Canada's Local Gardener Vol 3 Issue 4

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Issue 4

Official English Language Magazine

2022 • 1

WEST NILE VIRUS

What you need to know to protect yourself and your family What are the symptoms?

When is the risk highest?

• A severe case of West Nile virus (WNV) can be life-threatening and may result in long-term disability.

• The risk of WNV infection is highest during late June, July, August and early September.

• Some people develop an illness with symptoms such as fever, rash, headache, fatigue and body aches.

• Most people infected with WNV have no symptoms and do not become ill.

Who is at risk?

• Everyone is at risk of coming into contact with the virus.

• Severe illness most often occurs among older adults or people with chronic health conditions or weakened immune systems.

However, severe illness has occurred in all age groups.

• The risk varies from year to year based on temperature, precipitation, mosquito population and other factors.

How do I protect against WNV? • Reduce the time you spend outside between dusk and dawn.

• Apply an appropriate mosquito repellent.

• Wear light-coloured, loose-fitting clothing with long sleeves and pant legs.

• Get rid of standing water around your home.

• Make sure your door and window screens fit tightly and are free of holes.

For more information, visit our website at manitoba.ca/health/wnv. For questions about WNV health concerns, contact your doctor or call Health Links – Info Santé at 204-788-8200 (in Winnipeg); toll-free 1-888-315-9257.

2 • 2022

Issue 4

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Contents volume 3

Canada’s local Gardener

ISSUE 4, 2022

On the cover: A whimsical frog and butterfly from Ginette and Philippe Pichette’s garden.

46

52

58

Daisies..........................................................................6

Houseplant: Jade.......................................................30

In the garden after dark...........................................10

Keeping a no-tech pond...........................................34

The finest glasshouses money can buy..................12

The Shakespearean Gardens of Stratford, Ontario.... 36

Wildflower or weed: Black medick...........................15

Meconopsis, the beautiful blue poppy....................39

Powdery mildew........................................................16

Garden report............................................................40

Raspberries................................................................18

My own lost garden..................................................44

Tiny trees....................................................................20

Beautiful Gardens:

Work smarter, not harder!.......................................24

Maxine Panchuk and Matthew Jacoby, Saskatoon.... 46

Gardening for the greater good...............................26

Ginette and Philippe Pichette, Levis, Quebec........52

Garden climbers........................................................28

Eileen Boyd, Berwick, Nova Scotia.......................58

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2022 • 3

Happy summer, gardeners of Canada!

H

appy summer, gardeners of Canada! Here’s a burstingat-the-seams issue to fill your mind while it’s too hot to garden, or too dark, or just when you need a break.

For plants, we have stories on raspberries, vines and small trees. The raspberry story will help you figure out when and what to prune with these wonderful, delicious fruits. Dorothy looks into just what makes vines climb. And Michael Rosen considers some of the smaller trees you have to choose from in your yard. I’ve written a story on daisies and the many flowers that go by this common name.

There is also a story on the houseplant jade and on the weed or wildflower called black medick – you know, that little yellow flower with the dark black seeds that grows in cracks in your sidewalk? There is another story on powdery mildew and what to do about it.

Sherry Hayes has written a story about animal species at risk and what we, as gardeners, can do. And I’ve looked into putting in a pond without pumps or filters, as Robert Pavlis has written about in his book Building Natural Ponds; the key is the plants and fish you put into it.

We have a piece about the Shakespearean Gardens in Stratford, Ontario by Janet Markus and Reg White; you can get the abridged version here and look at the full version on our website. We have another abridged story with the full version on our website; this one is by Laurent Dubois, whose family spent a year recording all their time working on their vegetable garden to determine how much they’ve saved and what their labour is worth. It is enlightening!

Maggie Connell has written about how she manages her gardens outside of Fredericton by being smart instead of working too hard. And there is a story about enjoying your garden after dark, with all the strange and wonderful things that happen there.

There’s a piece by Judy van Rhijn about revisiting the garden at her family’s old house in Guelph, Ontario to save some plants before the whole thing was dug up for construction. And, of course, there are three stories from our visits to three gardens: the Panchuk garden in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the Pichette garden in Levis, Quebec, and the Boyd gardens in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia.

There is one more thing I want to mention, only partly garden related. Dorothy Dobbie, the president of Pegasus Publications and my mother, is having the honour of the Order of Canada bestowed on her. She has spent her lifetime working tirelessly in business and in the public sphere, including as the President of the International Peace Garden (currently) and as Chair of Tree Canada (past). I am as proud as any daughter could be.

Shauna Dobbie Editor shauna@pegasuspublications.net 4 • 2022

Canada’s

Local Gardener Follow us online https://www.localgardener.net Facebook: @CanadasLocalGardener Twitter: @CanadaGardener Instagram: @local_gardener Published by Pegasus Publications Inc. President/Publisher Dorothy Dobbie dorothy@pegasuspublications.net Design Cottonwood Publishing Services Editor Shauna Dobbie shauna@pegasuspublications.net Art Direction & Layout Karl Thomsen karl@pegasuspublications.net General Manager Ian Leatt ian.leatt@pegasuspublications.net Contributors Eileen Boyd, Maggie Connell, Dorothy Dobbie, Shauna Dobbie, Laurent Dubois, Sherry Hayes, Janet Markus. Ryan O’Neil, Kevin Petrie, Michael Rosen, Reg White, Judy van Rhijn.

Editorial Advisory Board Greg Auton, John Barrett, Todd Boland, Darryl Cheng, Ben Cullen, Mario Doiron, Michel Gauthier, Larry Hodgson, Jan Pedersen, Stephanie Rose, Michael Rosen, Aldona Satterthwaite, and Trudy Watt.

Advertising Sales 1.888.680.2008 Subscriptions Write, email or call Canada’s Local Gardener, 138 Swan Lake Bay, Winnipeg, MB R3T 4T8 Phone (204) 940-2700 Fax (204) 940-2727 Toll Free 1 (888) 680-2008 subscribe@localgardener.net One year (four issues): $35.85 Two years (eight issues): $71.70 Three years (twelve issues): $107.55 Single copy: $10.95; Beautiful Gardens: $14.95 150 years of Gardening in Canada copy: $12.95 Plus applicable taxes.

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Canada’s Local Gardener is published four times annually by Pegasus Publications Inc. It is regularly available to purchase at newsstands and retail locations throughout Canada or by subscription. Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted. Publisher buys all editorial rights and reserves the right to republish any material purchased. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without permission in writing from the publisher.

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2022 • 5

Daisies

By Shauna Dobbie

English daisies.

W

hen I was a kid, I thought one flower everyone knew was the daisy, which in my mind had a yellow eye surrounded by white petals you could use for counting “he loves me, he loves me not….” In a way I was right. But since becoming a gardener, I’ve learned that “daisy” is just the name given to a shape of flower and that, if you live in Canada, any kind of daisy has an adjective as part of its name.

English daisy, oxeye daisy, Shasta daisy, marguerite daisy. (In England, English daisies are just daisies.) There are also gerbera daisies and African daisies and many more, I’m sure.

In general, a daisy is a member of the family Asteraceae (used to be called Compositae), which is a very large family that is rivalled only by Orchidaceae, or orchids. Nobody knows which is larger, though you’ll

6 • 2022

A disc floret is the eye, made up of many small flowers, as with this sunflower.

see claims for one or the other.

Asteraceae includes such diverse plants as dandelions, sunflowers and yarrow, but the family are distinguished by disc florets. The disc floret is the eye, made up of many small flowers. Many Asteraceae also have ray florets, which people tend to consider the petals. In fact, they’re Issue 4

also tiny flowers with a strappy petal.

There are more members of the daisy family that have yellow disc and ray florets, so many that Gertrude Jekyll used to refer to them as DYC, or “damn yellow composites”. We’re going to ignore them for this story, as well as the white gerberas and whitish African daisies (Osteospermum) because they are clearly other plants.

It takes a more educated eye to spot the difference between oxeyes and marguerites, the white and yellow flowers covered below.

English daisy Horticulturally called Bellis perennis, these little beauties are easy to tell from other daisies in situ. They are shorter and grow on creeping rhizomes, rarely getting to 6 inches high. Some sources say they are perennial, others biennial but selfseeding. (One source says they are localgardener.net

Photo by H. Zell.

Oxeye daisies.

“perennial but grown as biennial”, whatever that means; a biennial is a plant that grows leaves and roots the first year and then flowers and sets seed in the second year.)

Hailing from Europe, the species invades well-kept lawns as a weed, with the growth habit of dandelions: when you mow it, it blooms on shorter stems to avoid the blades next time. It is naturalized across Canada except for the prairies. I have never noticed it growing wild in Toronto or anywhere I’ve been in Ontario through the spring and early summer,

though. It isn’t fussy about soil type or pH and will grow in partial shade to full sun.

The foliage grows close to the ground in a whorl of spoon-shaped leaves with each bloom on a single stem. More often you’ll see cultivars of English daisies, which tend to be doubled and range from pink to red to white. If you like them (I do), plant them in early spring and expect to replace them yearly.

Oxeye Leucanthemum vulgare is a perennial that inhabits wild areas and

Letters to theFOeditor REST

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An illustration received from Ryan O’Neil. Check out more artwork at www.rostudios.com.

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range land across Canada. It came over from Europe and found itself quite comfortable here, with a shallow root system that reproduces the plant vegetatively through creeping rhizomes and thousands of seeds per plant that can lie dormant for years before deciding to germinate. Many people consider it invasive.

Cattle would rather eat other plants, which is good, because when they eat oxeye daisies their milk tastes off.

People can eat it, but it is not especially flavoursome. It has been used to treat bronchial issues and for healing

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Invasive species threaten Manitoba’s trees.

The emerald ash borer and other insects live in firewood. When firewood is moved between locations, so are the insects.

One log can kill a million trees.

Learn more at: Manitoba.ca/stopthespread

D OF SPREA

MOVE DON’TWOOD E FIR E VA S IV T IN F O R E SP E C IE S S

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2022 • 7

Photo Courtesy of Proven Winners.

‘Pure White Butterfly’ marguerite daisy.

wounds, though there are no good studies proving its usefulness; in fact, it is known to cause contact dermatitis in those who are susceptible.

It grows in well-draining soil with flowers reaching to 2 feet high on stems with a toothed leaf every few inches. If you want to cultivate it, give it plenty of water but don’t feed it, not even compost; this baby is used to fending for itself. You can either dig it from the wild after it finishes flowering or look for it at a nursery, but be warned, if it is happy it will spread.

Also, why not plant Shasta daisies instead?

Marguerite Argyranthemum frutescens is the official name of the marguerite, though marguerite often refers to other daisies. It is a tender perennial, and you may find it, or some cultivar 8 • 2022

Shasta daisy cultivar ‘Crazy Daisy’.

Scan me Get the full story on the hybrids that make up Shasta daisy here. http://www.lutherburbank.org/about-us/shasta-daisy

of it, at the garden centre as an annual.

It will grow as high as 2.5 feet and bloom all season in a full-sun garden, more so in the spring and fall and if deadheaded. In its homeland of the Canary Islands it grows as a subshrub and the flowers are borne on branches, poking through masses of thread-like foliage. It is a very rewarding annual to have.

Issue 4

Shasta Leucanthemum x superbum was made for gardeners. It was hybridized in 1890 (through many generations of other daisies) in California; its name was inspired by the white snow on Mount Shasta. Since then, many cultivars have been developed in a few heights and colours, with varying shape and distribution of petals. They are usually listed as hardy to USDA Zone 4, but I’ve seen them thriving in lower zones.

