Hits & Misses: Late bloomers & veiny growth
Question of the Week: Is this Mother Nature?
The Business: Collaborative book launch
The Path to Enjoy: Excite

I was reading about a species of butterfly where some individuals exhibited a rather strange phenomena called ‘gynandromorphism.’ What this rather long scientific name describes is an organism that is male on one half of its body and female on the other. The most noticeable result, at least from our human perspective, is a butterfly with different wing patterns on each side of its body. Very cool, but when it comes to the reproductive parts…I don’t even want to speculate.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Late Bloomers
Just as most of the lilac flowers are fading into oblivion, the ‘Royalty’ lilac is coming on strong. The large, single, fragrant deep-purple flowers on this late-blooming hybrid are so abundant that they conceal much of the shrub’s dark, leathery foliage. The non-suckering upright form makes it great choice for a small yard. Height: 3 m; width: 3 m.

Miss: Veiny Growth
A few of the ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangeas that we received this past week had foliage that was looking a little “veiny,” particularly the new growth. Whenever I see veiny plants, I know that the likely problem is either a lack of iron in the soil or a soil that won’t give up its iron because it is too alkaline. The solution? It’s fairly simple. Perform a soil test and add some chelated iron if it’s required.

The long-lasting, billowing mounds of flowers on ‘Endless Summer’ turn pink in alkaline soil and blue in acidic conditions.

Question of the Week
Is this Mother Nature?
This week we received a really nice e-mail that gave us all quite a little chuckle. It was from a woman in Cranbrook, B.C. who’s been reading the Lois Hole’s books to help her plan her perennial garden. Well, as the story goes, it seems her five-year-old daughter has also taken quite an interest in gardening and had a question of her own that she thought the books could clear up. Was it “Will roses grow in our garden?” Was it “What kind of flower is that?” Nope. She pointed at one of the books with a picture of Mom on it and asked: “Is this Mother Nature?” The little girl was assured that even though the lady on the book shared her love of nature with millions of garden lovers, she was not in fact the mother in question

The Business
Collaborative book launch
This Monday, students from Grant MacEwan College’s professional writing program and design studies program gathered at Audrey’s Books to launch an anthology of their work titled the ROUGH. There was a great show of support for this unique work of art and its talented creators, and by the end of the evening, roughly half the books had been purchased. All proceed from the book will be donated to the Lois Hole Care & Nurture Fund.

The Path to Enjoy
Excite
My mother always said that problems often solve themselves with a little time. A few days ago we met with Ernst and Paul, our architects, about their new site concept for our relocation. It has been over two months since we saw the first concept and since that presentation, Paul’s had meetings with our staff and Ernst’s toured several greenhouses in Holland. As they collected information, it became clear to them both that their original site concept needed some major changes. After they talked about what each had learned, they realized that the new concept would be very different than the first. Well, we finally saw those changes at this week’s meeting and I must say we were very impressed. Many of the problems in the first design have been solved, and the new concept is even more impressive. Not only were we able to reduce our footprint by 2000 square metres, we were also able to gain a third level. The result is an even more functional building that has managed to do the magnificent location even more justice. You can’t ask for much more. In fact, I know what my dad would have said if he saw this new concept: “It has class.”

Did You Know?
The ingredient guar gum that you see listed on a lot of food labels is derived from the guar plant (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba), which is a large annual. It originated in West Africa and is now cultivated in the southwest U.S. It is also used as a thickening agent.

“Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.”
–Russel Baker

First published June 12, 2008

Historically, beautiful ornamental gardens and beautiful meals had a lot in common. Each started off with high-quality ingredients that were blended together in the right proportions, and—voila! — the result was a feast fit for a king. Today, many of us still want the feast but would rather pass on the fuss. Whether or not it’s because we don’t have the time nor the patience to nurture plants to maturity, the reality is that a growing number of gardeners would rather hang up their chef’s hats and just have the gardening season catered.

The great thing about the world of modern horticulture is that it’s possible to have your cake and eat it too.

Today, there’s an ever-increasing number of tropical and semi-tropical plants that can simply be dropped into containers for that instant garden look. And if you happen to care what your friends or neighbours think of your method (and I recommend that you don’t), none of them will even know that you didn’t spend the last four months knocking yourself out growing them from scratch.

