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Gardening
Australian Native Tree Seed
by Wes Porter
July 28, 2007
Don't be discouraged by the designation of this site. ‘Forestry and forest products' it is and yes, an annotated list of ‘Australian Suppliers of Tree Seed.' But even the briefest examination reveals that, besides trees for tropcial and subtropical forestry, there are many companies listed that also deal in Australian shrubs, wildflowers and grasses.
Mythological Horticulture
by Wes Porter
July 21, 2007
So the myths of the ancient Greeks, Romans and Norse have no relevance to modern man? What day of the week are you reading this?
The Tale of Cleopatra's Asp
by Wes Porter
July 14, 2007
In the fifth and final act of Shakespeare's immortal love story, Cleopatra defies Octavius to display her in Rome in the only way she can. Antony, lover, husband and father of her twin children, is dead by his own hand. She prepares to follow him. In the Bard's own stage direction, she speaks to an asp, which she applies to her breast.
June Gardening notes
by Wes Porter
July 7, 2007
According to William Baring-Gould in his classic The Lure of the Limerick (1968), Langford Reed wrote the following, "one of the most constantly quoted and misquoted":
Native Plant Nursery Goes Public
by Wes Porter
June 30, 2007
Last year, after 11 years as a successful wholesale nursery, Acorus Restoration also opened its doors to the public. If you are seeking a particular native plant and frustrated in your efforts to locate a local source, chances are that Acorus propagates it. Their catalogue list is little short of incredible, making for a fun browse at this site, which also includes a useful plant search feature.
What's for Dinner? Aboriginal Eats from Down Under
by Wes Porter
June 24, 2007
The native people of Australia, usually known as the Aborigines, have lived there for at least 40,000 years. Although perhaps more famous for enjoying eating things such as insect grubs, budgerigars and kangaroos, at least half their food came from plants.
Sansevieria Returns to Fashion
by Wes Porter
June 17, 2007
Fred and Ginger swirled and twirled through 1930s movies past background planters lush with tropicals. Prominent amongst these were the strangely angular upright spikes of Sansevieria. Beloved to RKO studio's greensman charged with supplying plants to the magnificent Art Deco sets from The Gay Divorcee of 1934 through five others to Carefree four years later, Sansevieria was the perfect architectural choice.
June Gardening
by Wes Porter
June 10, 2007
Even environmentalists grow tomatoes. It is everybody's favourite fruit -- except the U.S. Supreme Court for whom it is a vegetable, according to a ruling rendered in 1893 by Justice Horace Gray. Botanists have a better take. Scientifically it is a fruit, technically a berry, and the legal profession be damned.
Containers and New Plants
by Wes Porter
June 3, 2007
There are, it has been said, three primal urges in human beings: food, sex and gardening. Adam may have been the first gardener but lacked knowledge of pomology and we know where that got him. Containerized horticulture also dates fairly far back.
Many Happy Returns, Carl Linné
by Wes Porter
May 28, 2007
The scientific, or 'proper' names of plants are usually much the same as yours--in two parts. You have a first name and a family name. Plants get a two-part scientific name, genus and species. So you, like plants, have a binomial identification or binominal classification.
Cue in Kew
by Wes Porter
May 21, 2007
Gardeners outside the U.K. can empathize with Adam. As the Gates of the Garden of Eden clanged closed behind he, Eve and the sleazy serpent, he could only regret that never again would he set foot in those verdant hectares.
A Little Elderberry Whine
by Wes Porter
May 14, 2007
On a visit to Rideau Hall last fall, King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden requested they be permitted to plant a native elderberry. The National Capital Commission instead diplomatically suggested a white pine as a better choice. The reasoning was that our elderberry attains a mere 3.5 metres, hardly a regal height. Or did the NCC recall other, less savoury reasons?
May Gardening
by Wes Porter
May 7, 2007
Have the dogwoods stopped chasing the pussy willows? Finally, perhaps finally, the fickle weather has swung in the gardener's favour.
Achoo! Excuse My Asthma
by Wes Porter
May 1, 2007
"Excuse my dust" was Dorothy Parker's choice for an epitaph. When it comes to poplars, oaks, maples and other prolific pollen producers, it might make a good apology. And springtime is what it is all about.
Are There Fairies at the Bottom of Your Garden?
by Wes Porter
April 28, 2007
You might have heard someone quoting: "There are fairies at the bottom of my garden." Do such really exist? Fairies are, well, a fairy tale, according to Funk and Wagnall's International Dictionary: "An imaginary being, ordinarily of small and graceful human form, capable of working good or ill to mankind."
Golden Nematode, lawns, pesticides, environmentalists
by Wes Porter
April 21, 2007
Greenies may grit their teeth at the mere mention of lawns but their place in civilization seems assured. Unfortunately, in their eagerness to destroy everyone else's pleasure, environmentalists do tend to exaggerate if not outright lie a little.
Toad in the Hole & Bats in the Belfry
by Wes Porter
April 14, 2007
Once upon a time princesses kissed frogs but princes didn't talk to their plants. J. Thaddeus Toad squired it over Toad Hall with his friends water rat, badger and mole as described by Kenneth Grahame. Nocturnal flying mammals of order Chiroptera where wisely avoided, superstitiously known as ‘children of the night.' Active encouragement of such could lead you being described as having ‘bats in the belfry.'