Shasta daisies are all-summer bloomers in full sun, requiring average soil and water conditions. The height varies by variety, but usually comes in around 2 feet. The one problem to watch for is that some varieties, particularly older ones, are inclined to self sow with abandon and become invasive. V localgardener.net

Taxonomy

Orders, families, subgenera… what does it all mean?

T

hese are just classification levels biologists use to describe living things. The more you know about it, the more it sheds light on the organism at hand. The less you know about it, the murkier it can make things.

Here’s a quick hitlist.

Kingdom: All living things are in this category, which includes animals, plants and four other things: bacteria, protozoa (single-celled organisms), chromista (includes algae) and fungi.

Division: This level is called phylum in animals. There are about 14 divisions in the plant kingdom. We deal mostly with Magnoliphyta, which is the flowering plants. Sometimes we look at Polipodiophyta, or ferns; Pinophyta, or conifers; and very rarely, Cycadophyta (cycads), and Ginkgophyta (ginkgo).

Class: For our purposes, there are gymnosperms and angiosperms.

Gymnosperms are woody plants that produce “naked seeds” and angiosperms produce seeds covered in an ovary. These are sometimes further broken down into two subclasses, which are dicotyledons and monocotyledons. Dicot seedlings have two seed leaves and monocots have one.

Order: The order of plants is the section that comes between class and family and ends in -ales. There are often subclasses and superorders above orders.

Family: These names all end in -aea.

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Lilium is not Hemerocallis.

Hemerocallis is not Lilium.

Sometimes a plant family is recognizable, as with brassicas, or Brassicaceae.

Sometimes it is less so, as with Rosaceae, which includes roses, apples and Lady’s mantle.

Genus: This level is one that gardeners need to know if you’re interested in hearing that a daylily is not a lily, which will give you some understanding that the lily leaf beetle doesn’t attack daylilies, for example. A daylily is in the genus Hemerocallis and a lily is in the genus Lilium. The plural of genus is genera.

Species: The other level that gardeners need to know. The genus and species together are used in the binomial nomenclature of plants. They are Latin and written in italics because they are in a foreign language. The genus name

is capitalized and the species name isn’t.

The species name – or specific epithet – usually describes the individual plant in some way. For example, think of the huge genus Campanula, or bellflowers. There is Campanula carpatica, where carpatica refers the Carpathian Mountains in Europe, where the flower comes from. With C. glomerata, glomerata means that the flowers are clustered at the top. C. persicifolia, the specific epithet means peach leafed, though that is only helpful if you know what peach leaves look like.

Variety: Or cultivar. This is the name following the italicized binomial name and it is placed in single quotation marks. In this magazine, we put trademark names in single quotes as well.

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2022 • 9

In the garden after dark

10 • 2022

Photo by Judy Gallagher.

T

he light gradually fades, the heat of the day subsides and as darkness falls, the garden becomes a place of magic.

Now is the time for the luminosity of flowers in pale blues and whites to come into their own, shining against dark foliage and hotter colours.

Sound changes. It is suddenly quieter because sound waves move more slowly in cooler air, but sound also transmits farther at night, so you might hear the voices of neighbours in a garden a few houses away that you would never hear during the day.

You will also notice floral perfumes. Night blooming flowers are doing their best to attract pollinators that fly at night. What blooms then? Nicotiana, four o’clocks, angel’s trumpet, moonflower, and evening stock. Petunias send out puffs of scent at dusk and the common dame’s rocket or sweet rocket has a lovely violet perfume.

These flowers attract the enchanting large flying insects from the Sphingidae family, often called hummingbird moths, sphinx moths or hawk moths – there are several species. It doesn’t matter which one you attract (one emerges from the tomato hornworm), they are all quite beautiful and can often be seen at dusk flitting among your flowers.

In some areas you might see bats, and people will install bat houses to bring these excellent pollinators to their gardens.

Particularly in Eastern Canada but seen in rural areas on rare occasions elsewhere, including British Columbia, fireflies can light up the night in a spectacular way.

There are even bees that are nocturnal.

A long list of owls hunt and fly at night and even a few songbirds can put on a night time chorus – certainly there are many, many songbirds that love to start the day at dawn!

Take advantage of the night garden Delightful night-time effects can be created using lighting and imagination. The creativity-challenged can find a wide array of lighting possibilities online or at the local garden

By Dorothy Dobbie

Hummingbird moth is a common nocturnal visitor.

Barred owl at dusk.

or hardware store. Go beyond the typical fairy lights. Think about up-lighting to highlight a beautiful tree or some other outstanding feature of your garden, or downlighting to illuminate a walkway without blinding the visitor’s eyes.

Nor must you rely on commercial products. Candles still do a very good job. If you live in a windy area, you may need some sort of vessel to contain them. It could be something as simple as a mason jar or a used jam or pickle container . . .you get the idea.

Issue 4

I would choose tealights over big expensive wax factories as they are easier to maintain, go out by themselves after a few hours and are inexpensive. You will be surprised at the effects that can be created with some ingenuity. A paper cutout pasted on the outside of the jar can cast amazing light patterns on its surroundings, for example. Punch holes in a pattern in a tin can. For a party, float tea lights in a birdbath.

Or do nothing and enjoy the moonlight. Soak up the stillness until you can hear the skittering of localgardener.net

A single candle casts a lot of light in the dark.

nocturnal animals in the garden around you. And, as my friend Mr. Tomato tells me, if you listen hard enough, you may hear a leaf unfurling or a new shoot emerging from

O

Mosquitoes

ften folks miss the magic of the garden after dark because they rush inside to avoid mosquitoes which enjoy the cooling air as the sun goes down.

Mosquitoes don’t like the blazing sun (it can dehydrate and even kill them). They will retire to the shade during the heat of day.

They reappear at dusk but don’t worry – use some repellent because, depending on the species, they often taper off as the evening wears on, then reappear at dawn.

Remember that only the females bite. And they can bite up to 20 times to find the right blood supply.

The males emerge first and are only looking for nectar – and females, who also don’t need your blood until after they have mated when they require the protein to help their 300 or so eggs to develop. After they have mated, they look for a mammal to feed on – not just humans, but other mammals and even frogs and snakes.

They find their victims through sensing devices that include the ability to detect the kind of animal they localgardener.net

the ground. He swears that these sounds are audible in the night. If you do hear them then you have truly captured the magic of the garden after dark. V

are going to bite, they can detect the carbon dioxide you breathe out and chemicals in perspiration.

Females buzz at a higher pitch than males. While males live only a couple of weeks, females can live for over a month, and some hibernate over winter as larvae.

To reduce mosquitoes in your yard, add Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) to still water such as bird baths, rain barrels or ponds to keep eggs from hatching. You can buy pucks at the garden store. Empty any containers after a rain. And, it is helpful to know that mosquitoes don’t like the smell of garlic.

Issue 4

2022 • 11

The finest glasshouses money can buy

Bespoke Glasshouse in Wisconsin, USA.

H

artley Botanic is an English Greenhouse and Glasshouse manufacturer based in Greenfield, Lancashire. The company was founded in 1938 by brothers Vincent (RHS fellow) and Norman Hartley following their ground breaking aluminium Greenhouse design, the first time (to our knowledge) aluminium had been used in Greenhouse construction and marking a huge improvement on its wood and wrought iron Victorian forerunners.

The crème de la crème of the Greenhouse world, every Hartley Botanic Glasshouse is handmade to your exact requirements, using the finest materials with unparalleled durability, safety and beauty. The manufacturer has been making its beautiful and elegant handmade, made-to-order horticultural buildings for over 80 years and is so trusted, that its entire product range is endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society. It is the Greenhouse manufacturer of choice for leading horticulture organizations, institutions and designers in the UK and worldwide. Over the years Hartley Botanic has been commissioned by the Royal Horticultural Society, the National Trust, Kew Gardens,

12 • 2022

Victorian Villa in Sweden.

Glasgow Botanic Gardens, Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Oxford Botanical Gardens, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Blenheim Palace, The Lingholm Estate and Hampton Court Palace… to name a few.

Greenhouse products Hartley Botanic’s Greenhouses and Glasshouses are all made to order and range from small patio models to imposing Glasshouses. Designs are available from three product ranges Issue 4

(Victorian, Heritage and Modern) or customers can create a totally bespoke design, with all models available in a variety of colours and sizes, along with options for ‘glass to ground’ installation, free-standing or lean-to and internal glazed partitions. Standard for every Hartley Botanic Greenhouse and Glasshouse are: • 30 year ‘lifetime’ guarantee which covers both the structure and installation localgardener.net

• Bespoke solutions to suit particular horticultural requirements • Full installation service or choice of self-assembly for select designs • Polyester powder coated paint finish • Single glazing in BS6206 tempered safety glass • Glazing in individual frames • No glass to glass or glass to metal contact in glazing • Unique clear span roof design (no internal support to impede space)* *not relevant to the Patio Greenhouse Why Hartley?

Unrivalled. Unparalleled. Unique.

There are Glasshouses, and there are Hartley Botanic Glasshouses.

Combining inspired design with enduring quality, nothing quite enhances your garden like a Hartley Botanic. The manufacturer prides itself on five key pillars of service which sets it apart: 1. Beauty and elegance The incomparable range of simply beautiful and elegant structures means Hartley Botanic can create designs that are distinctive and unique. The breadth of its range means customers don’t have to go anywhere else to find the widest range of beautifully crafted, high-quality Glasshouses.

2. Structurally superior Every Hartley Botanic Glasshouse is handmade to customers’ exact requirements. They are made of the finest materials with unparalleled durability, safety and beauty.

All of their sections have a structural purpose. They never take short cuts by ‘sticking’ aluminium to glass for aesthetic reasons. They are so confident of the structural integrity of their Greenhouses, they offer a Lifetime Guarantee.

3. A reputation beyond compare Hartley Botanic’s brand heritage and reputation has been built on trust for over 80 years. Hartley Botanic has earned an unrivalled reputation for crafting the finest Glasshouses and Greenhouses money can buy through the very highest standards of hardwon experience, craftsmanship and service.

4. Unrivalled knowledge and expertise With a wealth of knowledge and expertise built into every Hartley Botanic Glasshouse, generations of customers have put their trust in the hands of the manufacturer’s expert, time served, highly skilled craftsmen. localgardener.net

Modern Magnum Opus in Gloucestershire, UK.

Tradition 10 Planthouse in Shropshire, UK.

Hartley Botanic creates Glasshouses of distinction from decades of knowledge and care.

5. Exceptional delivery of service Once an order has been handmade to customers’ personal requirements, and to Hartley Botanic’s exacting standards, the delivery and installation will be exceptional. The proud team at Hartley Botanic are there to ensure the process runs smoothly, providing customers with the information they need and keeping them up to date throughout. V Issue 4

Scan me Check out Hartley Botanic greenhouses here.

https://hartley-botanic.com

For more information please visit our website www.hartley-botanic.com or call 781-933-1993.

2022 • 13

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14 • 2022

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Wildflower or weed:

Black medick Photo by Macleay Grass Man.

By Shauna Dobbie

Medicago lupulina flower heads.

Photo by Atubeileh.

H

ave you seen this plant? It blooms with tiny yellow flowers that turn into little seeds as black as coal. It has been noted to be an annual, biennial and short-lived perennial, and it is reported to reproduce only by seeds, though experiments indicate that it is possible to cultivate it vegetatively. It originated in Europe and western Asia, but unlike so many other plants, it didn’t come to North America on purpose as an edible or ornamental; it seems to have sneaked in as forage or crop seed.

For its common name, black comes from the seeds, and medick comes from its perceived place of origin, which was Medea, a part of Iran.

The Latin name, Medicago lupulina, is similar. Medicago refers to Medea and lupulina means wolf-like.