When it comes to caring for these plants, it’s important to know that whereas semi-tropicals have a bit of frost tolerance, tropicals have none whatsoever. With that in mind, it’s imperative that tropicals never face the chill of a cold night without some protection. Providing that protection is easy: simply grow tropicals in containers so that they can be moved indoors if the outside temperatures are going to drop below about 5C. The other benefit of growing tropicals in containers is that the root zone stays warmer thanks to the pot’s exposure to warm air. However, if even the thought of occasionally hauling plants indoors makes your back hurt, consider adding wheels to your planters to make moving them a breeze.

‘Alice Dupont’ Mandevilla

One of my favourite instant plants from the warm-climate category is the semi-tropical mandevilla. It consistently produces lots of vines and flowers throughout the growing season. I always plant mine in a black pot (to warm up the root zone even more) and place it in full sun. Other than regular waterings and a weekly shot of fertilizer, it requires very little else.

Colocasia, more commonly called elephant’s ear, is another great performer. It has large leaves (thus the name), and like all tropical plants, adds an instant exotic look to decks and patios. It isn’t quite as tough as my mandevilla, in that it prefers a semi-shaded spot out of the wind, but beyond that, it is not a fussy plant.

Topping the list of hottest tropical plants for this season are ornamental bananas. They come in a multitude of solid foliage colours, from burgundies to conventional pale greens, and also in mottled and streaked forms. Like elephant’s ear, bananas don’t like exposure to drying winds, so a semi-shaded, wind protected spot in the yard is essential—a very small demand for a very large payoff.

Banana ‘Maurelii’

If bananas are still a little too fussy for you, consider growing canna lilies. In my yard, they rank right up there with mandevilla for being reliable and beautiful performers. I pot my cannas, place them in full sun on the deck, and every year they perform wonderfully. They come in a variety of beautiful foliage colours, and the flower spikes that emerge in early summer are brilliant.

So if you are a garden chef, that’s great. Growing a plant from seed is a wonderful experience. As the saying goes, the journey is as important as the destination. But if you are like many gardeners who just want to sit and enjoy the beauty of flowers and let someone else do the growing, tropicals and semi-tropicals certainly fill the bill. And really, who doesn’t like to be catered to.

Hits & Misses: Topiaries & hailstorms
Question of the Week: What’s wrong with my cucumbers?
The Business: Commercial planters

One thing I am happy to see around the city is that people are taking more chances with their gardens than they have before. It seems everywhere I look, there are many more daring containers that are pushing the boundaries of convention. It’s no longer uncommon to find Japanese maples, exotic grasses and interesting and decorative trellises in attractive pots. It’s been a long time coming, but straight rows of small plastic pots are giving way to groupings of a few large and striking ceramic, molded plastic or metal containers that are impressive even before they are filled. The renaissance has begun!—and I hope there’s no turning back.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Elephants and Junipers and Bears! Oh, my!
Our elephant topiary (shaped from moss false cypress) is a hit with the customers. It is about 120 cm tall and usually sits surrounded by roses and shrubs on one of our nursery carts. We wheel the pachyderm out to the corner of our parking lot each morning to greet customers, which has turned out to be a particular treat for the kids. We also have couple of topiary bears guarding the entrance to the trees and shrubs. The spiraea have never felt safer.

Miss: Hailstorms
We planted up a gorgeous bed of geraniums for the city of St. Albert’s tourist information booth, but Mother Nature decided to let loose with a brief hailstorm that knocked just about every geranium flower off nearly every plant. The good thing is that geraniums are pretty tough plants and, as result, are on the verge of producing a new flush of flowers. I guess geraniums “hail” from a pretty tough region….yes, that was bad!

Question of the Week
What’s wrong with my cucumbers?
I have had a few people wondering why their cucumbers have failed to emerge from the soil. The answer is simple: cold, showery, cloudy weather. Cucumbers love heat and hate cold. If the weather is abnormally cool at planting time and it stays that way for a week or so, cucumber seed tends to rot before it has a chance to germinate. But all is not lost. Get some more seed and re-sow. The cucumbers will grow rapidly IF the weather is warm, and will produce plenty of fruit IF the summer follows suit. I’d take a chance.

