First published December 22, 2005

Every Christmas, my wife creates an elegant arrangement by placing a branch from our poinsettia plant into a tiny vase in the bathroom. The single stem with its large red bracts not only looks great in the vase, but it easily lasts throughout the Christmas season. It’s such an easy way to make a boring countertop look great, yet visitors are seemed surprised by it. It begs the question why aren’t poinsettias used more often as cutflowers?

Not Available in Stores
I think the main reasons that we rarely see poinsettias displayed as cutflowers are twofold. First, it’s difficult to actually find stems of poinsettias at floral shops: there simply isn’t anyone supplying the industry because they are far too delicate to ship and handle. Poinsettias have big, splayed, easily damaged bracts. Second, most of us have a real aversion to hacking up a perfectly lovely potted poinsettia—even if the goal is to create a beautiful table arrangement. So it’s not poinsettia’s lack of beauty, but rather its structure and our own reluctance that are the reasons it hasn’t enjoyed much success as a cutflower.

Do It Yourself
The good news is that making your own poinsettia cutflower arrangement is easy. Well, easy if you don’t mind buying a potted poinsettia and then mercilessly chopping it apart. In our house, my wife knows that it’s a rare Christmas season when I don’t inadvertently break off a poinsettia branch, so she always has an ample supply to go around. If you have any poinsettias with snapped off branches or you have mustered the courage to cut some yourself, you can expect the bract-covered branches to last three weeks or more in vase. In fact, we’ve had cut poinsettias last over a month in a cool 20 degree C room.

For maximum cutflower life, choose plants that are healthy with undamaged bracts. Cut the poinsettia’s branches leaving a fairly long section of stem and place them into a solution of tap water and floral preservative. The colorful bracts will last longer if you remove all of the green leaves. The preservative is critical; it controls bacterial growth and keeps the water flowing through the cut stems. Cutting the stem tips off every three days will also extend the life of poinsettia. Remember that the poinsettia is a member of the Euphorbiaceae family, and like many members of this family, it produces copious amounts of a gummy white liquid called latex. If you cut a poinsettia stem and let the latex dry at the cut end, it will quickly develop a little rubber-like plug that blocks the stem and prevents the uptake of water that causes the bracts to dry out.

An Unusual Display
If you want to give cut poinsettias a try, ease yourself into the rootless world by cutting just one branch from your potted plant. A single bract-covered branch per small vase, highlighted with some Christmas greens for texture, is all you need for a striking splash of colour that, with care, should provide a beautiful display straight through New Year’s.

Recent research at Cornell Universtiy studied the differences in plant vigour depending on the height of the perennial root planting depth. It was clear that when the crown (intersection point of the roots and the shoots) is at or slighty above the ground level there was a significant improvement in plant growth. This file from Cornell University shows the crown is easy to identify.

This Week:
-Hits & Misses: Christmas season, Powdery problems
-Questions: Holiday pests
-In the News: Spring Gardening, Online questions
-People: Friends of Lois Hole

SEASON’S GREETINGS
Everyone here at Hole’s would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy
Holidays. This will be our last Notebook of the year and we will be taking a
break until January 12, 2006. When we’re back it will be a brand new season
with many new challenges in the growing ranges and exciting new plants for
2006.

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Hits & Misses
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HITS
It’s been a successful Christmas season and everyone has been working hard.
The last poinsettia that goes out the door on Christmas Eve is the signal
that our staff can relax and rejuvenate for a week and anticipate an
exciting new growing season.

MISSES
I had a fellow grower phone me last week about a problem he was having with
his poinsettias. He was completely exasperated by an insidious disease
called powdery mildew. The mildew that is attacking his crop is quite host
specific: meaning that it attacks a narrow range of plants, in this case,
poinsettias. It’s a stealthy disease because it sits on the foliage as a
spore, invisible to the human eye, but once the environment is ideal (high
humidity and cool temperatures), the mildew germinates growing rapidly and
turning the poinsettia foliage a ghostly white.

