Gardening Life articles from June 2001

Gardening Life archives from June 2001

Editor's notes.
June 1, 2001... Seems to me, these days, that everything new under the sun is anything but. Margaret Atwood wins the Booker prize for The Blind Assassin, a novel that invokes the stiff, stultifying Toronto of the '30s and '40s. The Oscar for Best Picture...

Editor's notes.
June 1, 2001... We're about to enter a new era in our gardening lives. This decade, we as Canadians will finally wake up to the reality of our water dilemma. Up to now, we've been the most blessed country in the world, given the amount of potable water...

Prehistoric pesticide (diatomaceous earth).
June 1, 2001... DIATOMACEOUS EARTH is made up of the fossilized skeletal remains of algae. The algae, also known as diatoms, obtained silica particles from lava flows and created sharp, spiny outer shells for protection. HOW DOES IT WORK? What is dust to...

Name that plant contest.
June 1, 2001... This spiky plant reaches a height of five feet (1.5 metres). Originating in the Mediterranean region, it grows best in a sunny location with rich, well-drained soil. Zones 7 to 10. Five winners will receive a $40 gift certificate from...

Best medicine (Royal Botanical Gardens add a medicinal garden).
June 1, 2001... If laughter were a plant, you'd be sure to find it at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton. In the RBG's newest addition, the Medicinal Garden, plants used throughout history for health and healing are arranged according to the body's...

Shop talk.
June 1, 2001... Twenty years ago, Robin and Betsy Denning made the switch from English agriculture to West Coast horticulture, moving to Vancouver to operate a landscaping company. Their passion for collecting new and unusual plants, along with customers'...

Grow tomatoes in a container.
June 1, 2001... 1 Find a spot that gets at least six hours of sun a day. Choose a terra-cotta pot or half wine barrel with a volume of four cubic feet, with drainage holes a half-inch (one cm) in diameter. Fill the container two-thirds with soilless mix...

Euphorbia.
June 1, 2001... Euphorbias are, hands down, among the best plants you can have in the garden. There are several species and many cultivars widely available. All are sculptural in form and sensual in texture; the foliage varies in colour. This beauty, called

Good bug.
June 1, 2001... flower fly or hover fly (Syrphidae family) profile Among the first insects to emerge in the spring are the shiny, black-and-yellow-striped flower flies. Most species are half an inch (one cm) long, with transparent wings and reddish eyes....

Ask Marjorie.
June 1, 2001... BIRCH CONTROL I park my car under the large birch trees on my property and it is constantly sticky with yellowy slime. Are my trees sick? --Greg Puley, Waterloo, ON Birch trees are tricky. They need to be planted where they'll...

Let's go exotic ... summer garden offers a passage to India and Africa.
June 1, 2001... AS A GARDENING GURU, I AM OFTEN ASKED, "What is the Next Big Thing?" Looking back over the past 15 years, you begin to see that fads come and go just as quickly in gardening as in everything else. We've been through the "pastel English...

Bring on the butterflies: a guide to attracting the lovely leading lights of the insect world to your garden.
June 1, 2001... PLANNING A BUTTERFLY GARDEN IS AN ENJOYABLE, INEXPENSIVE AND rewarding pastime. A butterfly garden can be as simple as a sunny window box full of nectar-rich heliotrope, zinnias, lantana and pentas, or as extensive as a border garden filled...

To do: Gardening Life's task list for June and July.
June 1, 2001... [] PLANT WHITE FLOWERS IN THE SHADE to brighten dark spaces. Try bleeding hearts (Dicentra formosa `Alba'), Japanese pieris (Pieris japonica), oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), rhododendrons and impatiens. The touches of white in the...

Marjorie way: watering wisely.
June 1, 2001... The first step in the responsible stewardship of water is to get on a meter. If everyone was on a meter, we'd all be watching our bills and stop all this foolish waste. Water is essential to every garden, of course, but we don't need...

Sprinklers: five beauties bound to make a big splash this summer.
June 1, 2001... GARDENERS RELY ON THE SPRINKLER TO ACT AS A BACKUP FOR MOTHER Nature; to provide enough moisture to the soil so that plant roots can easily absorb both nutrients and water. Generally, sprinklers are attached to a hose and distribute water...

Colour their world: in their celebrated garden and nursery ... transplanted Canadians Sandra and Nori Pope are revolutionizing the one-colour border.
June 1, 2001... IT WAS POURING RAIN LAST MAY WHEN WE VISITED SANDRA AND Nori Pope's garden and nursery at Hadspen House in Somerset in southwest England. Wet weather had alternated with brief flashes of sunshine all week as my husband and I toured as many...

Come to life ... as spring seques into summer, the gardener's life really is just a bowl of cherries.
June 1, 2001... The days get longer. The leaves get lusher. Busy little bees get busier still. Time, now, to enjoy the fruits (the flowers, the herbs, the veggies) of our labours. As spring segues into summer, the gardener's life really is just a bowl of...

Remembrance of things past: at Spadina, one of Toronto's most cherished historic houses, a grand parterre turns back time.
June 1, 2001... You approve of the tidy beds of annuals at the front door. You glide contentedly over the vast, flawless lawns under fine specimen trees to glimpse the expansive view of downtown Toronto. Then, like the young Anna Kathleen Austin, who grew up...

Tough love: on hardscrabble land in remote Atlin, British Columbia ... Maureen Morris and Archie Wiggins have managed to create a durable work of art.
June 1, 2001... "There are strange things done in the midnight sun," Robert Service observed. "The Northern Lights have seen queer sights." He might as easily have been referring to the antics of sourdough gardeners--mulching with squirrel duff, fertilizing...

Chilies: add fire to your fuel with red-hot chili peppers.
June 1, 2001... The Aztecs were fascinated by pain. Torture, self-mutilation and human sacrifice were part of the daily routine, a way of appeasing grim gods, and scarcely a meal was eaten that did not feature chilies. With corn, beans and sage, chilies were...

Avant-gardens: Quebec's International Garden Festival lives up to its billing as "a hotbed of new ideas".
June 1, 2001... QUEBEC'S REFORD GARDENS (LES JARDINS DE METIS) is well known for its traditional gardens created by Elsie Reford. An enthusiastic amateur horticulturist, Reford spent 33 years (1926 to 1959) cultivating her passion on 40 acres of heavily...

Digging his way in China: Graham Ware collects seeeds - and finds serenity - in remote North Yunnan.
June 1, 2001... MY BOTANICAL EXPEDITION TO YUNNAN, a small province in southwestern China, started in Seattle. A small group of plant lovers set out to collect seed under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. First up: a 13-hour flight across the...