Gardening

The common European plant vervain (Verbena officinalis), is now found in many parts of the world, including waste places around North America. Another and very ancient name for annual is Herb of the Cross. The Crusaders believed that the plant sprang up at Calvary when the nails where driven into Christs hands. In medieval times people bathed in water containing the plant in an effort to foresee the future and have their wish come true, according to researchers Wee and Hsuan (1990). The plant was also used as a love potion, they note, as well as to ward off evil spirits and to prevent dreaming.

METRO CONVENTION CENTRE, TORONTO, Wednesday 8 March: Don’t delay – there are just four more days to get down to the 10^th Canada Blooms. Join crowds of other happy horticulturists in the pursuit of a natural nirvana at one of the continent’s most prestigious garden shows. There is much to see and do, but we came, saw and conceded that here are the ne plus ultra of an astounding display.

The incomparable English writer Roald Dahl had his take on spring‚s arrival as allegedly it does on 20th of the month. In his rhymed version of Hansel and Gretel in Rhyme Stew (1989), the parents prepare their perky progeny for a sylvan perambulation:
Gardening Quiz to While Away Winter
by Wes Porter
Wednesday, February 22, 2006

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.

Captain Kirk And Cabin Fever
by Wes Porter
Monday, February 6, 2006

According to the Chinese calendar, we have now entered the Year of the Dog. Mercifully, bush boosters have (so far) overlooked the opportunity to promote Cornus spp. as the "shrub of the year." For those not botanically blessed, Cornus are dogwoods. Interestingly, in Ontario, it is a municipal election year. In Toronto, local polls are trying to figure what Calgary has they that havent and getting the lead out.

Calgary, home of our new Prime Minister, has Chinooks.

Ottawa is better known for its schmuks. So before the Harpers move into 24 Sussex Drive--capital punishment indeed--the nation’s gnomes are frantically flushing numerous nooks and crannies. Their diligence is turning up some very strange reminders…

• Since growing GM plants is now illegal in Switzerland, it is feared that pharma and agrochemical companies will remove their research out of the country, said Bernard Schips, director of the Swiss Institute for Business Cycles. From the nation that brought you DDT.

• Denmark decides to tax farmers for growing GM crops at 13-euros per hectare. This is planned to compensate claimed contamination to conventional or organic crops growing nearby and no doubt provide employment to bureaucrats and NGOs. Perhaps the Danes would consider levying a similar tax on their military to compensate for their pollution of the High Arctic.
• Gardening in January
  by Wes Porter
  Monday, January 16, 2006
  

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:

The Mangroves of Mangal Cay

The mangrove forests of the world are making more news than ever before these days. Often destroyed to make way for shrimp farms or vacation ventures, recent studies demonstrated that some communities in coastal southeast India were protected from the December 2004 tsunami by just such mangroves. Communities either side of them not so protected were devastated.

Youre the apple of my eye though youre rotten to the core is claimed to be a song. If so, it must join that other oldie, Dont put the cat in the washing machine, mother, or you might get a sock in the puss. However, in salutation to Mom and apple pie, weve put together the following on the favoured fruit.

Pick up a paper this time of year and page after page, article after article, even special inserts advise on alleged gifts for your loved ones. But how about those preeminent people that fill the rest of the pages? Since gardening encourages long, physically and mentally healthy, happy lives entertainers, politicians and their ilk should be encouraged to indulge in the hobby of horticulture with a suitable seasons souvenir. Herewith a modest selection for such personages arranged in alphabetical order . . .

"Climate is theory," wrote Oliver Hereford. "Weather is a condition." So, let us talk about the latter. While November was warmer than what passes for normal, the merry meteorologists at Environment Canada expect December to be worse far worse, they say. Stand by for snow, and plenty of it. Could even be a white Christmas, they predict.

Oil from cashew nut shells is used in insecticides, brake linings, and rubber and plastic manufacture, a short item in the commuter newspaper Toronto Metro claimed. The milky sap from the tree is used to make varnish, the paper added, citing www.foodreference.com.

Snow again . . . we don't get your drift - U.S.: repeat it

Till hell freezes over - Canadian saying

Cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey - Canadian saying

Cold enough to freeze the ears of a brass monkey - Canadian say, 'polite' version of the above

Cold enough to freeze the knots off a pine - Canadian saying

I don't know whether I'm Angus or Agnes - Canadian saying: very cold weather

Soggy Science

The importance of wetlands is being increasingly emphasized. The keen gardener will know that many of our native orchids flourish in such areas and not in the garden. Unfortunately, so does the invasive purple loosestrife, an unwanted European immigrant. Even more threatening are those oxymoronically named developers.

Berries are back in. So are traditional themes. In fact, savvy seasonal stylists say the trend for this years Christmas celebrations will be the old time look.

Which is just as well for dwellers in the Great White North. Since the North Pole lies within Canadas borders, according to Tilley Edurables, Santa Claus is technically a Canadian. Santas will be big sellers for florists, predicted Carol Neshevich in Canadian Florist back last April (!), along with candy canes, reds and greens.

We can expect the first snowfall of the season during the last full month of fall, according to Global TVs meteorologist Michael Kuss, reporting for the Centre of the Canadian Universe a.k.a Toronto. As one of the notorious "met men" however, he surely knows that, on the astronomical calendar, winter commences on December 2, and will end on February 28, at least for southern Ontario.

Photosynthetic Animals

Youre pulling my leg--and animal that photosynthesizes? Permit us to introduce you to the protist Euglena.

A protist is a unicellular organism that derives its name from Greek very first. Formerly, the biological division Protista included all such. Now the euglena have joined most of the rest of us on the planet with a web site all of their very own.

A single robin may not make a spring, but just one lark is often responsible for a fall, so ‘tis claimed. And we certainly know fall is with us in fact and not just due to the movement of the sun when the powers that be decree a time change.

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