Unfortunately, once the powdery mildew becomes well established it is
impossible to control and the plants must be thrown out. I can empathize
with this unfortunate grower because if you somehow manage to miss just a
few poinsettias that have mildew the entire crop can be lost. That’s why we
have such an aggressive scouting (or inspection) program. It takes time, but
it is worth it!

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Question of the week
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HOLIDAY VISITORS
We’ve had a few calls from people who have found insects in their Christmas
trees. Over the years I’ve heard of people finding everything from moths to
wasps in their trees, which although not a common occurrence, is
predictable. Trees naturally harbor vast numbers of over-wintering insects,
some beneficial, some pests, some innocuous and rarely some, like wasps,
that we humans deem to be pests. Growers often spray to control these
insects but not everything will be eradicated.

I’ve also heard from people who want “organically grown” trees that aren’t
subject to this kind of chemical control. I think that a compromise is in
order. We should tolerate the odd bug on our Christmas trees and educate our
children about the really fascinating insects that Christmas trees shelter,
but let the growers of the trees treat them to minimize, not eradicate every
last living arthropod on the needles — perhaps sharing a little holiday
peace and goodwill with the bugs?

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News
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GARDENING IN 2006
Spring Gardening 2006 is at printers this week and should be off the press
when we get back from our Christmas break. Along with the thousands of
newest and best varieties for 2006, it has some great articles on such
topics as the trials of building a pond, taking soil samples and a preview
from my upcoming book: What Grows Here III: Solutions.

POINSETTIA POISON
Looking at the web logs for enjoygardening.com, I discovered that one of the
most popular search terms has been “poisonous poinsettias”. Researchers at
Ohio State University had put this myth to rest years ago but it still seems
to persist. Perhaps it’s the fact that poinsettias exude a white latex-like
sap when broken that causes people to erroneously believe that the plant
must be poisonous.

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People
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MY LOIS HOLE
The other day my brother Bill was on his way to Vancouver and while waiting
to catch his plane a very effusive lady came rushing over to say how much
she respected and missed our mother. She had seen Mom several times at the
airport while she was Lieutenant Governor. “You know” she said “Your mother
always talked to me.” My mother never forgot how important the front line
people were. This lady went on to tell some other stories about meeting Mom
and how much she always enjoyed it. She finished the conversation by saying
“Whenever I go to the garden I put on my rubber boots. I’ve affectionately
named the rubber boots ‘My Lois Hole’s’.”

SEE YOU IN 2006
Hole’s will be closed for the holidays from December 24 until January 2,
2006. When we come back in January a whole new selection of tropical plants
will have arrived and will be on sale for 30% off. As a bonus we will offer
free repotting of any tropical plant if you purchase one of our pots at the
same time.

-Jim

The issue of clean air and especially clean, indoor air is always more of a concern in winter. Our homes are usually shut tight and unless you have air exchange system, outside air is not coming into our home in a regular and consistent way. Even with good air exchange systems, the air is still low in humidity. Plants are one of the best humidifiers for your home. And not only will they add moisture, plants will clean the air. And as an added bonus, this time of year most indoor plants are on at reduced prices as growers clear their greenhouses for the spring plant crops.

If you are looking to help clean the air in your home or office, keep in mind when you buy houseplants the 10 best air cleaners are:
1.Areca Palm
2.Reed Palm
3.Date Palm
4.Boston Fern
5.Pothos
6.English Ivy
7.Sword Fern
8.Peace Lily
9.Rubber Plant
10.Weeping Fig

First published December 15, 2005

I think holly is one of the most attractive Christmas-season plants. Its glossy green, pointy leaves and bright red berries are stunning against the snowy backgrounds and it is a favourite in holiday floral arrangements worldwide. At this time of year, the thought of growing our own holly might pique prairie gardeners’ interest. However, there are two important factors to consider if you plan on growing holly in your yard: picking the hardiest variety for our winter conditions and understanding holly’s biology, in particular the all important sex-ed portion.

