of blossom bacchanale, I've decided that a garden must stand up to kitchen window observation twelve months of the year. I'm determined to take my floral hedonism in hand and work in some good Calvinist bones.
| know that to plant one Canadian hemlock, I'll have to displace three monkshoods, two heliopsis, and a lovely stand of daffodils, but if that is the price of structure, so be it. When | finish, there ll be gold and blue junipers, tawny colored arching grasses, lime green cedars, well-branched dogwoods and prim globes of Korean box. Oh yes. . And another small flower garden out of view in which to plant all the flesh that was moved to make room for the bones.
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Green Hedges for Privacy (fencing for all seasons)
by Bill Granger
Over the past years, I've lived at three corner houses and had to deal with decisions about how to screen off the private parts of the garden from the public parts of the streetscape. In all cases, the answer has been to grow hedges, and the following list of species and their characteristics might be helpful to others trying to screen some of their property in an attractive, living way.
Cedar Hedging The fastest-growing evergreen hedge, usually planted on threefoot centres, and allowed to grow together. The cultivars Thuja Techney and Thuja Holmstrup grow more densely and have better year-round colour than the native White Cedar, Thuja occidentalis. Cedar Hedges can grow up to twenty feet in height, and respond well to a yearly shearing. All hedges should be pruned to be more narrow at the top than the bottom, to allow sunlight penetration to all sections of the plant, and fed once or twice during the growing season. | prefer to feed hedges with organic mulch (compost) and| tried the new Loblaws Green fertilizer this year with excellent results. Wood chips or bark mulch over the entire root zone also helps to hold in moisture, reduces weeds under the hedge, and leads to better hedge growth.
Spirea This species is deciduous, but provides dense protection from passersby for eight months of the year, extremely attractive bloom in late May, and wonderful red-orange fall leaf colour. Even in winter, Cardinals, Chickadees and Juncoes will roost in this hedge to access a nearby bird feeder. Spirea ' Bridal Wreath is the most common species planted, and can be left to grow into a 10 foot wide and 15 foot high hedge, or sheared to a smaller size. If pruned, flowering hedges should be cut back hard, narrow at the top, following blooming and then left to grow until fall. The next year s blooms will occur on new growth produced the previous summer, and
fall pruning will reduce or eliminate this bloom. Plant on three-foot centres.
Beech - Usually Copper Beech, Fagus sylvatica Cuprea is planted on four-foot centres and sheared on the top and sides to create a narrow-topped, dense privacy hedge. If left alone, Beech can grow to sixty feet in width and eighty feet in height, but annual pruning in mid-June will keep a Beech hedge at six to eight feet in height. Mulching and fertilizing (organic) is also beneficial. Beech has a distinct advantage in that it retains dead leaves during the winter which provide a dense screen.
Hemlock An unusual hedge, planted on four-foot centres and pruned to form a dense evergreen screen, Tsuga canadensis, should be mulched and fertilized twice a year, and pruned to the desired shape yearly in mid-June.
There are many other plants that make fine hedges if dense screening is not required; for example, Yew (Taxus cuspidata) Honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica) and Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus) all do well in this climate. Clippings from any of these hedges can be re-cycled as instant mulch simply by blowing them under the hedge with a lawn mower or raking the clippings up and composting them for a few months, then returning them to the soil.
Whatever kind of hedge you choose for your property, you will have planted a living screen that is attractive to birds and to your neighbours, something that a fence rarely accomplishes. Labelled species of hedges at maturity can be seen at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton, in the Arboretum grounds.
Bill Granger is Director of Urban Design for the City of North York, as well as a Director of the Civic Garden Centre, the Canadian Wildflower Society and the International Society of Arboriculture, Ontario Chapter. He is also an avid natural gardener.
Volunteer Corner
by Carolyn Dalgarno
Spring was a very active time at the Civic Garden Centre. Jane Brown, Catch The Gardening Spirit, Pansy Sale, Easter Plant Sale, Hanging Basket Sale, Perennial Sale, Sale of Annuals, Garden Festival at the Home Show, Members Programmes, Out-of-Town Garden Tours and the daily functioning of the Civic Garden Centre required volunteers to donate well over three thousand hours.
| would like to thank all of the volunteers who made it possible for the Centre to accomplish so much. From behind the scenes organization to the working at each event, every volunteer hour was critical to the Centre.
In the fall, we have another season filled with exciting events that will require your help. Mistletoe Magic will need volunteers to put the show together and to staff it. The Mum sale will require volunteers as will other special programmes. Over the summer, consider how much time you can give and call us. As always, we need your help. The volunteers play an important part in making the Civic Garden Centre a very special place.
REMINDER THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE
MISTLETOE MAGIC
Work has already started on Mistletoe Magic 1990, planned for Nov. 1,2 and 3rd.
We need volunteers to knit mitts for our mitten tree. Wool and patterns are available on Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the volunteer room adjacent to Studio 3.
Share your specialty preserves with us. Cook an extra batch of jam, jelly or marmalade for Mistletoe Magic. Jars are available at the Civic Garden Centre or call Charlotte Smith at 444-4510.
Do you have a serger? We need volunteers to make the tablecloths for Mistletoe Magic. We supply the material. Please call us.
ART IN THE LINK
May 29th - June 11th Judith Welbourne Paper, Paper, Paper .
June 12th June 25th Phil Read
Reflections in Chinese brush painting
CATCH THE GARDENING SPIRIT
Catch the Gardening Spirit delighted the many gardeners and horticulturists present at the one-day event. This year the focus was gardening with perennials. The five speakers discussed a broad range of topics: the site from lawn to perennial bed; major perennials and companion groupings; new gardens for a new environment; designing with perennials; and dazzling effects with foliage. The day represents the culmination of hard work, ideas, and enthusiasm of four dedicated volunteers and one staff member.