The plant trails along the ground for up to 1 or 2 feet with clover-like leaves along the stem. The flowers come in clusters, and if you look close-

An entire uprooted Medicago lupulina.

ly at them, you can see that this is a member of the pea family. It grows in poor soils on roadsides and lawns that are frequently trod upon. The black seeds are actually pods, each growing a single seed that is amber in colour.

Both the seeds and leaves are edible but not especially pleasant. The leaves are quite bitter, but they are 25 percent protein. The flowers are appreciated by pollinators because they are full of nectar.

As a legume, it fixes nitrogen in the soil, and that is its key virtue. If it’s on the roadside, who cares. But if it’s in your lawn, that is a sign that your

lawn needs some care. Or it may need a little less care if you are inclined to keep the grass very short. Turf grass is healthier if you keep it around 3 or 4 inches.

In terms of getting rid of it, you can if you want. The quickest way is to pull it when it’s in flower. It won’t give you much of an argument.

Longer term, try improving the soil that it is growing on. This way, other plants you do want to grow will take over and any remaining black medick seeds will remain in the ground, waiting for their chance to take over again should the soil become poor. V

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204.790.5234 trees@greendrop.com 2022 • 15

Powdery mildew

By Dorothy Dobbie

P

owdery mildew is that white coating that can attack plant leaves, stems and even fruit and it can weaken or even kill the plant in extreme cases. It is a flat coating that can occur in spots or covering the whole leaf or stem.

It may seem counterintuitive, but powdery mildew thrives in warm, dry weather when the spores can travel freely on the wind. It does even better when combined with cool and humid nights. When the whole day is rainy and cool, spores can’t germinate because they need just the right amount of sunlight.

In areas with very cold winters, spores will be killed unless protected by debris or in the soil, so be sure to clean up infected foliage in fall.

Powdery mildew specializes in certain plants so doesn’t spread to those outside its chosen family. Not that this is much comfort if your squash or tomatoes are suddenly attacked.

The signs of powdery mildew.

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Issue 4

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Preventatives and treatments The quickest cure in the earliest stages is to remove and carefully dispose of any affected leaves or stems. Then diligently treat with a preventative, a number of which you will find in the sidebar to this article.

What you want, ultimately, is to avoid having powdery mildew attack at all. Look for varieties of plants that are mildew resistant. For example, beebalm is a favourite victim, but the variety ‘Marshall’s Delight’ has been bred to resist powdery mildew and it does so quite successfully.

Be sure there is enough air circulation between plants.

Once mildew has attacked, you can use the recommended remedies but be sure to cover the entire surfaces in including the stems and the undersides of leaves. Don’t stop at just one application. Apply every few days to ensure there are no new infections. V

• Baking soda solution: Mix 1 tablespoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon liquid soap (not detergent) in 1 gallon of water. Spray on all affected areas. Good preventative measure and can stop existing powdery mildew.

• Milk: Mix one part milk to two to three parts water and spray. It works well on zucchini, melons and cucumbers. Natural compounds in the milk combat the disease and boost the plant’s immune system.

• Powdery mildew fungicide: Use sulfur-containing organic fungicides as both preventative and treatment for existing infections. Ask for them at your favourite garden centre.

• Hydrogen peroxide: Mix one part drugstore hydrogen peroxide (3.9 percent) to nine parts water to kill spores and spray on infected areas.

• Trim or prune: Remove and dispose of infected leaves, stems,

buds, fruit or vegetables from the plant. Disinfect pruners and all tools after using on infected plants.

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2022 • 17

Raspberries

By Shauna Dobbie

Raspberries are an easy to grow summer berry treat.

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t a price of $6 for half a pint, non-gardeners might think raspberries are very exotic and difficult to grow. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are expensive because of a short shelf life.

Grow your own just about anywhere in Canada – they are hardy to Zone 2 – and you can feast on these glorious bursts of flavour fresh for one or more months every year. And with very little trouble.

Now, when I say “very little”, I don’t mean “no” trouble. They need to be fed and they need to be pruned, and it’s the pruning that can get people muddled. It’s very simple though. The key is knowing what kind of raspberry bushes you have. If you don’t know, it may take a little longer to get to fruit but read on for instructions.

Two kinds of raspberries There are summer-bearing raspberries and fall-bearing raspberries. Fallbearing raspberries are often called ever-bearing because they will grow flowers and berries on first-year and second-year canes. Summer-bearing raspberries fruit on second-year canes.

There is a difference in how you prune them and when you harvest 18 • 2022

Scan me How to build a raspberry trellis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCB1SKEWmFY

berries. All raspberries need to be pruned every year, either in the fall or in the early spring. If you don’t prune out the old wood, it will get in the way of the first- and second-year canes, leaving you with fewer flowers and berries. It will also choke out the centre of the plant, leaving less air to circulate and inviting disease.

For summer-bearing raspberries, after you’ve harvested all your berries, cut out any canes you’ve taken berries from. Thin the remaining, strongest canes to about 4 per foot. You can do this in the fall or early spring.

For fall-bearing raspberries, mow the whole lot down after harvesting.

New canes will grow in the spring and give you a bumper crop of raspberries in the fall.

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To make fall-bearing raspberries ever-bearing, first treat them like summer-bearing raspberries at pruning time: cut out the spent canes completely. You will be left with canes that bore raspberries in the fall, which will give you summer raspberries in the coming year. Fall raspberries grow along the end of the cane. You can see this on the cane, and it will be dead where the berries grew. Below the dead part, the buds will grow lateral branches which will produce raspberries in the summer.

Cut the dead tops of these canes to just above the first new bud. Then thin them to about 3 canes per foot.

Many people prefer to mow fallbearers down because they say the plants produce more berries in the fall that way, or because the summer crop isn’t much on these plants.

You’ll get to know pretty quickly whether a cane you’re contemplating needs to be cut out. It will be a lighter colour than the other canes and, when you cut it, there will be no green wood inside.

Planting raspberries In most of Canada, raspberries should be planted in the spring. On localgardener.net

the west coast, you can plant them in the fall.

Raspberries will grow best at pH 5.6 to 6.2. If you are surrounded by limestone, you may need to amend your soil. Do a pH test to find out.

Choose a sunny site protected from the wind. If the area is grassy, remove the sod or lay down enough newspaper, compost, topsoil and mulch to kill the grass and start a new bed. If the raspberries will be in an established bed, great! Just know that they will be a permanent fixture.

Your raspberries will probably come bareroot. Soak them for an hour or two before planting them.

Dig a hole per plant or a trench and plant them every 18 inches. It doesn’t need to be too deep; plant them so that the crowns are above the soil line.

Cut the tops off, leaving about 6 to 9 inches of plant showing.

If you’ve chosen varieties that will need support, now is a good time to put it in. The traditional method for a row of bushes is to put in a post at either end and string two or four wires between them.

The first year, you may want to pull off any blossoms that come out so that the plant spends its energy on developing a good root system.

Keep the plants watered. They need about an inch per week. You can put in a rain gauge to see how much it rains if you aren’t confident in knowing how much rain is enough. When you water, water at the root because the foliage and berries don’t need it.

Getting them wet encourages disease.

Cut the plants back in the fall or early spring.

H

Raspberries come in a variety of colours – red, yellow, black and purple.

Every spring after you’ve planted them, give them a good dressing with compost.

Raspberry lingo Cane: A raspberry branch. It comes straight out of the ground.

Primocane: A new, first-year cane.

Starts out green then turns a healthy

brown by fall.

Floricane: A second-year cane. Grows fruit.

Sucker: A cane that grows away from the original plant. You can dig these up and replant them if you want to expand your raspberry patch or give them to friends. V

Commercial production

ow are raspberries available year-round? They’re grown in greenhouses and the plants are chilled in coolers.

Raspberry shrubs are seasonal and need a cold period to wake up in spring and grow leaves and the flowers that become fruit. If you have big enough facilities, it isn’t too hard to speed up and stagger that process so that you have product all year. Ten weeks of cold temperatures is enough to inspire raspberries to produce their bounty when things heat back up. Then you can give the plants warmth during the day and

localgardener.net

Unlike blackberries, black raspberries do not retain their core – they are hollow inside.

cooler temperatures at night.

What’s more, by growing the berries in a controlled environment, you reduce the insect damage. Spider mites will get into any operation, as houseplant parents well know, but you can buy predators like lady bugs to take care of insect problems. And what about pollination? You can rent bumblebees.

Watering the raspberries is done by trickle irrigation, preventing the leaves and fruit from ever getting wet. This adds to the shelf life. Twenty-plus years ago when raspberries were grown outside, I Issue 4

can remember on more than one occasion buying a tiny basket of raspberries only to find that underneath the perfect fruit on top was a moldy mass. That’s because even the smallest bit of moisture around the berries turns quickly to mold.

All these innovations mean that growers can now produce perfect berries to add a shot of colour to any dish. As for flavour, something must be sacrificed for convenience.

Hothouse raspberries taste alright, but they have a way to go before they taste as beautifully complex as the raspberries from your garden.

2022 • 19

Tiny trees I

have to admit it – I am no fan of the concept of the “tiny tree”. For a long time, I advocated planting a normal, full-size tree and just pruning it – what’s the big deal? But one day, an urban forester friend who worked for the City of Ottawa sat me down and set me straight. “Mike,” he told me, “it costs a lot of money to continually prune a tree and there are dangers and risks involved – be realistic, look at your growing space (above and below ground) and pick your tree carefully. Right tree, right place is the mantra of urban forestry.”

In the last issue of Canada’s Local Gardener, I railed on about some people’s aversion to “messy trees” – all part of the new ethic in residential development: enormous houses, small yards and no grass, trees, raised beds or much green. Living on a 1-acre piece of paradise in rural Quebec with an aptitude for pruning (and friends and relatives who can climb trees) I guess I am not the best one to talk to about the need for the tiny tree. In fact, I usually cringe when people ask me, “Yes but how big does it grow?” That being said, we can’t all live on a 1-acre paradise with arborist friends and a degree in forestry. So here is my collection of 10 great tiny trees for normal-size urban yards and why they are so great: Serviceberry, or Saskatoon berry: Amelanchier canadensis Hardiness Zone: 4-9. Serviceberry is native to every province and territory (even Nunavut!) in Canada.

Height: 15 to 25 feet.

Form: Multi stem and shrubby.

Needs some minor pruning of dead wood.

Features: Beautiful white flowers which form at the same time as leaf out. A small, very edible fruit that changes from green to red in mid summer. Very tolerant of all types of soil and of urban conditions and shade. Many great cultivars. Birds love it. A must have for all gardens.

Japanese tree lilac: Syringa reticulata Hardiness Zone: 3. Not native to Canada but is non-invasive.

20 • 2022

Story and photos by Michael Rosen

Saskatoon.

Japanese tree lilac.

Alberta dwarf white spruce.

Height: 20 to 30 feet.

Form: Single stem, tree-like with an oval crown. Does not need a lot of pruning.

Features: Beautiful, large, white, fragrant flowers in mid summer.

A mottled bark that looks a lot like cherry. Excellent resistance to urban conditions including salt – a great small street tree. Can form

a nice oval without much pruning but needs sun. Obviously, there are many other lilac varieties that are more shrubs than trees.

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Dwarf Alberta spruce: Picea glauca var. conica Hardiness Zone: I live in 4b, and I see winter browning each year so I would call it a 5 (even though the localgardener.net

Eastern redbud.

original was found near Calgary, hardiness Zone 4a). White spruce is native to everywhere in Canada.

Height: 10 to 12 feet.

Form: A classic miniature spruce (like made for a model train set) which stays immaculately in a conical form and never needs pruning.

Features: Slow-growing and virtually maintenance free (remember, no pruning) it can tolerate shade and sun. If you like the manicured conifer look, this is it.