The Business
It’s been a long couple of weeks, but I’m happy to report that the commercial planters we designed and planted for numerous restaurants and businesses throughout Edmonton, St. Albert and Calgary have all been delivered—finally! It’s a huge undertaking that requires months of organizing and executing, but the results are nothing short of spectacular.

This year we even offered a watering program to keep the planters looking nice throughout the summer. I don’t know about you, but as someone who likes to dine out, I can’t stand feeling bad about tipping back a cold drink when the plant next to me on the patio is as dry as…well, occasionally, the chicken.

Trend Spotting

Asiatic lilies bloom in an impressive rainbow of colours that few other flowers can match. From vibrant, bold and brassy hues to soft pastels, there seems to be a shade for every gardener.

Did You Know?
Eighty to ninety percent of a tree’s root mass is in the top 60 cm of soil.

“Faith sees a beautiful blossom in a bulb, a lovely garden in a seed, and a giant oak in an acorn.”
–William Arthur Ward

First published June 5, 2008

The aliens have landed. Bright-orange, jelly-like, horned monsters the size of baseballs have invaded the junipers in our gardens and are threatening to attack apple trees!

OK, perhaps that sounds a little too much like Orson Welles’ faux newscast that he “adapted” (meaning, stole) from the classic novel The War of the Worlds. Nevertheless, some strange-looking invaders have indeed landed on hundreds of junipers across the region, and they do look like something from another planet.

What’s causing all this flap? Cedar apple rust (Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae), a fascinating fungus that attacks junipers and apples. When the weather is dry, this fungus’ life cycle isn’t particularly noticeable. But give cedar apple rust a couple of days of wet and reasonably warm weather and this inconspicuous fungus develops a mass of strange, pointy horns with a texture reminiscent of orange Jell-O…gone terribly, terribly wrong.

It takes two
One of the reasons that cedar apple rust is so interesting is because it’s a heteroecious fungus, meaning it requires two hosts to complete its reproductive life cycle. For cedar apple rust fungus, that entails growing strange, gelatinous, baseball-like structures on junipers during wet weather and then shedding spores that hope to find their way to apple trees. If the rust spores find apple leaves or fruit that are moist for several hours, those spores can then germinate and develop in the apple tissue. However, because the rust fungi are heteroecious, the shed spores from the apple tree cannot continue on and invade another apple tree. Instead, the spores must find another juniper to complete their lifecycle before being able to attack again.

Now if you’ve connected the dots, you’ll have figured out the solution to keeping your apple trees free of cedar apple rust: get rid of your junipers. Junipers need apples and apples need junipers to perpetuate the rust fungus, which is why commercial apple growers keep junipers as far away from their orchards as possible. Unfortunately, separating plants from each other becomes a more difficult challenge in the city. Because rust spores have been known to travel as far as a kilometre, it’s no surprise that the fence between your yard and your neighbour’s doesn’t intimidate them. Even in the case of commercial orchards, many growers resort to spraying on a weekly basis with a fungicide (from the time of flowering to fruit set) to prevent rust from becoming established.

The good news is that cedar apple rust hasn’t really caused much of an apple problem in our region; perhaps our typically drier prairie weather and lower humidity has kept it at bay. Just the same, I have seen enough infested junipers this year to feel the need to offer some preventative measures, starting with a recommendation to forget the sprays. Instead, I suggest pruning out the swollen, jelly-like growths as soon as you see them on your junipers. Be particularly vigilant in the spring after a few days of showery weather, and keep the pruners handy. To dispose of the fungus, simply bag it and toss it. By keeping it out of the compost bin, you prevent the spores from travelling any farther.

Last but not least
One other thing that you might want to do is show your friends and kids this remarkably impressive alien invader. Once one gets beyond an initial fear and loathing of this cold, clammy, oozing ball, your revulsion might be tempered with just a touch of marvel.