It’s a Gender Thing
Recently, I was listening to Dr. Kim Coder, a tree researcher from Georgia who had consulted with a novice commercial holly grower frantic because none of his beautiful holly, or Ilex, shrubs were producing any berries. After a brief discussion the grower learned to his horror that there are, in fact, male and female holly shrubs. What he had were acres of some very attractive, healthy, but commercially worthless, males — since only females bear fruit, there was no hope of this poor fellow ever harvesting foliage adorned with the trademark red berries. Thinking about all the silly mistakes I’ve made in the field of horticulture over the years, I refrained from chuckling out loud.

While growing holly commercially is not an option on the prairies — our winters are much too severe for the varieties of holly sold as Christmas decorations — all is not lost. If you really have your heart set on growing holly in your yard, go ahead, but you will need to change your expectations. Even with extra care, what you can grow here will be markedly smaller than the large, lush holly shrubs seen growing in warmer parts of Canada.

The varieties of prairie-hardy hollies that stand up to our climate are few. In fact, most of the plants that I’ve seen growing on the prairies suffer terribly without snow cover; any leaves above snowline invariably ‘burn’ from exposure to harsh, desiccating winds and fierce cold temperatures, eventually dropping off the stems. Dormant leafbuds survive, but the plants’ growth is set back. While this makes hollies unsuitable as feature plants in our part of the world, they are still attractive in a shrub or flowerbed where their role is less prominent.

A Fruitful Marriage
The holly variety best suited to our area is Ilex x meserveae “Blue Boy” and “Blue Girl.” Don’t forget, their names identify their sex; remember you need both genders if you hope to ever have a chance of producing berries. The two sexes are often sold planted or grafted together (found under a variety of names; “Berri-Magic Kids” is one) to help ensure pollination and subsequently, those all-important berries. In Zone 3, this variety will grow between 60 to 150 centimetres tall, one-quarter to one-half of their potential height in warmer zones. Holly grows best when given lots of water and planted in a bright, sheltered spot in rich, slightly acidic soil. Unfortunately, bright spots also tend to lose their snow cover easily and often quite early in the spring, so be sure to keep the snow shovel handy to recover these plants as needed.

Growing holly may take some effort, but what prairie gardener isn’t used to a challenge? And remember, knowing a little about the sex life of your plants can come in handy, especially if you’ve set your hopes on some fruitful reproduction.

I like to watch Formula 1 racing. I find it fascinating. The effort that goes into making the cars go as fast as they can while dealing with all the external factors (like tires, weather and track) just to keep the car on the circuit is truly admirable. I often use the analogy of a race car when talking about top performing plants.

I believe almost anyone can grow a plant. Get some soil, stick a seed or cutting in it, add water and voilá you are a grower. However, in a race car, 4 wheels and an engine does not a race car make. Each time the driver wants more speed from his car, the more work and skill that has to be used in setting up the car. This is the same with the plant business: it takes a lot of skill, knowledge and care to make sure a plant performs well. So whenever I see other growers’ plants, I give them the ‘F1′ test. Has this grower gone flat out to produce the highest performance plant? While I was in Calgary I saw some poinsettias that didn’t pass my F1 test. The bracts were small indicating the grower had not used the correct fertilizer; they were shedding lower leaves because the plants were grown too close together (to save money) and they were setting coloured bracts at multiple levels on the plant meaning it was grown in too hot of a greenhouse.

Even though most of the public are not a professonal growers I know they still appreciate exceptional plant performance. It is a lot like that F1 race car: it’s easy to spot high performance when you see it.

This is the time of the year that figs will drop alot of leaves. The low light levels and short days mean the trees will not be growing as quickly as they do in the spring ,summer and fall. As a result they shed leaves. Many people worry that this is a disease. It is not a major problem however, if your fig tree was barely holding on to life in the location you have it the low light levels through the winter can finish it off. A little bit of leaf shed (less then 10 leaves a day) is normal. Heavy leaf shed (more the 20 a day) probably means your tree is in major distress and needs to be moved to a brighter location. Figs will also shed leaves from cold injury. Be sure the trees are not close to outside doors especially when it is very cold outside.