Dogwoods: Cornus spp. (including eastern flowering dogwood, western flowering dogwood, alternate-leaf dogwood).

Hardiness Zone: 3-8 depending on species. Native to everywhere in Canada.

Height: depending on species, up to about 32 feet, but more typically much less.

Form: Small trees or large straggly shrubs that form several flat splays resulting in a flat crown. Not the easiest to shape.

Features: Tough shrub that can withstand urban pressures – lots of good features like reddish bark, white flowers, and blue, berry-like fruit in midsummer. A real go-to small tree.

localgardener.net

Blue-beech.

Pin cherry.

Eastern redbud: Cercis canadensis Hardiness Zone: 6. Native to extreme parts of southern Ontario Height: Small trees rarely making it up to 26 feet in height.

Form: Roundish, very pleasing form. Doesn’t need a lot of shaping.

Features: Beautiful pinkish pea flowers appear before leaves come out in spring making it a standout in any (southern) garden. Forms an interesting flat seedpod. Has beautiful heart shaped leaves and can tolerate shade. A beautiful addition to any (southern) Canadian garden.

Many cultivars available.

Blue-beech or Hop-Hornbeam or ironwood: Carpinus caroliniana Hardiness Zone: 4. Native to southern Ontario and Quebec Height: Although the literature says it can grow up to 20 to 30 feet, it rarely gets to 15 feet.

Form: A multi-stemmed bushy shrub with an irregular round top.

Features: Very shade tolerant tree which is interesting in every way.

Extremely interesting slate-coloured bark that some call “muscle wood” for good reason – it looks like muscles! The seed flowers are interesting, and the fruit is born on a Issue 4

3-lobed leafy bract. Although all the literature talks of it being found deep in the woods in rich soils, I have increasingly found it growing along roadsides and in clearings.

Pin cherry: Prunus pensylvanica Hardiness Zone: 0. Native everywhere in Canada except for Nunavut.

Height: These are small trees, maximum 40 feet, although they are typically far smaller than that.

Form: They have naturally narrow crowns and are round topped with straight trunks.

Features: An interesting “cherrylike” bark with lines (lenticels) and papery strips. The flowers are white and in clusters of four to seven in the early spring. The fruit is bright red. A genuinely nice little tree totally intolerant of shade that is more commonly associated with roadsides, gravel pits and railroad rights-of-ways.

Striped maple (or moosewood): Acer pensylvanicum Hardiness Zone: 2. Found in central Ontario, Quebec and throughout the Maritimes.

Height: Literature says it can grow up to 33 feet, but it is typically much shorter than that.

2022 • 21

Striped maple.

Form: It can grow with one stem but is typically found with many stems and an uneven flat-topped crown. Not really made to shape. Another “go natural” small tree.

Features: This is a rarely found and sparingly used shrub or tree that has amazing potential in gardens. Extremely shade tolerant it has an interesting, veiny bark, a beautiful droopy leaf and forms interesting flowers and typical maple keys. Plant this if you can find it – you won’t regret it.

Hop tree: Ptelea trifoliata Hardiness Zone: 3. Found naturally in southwestern Ontario along shorelines.

Height: These are small trees, up to 25 feet in height.

Form: Multi stem.

Features: The leaves of the hop tree look a lot like poison ivy (a great trick you can play on your friends is to chew on the leaves claiming resistance to the poison). The flowers are small and greenish white – quite beautiful.

There is an interesting wafer-like fruit that can persist in the winter. This is another underused tree that has a lot of potential in gardens.

22 • 2022

Elderberry.

Hop tree.

Elderberry: Sambucus canadensis Hardiness Zone: 3. Some form of elderberry is found right across Canada.

Height: Coarse shrubs rarely more than 30 feet high, more typically 15 feet.

Eastern white cedar ‘Globosa’.

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Form: Multi stem with many stems growing (and dying) throughout the tree. Not easily shaped but must be annually pruned of deadwood.

Features: Provides a thick mat of foliage with beautiful white flowers in spring followed by large drupes of very edible black fruit. A favourite of birds. Very shade tolerant.

Honourable mention: globe cedar (cultivars of white cedar that grow into nice balls), Burning Bush (Euonymus atropurpureus) (although some species have been known to be invasive in woody areas), American mountain-ash (beautiful orange fruit that wildlife love) and yew (Taxus) – many varieties both east and west.

And the one to avoid: Amur maple (Acer ginnala): poor form, non-native, invasive, lots of seeds, totally overused in landscaping. V ••• Michael Rosen is a Registered Professional Forester and Certified Arborist based in Cantley, Quebec. He is the former President of Tree Canada and can be reached at mikerosen95@ outlook.com localgardener.net

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2022 • 23

Work smarter, not harder!

Story and photos by Maggie Connell

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hhh… the sweetness of summer is upon us with all of its sights, sounds and smells. We Canadians are especially grateful for the warmth after a long winter and focused on squeezing out every drop of freedom that sunshine and bare feet afford.

Plants are in and growing well, you’ve strung up your hammock and are looking forward to occupying it with a good book. Only wait… is that a squash bug I see?

How did I miss these weeds?

But I watered just yesterday! The empty hammock swings gently in the breeze.

While gardening is certainly not effortless, my ongoing search for ways to simplify it has produced some powerful time savers. Here are three of my top discoveries for working smarter not harder.

Pests Neem oil, insecticidal soap, diatomaceous earth, BT, homemade sprays, hand picking… there are lots of organic ways to deal with infestations, but they all require substantial time, effort and sometimes grief. If you are on a quest for more hammock time, the key is less about battling the bugs and more about not letting them get started in the first place.

Netting is the all-time most important tool in my arsenal. In the early years I lost whole crops of alliums – garlic, onions, leeks – to the highly destructive leek moth. It is a small, motley grey moth that sneaks up at night while you are fast asleep and lays tiny eggs along the stems; they develop into voracious larvae, burrowing into the stem and eating it from the inside out until the plant is no longer viable and dies off. I now cover all alliums. I use PVC conduit pipe to build the frame over which I spread the insect barrier, securing the edges against intruders. This also works to keep the cabbage moth (those cute little white butterflies that puppies and kids love to chase) out of my brassicas where they would happily have their larvae chomp their way through cabbage, 24 • 2022

Netting covers everything that doesn’t require pollination.

Stick ‘em up! Bugs get the Tanglefoot treatment.

kale, broccoli and cauliflower, relegating it to the compost heap.

If I am diligent about getting the netting on all of these crops as soon as I plant, I simply walk away for the rest of the summer, eliminating countless hours of diligence! Be sure to buy insect barrier with UV resistance so you can reuse it for several years; the cheaper version will disintegrate.

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Netting is great for protecting crops that don’t need to be pollinated but all cucurbits (cucumber, zucchini, squash) need those working bees to produce fruit. Initially, a casual piece of netting thrown over them will protect them until they are strong enough not to succumb to pest pressure. Once the net is removed (before they flower) the fun begins! I don a pair of vinyl localgardener.net

disposable gloves, smear the fingers of my dominant hand with a super sticky product called Tanglefoot and head out to the patch (early morning is best). I move leaves with my left hand, examining especially the underside for egg masses of cucumber beetles and squash bugs and give them the kiss of death with my sticky fingers; the slightest touch adheres them to my glove along with the adults, even catching them in flight! Grandchildren are especially fond of this garden chore. When my sticky fingers get too covered in bugs and eggs, I snap off a squash leaf to wipe them on and reapply the Tanglefoot.

Beginning this process early on takes little time and is highly effective in controlling the population.

Weeds Oh, those weeds…! Once again, an ounce of prevention will save countless hours on your knees. Of course, weeds are ubiquitous and the goal is not to vanquish every one but rather to keep them under control in a way that is kind to the planet and all its life forms.

Weed barrier is another critical strategy for my garden. I used to use the felted kind but by the second summer weeds began to establish themselves on top and put down roots right through the fabric that were nigh impossible to remove. I have since discovered an industrial barrier made of woven polypropylene. It allows water through but there is never a weed. It is fairly costly but comes in a huge roll that you can share with other gardening friends. It forms a barrier underneath all stone pathways, mow strips, mulch and functional areas of my garden. Wherever it is, the weeds are not! This discovery has made it possible to garden without those messy areas that I haven’t had time to weed.

Water Years ago, my dear hubby installed a soaker system with a timer for all my raised beds. We simply turn it on and walk away… straight towards that hammock!

A thick layer of chopped up straw mulch goes a long way to conserving that moisture and will nicely decompose, feeding your soil.

When it comes to working smart localgardener.net

Mulch is a must, helping to retain moisture and reducing weeds.

A watering system runs through the raised beds.

not hard, these ideas combine to cut my work time in the garden by half, an especially important thing as I age. And what do I do with that extra time? I have a hammock with my name on it! “Or... dream up another project,” says my Mike! V Maggie Connell is an artist and gardener near Fredericton, New Brunswick. You can see her work on Instagram @maggiecfineart Issue 4

Scan me See samples of Maggie Connell’s artwork on her Instagram account. https://www.instagram.com/maggiecfineart/

2022 • 25

Gardening for the greater good Lending a helping hand to our Canadian species at risk

S

ummer has arrived and avid gardeners are becoming active outdoors. From flower and veggie gardens to container and pond plantings, every gardener has a favourite style. This year, when garden planning, why not lend a helping hand to those special at-risk species that grace our great country.

The monarch butterfly is an at-risk species that inhabits most provinces in Canada. Still, with this expansive territory, its yearly multi-generational life cycles are fraught with difficulties due in part to pesticides and milkweed destruction, the only host plant for this species and the only thing caterpillars can eat. While natural habitats are most ideal, we can provide food sources necessary to help the species thrive.

Canada is often where the season’s final generation is born. Aptly named the ‘super generation’, it requires strength, resilience and determination to make it through its long, epic journey to its warmer winter resting place in Mexico. Let’s do our part for its survival.

Coast to coast to coast From delicate southern region insects to northern land mammals and from east coast shorebirds to west coast forest dwellers, vulnerable wildlife is worth our efforts to keep populations safe, healthy and thriving. The smallest of positive steps can have the greatest impact.

While many endangered species are rarely seen, for those that travel 26 • 2022

Story and photos by Sherry Hayes through or take up residence in urban, suburban or countryside neighbourhoods, there are specific plants that may attract certain species. Bees require pollen. Dragonflies, frogs, birds and bats need insects to sustain them. A well-rounded backyard setting could ultimately create a natural food chain.

Every province has their specific list of endangered species. Check for those that overlap with your region. Typical species that intersect with built-up areas: butterflies, dragonflies, frogs, toads, snakes, rusty patch bumble bees, bats and birds such as swallows.

Areas beyond urban and suburban There are generally no borders for wildlife. They inhabit swaths of land where their wings, legs or bellies can navigate. At-risk species find permanent residence or migrate through, over and around lakes, ponds, sandy or muddy beaches and shorelines, wetlands, grasslands, meadows and forests.

Whether residential areas are in the countryside, forested areas or cottage country, native and migrating species find their way instinctively. When housing impedes their natural habitat or migratory paths, it is up to us to accommodate their rightful needs.

Bringing wild creatures into backyards Start with a detailed design plan.

Proper planning is the first step to success. Consider at-risk species native to your area and those migrating through at specific times of the year.

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Determine plants and other elements that could provide a tantalizing smorgasbord and haven for these special creatures. And remember, it takes time for gardens to mature and entice wildlife, however, attention to detail and dedication can reap wonderful results.

Simple as 1, 2, 3…

1. Plants: Every plant has a purpose beyond its natural beauty. Some provide food while others provide shelter or nesting opportunities. Research and choose plants for at-risk species.

2. Water: Generally required for most species, whether to quench thirst, lay eggs or live in, a supply of clean water will be welcoming for wildlife.