Catalogue available on request
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENT e Dwarf Evergreens e ®Heathers ®Japanese Maples e e Merlin s Hollow English Flower Garden e Rhododendrons ® off Centre Street, Aurora
VINELAND
NURSERIES
Open on Saturday, May 12th
Saturday, July 7th
Sunday, July 15th
Between 10:00 am - 6:00 pm (416) 562-4836
Entrance Free
Plants & Seeds for sale
P O Box 98 ® Martin Road
Vineland Station, Ont. LOR 2EO
Botanical Illustration in Watercolour. September 24-28, 1990
The Civic Garden Centre is indeed fortunate in securing a teaching engagement with the highly accomplished English artist and popular instructor, Dorothy Bovey. Details and registration form will be available in the July/August issue of Trellis.
Niagara-on-the-Lake, thefirstcapitalofUpperCanada, rich in historyandarchitecture, is oneofthefew remaining historicaltownswhichallowus aglimpse of our past. The aim of The Niagara-on-the-Lake Conservancyis toprotectandpreserve its unique character forthe benefitofpresentandfuturegenerations.
GARDEN TOUR,
Saturday, June 23, 1990; 10 am to 5 pm
Spend a day visiting a selection of the fine gardens in Niagara-onthe-Lake. Some are large, some are small, some are elegant, some are rustic. All are charming and provide the opportunity to see another, more private side of the old town of Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Advice from Landscape Designer Penny Arthurs of the Chelsea Gardener, Toronto and Ingrid Riedke, Shaw Festival Head Gardener.
Tickets ($10) available from The Niagara-on-the-Lake Conservancy, PO Box 1582, Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario, LOS 1JO.
Support The Conservancy! For information and to register, call Sheena Miller, 416 468-3656 or Margherita Howe, 416 468-3328.
Sheffield Pride
A wide range of quality British garden tools to suit all needs and price considerations. Finished in attractive forest green and harvest gold livery. Prices from $34.95
SPADES AND FORKS
These tools have a polypropylene shaft with an alloy core to give both lightness and strength. Coupled with this their fully forged, hardened and tempered stainless steel heads, which have a mirror finish are rust resistant, easy to clean and ensure easy soil penetration enabling the gardener to dig in even wet or damp conditions.
HAND SHEARS
Available in both wooden and polypropylene handled styles both have hardened and tempered highly polished blades for strength, durability and easy cleaning. Blades are notched for the cutting of thicker stems up to 3/8".
LONG HANDLED SHEARS
Shears have tubular steel handles for strength, covered in PVC sleeves for weather resistance with mirror polished, hardened and tempered blades for strength and easy cleaning.
CULTIVATORS
The long handled tools have a PVC sleeving on aluminium tube which, with the cranked handle, provides a well balanced tool giving the perfect working height.
The trowel weedfork and planter have angled moulded polypropylene handles to ensure knuckle clearance . All heads are mirror finished, heat treated stainless steel.
Board of Directors
For 1990: Mrs. Cicely Bell, Mr. Stuart Gilchrist, Mr. Alan Grieve, Mr. Kenneth H.G. Laundy, Mrs. Heather MacKinnon, Mrs. Doreen Martindale, Ms. Laura Rapp.
For 1990 - 1991: Dr. Brian Bixley, Mrs. Georgina Cannon, Mrs. Martha Finkelstein, Mr. William Granger, Mrs. Bayla Gross, Mrs. Judy Lundy, Mr. Robert Saunders, Mrs. Robin Wilson.
For 1990, 1991 and 1992: Mr. Klaus Bindhardt, Mrs. Mary Anne Brinkman, Mrs. Luba Hussel, Mrs. Susan Macaulay, Mr. Victor Portelli, Representative of Metropolitan Toronto Parks and Property.
A CREATIVE LANDSCAPE BEGINS WITH A PLAN... AND JUST KEEPS GROWING!
Have your planting plan prepared by a professional landscape consultant who will visit your home. The Landscape Consultant will listen to your landscape ideas and provide a scale drawing of your new landscape that is it 8) easy to follow.
This service is available for only $50 per front and back yard ($100 for both) within our designated area. Fee is refundable with purchase of Weall and Cullen nursery plants valued at $500 or more ($100 refunded with a minimum $1000 plant purchase). Ask at your nearest Weall and Cullen location for more details. 8 LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU.
May we invite you o join us?
The Civic Garden Centre warmly welcomes new members. Join us, and you will make friends who share the same interest in gardening, the floral arts and horticulture that you do. In addition to the many exciting classes, garden shows, speakers, clubs-within-the-Centre, etc., that will be available to you, our membership fee entitles you to the following:
® Annual subscription to members newsletter ~ ® Free borrowing privileges from one of
e Discounts on courses, lectures Canada s largest horticultural libraries and workshops
* Discount on Soil Testing Service
* 10% discount on purchases over $10.00 et e S at the Trellis Shop. (Discount not available ~ ® Free Admission to the on sale items and some books.) Members Programmes
e Special local and international
® Access and discounts at special Garden Tours members day plant sales
APPLICATION
Mail to:
(PLEASE PRINT)
Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms
FOR MEMBERSHIP
The Civic Garden Centre 777 Lawrence Avenue East North York, Ontario, M3C 1P2
New Member
Renewing Member
Single Membership $2500
Family Membership $35.00 Gift Membership sl Donation, Tax deductible TOTAL
ADDRESS: APT.
POSTAL CODE
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METHOD OF PAYMENT
[J CHEQUE (Payable to the CIVIC GARDEN CENTRE)
[J VISA ] MASTERCARD
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