Gardening

Gardening in January

The snow that came early to Western Canada this fall hit southern Ontario through December with barely a break. This has offered a welcome insulating blanket to the perennial beds. Of course to the east and north of us they expect this kind of thing as a matter of course:

Rudyard Kipling penned that little limerick not knowing that this January it is going to be a trifle hotter in la belle province, at least come 23^rd of the month.

That is, if many have recovered from other, more certain seasonal excesses. Health researchers have now proven that not only is moderate alcohol consumption beneficial, but a drink a day keeps death away or at least delay it a while longer than teetotalers can expect to achieve. Still, there are always a few . . . Robert Benchley expressed the belief that the only cure for a hangover was death but most would prefer alternate routes.

According to Foster & Duke (1990), various plants have been resorted to by those in the rigours of such distress. Oil from the seeds of Oenothera biennis, evening primrose, Medicago sativa, alfalfa, Silybum marcanum, milk thistle and the root wild yam Dioscorea villosa have all been tried. Last years Richters Herb Catalogue, with perhaps more backing from science, suggests kudzu vine, Pueraria lobata. Extracts of this oriental invader to the southern U.S. in fact have been shown by researchers to prove effective in treating alcoholics.

It is probably too late for festive season celebrations, but a commercial preparation of Opuntia cactus is said to work wonders taken before partying. Something to think about when celebrating (or drowning sorrows) late on the 23^rd January.

Good advice from the City of Toronto: not only is it nice to clear your ice, better still, use clay-based cat litter or non-chloride products on paths and drives around your home and workplace. They mention pollution; we worry about poisoning plants in close proximity to such access ways.

Indoors, this seems to be working up to the winter of the mealy bug. Suspect something if houseplants big and small commence to succumb. Check out stems and foliage for obscene little waxy white critters. Closely related to aphids, they have the same disgusting habit of piercing the plant and sucking the sap. An old, if laborious remedy was to touch each insect with a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol. Spraying with natural-based insecticidal soap may also work, as also may enclosing the victim with a mothball or two in a plastic bag for a few hours. It is not PETA protests of cruelty to lepidoptera you have to worry over with the latter, though. Moth balls are plain poisonous to pets and children.

New plant names are so-o-o-o tempting. Miami Glow. So de la Renta, Orange County Choppers, Adrenaline. Exclamation! and Tsar all sound just great. But they are newly minted names for fragrances advertised on a Zellers flyer not plants. Nowadays though any goes and, unfortunately, frequently does.

How does Captain Kirk appeal you? It is a new hosta coming your way this season from an enterprising nursery. Then there is Dicentra, or bleeding heart, named wait for it - King of Hearts. How about a tickseed called Autumn Blush strike you? Well, actually, the plant is properly called Coreopsis, which sounds a whole lot better, now doesnt it?

Movies old and new seem to have been on the minds of the plant breeders. There is Dancing in the Rain, another hosta, a Scarlet OHara poppy, the stonecrop called Blade Runner, and a Braveheart mullein (!). Theres even a Heuchera called Fantasia.

These and more far, far more will be featured on literature available at this years Canada Blooms in March. You can hardly wait, can you? On to other items . . .

The first hard-copy catalog plops in the mailbox. Indeed that of Grimo Nut Nursery is the first, period, although we may have to thank the uncertain service of Canada Post for that. Nevertheless, just seeing Grimos telephone number lifts brings a smile: 1-905-YEH-NUTS. Youve got to have a sense of humour when your business is just nuts. And nuts it is with Grimo. American Chestnuts and Sweet Chestnut hybrids, Black and Persian Walnuts, Butternuts, Ginkgo, Hazelnuts, Heartnuts, Northern Pecans, Oaks (edible), Pine Nuts, Shagbark Hickories and Hicans© you may or may not have heard of.

They grow here, though, as can such fruit as Mulberries, Persimmons, Pawpaws and Figs. Yes, Grimo offers those too, along with nut kernels and such nutty items as books as well as harvesting and shelling machines. The catalog is available by mail for two letter mail Canadian stamps or $1. Or, better still, refuse Canada Posts cost, and visit www.grimonut.com.