Hits & Misses: Hot colour & cold roots
Question of the Week: What do I do to control delphinium worms?
The Business: Style on a small scale

Our family had the wonderful opportunity to take an early tour of the partially constructed Lois Hole Library. It promises to be an outstanding facility with vast amounts of open ceiling spaces, plenty of natural light and a beautiful fireplace. A special outdoor garden is planned for the southeast corner of the library grounds, which will allow parents and children to enjoy a read outside on fine weather days. Mom would have been so proud to have her name on such a terrific building. A video tour of the facility can now be found on youtube.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Hot Colour
I love ‘Coppertina™ ninebark (Physocarpus opufolius ‘Mindia’) shrubs. My sister-in-law, Valerie, planted one last year and it overwintered beautifully in her yard. In the summer, the copper-coloured spring foliage will turn a beautiful shade of red and provide a great contrast to the shrub’s white button-like blooms. A fantastic choice for small yards. Height: 2–3 m; width: 2 m.

Miss: Cold Roots
The Potunias™, a series of vegetative petunia with a ball-shaped form (meaning it doesn’t stop producing blooms in the centre of the plant as it spreads) have been a little slow to root this year. It seems we placed them in the coldframes a bit too early and their roots noticed. To keep them happy, we’ve moved the Potunias back to the warmer greenhouses. When their roots get established in a few days, we’ll return the plants to the coldframes and they’ll be none the worse for wear.

Question of the Week
What do I do to control delphinium worms?
Delphinium worms are the larval stage of a moth called Polychrisia esmeralda (P. esmeralda) that enjoy nothing more than chewing the leaves of delphinium, columbine and monkshood. P. esmeralda is also referred to as a leaf tier because in the larval stage, it spins silk and uses it to tie up leaves around its body. The simplest way to control these worms is to pick them off the plant. If you want to spray, Ambush is the insecticide of choice. Just remember to always read the label.

The Business
Style on a small scale
Anyone in the gardening industry who hasn’t noted the meteoric rise in popularity of containers must have his or her head under a pot. This noticeable upswing has gardeners approaching their containers the way any good landscape designer approaches an entire yard. We’ve heard conversations about colour coordination, purpose and placement, but one of the most fascinating applications of design is the idea that your container can have a style or theme—and I’m not just referring to the style of pot. We have customers who are going with modern, Mediterranean and even English-themed containers. I think containers are particularly suitable for the fickle among us: instead of having to change an entire landscape each year, we can just change our container plantings as whimsy takes us.

Trend Spotting

Beauty and functionality are best friends in this year’s garden. These strawberry planters were a mass of pink flowers, and some are now a mass of delicious strawberries. A taste of summer in every bite!

Did You Know?
Ornithophilous plants are those pollinated by birds.

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
–Anais Nin

first published May 29, 2008

I suppose it’s human nature to look for obscure things that might affect our health. “Chemicals” are always an easy target because they allow us to blame outside forces that are often beyond our control, and in turn, exonerate ourselves from blame.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take a lot of reading between the lines of health articles to realize that our sedentary lifestyle is the number one threat to a long and healthy life. Fortunately, part of the solution is in your own backyard—literally.

Gardening ranks high on the list of activities that can not only help keep our cardiovascular systems in great shape, but also help keep our muscles strong and our joints flexible.

So the question is just how good a workout is gardening? Well, from a caloric burn standpoint, gardening has an excellent track record. The scientific way of measuring how good an activity is for burning calories is to note its METs. MET stands for metabolic equivalent, and by using METs you can compare any activity to the energy cost of resting quietly. For example, if you were sitting on the couch with the remote firmly in hand, your body would be burning one MET worth of energy. So a 1-MET activity for a 60-kg person who’s doing nothing more than contemplating his or her existence would burn about 60 kilocalories per hour (the term calorie is often mistakenly used in conversation). Now if that same person would rise from the couch, head to the yard and water the lawn, the MET level would rise to 1.5. Better yet, picking fruit from a tree would bring the MET level up to a 3, and general gardening would raise it to a 4. Using a power mower (not the riding, or self-propelled type) moves the METs up to a whopping 6!

To walk you through the equation, our 60-kg friend in couch-potato mode would burn about 1,392 kilocalories per day (sleeping is a .9 MET activity). That equates to approximately two and a half Big Macs. Now if that person were to engage in a couple hours of general yard work every day, the kilocaloric-burn picture would change substantially. Working at that 4-MET level would burn an extra 360 kilocalories. Subtract the couch potato MET value of 1 from the general yardwork MET of 4 and you end up with what equates to a whopping five Big Mac’s worth of kilocalories burned per week!

