Children's Gardening

Gardening Quiz to While Away Winter

You really, really like gardening? Spring arrives next month and with it the Canada Blooms show in Toronto. So take the test and find out if those are green thumbs . . . or an abominable black.

1. Facts to test your knowledge of cactus:
a. Cactus may cause prickly heat
b. May be crossed with citrus to create spiked orange juice
c. Prickle Canadians' fancy, where they grow wild from B.C. to Ontario

2. Garlic is:
a. A natural pesticide
b. A cure for cancer
c. Prevents attacks on gardeners by vampires

3. A perennial border is best described as:
a. A guest who overstays his/her welcome
b. The boundary between the U.S. of A. and the land of Milk and Maple Syrup
c. A garden perimeter bed for herbaceous plants

4. True or false? Bonsai:
a. Form of gardening favoured by Rick Moranis
b. Chinese art of growing trees in small containers
c. Japanese: bon (tree) sai (pot) as opposed to bansai, a tree about the commit hara-kiri

5. What is the provincial/state tree of:
a. Ontario
b. Maine
c. Michigan

6. True or false? Parsley:
a. Won't grow for a wicked woman
b. Long taproot makes it hard to transplant
c. Should be seeded outside on Good Friday

7. Modern eating apples originated in:
a. Western China
b. Caucasus
c. England, to make cider

8. Tomatoes are:
a. A fruit
b. A vegetable
c. A berry

9. What plants do these varieties belong to:
a. T. Rex
b. Green Fried Tomatoes
c. Captain Kirk

10. Goldenrod is erroneously blamed for causing hay fever. Which U.S. states nevertheless chose it as their floral emblem?
a. Kentucky
b. Nebraska
c. Alaska

Answers
1. c. there are cactus native to every province from Ontario west
2. a. mashed up with water, filtered and sprayed although some claims have been made for b. and c.
3. c. although the term “border” is often used to describe beds alongside paths, driveways, etc.
4. b. the art originated in China but was adopted by Japan from mainland Asia
5. White Pine Pinus strobus
6. b. the other two are folklore
7. a. Western China
8. It all is three: technically a fruit and berry, legally a vegetable, at least in the U.S.
9. Hosta
10. all three states