3. Shelter: From evergreen or deciduous trees and shrubs to dry or moist soil, shelter is essential to attract wildlife as it generally equates to safety and is therefore critical for survival of at-risk species.

Easy plant choices Start with more common plants when beginning the process. For example, if monarch butterflies are known in your area, try milkweed, goldenrod, coneflower, New England aster, black-eyed Susan and annual zinnia. For the rusty patch bumblebee, consider sunflower, aster, goldenrod, beebalm and Joe Pye weed.

Choose plants carefully Before designing gardens or choosing plants, contact reliable sources to verify the zone for your specific area.

This should determine plant viability.

Correctly chosen plants should thrive localgardener.net

when placed appropriately.

Check with local and provincial governments to confirm any mandated restrictions on plants that may be considered invasive or banned in your area.

Always use appropriate caution regarding wildlife and plants. Be aware of allergies, reactions or other health issues. Do not physically engage with wild creatures. Our health is important and risks should never be taken in the pursuit of helping wildlife, even those at-risk.

Do no harm!

Be cognizant of potential issues when creating gardens, especially when attempting to attract wildlife to your property. Fully research plants and all items before incorporating any into gardens or using on your property.

Avoid chemicals: Chemical-free gardens and lawns are key for keeping your winged, walking or slithering friends healthy and safe. Know what is entering your lawn, soil and plant systems. Lack of knowledge could have deadly consequences for both wild and domestic life. Whenever possible depend solely on quality soil, organics, clean mulch, water and sunshine.

Healthy plants attract wildlife. Create a safe and healthy haven for all species.

Simple solutions: Hand pick weeds as they appear and before they establish a solid root system. Water selectively rather than broad spray coverage. To control waste, water the base or root system of the plant only.

Leave nature in its place Never remove native plants from their existing locations in the wild.

It does more harm than good as the inhabitants of that area or those migrating through could potentially find their food sources disrupted. Use only plants that are readily available through reputable nurseries or garden centres.

Be a good steward Gardening is an enjoyable hobby as is wildlife watching. Take time to help at-risk species that frequent your area.

Plan ahead for future years. Discover those that could benefit from a helping hand. A good selection of preferred plants along with water and shelter, all strategically placed, may just have some endangered species finding your backyard their home.

Nature is beckoning. Become a gardener for the greater good! Whether you reside in urban, suburban, localgardener.net

country, lakeside or forested regions, be a good steward of the land. Our fragile endangered species will be grateful you did! V Sherry Hayes of Stoney Creek, Ontario is an award-winning Professional Landscape Designer and a fine artist. For her latest paintings, her Darkness series, she has committed to donating 100 percent of net proceeds of certain paintings to organizations devoted to preservation of endangered species and spaces.

For more garden design or art information, contact Sherry at www.landscapingwithstyle.on.ca or www.artscapesbysherry.ca

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2022 • 27

Garden climbers W

hat is more pleasing to the eye than a wall covered in green? If there are also flowers, all the better, and most vines flower. Vines provide visual relief on hard surfaces, increase growing space in small and large gardens and can have a cooling effect on a balcony or a small courtyard.

Vines are versatile. There are many choices between annual and perennial, herbaceous and woody, and flowering or non-flowering, depending on where you are growing them. They not only climb, they can trail.

Not all vines reach the heights the same way. Knowing how they climb offers the gardener the best chance of success in growing them.

Vines often take root where the growing resources are limited. Vining allows a plant rooted in a small patch of earth to reach out to the sunlight for the energy it needs to photosynthesize. This is called phototropism, which comes from the Greek for light seeking. Roots generally demonstrate the opposite trait called skototropism, or growing away from light, to help them navigate through soil.

There are many ways for vines to reach out, including through stem twining and tendrils and using assistive devices such as adhesive pads, climbing roots, and even thorns.

Twining Twining is one of the most fascinating methods. The direction of twining can be either left or right, depending on the genetics of the plant, but both use the same method, sending up shoots in a helix shape to curve around a surface.

How does this happen? When a twining plant touches an appropriate structure, the cells on the touching side suddenly cool, causing them to shrink by reducing the space between the cells, in effect, “growing” more slowly while the cells on the outside of the stem continue to elongate at the usual pace. This results in curving and wrapping. Certain plants also have downward pointed bristles on their inner twining surface to help them stay put. Some can contract tightly around their support. Others use adhesives.

How does a plant know when it

28 • 2022

By Dorothy Dobbie

Hops grow upward by twining.

Vines twining in micro form on this clematis.

You can see the adhesive pads on this vine more clearly without leaves.

Vines twining in macro form with this wisteria.

reaches the right structure to curve around? This has to do with their very sensitive touch ability. Climbing plants can be as much as 10 times more sensitive to touch than humans. But there is more at work here than we currently know. For instance, what causes vines to reject climbing up weak-stemmed neighbours? How does the plant know? This is still being studied.

Twining can either occur at stem level or as leaf shoots called tendrils.

Plants may send out a long slender shoot from a leaf node that “sniffs” the surroundings, in a process called

circumnutating, to find an appropriate support. Once it reaches a suitable surface, the tendril grows in the familiar helix, tightening through the reaction above. Some tendrils also produce an adhesive on contact with a firm surface.

Plants that have tendrils include sweet peas, cucumbers, and cobea.

These plants generally require support structures to climb successfully: nets, trellises, strings, and even branches with many side shoots can be used depending on the plant and type of tendril.

Issue 4

localgardener.net

How to propagate clematis and other vines

P

An entire outside wall covered with vines.

Tendrils that stick to walls shoot out of this Englemann’s ivy.

Climbing roses don’t twine, but their thorns help them attach to upright poles.

Stem twiners will wrap themselves around upright structures. Bittersweet or wisteria, for example can girdle large trees. Others such as clematis, honeysuckle, Dutchman’s pipe, pole beans, thunbergia and morning glories will wrap themselves around thinner supports, generally preferring those under 1.5 inches in circumference.

Adhesives Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) produces adhesive roots along its stems to cling to hard surfaces. Some ivies have little sucker-like “feet” that adhere to the wall.

There is always confusion between Virginia creeper, (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) and Engelmann’s ivy (Parthenocissus quinquefolia var. Englmannii).

Englemann’s ivy has adhesive pads to cling to a surface. Virginia creeper, on the other hand, does some weak twining and generally needs a little help from a trellis or other structure to grow upwards. It is quite happy to ramble aggressively across the ground.

Thorns and hooked branches Rambling or “climbing” roses don’t climb. They need support to stay up on a brick wall, a trellis or a fence. But once trained and tacked to the support structure, their thorns can help them hook on to surrounding structures and assist them to stay in place.

Some plants grow “hooks” on the underside of leaves to help them stay upright.

We have talked mainly of climbing plants, but remember that vines can also be trailers, cascading from a container or a pergola and adding a magic of their own.

Patience is the best reward A new gardener might have dreams of a vine covered cottage or pergola.

Just remember that vines, like many other potentially invasive plants, have a deceiving habit. As the old garden adage has it, the first year they sleep, the second year they creep and the third year they leap. Be prepared to be a little patient. V

localgardener.net

Issue 4

retty well all vines, like other plants, can be propagated in water or wet sand with a little help from some rooting compound.

However, there is also a method called layering, which can increase vines on site with very little effort beyond supplying adequate water.

Layering involves pinning a young, flexible vine stem to some nicely prepared earth and letting the vine take root. Loosen the earth along the area where you wish to encourage new growth. Add a little peat moss if the soil is hard or especially sandy or clay based. Make a hole about three or four inches deep.

Clematis, unlike some other vines will want to root along the stem between nodes. A clematis vine should be bent or nicked at the point of pegging to encourage root growth.

Take a healthy, young tendril, and peg it to the ground along a wall or a fence. Use anything handy to do the pegging, even a heavy stone, so that it keeps the leaf node, or the nicked part of the vine securely fastened to the ground.

Eventually, the vine will send down roots where it is pegged to the earth.

You can assist this by adding a little rooting hormone to the nodes that will contact the earth. Keep the area evenly watered.

You can increase the vine even more by pegging it at several locations along the stem. This is called serpentine layering. For clematis, make sure there is at least one leaf above the ground between each pegging.

When you can see that the stem has taken root, you can cut the new plant away from the mother plant. Then it is just a matter of nurturing your new vine and giving it support to climb upwards.

2022 • 29

Houseplant:

Jade

By Dorothy Dobbie

Jade appreciates a shady spot if you take her outside.

30 • 2022

I

n the oriental world, jade is one of the most treasured of stones and in my home and office, the jade plant (Crassula ovata) gets the same respect.

That’s why I was in despair when some very kind and well-meaning people suffocated my beautiful mature jade with too much kindness. They would not stop watering her!

Jades are succulents! Succulents store their own water. They want the soil to be dry until the very last minute. Now I am nurturing a baby plant that has grown happily for the past six months of winter. She came by way of a friend who sent her mother into retirement to the International Peace Garden Conservatory. She had grown too big for her former home – and they can get big!

This one had reached 4 feet tall and a couple of feet wide and will continue to grow at the rate of about 2 inches a year until she reaches a height of 6 feet or so with another foot of girth. It took decades to get her to her current size.

Like most succulents, jades like sunlight, bright and indirect is best, and at least four to six hours of sunlight a day, preferably in the morning. If the light is too harsh, leaves can turn red or, in young plants, become scorched.

If you take Miss Jade outdoors on a summer vacation, keep this in mind.

Put her in a shady place or at least out of direct sunlight.

While she is outside in summer, keep her feet damp but not wet – in winter, cut the watering to once a month.

Be extra careful to ensure the plant is not standing in water at any time – she needs very good drainage. As for temperature, in winter she likes to reside in a cooler home between 18 and 21 Celsius but she can handle temperatures as cool as 12 Celsius. In fact, in our winter climates, she likes a rest in the cold months and basically stops growing. That is why you keep the water low and avoid fertilizing.

Jade is uncomplaining if you keep the water down, feed her a bit of diluted balanced fertilizer once every six months during active growing time (never in the cold winter months), and give her a summer vacation or plenty of year-round light. But occasionally, Issue 4

localgardener.net

If you are lucky she may bloom.

She mixes well with other succulents.

she gets sick and when this happens, it is usually the old overwatering tale.

She can get root and stem rot. Yellow leaves? Too much water. Not enough light? She gets leggy. Keep the soil light and never soggy. Mushy leaves? Too much fertilizer and water. Curling or dropping leaves? She has a chill – raise the temperature a bit.

As with most houseplants, she can get infected with mealy bugs and spider mites, but you will love her too much to let that happen.

If leaves shrivel it may be that she is thirsty. Water sparingly a few times

rather than drenching her soil. If you want to drench, be sure that the pot is draining well and let it drain.

As for a home for your lovely lady, terra cotta or clay containers are best because they breathe and let moisture out. She doesn’t mind being a bit root bound so no need for a gigantic pot.

What is the biggest challenge?

Getting her to bloom. That is a real accomplishment. This plant needs to reach the grand old age of at least three years and likes arid conditions and cool night to trigger production of her starry white or pink flowers. She naturally

blooms in late winter or early spring.

If in doubt about how to look after her, remember, her home and native land is South Africa. V Scan me Visit the International Peace Garden, on the border of Manitoba and North Dakota in Boissevaine, to see the mother of Dorothy’s jade plant… and other amazing succulents. https://peacegarden.com/project/the-conservatoryinterpretive-center/

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Issue 4

2022 • 31

How will you

Celebrate?

The Year of the Garden 2022, a celebration of everything garden and gardening related in Canada, began this spring.

You’re invited to join in the fun and “Live the Garden Life”.

