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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 DigitalizedCharles 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, youll 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 didnt say that birds feasting on the berries leave purple droppings guess where?
by Wes Porter
Tuesday, June 6, 2006 Prior to heading out to work, the wise gardener knows there is no better way to prepare for those slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune than to take a stroll in the garden. A daily deadheading here, whacking a weed there doubtlessly did as much for the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon as it does for the rest of us mere mortals.
by Wes Porter
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 This, the third in our hothouse of horticultural limerick collections, continues amidst the usual groans and sneers from the churlish and cheers from aficionados. For, as the anonymous rhymester wrote:
by Wes Porter
Sunday, May 21, 2006 Laconia, says the desk encyclopedia, is a region of ancient Greece in the southern Peloponnesus or a city in central New Hampshire on the Winnipesaukee River, thus:
by Wes Porter
Saturday, May 13, 2006 There are at least 2500 different palms new ones are still being discovered in such places as New Guinea. So, as we promised last month, we would have to look at this enormous plant family on its own. Mostly tropical and subtropical, some grown at 10,000 feet altitude in the Andes of South America; a few are hardy enough to grow year-round outside in southwest coastal British Columbia.
by Wes Porter
Saturday, May 6, 2006 Sunday, 14 May is Mothers Day or Fete des Meres in la language other. Orchids are everywhere and rightly so. One authority claims that 25,000 different species of orchid have been identified--and the same number created artificially by crossing wild and domesticated forms.
by Wes Porter
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Froggy He Would A-Wooing GoLong before Kermit appeared on the scene, along with his porcine companion, kids were happily chanting about another allegedly amorous amphibian. Now not any more and we cannot wholly blame urban sprawl.
by Wes Porter
Friday, April 14, 2006 Peanuts, Arachis hypogaea, are also known as monkey nuts in Europe, groundnuts in UK and are not nuts at all. They grow underground on a plant belonging to the pea family. Although often seen more as a snack food or in confectionary in advanced cultures, in more primitive parts of the world, nut trees are still highly valued for a constant and reliable source of nourishment, whether wild or cultivated.
by Wes Porter
Monday, April 3, 2006
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.
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