This week:
Hits & Misses: Jam’s & Miracles
Question of the Week: Holiday Spiders
What I Learned: Historical plant science
Greenhouse Timelines: Right now in the greenhouse
The Business: Cell Phone Free!
At the Store: Christmas rush

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Hits & Misses
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HITS
A definite hit this week was a gift of a couple of jars of snowberry and
lingonberry jam dropped off by a former professor of mine from the U of A,
Dr. Ken Domier. The berries from which these jams are made are indigenous to
northern regions of the world. Apparently, it is only the Scandinavian
countries that have large commercial operations for processing these
berries. However, Ken informs me that there are a few hardy Scandinavian
immigrants around the Edmonton area who venture out into the woods to
harvest their own berries. Being that Ken is the resident expert on
everything Scandinavian and the fact that the name ‘Hole’ is Norwegian I
would be remiss if I didn’t say this about each jam “Det Smakar Gott” (it
tastes good!)

MISS
What really bugs me are the “miracle” plant products. You know the type – just
give your plant a shot of (insert name of product here) and it will grow
twice as big and yield twice as much as an untreated plant. The plain and
simple truth is that there are no miracle products that can replace good
soil, adequate water, sunlight, space, the right quantity and type of
fertilizer and, of course, the best plant varieties. Miracle products,
whether they targeted at plants or people, frequently miss. Save your money
and spend it on the things that will really make a difference.

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Question of the Week
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Why are there spider mites on my poinsettia?

Fist of all, if you can see them easily they aren’t spider mites. We take
great care to make sure that our plants are pest free, but since spiders are
not a plant pest and it would be irresponsible of us to use pesticides to
eradicate the spiders.

The Orb Weaver spiders are occasionally found on poinsettias and are both
tiny and harmless. They will, however, feed on some insect pests, such as
fungus gnats, which are commonly found in potting soil. Customers are often
ready to throw out a plant because they notice these natural ‘bio control’
arthropods. Don’t destroy these spiders; they won’t survive very long in
your home and they don’t feed on anything other than insects. These spiders
are truly the ‘janitors’ of the plant world and they’re doing us a service.

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What I Learned
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I was reading an interesting article in HortScience on the origins of the
fruit called citron. The most fascinating aspect of the article was not the
citron’s human-assisted migration from its point of origin in southeast Asia
up to the Mediterranean region, but rather that the Jewish people had
certain tree grafts that were forbidden. According to ancient Jewish law
grafting between two cultivars of the same species was permissible but
interspecific grafts (i.e. between an apple and a pear) were forbidden.
Sounds like genetic engineering is a rather old topic!

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Greenhouse Timelines
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Easter lily bulbs are in and will be planted up in the next couple of weeks.
Yes, I know it’s hard to believe that we would be thinking of Easter at
Christmas time but that is the reality of the greenhouse business.
In the greenhouse right now among the poinsettias, you will also find
miscanthus, cordyline (Sundance and Red Sensation), cineraria and primula.
The cineraria and primula are early spring crops for sale around Easter but
the others are just very slow growers that take a long time to establish.

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The Business
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Hole’s has joined The Coalition for Cell Phone Free Driving and has
instituted a company policy that states company employees are not permitted
to use a cell phone, either hand-held or hands-free, while operating a motor
vehicle on company business and/or on company time. By adding our support to
the Coalition, we hope to promote safe driving habits in our community.

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At the Store
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I did an episode for Shaw TV on gifts for gardeners and was astonished and
the response. One fellow actually came and bought everything I suggested. I
guess there are a lot of people looking for ideas this Christmas. We still
have a good selection of giftware and gardening accessories but as Christmas
approaches things are selling fast.