Whether you already enjoy time in the garden or want to learn more about how gardens impact so much of Canadian life, there’s something for everyone to discover and celebrate at home, at work, in school, in your community, and at beautiful garden destinations across the country during the Year of the Garden 2022.

Visit the Year of the Garden Website to discover ways to celebrate.

yearofthegarden.ca

FouNDiNG SPoNSoRS

FouNDiNG PARTNERS

SPoNSoR

PRoMoTioNAl PARTNERS

32 • 2022

MEDiA PARTNERS

Issue 4

localgardener.net

This Summer’s Plan:

You, the open road, and a stop on Canada’s Garden Route.

Where are you planning to go this summer and fall season? Find a destination garden to experience on Canada’s Garden Route map to learn more and plan your trip itinerary: https://bit.ly/CanadaGardenRoute

Photo: Roger-Van den Hende Botanical Garden

Sign Up Your 2022 Celebration Garden Sign up your garden as a 2022 Celebration Garden.

Check the theme of your garden, and share pictures and stories to inspire others. Receive a Celebration Garden Certificate and have your community pinned on a map. Let’s see how many Celebration Gardens there are growing across Canada!

Red Celebration Garden - honour a frontline • Plant worker, and celebrate Canadian garden pride Celebration Garden - improve physical • Therapeutic and mental health and wellness Action Celebration Garden - make a • Climate positive impact on the environment Celebration Garden - help improve health • Edible and access to fresh food Plant Celebration Garden - indigenous species • Native that are part of the original flora of a place to make a positive contribution to the environment and habitat Pandemic Garden - a source of comfort • in managingCelebration the challenges of the pandemic Celebration Garden - an ideal space to host • Social and entertain family and friends Celebration Garden - expressing your • Personal garden creativity

Discover many more ways to celebrate the Year of the Garden 2022 the weekly Therapeutic Garden Invitation • Follow Canada’s Garden Route to see top garden destinations •• Visit Check the Live the Garden Life Agenda your Garden Heroes • Celebrate Is your municipality City?

•• Learn from Year of thea Garden-Friendly Garden 2022 Ambassadors Learn from businesses and organizations that make up • the Garden-Family

Visit the Year of the Garden website for details: yearofthegarden.ca ViSiT : yearofthegarden.ca | Follow us on Facebook and instagram localgardener.net

Issue 4

2022 • 33

Keeping a no-tech pond Y

ou can keep a pond without pumps or filters and without adding chemicals. All you need is a liner (maybe), rocks, plants and fish. I recommend the book Building Natural Ponds by Robert Pavlis, at the link below.

The hole Dig a hole that is in three levels.

The deep part of the pond needs to be below your frost line if you plan to leave fish in during the winter. The shallow part – the ledge – should be about 8 inches deep and should make up half of the area. The middle depth should be about 2 feet and is for waterlilies. Waterlilies are necessary because they grow leaves that shelter the water. The width of the hole depends on how big of a pond you want.

If you can fill the hole with water that won’t all seep into the ground, great. Probably you’ll need a liner, though. Look at a pond shop or hardware store. Don’t opt for economy here. Get the best liner you can afford and get an underliner too. Fixing or replacing the liner later is no small task. Get one that is larger than the hole you dig because you’ll need to protect the area around the pond from overflows and heavy rain, which could erode the sides of the pond.

The rocks On the ledge and around the pond, you’ll need rocks and gravel. They have a purpose beyond making the pond look nice. The rocks keep the liner in place and the gravel gives microbes plenty of surfaces to live on, which you need to keep the pond fresh.

The gravel will also give an anchor for the roots of marginal plants you’ll want and need. Don’t put in soil for these plants because it will wash away and just add nutrients to the pond that you don’t need.

The fish Don’t go crazy here. You need fish to complete your micro biome, but too many will add too much poop or will not get enough food. Get small fish, like goldfish.

You must not feed the fish. Seriously. They need to survive on mosquito and other insect larvae that come to 34 • 2022

By Shauna Dobbie

Waterlily and pads covering the water.

Scan me Find out more about the book Building Natural Ponds

by Robert Pavlis. http://www.buildingnaturalponds.com/

the pond naturally.

If you want koi, you’ll need to feed them, they will poop a lot, and you will need a filter to clean the water.

The plants Here’s where the gardener can go Issue 4

crazy! Just don’t add soil for planting, and don’t add plants in pots of soil.

That would add excess nutrients.

Most of the plants go on the ledge around the inside of the pond, but you’ll need to add waterlilies to the 2-foot areas. Waterlilies have big round leaves that float at the surface of the water, shading the area underneath. You should aim to have about 2/3 of your pond covered with lily pads to cut down on the amount of algae that grows.

For the ledges, you can finally invest in some of the plants you’ve always wanted to but couldn’t because you knew you wouldn’t be able to keep up localgardener.net

Photo by Gordon E Robertson.

Photo by David Strang.

Blue flag.

Pickerelweed.

Marsh marigold.

Arrowhead.

Swamp milkweed.

Joe Pye weed.

Filipendula.

Aruncus.

Photo courtesy of USFWS Mountain-Prairie.

Photo by Katja Schulz.

Corkscrew rush.

with the watering needs. (I’m thinking of you, corkscrew rush.)

There are many irises that do well in the shallow water, but we recommend against the cheery yellow Iris pseudacorus, or yellow flag; it’s aggressively invasive and can escape your pond to invade our native waterways and wreak havoc. Iris versicolor, a native, will sate your need for irises, though in beautiful blue instead of yellow.

Look also for arrow arums, broadleaf arrowhead, pickerelweed and marsh marigolds.

Around the pond, in areas that are localgardener.net

wet but not standing water, you can plant any perennials that like it moist.

Joe Pye weed, filipendula, swamp milkweed, aruncus, lysimachia and valerian should all be happy here.

Making it work It can take some time to get your pond into a balance that will keep it naturally clean and mostly free of algae. The thing to remember is that the fish will provide food for the plants in the form of poop. Algae is a plant and will happily grow if there is sunlight and plenty of food. If you keep enough plants in the pond, they Issue 4

will shade the water and take up the nutrients left by the fish, so there is no food and little sunlight for algae.

What do the fish eat? Bits of plants (don’t worry, they won’t damage your plants) and insect larvae, particularly mosquito larvae. If you add food for the fish, you will be adding nutrients and algae will grow. We’ll say it again: don’t feed the fish.

Over time, frogs will show up and add to the diversity of your water garden. Turtles may also come, and water snails. You have created a balanced biosystem. Huzzah! V 2022 • 35

The Shakespearean Gardens of Stratford, Ontario Story by Janet Markus and Reg White, photos by Kevin Petrie

Located in front of the entrance to the Shakespearean Gardens is a bust of Shakespeare overlooking beds of bright red Dave Austin roses.

T

he Shakespearean Gardens in Stratford, Ontario is a feature of the small city known for its theatre festival. The history of the garden and greenspaces throughout Stratford is a fascinating battle between businesses and citizens. The citizens won and the garden opened in 1936.

In the early years, visitors would see a garden plan designed to feature only those plants showcased in Shakespeare’s plays. Herbs such as fennel, 36 • 2022

rue, tarragon, rosemary, and other perennials such a gout weed were included in the plantings. The length of the Garden was, and still is, 250 feet, sitting along the edge of the Avon River. The northern edge of the Garden overlooks the river and includes a small island of about 30 by 130 feet in size. In the original plans, the island was to have a formal element, but for some reason, the design was never completed.

The next stage of the Garden’s Issue 4

development came because of Stratford’s own Tom Patterson and his vision in 1953 of an internationally acclaimed live theatre festival to take place in the areas around the downtown core. As the Stratford Festival gained popularity, more and more visitors came to see the shows, and to enjoy and walk around the downtown area. The Shakespeare Garden became more established and greeted a growing number of visitors and theatre patrons from around the localgardener.net

The metal gazebo is a popular spot to rest, and has become a popular spot for weddings.

world each year.

As the years passed, the Garden was maintained by the Stratford Board of Park Management and some additional planting took place.

Some of the newer perennials were different from the original Shakespeare-inspired plants. Some new features were also added over time, such a handsome metal gazebo donated, in the 1970s, by the Stratford branch of the Toronto Dominion bank. The gazebo is an oasis on a hot day for guests in the Garden, and the setting for weddings in fine weather. In addition to this quiet space for reflection, the Shakespeare Garden had, and still has, a lawn feature which leads to a protected woodland area to the west of the property.

Since 2019 the Friends of the Shakespeare Garden have collected more information about the history of the garden, located the original garden site plans drawn up by the landscaping firm of Dunnington Grubb and Stenson, and have created the first visitor’s brochure for the Shakespearean Garden. They have also donated two very large hanging baskets to frame the entrance into the garden. In a short period of time, they have raised funds for projects, including a large cement urn (donated by the Stratford Horticultural Society) as the new focal point at the end of a long path leading to the woodland end of the garden.

Further fund- and friend-raising initiatives have led to a new restoration project of a large bed of peonies to be planted near the front entrance, donated by The Peony Society of Canada. Visitors will also note, as localgardener.net

The entrance to the gardens.

Originally the garden was designed to feature plants that were showcased in Shakespeare’s plays, but has since expanded to feature a wider variety of plants.

Issue 4

2022 • 37

One of the many buildings nestled in amongst the garden greenery.

Looming in the background is the chimney from the old Dufton Mill that originally stood on these grounds before burning down in 1919. Stones from the building were saved and are used throughout the park.

they walk down into the heart of the garden and look to the west of the knot garden, 50 David Austen roses in white and red colours donated by the Friends of the Shakespeare Garden. The colours of the roses were chosen to replicate the original drawings found for the site.

Today, visitors enter the Garden from the street, walk down a small set of stairs leading into an open courtyard view, and find themselves adjacent to the 250-foot perennial bed to the left of the main entrance.

In recent years, a number of important additions have been made to the garden. The bust, (donated by The Sons of England) now oversees the newly planted rose bed. The formal area of the Garden consists of an elegant knot garden with the sundial, presented by Sir Archibald Flower in 1936, as the focus for the plantings.

The Shakespeare Garden is still a work in progress. New projects to enhance and support the garden continue to be talked about and planned by the Friends of the Shakespeare Garden, as they work with the Board of Park Management.

The garden is a living symbol of the past and present, and the hope of garden enthusiasts and visitors for the future. V Scan me

To read the full article on the Shakespeare Garden of Stratford scan here! https://www.localgardener.net/stratford-garden/

The beds in early spring.

38 • 2022

Issue 4

localgardener.net

Meconopsis, the beautiful blue poppy

By Dorothy Dobbie

O

nce you have seen meconopsis, the blue poppy, also known as the Himalayan blue poppy, your heart will yearn for it.

This lovely, four- to six-petalled, skyblue flower with a white to pale yellow centre is irresistibly beautiful. It has a hairy, almost prickly stem, and a seed head similar to that of poppies, but longer and more squared rather than round.

Don’t confuse Meconopsis with the blue poppy anemone (Anemone coronaria), which grows from a corm but has similar looking flowers with a black centre. Our blue poppy is already confused enough with taxonomists moving it back and forth from one family to another. It has finally been reclassified and returned by some to the Papavareracea tribe, genus Meconopsis. Others are still arguing.

The Himalayan blue poppy’s natural habitat is the mountains of Himalocalgardener.net

laya where there is heavy rainfall in summer and lots of snow in winter.

This will give you a hint about what conditions it likes. I would think it would be happier in the mountains than on the prairies, although I have seen it growing in a woodland garden in Manitoba. Meconopsis likes cool weather and can’t bear to dry out. It prefers shade to part shade and enjoys a rich, organic-based soil. It will enjoy an annual top dressing of manure or other compost.