April Gardening
by Wes Porter
April 7, 2007
‘Spring is here, I hear,' run the lyrics of Lorenz Hart. Or, as we become in Canada, full of fèves. Yes, but when will the danger of frost be over? Almost 40 years ago, Lois Wilson predicted that for Toronto it would be 23 April. In Chatelaine's Gardening Book of 1970, she relied on the Meteorological Branch of Transport Canada's Climatic Normals, Volume VI. The same source shows the first frost of autumn as likely arriving for Toronto 27 October. It would appear then that about a half-century ago the old adage of Victoria Day and the third week of September had already been badly outdated. And yes, that is the same Lois Wilson who is a leading light in the United Church of Canada. She also has a rose named after her. Gardeners do get around. Meanwhile, to the west in Michigan, the estimable Danielle R. Smith at Proven Winners® reflects that "we know spring is around the corner when garden shows come to an end."
Missouri Loves Company
by Wes Porter
Saturday, March 31, 2007
There are many reasons for visiting St. Louis. For gardeners, it is the location of one of the world's greatest botanical research and conservation institutions, and that is reason enough.
Washington's Cherry Trees
by Wes Porter
Saturday, March 24, 2007
In Japan, the cherry blossom is sakura. Viewing the cherished flowers is hanami, a much-beloved tradition amongst the Japanese. Such announces the arrival of spring. Entire families gather to admire the delicate blossoms, walking beneath the trees, enjoying entertainments and snacks.
Plant Names and Labels
by Wes Porter
Saturday, March 17, 2007
New varieties, cultivars and forms continue to shower down on the hapless horticulturist. A modest survey by Sarah Willis of Landscape Trades magazine and horticultural consultant Trevor Cole last November showed over 180 new perennials, annuals, roses and woody plants heading gardenwards this spring.
Bulbs to Turn On the Gardener and Then Some
by Wes Porter
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Is there anything new under the sun? Thanks to Dugald Cameron's Gardenimport catalogue business there certainly is -- 101 to be exact. The Spring 2007 issue features that number of new bulbs, perennials, shrubs, clematis and other climbers, plus other items too numerous to mention, as the saying goes. Well, not exactly, since we will take time out to mention some here.
March Gardening
by Wes Porter
Sunday, March 4, 2007
The plants sold prior to 17 March as "Irish Shamrock" are likely to be Oxalis. Since there are several hundred species, identifying which is something of a conundrum. Alfred Byrd Graf, one of the greatest experts on indoor ornamentals, has written that Oxalis oregana, a wood sorrel native from California to Washington was "sometimes sold as 'Irish Shamrock'." Hedging his bet, Graf also labelled O. deppel from southern Mexico as 'Lucky Clover.'
by Wes Porter
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
What leads lawyers to write fabulous fables? And why were they so interested in pumpkins? , Washington Irving (1783-1859), a New York legalist, penned The Legend of Sleepy Hollow but, being American and therefore sharing citizenship with the pumpkin, a peculiarly American fruit, he had some excuse. Perhaps he suspected his fellow legal eagles would not let him off so easily, though. His real name was Geoffrey Crayon. He only chose to write as Washington Irvine.
by Wes Porter
Monday, October 2, 2006
Peering blearily at the file of fall gardening chores one might query whether this, rather than spring, is the busiest time of the year for gardeners. "Sons of toil, covered with tons of soil," P.G. Wodehouse cast us as. That master of the metaphor could be right. Let us list, briefly at least, what will work off the pumpkin pies and other comestibles . . .
by Wes Porter
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Toronto City Hall--onstage as our resident gardening columnist see's it
Macmiller -- A Tragedy in a Single Act
A council chamber. In the middle, a boiling cauldron
Thunder, Lightning. Ringing Eructation. Enter the three Witches.
First Witch: Thrice the fat cats have wined
Second Witch: Thrice and once at the pig trough dined
Third Witch: Harper cries 'Tis time, 'tis time
All: Double, double, toil and trouble
Union raises reduce Toronto to rubble
by Wes Porter
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
It has been said that gardening is 20 percent science and 80 percent common sense -- and common sense is based on observation. But there are always at least a few questions that even if we extended our eyes on stalks like those of snails' it would still be hard to see the answer . . .
by Wes Porter
Thursday, August 3, 2006
In moist lightly shaded woods and close to swampy areas the pinkish-purple heads of Joe-Pye-Weed, Eupatorium, bloom this month. According to some sources, Joe Pye was a native aboriginal medicine man or shaman from the New England area. Wee Yeow Chin and Hsuan Keng say, however, that he was a 19th-century Caucasian ‘Indian theme promoter’ who used the root to induce sweating in typhus fever. It is sometimes available from garden centers and specialized native plant nurseries. Kept moist until well established, it is an attractive, no-nonsense perennial for the rear of the border.
by Wes Porter
Friday, June 30, 2006
Darwin Digitalized
Charles Robert Darwin was many things: naturalist, traveller, researcher, scientist, evolutionist, author, family man. However, one thing he did not excel in was penmanship. This despite his 16 books, 350 scientific papers and more than 80,000 pages of notes
by Wes Porter
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Garlic Mustard sounds like something out of science fiction. Or maybe it could be featured in one of those ads offering herbal bliss the natural way. Well, it is natural all right. And, if you are a sci-fi fan, you’ll be delighted to known it is a genuine bona fide alien. Not an invader from outer space though but from Europe — those having encountered the pesky weed often opine there is not much difference. Now it turns out there are worse problems than its invasive properties.
by Wes Porter
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Proven Winners® Color Choice® offers 50 spectacular shrubs for this season. This includes the Sambucus ‘Black Lace’™ that, they say, is "the plant for the passionate gardener." Lacy-leaved, with purple-black foliage, the pink flowers are followed by reddish-black berries that "can be harvested for making elderberry wine and jam, or left on the plant to attract birds and other wildlife." Funny they didn’t say that birds feasting on the berries leave purple droppings — guess where?
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