Of course, kilocaloric burn is only one of the benefits of gardening. Any time you lift a pot or plant a tree, the very act is part of a good old-fashioned weight lifting program that keeps our muscles strong and promotes bone density. Joint flexibility is also improved by gardening simply because of the variety of movements required. Lunging, stretching, pushing, pulling, bending and balancing can all occur within an hour’s work. But like any activity, gardening should be done safely. Change tasks frequently; don’t lift objects that are too heavy; don’t overdo; protect your knees; use the right equipment—and in the way it’s intended to be used.

One final thing to remember is that although the physical health benefits from gardening are reasonably easy to measure, the mental health benefits are equally important to acknowledge. But just how does one ascribe an equivalent mental MET value to picking a crisp apple off a tree or seeing tulips in full bloom? Well, my heart skips a beat just thinking about it.

Hits & Misses: Streetscaping & kangaroo’s paw
Question of the Week: Will barley straw help prevent pond algae?
The Business: In the zone

On Monday night I had the wonderful opportunity to speak on behalf of my family at the launch of a book called Lois Hole Speaks: Words That Matter. The book is a compilation of speeches and stories that Mom gave during her years as a businesswoman, as University of Alberta Chancellor and as Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. Published by The University of Alberta Press and edited by Mark Lisac, it just hit store shelves this past few weeks. Lois Hole Speaks is already Number 5 on the best-seller list, which is not surprising given that it contains so many great stories and words of wisdom. It is such an honour to see them in print.

Jim reminisces with Earl J. Woods, Lois’ old speech writer, at the launch of Lois Hole Speaks: Words That Matter.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Streetscaping
A sea of 600 barrels of profusely blooming, ‘Pink Wave™’ petunias are taking up a good portion of our parking as they wait to embark on their journey to the streets of Edmonton and of St. Albert. The wave petunias billow out the barrels and produce a dense canopy of gorgeous flowers that are largely trouble-free to grow. I know I see them every year, but it really is amazing how the addition of a few petunia-filled barrels can bring a sterile street to life.

Miss: Kangaroo’s Paw
It looks as though I’m one of the few people who think that kangaroo’s paw is a great-looking plant. Although the plants are healthy and vigorous, they aren’t exactly flying off the shelves. Perhaps it’s too new or too unusual a plant, but when it comes to sales, it’s acting more like a wallflower than a “hot” flower.

Kangaroo’s paw may look unusual on the shelf, but it makes a great-looking statement in the garden.

Question of the Week
Will barley straw help prevent pond algae?
Bales of barley straw are quickly becoming favourite weapons in the uphill battle against algae. From the research I’ve read, it’s quite a simple concept. Prior to the first algae bloom, bales are broken up and loosely arranged in a net before being placed into the pond. After several weeks, the straw begins to decompose and, theoretically, ties up phosphorus, which inhibits algae growth. And the keyword in that sentence is inhibits: barley is not an algicide; it is algistatic, which means it stops algae from growing but won’t kill algae that already exist. Once activated, the straw purportedly remains effective for six months. Results indicate that for proper decomposition to occur, the bales need to be placed in a location with good water flow and sunlight (a minimum of six hours of sunlight a day) and need 6–8 weeks submerged before they will control algae.

The Business
In the Zone
The Perennial Plant Association has named ‘Rozanne’ cranesbill (a.k.a Geranium ‘Gerwat’) as its Perennial Plant of the Year. Now, it’s not the fact that that this plant was deservedly chosen for this honour that drew my attention. Rather it was the growing information that stated that it is a Zone 5 plant that perturbed me. I’m always telling people to question zonal information on tags (which is why I seldom advocate placing information on the tag to begin with), and this plant is the perfect case in point. We’ve sold it for several years and it is definitely a hardy selection for the Edmonton area, which is Zone 3.

Trend Spotting

Water fountains have really caught the attention of gardeners this year. Whether it’s the sound of the water or the way it drowns out the sound of traffic, the attraction to these fountains is multifaceted.

Did You Know?
The proper name for the fruit of an orange or lemon is hesperidium, which is a modified berry with a tough, leathery rind.

“If a June night could talk, it would probably boast that it invented romance.”
–Bern Williams