This plant is not that easy to grow, and it is fussy about locations and other growing conditions. Certain varieties are not particularly happy to be transplanted so often gardeners grow them from seed.

Meconopsis ‘Lingholm’ is a cross between the blue Himalayan poppy (M. betonicifolia) and the blue Tibetan poppy (M. grandis). This variety is apparently a bit easier to grow Issue 4

in Canada, especially in the Pacific Northwest and Central Canada. The flowers are a lighter blue, with lovely large petals.

Some gardeners advise growers to prevent flowering the first year to encourage root growth. Cut flower stems before they bloom. Once growing vigorously, deadhead faded blossoms to prolong flowering. After blooming, cut them back to stimulate a fresh growth of foliage to nourish the roots.

The plant will grow to about 48 inches tall, with a spread of 18 to 24 inches. It is rated Zone 4 but requires winter cooling.

According to one source online, it symbolizes a “weak or dysfunctional connection between the spiritual and sexual aspects of self; lack of balance between the inner male and female”.

I don’t know if that’s true or not, but we could all use more balance! V 2022 • 39

Garden report

A Quebec family analyzes a year of data Story and photos by Laurent Dubois

The main gardens.

H

ow much work does it take to grow most of the produce our family eats in a year? How much does it cost, and how much space do we need?

These are the questions we set out to answer in 2021. We have been subsistence gardeners for several years now; mostly in coastal BC (Zone 8), but for the last three years in the Gatineau Hills of Quebec (Zone 4). In the summer of 2020, we even built a small permanent greenhouse that could be heated in winter, allowing us to grow yearround. While our fruit orchard is still quite young, our garden now fulfills at least 90 percent of our produce needs for the year. We eat what we grow, and we grow what we eat! It’s a deceptively simple plan, which we tweak from year to year as our young family grows, our food preferences change, our knowledge deepens and our skills sharpen.

The only way to keep track of it all, of course, is to keep good records. We take note of all the important information from year to year: seeding and planting logs, hard frost dates and extreme heat waves, bug infes-

40 • 2022

The main gardens from above.

tations, complete harvest records for our crops, yearly garden maps, successes and failures, notes for the following season, and anything else worth noting.

It might sound like a lot of work, but it’s really only a few handwritten notes in a cheap notebook, and a few pictures in our smartphones; nothing too complex. And believe me, any effort spent here saves us in multiples when winter rolls around and we start eagerly planning our Issue 4

next growing season. “When did we plant those carrots last spring? How many kales did we end up planting?

Where was the garlic planted two years ago? How many watermelons did we get last summer? When was the last frost in the spring?” Good luck remembering all that!

Just about the only thing we haven’t kept track of is our labour, until last year. In 2021 we decided to keep track of all of our food production labour for a year. This way, we’d localgardener.net

Standing in the greenhouse amongst the giant kale in winter.

A heated greenhouse helps to extend the growing season.

know exactly what our ‘average daily input’ is. Not only that, but this new data set, in conjunction with the others, would allow us to ascribe a certain value to our labour, like an hourly rate.

Thus began the year of spreadsheets! We printed sheets for every month of the year and kept track of every minute we spent doing a variety of tasks, which we grouped into five separate categories: Prepping/ Planting, Watering, Garden Management, Harvesting, and Processing.

Prepping/Planting includes preparing the soil, seeding, transplanting, fertilizing and mulching. Management includes weeding, protection, pest and disease mitigation and trellocalgardener.net

Month

Prepping & Planting (Hrs.)

Watering (Hrs.)

Management (Hrs.)

Harvesting (Hrs.)

Processing (Hrs.)

Total (Hrs.)

January February March April May June July August September October November December

3.00 1.50 4.00 14.30 10.00 5.30 3.10 7.25 0.50 0.00 1.00 0.00

1.20 1.20 1.20 2.30 4.95 5.75 3.40 4.30 0.80 0.00 0.50 1.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.50 5.20 23.40 12.70 10.75 6.20 5.20 1.70 1.00

0.40 0.40 0.70 1.20 1.80 3.40 5.50 16.70 8.73 9.25 1.90 0.70

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.80 0.20 0.40 3.50 7.90 4.40 4.10 0.00 0.00

4.60 3.10 5.90 19.10 22.15 38.25 28.20 46.90 20.63 18.55 5.10 2.70

Total Hours

49.95

26.60

66.65

50.68

21.30

215.18

Labour table for 2021.

lising. Processing entails blanching, freezing, handling, dehydration, canning and storing. Watering and harvesting are self-explanatory.

Looking at the table above, you can see that our total labour input for 2021 was 215.18 hours. Averaging that out for the year yields about 35 minutes per day. So, I was off with my original ‘guesstimate’ of 15-20.

Nonetheless, this amount of input is well within the realm of possibility for most people. Of course, that’s not quite a fair analysis because 80 percent of that time is spent in the six months between May and October. Nevertheless, even in our busiest month (August), labour still falls well short of a part-time job, with an Issue 4

average of about 45, non-consecutive minutes each day per person (two adults). See the graphs on the next page for a visual representation.

As far as value is concerned, we’ve always kept track of everything we grow. We do this first by measuring what we harvest, either in weight or volume, depending on the produce, then giving it an equivalent dollar value based on current market prices.

For example, tomatoes are weighed in pounds, while kale and chard are counted in bunches. In 2021, local tomatoes were anywhere from $3 per pound for bulk to more than $6 per pound for heirlooms and cherries, while kale and chard bunches were around $3.50 each.

2022 • 41

Harvesting squash, potatoes, and a future farmer.

December 1%

January 2%

February March 1% 3%

Prepping & Planting (Hrs.)

April 9%

September 10%

Harvesting (Hrs.)

Processing (Hrs.)

May 10%

15 10 5 0

July 13%

June 18%

Total labour distribution by month chart.

Using this system, we arrive at a total harvest value of about $6200 for 2021. Not a bad haul, for sure, but undersized compared to the $7200$7500 we had forecasted. The year 2021 proved to be our most challenging yet, and while we were able to adjust and turn things around for most crops, others suffered irreparable setbacks. Most notable were our losses with tomatoes (100 pounds shy), winter squash (120 pounds short), and hardy greens (about 60 bunches shy). Nevertheless, the cycle continues and as we take our lessons to heart, we foster resiliency, build capacity, and hope for a better next season, year after year.

Conclusions The economics of growing your own food have always been sound, but perhaps now more than ever… and getting sounder every year thanks to inflation. What surprised us was just how high our equivalent ‘wage’ really 42 • 2022

Managament (Hrs.)

20

October 9%

August 22%

Watering (Hrs.)

25

Hours

November 2%

A harvest of garlic.

A harvest of carrots.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August September October November December

Task labour progression chart.

Types of produce

Harvest

Varieties

Type of produce

Harvest

Varieties

Arugula Asian Greens Asparagus Basil Beets Belgian endives Carrots Celery Chicories Cilantro Corn Cucumbers Dried beans Fava Beans Garlic Ground Cherries Kale Leeks

6+ lbs N/A* 0 28 oz.

6 lbs 4 lbs 45+ lbs 7.5 lbs N/A* 8 bunches 55 89.5 lbs 2 lbs 4.5 lbs 100 bulbs N/A* 370 bunches 4 lbs

2 4 2 2 2 1 5 1 2 1 4 3 5 1 2 1 4 1

Lettuce Mushrooms Onions Parsley Parsnips Peas, sugar snap Potatoes, fingerlings Potatoes Radishes, winter Shallots Spinach Squash, winter String Beans Sweet potatoes Swiss Chard Tomatoes Watermelon

N/A* 17 lbs 41 lbs N/A* 15 lbs N/A* 166 lbs 19 lbs 29 lbs 2.1 lbs 4.5 lbs 129 lbs 21.5 lbs 41.5 lbs 370 bunches 55 lbs 46.5 lbs

5 1 3 1 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 5 3 2 5 5 3

N/A*: Not Available, values not recorded precisely.

A list of crops and resulting harvest for 2021.

is. According to our data, in 2022 we will be ‘earning’ as much as $50 per hour for our gardening efforts! Don’t believe me? Check out the full story, including detailed calculations, by following the QR code.

Afterthoughts While there are many advantages, or benefits to growing your own food, Issue 4

financial motivations are usually low on the list. Things like freshness, taste, quality, variety, lifestyle and pleasure tend to predominate. Personally speaking, we have always also appreciated the constant learning experience that cultivation provides, the communion with nature, land stewardship and the opportunities for quality family time. localgardener.net

They grew 17 pounds of mushrooms.

Not to mention the everyday feelings of pride and satisfaction when you bring home a lovely harvest, and when your dinner meal is composed almost entirely of the fruits of your labour. No matter how nice the produce at the store or market is, I promise you it will never provide that same feeling. Sharing that same food with others only enhances it.

Over time, nurturing your garden also weaves itself into your life’s storybook; becomes an anchor, a reference point. Gardeners tend to keep at it their whole lives; it becomes second nature. Like other hobbies, gardening helps with the transition to retired life and keeps you active. It deepens your connection to a place.

In 2021, we set out to establish a ‘baseline’ understanding of our total investment in this rewarding hobby.

We gathered as much data as possible and played around with it. The results were fascinating (at least to us) and educational. We endeavoured to show

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that it was not only possible to have a subsistence garden in a cold climate, but that it was feasible for many. The space required is fairly small, and the time investment is manageable, even with kids and full-time jobs. Bonus benefit: it’s recession-proof and highly profitable! We’ve never really grown food for financial reasons, but it’s nice to see that our efforts are well rewarded regardless! We’ll add it to the long list of reasons why we keep doing it. If you don’t have a food garden yet, why not give it a try… it might grow on you! V

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My own lost garden Story and photos by Judy van Rhijn

View of the house from driveway.

I

s there anything more evocative than a lost garden? Secret gardens and private gardens have their charms but lost gardens offer the thrill of discovering a gardener’s vision that nature has tried to hide.

Imagine beating back 20 years of jungle growth to find the weird and wonderful sculptures of Las Pazos in the Mexican mountains, or being the first to explore the 18th century Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, England, 70 years after they were abandoned in World War II. My own Lost Garden was found at a much-loved former home that is being overtaken by development.

Situated in the Doon Heritage precinct of Kitchener, Ontario, it is surrounded by deciduous forest and 60-year-old black spruces. The house was so well-hidden that delivery men would phone to say, “You don’t exist!”, to which I would reply, “I’m looking at you out the window.”

Our family bought the home in the winter of 2001 from the original owners. They built the red-brick bungalow on an asparagus field in 1960. Around it, they planted the spruce as well as a mixture of speci44 • 2022

Plants ready for transplanting.

men trees which were towering over the house by the time we arrived.

Maples turned fluorescent crimson along the tree-lined driveway. Golden locusts lit up the yard even on a gloomy day. A large walnut supplied the squirrels with their winter stash.

It was a secluded paradise, but still within walking distance of shops, Issue 4

sporting fields and the best sledding slopes in town. We had no need for holidays at the cottage. The forest was alive with small animals, birds and insects.

And then there were the gardens.

We were shown photos of beautiful flower beds when we inspected the house, but had no idea what we had acquired until the spring explosion began. Up came long beds of lilies, iris, peonies and sedum. The yard was swathed in violets, periwinkles, forget-me-nots and random asparagus plants!

The garden hardly seemed to need us. Forty years of loving design and cultivation were on full display as the plants sprouted and unfurled, progressing through a colour-coded display as the seasons passed, all pink and purple one week, then red and yellow the next.

As our children grew up amongst the trees, the developments rose up around us. A bypass at the end of our driveway soon serviced 1,200 new homes. Condominiums and a retirement home went up next door, but we stayed hidden in our private forest. Sadly, the day came when we localgardener.net

Salvaged birdbath.

had to move away. A few years later, I heard that a developer planned to replace our old home with five new homes. I suppose it was inevitable.