Every year we try to figure out what the demand for poinsettias is going to
be when we are ordering, and, since we do the ordering in February for
delivery of cuttings in July, its often difficult to get it right. This year
we seem to be short of white poinsettias (9cm, 11cm and 15cm); it seems to
be the colour in demand! There are still a very few left but the supply
won’t last.

First published December 8, 2005

Not long ago, I watched an episode of the television program “Mythbusters” that showed how a person consuming just a few poppy seed-covered bagels could fail a drug test, testing positive for the presence of opiates. Poppy seeds contain only trace amounts of opiates, but those trace amounts are high enough to show up in a urinalysis. With the Christmas season approaching, through no fault of their own, millions of people across the nation might also fail a drug test, should they wind up taking one. As it turns out, a whole slew of vegetables and spices commonly prepared for Christmas dinners contain trace amounts of hallucinogenic drugs — all produced naturally by the plants themselves.

Feasting on Phytochemicals
All plants produce phytochemicals or, put more simply, “chemicals created by plants” and the levels of concentration may differ throughout the plant. For example, seedpods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) contain high levels of chemical opiates, but only trace amounts are found in their seed.

Other popular edible plants have phytochemicals of their own. The phytochemicals of vegetables from the carrot family, including carrots, dill, celery and parsley, as well as spices such as pepper and nutmeg, all include the hallucinogenic compounds myristicin and elemicin. In fact nutmeg, the king of pumpkin spices, used to be known as the “spice of madness” because of its relatively high myristicin and elemicin content.

It’s unlikely that nutmeg deserved this fearsome reputation — one would have to be mad in the first place to consume enough nutmeg to cause hallucinations. And parsley contains so little of these narcotics (0.007% by dry plant weight) that anyone foolish enough to attempt to get high from parsley would wind up with nothing but a severe stomach ache and the freshest breath in the room.

Nonetheless, it’s intriguing that even the most innocuous vegetables contain compounds vilified by modern society. In fact, the humble garden carrot has close ties to one of the most controversial drugs, MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy. The myristicin molecule found naturally in carrots is very similar, chemically speaking, to the molecule safrole, which is found in cocoa, black pepper, ginger and nutmeg, and which can be theoretically converted into Ecstasy via a chemical process.

The Drug Defence
Virtually all plants come complete with a mixed bag of phytochemicals. Fortunately for our health, the good phytochemicals (“good” from our point of view, at any rate) far outweigh the “bad.” But by the same token, one would be hard-pressed to find a single edible plant on this earth that doesn’t contain trace amounts of some naturally occurring molecules that, at high enough concentrations, would either kill us or cause hallucinations.

Plants don’t set out to alter our consciousness; they just evolve whichever mechanisms will allow them to best compete in their particular environment. Hallucinogens and other phytochemicals are just the plants’ way of restricting which pests feed upon them and how much those pests consume; animals learn pretty quickly that they shouldn’t gorge themselves on plants that contain these brain-altering compounds. In this way, if enough herbivores are deterred then there’s a good chance that more plants will survive predation to start the next generation.

A Holiday Trip
When you think of some of the phytochemicals produced by plants, you gain new respect for seemingly mundane garden plants. While it’s unlikely that I (or anyone!) could eat enough carrots or nutmeg spice to take an unscheduled holiday “trip,” understanding that many so-called natural foods contain small amounts of harmful chemicals is a good reminder of nature’s infinite complexity.

During the short days of winter its pretty tough to coax any growth out of your houseplants. The reason for the plant’s seemingly suspended animation is not due to a lack of fertilizeror water, its due to a lack of light. During the winter the total light that is available to your houseplants is only about one fifth of what it is in the summer. For most indoor plants, the quantity of winter sunlight is just enough to hang on until the spring. Its called the light compensation point indicating that the light energy that the plant absorbs and utilizes for growth is offset equally by the energy that it burns. The result is, essentially, a plant that is idling until there is enough light to produce new growth. The take home message here is not to expect a lot of growth during the winter and to water only as needed and to fertilize very sparingly until late winter.