In my self-appointed role as “Guardian of the Trees”, I phoned the developer to find out what his plans were. He assured me that he had a strong tree preservation plan and would keep the large trees around the perimeter, even winding the driveways between them.

Realizing that everything inside the perimeter would have to go, I asked if I could remove some of the plants.

“Take it all!” he said, and I attempted to do just that.

When I arrived with a van full of tools and tubs, the place had been neglected for years. I felt like an explorer rediscovering a long-lost paradise. The grass was knee-high, invasive vines and shrubs smothered the plants and hedges sprouted in fantastic shapes.

I was full of nostalgia for my old home, mixed with excitement for the transformation I would make at my new home. First, I had to remember where the plants were. I beat my way through the buckthorn to reach my main priority – a Clematis montana var. grandiflora. I had first seen its white propellor-like petals draped around a stone doorway in Oxford, England. I was delighted to find it at the old home when we bought it. After we moved, I hunted for it every spring at local nurseries without success – a victim of gardening fashion trends.

I was ambitious in my plant localgardener.net

Back garden after all her plants were salvaged.

Dog helping with landscaping.

removal, hauling out mock orange, forsythia, privet and cotoneaster.

Next I hunted out the lilies and irises, some of which came from the family homes of the first owners.

Sometimes I would arrive to find a plant I had overlooked flowering brightly as if to say, “Don’t forget me!”

I would drive up in trepidation each time, fearing today would be the day it would all be gone. I was happy to be working in the place where my children played, remembering everyday joys like sandpit duty, sprinkler fun and backyard campfires, and more magical memories – racing down the driveway to meet the letter carrier with the latest Harry Potter Issue 4

book; the family of deer that visited on Christmas Eve, giving the children a glimpse of Santa’s reindeer; the magical moment when a griffin appeared to rise from the forest floor right in front of us (a bird of prey lifting a rabbit by the shoulders).

I had a little weep the day I found orange paint slashed across many of the trees. The “monkey tree” was marked to go – a multi-trunked silver birch where my children started their tree-climbing careers before graduating to the apple tree and then to the pine with its sticky ladder-like branches. So was the crabapple that pressed its crimson blooms against the children’s bedroom windows, giving them a front row seat to watch the robin’s eggs hatching in its branches.

Over several weeks, I went back and forth with what I could save.

I dug up every variety of flowering shrub and perennial I could find, as well as bird baths and bowls, stones and pavers. I took them to my new home to create an instant garden. My children joked that it would only last an instant, but so far I have proved them wrong. The old birdbath looks at home in the front garden. My white clematis screens the pool. The featureless backyard now has paths and stone walls, raised beds and a rock garden. Even the old doghouse is useful, masquerading as a miniature cottage. Everywhere I look there are echoes of my old home.

The hard work of other gardeners carries on in a new location, memorialized by the plants they loved. V 2022 • 45

The front of the house.

Beautiful Gardens Maxine Panchuk and Matthew Jacoby Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Story and photos by Shauna Dobbie

M

axine and Matthew and their cat, Quincy, have a slice of yard that is in the old area of Nutana, just across the river from the business area of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It isn’t tiny by city standards, at 33 feet wide by 140 feet deep, but it is hardly the expansive prairie that surrounds the city.

Some ferns, which were there before they started the garden.

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The backyard, with trellises and netting.

“I would describe our yard as an experimental edible jungle”

Chicken wire covered box for peas to climb up. localgardener.net

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Heliopsis.

One of the decorated bins.

Feverfew and chives outside the box.

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To make up for it, they’ve stuffed the yard – and the boulevard in front – with as many flowers and vegetables as it can hold since moving in eight years ago.

Most of the work is taken on by Maxine, an elementary school teacher by day. Matt is no stranger to things that grow; he works in urban forestry for the City of Saskatoon. He likes to relax in the garden but helps Maxine with watering and the jobs she hates to do, like breaking down branches and wrapping up hoses nicely.

When they started the garden, “it was sad grass and weeds.” There were a couple of trees, some ferns and a Virginia creeper covering the garage. Everything else you see today was planted by Maxine, either grown from seed by her, purchased or traded with other gardeners.

“I try to garden in a way that is carefree and creative without creating waste – I try to compost or reuse or upcycle as much as I can. I would describe our yard as an experimental edible jungle because I am always trying new growing practices or techniques and producing as much food as we can,” Maxine tells me. Her yard is a warren of raised beds and netting held up by bamboo stakes; of chicken wire boxes and pieces of fence and every kind of trellis her artful mind has come up with. There is a greenhouse made of clear poly covering wire shelves. And here and there are big garbage bins, decorated with funky designs drawn with gel pens.

“When I first started gardening, I experimented more with different things but now I try to keep it simple and grow things that are easy, that we enjoy eating, and that can handle all the shade that we get.” She finds spots of sun to grow beans, spicy peppers and cucumbers and grows lettuce, beets and carrots in the shadier places. Fruits are not to be forgotten, though, and there are masses of raspberry canes and strawberries, plus haskaps, red currants and gooseberries. The netting helps protect against birds, which would make short work of all that fruit.

The garden is also filled with herbs for cooking and, as your eyes settle from the cacophony of edibles, there are several ornamentals. There are a number of hostas, Asiatic lilies, various types of irises (she tells me there localgardener.net

A view of the house from the back of the yard.

A milk can and wagon wheel behind the raspberries.

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Ornaments both practical and beautiful.

Plastic greenhouse in the back.

A shady spot for meals.

are seven!), columbines, peonies, globeflowers and more. “They would probably look better if I quit digging them out, but I keep sharing with people I know,” she says, and it is like an apology. But how to apologize for this exuberance? Maxine has an unadulterated passion for gardening and it shows.

She is concerned about the Earth, and to cut back on water, she plants in furrows, so that the water collects in the depression, and relies on mulch.

She collects her neighbours’ leaves to cover the garden without adding to the cost. When she waters, she does it in the morning when it is cooler, 50 • 2022

Maxine Panchuk.

Scan me To see more of Maxine Panchuk and Matthew Jacoby’s garden scan here! https://www.localgardener.net/garden-of-maxinepanchuk-matthew-jacoby/

in hopes that it will sink into the ground before the sun burns it off.

“I find gardening to be a great way to practice mindfulness, de-stress, get movement and exercise, connect Issue 4

with others, be creative, and keep my brain engaged and active because there is always something to learn and something new to try, and a way to grow delicious, affordable, healthy food that we don't need to leave our house for,” Maxine explains, succinctly describing what gardeners across the country feel. “I love being able to just zip out to the yard to grab some lettuce or a tomato or a handful of herbs when I am making something. I love to eat lots of fruits and vegetables and there is no better flavour or quality than something that is fresh-picked from the yard, grown with love.” V localgardener.net

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localgardener.net

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The front walk.

Beautiful Gardens

Ginette and Philippe Pichette Levis, Quebec

Story and photos by Shauna Dobbie

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or Ginette Pichette, her garden is an oasis of peace.

She’s owned her house in Levis, just across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City, since 1976. She bought it with her first husband, and settled into the home with now-husband Philippe in 2002. He retired that year and she followed two years later, able to devote her summers to the garden.

Together, they love to watch it blossom and grow, from the first shoots of daffodils, tulips and irises, through the peonies and climbing roses, to the fading of the hostas and, finally, ascendancy of the evergreens to the focal point in winter. “Philippe appreciates it so much that it motivates me to do it, always with great pleasure,” localgardener.net

The garden is as comfortable as a well-designed living room.

“For me, a garden is a story of heart, of sharing, of contemplation for all the beauties that nature offers us.”

Hostas fill in beautifully and divide so well. localgardener.net

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An angel lives among the hostas.

A spot to sit and relax.

Ginette confesses.

Although Ginette does the lion’s share of the maintenance, Philippe is no slouch and takes on the lawn care, which he does with zest, trimming so carefully around Ginette’s rounded stone borders. Occasionally he will come to her apologetically with a few flowers or hostas that have lost their lives to his trimmer, but she loves him too much to be angry.

The mature garden is beautifully kept up and studded with repeated hostas, daylilies, irises and astilbes.

Ginette has divided and replanted them over the years, offering some divisions to her daughters, her family and her friends – who have, in turn, given pieces of their Crocosmia is listed hardy to Zone 6 but will survive in Zone 4 with protection.

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A pot of annuals hangs above hydrangeas.

Space for a raised bed of salad greens. localgardener.net

Ginette favours rounded edges for her borders which Philippe must trim around with the lawn mower.

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More annuals punctuate this space with hostas and daylilies.

plants to friends. “I laugh when I look at my book of flowers of Quebec where I noted all the kinds that I tried and that do not exist anymore!” she smiles. Climate zones are a good starting point for saying what plants will grow in a certain place, but they don’t help so much in the Quebec City area.

Using the same plants throughout the garden makes it comfortable and relaxing, like a welldesigned living room. “I think that a garden, no matter how large, is an essential element of life, happiness, calm for a house and all those who inhabit it. For me, a garden is a story of heart, of sharing, of

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contemplation for all the beauties that nature offers us,” she says.

The Pichettes use their garden with guests in the summer, and last winter, Ginette transformed it into an outdoor reception room for Philippe’s birthday during the pandemic.

After years of working on it, the garden has reached its comfort point and really only requires maintenance. But Ginette still gets spring fever and cannot resist hitting the greenhouses in the spring. After a long winter, she loves to smell the earth and plants while strolling through the aisles.

Every year she picks up a few annuals for containers, which add new colours through the growing season. V

Scan me Check out more pictures of Ginette and Philippe Pichette’s garden! https://www.localgardener.net/garden-of-ginette-andphilippe-pichette/ localgardener.net

Trees fit naturally into the borders.

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2022 • 57

Beautiful Gardens Eileen Boyd

Berwick, Nova Scotia Photos by Eileen Boyd 58 • 2022

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The house and studio.

E

ileen is an artist and gardener.

Her art is largely painting, mostly in acrylic, but she does sculpture and works with other media as well. And, of course, she works with plants on her 4-acre home in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia. The acreage allows space for outbuildings and vistas and a big pond. There are natural areas as well as parts that are manicured. It is a wonder to behold.

Here is what Eileen has to say on her website: localgardener.net

The Herons rise up from the banks of the pond.

My husband, Dwight and I live in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, Canada.

We decided that this was the perfect place for us to settle. Nestled between two very old (and very small) mountains, the Annapolis Valley is an incredible place.

We have four distinct seasons, all of which are influenced by the Bay of Fundy and the highest tides in the world. It makes this the perfect place for farming, fishing, orchards and vineyards. Also, the perfect place for an artist!

Our home was built in 1870 by the localgardener.net

Rainforth family and remained in that family for 100 years. It changed hands a few times before we bought it in 1996. And did it ever need a lot of work! We became do-it-yourselfers. Although everything has now been redone it is still constantly changing. Having 4 acres of gardens (my other hobby) – abundant with flowers, fruit trees, and berries – the gardens keep us quite busy through the warmer seasons.

It almost doesn't leave a lot of time for art!

If you are ever in the area, drop by and see us! V Issue 4

Scan me Check out more pictures of Eileen’s garden! http://www.eileenboyd.com/home.html

2022 • 59

Series of objet d’art on plinths. The rabbit in the centre is by Eileen.

Springtime blossoms hang over lupins.

Jessica, the lady of the garden, is another sculpture by Eileen.

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Berries on St. John’s wort.

An artful end to the downspout. localgardener.net

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A gorgeous patio.

Massed birdhouses in the spring.

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Eileen’s The Collector.

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