Hits & Misses: Back deck Bahamas & gluttony
Question of the Week: Now that the snow has melted, should I start fertilizing my trees and shrubs?
The Business: Enjoy Gardening Summer 2009!

I’m happy to report that despite the less-than-ideal weather, our spring open house was a great success. I received lots of feedback from people who were thrilled with the information we provided at the seminars. And while I’m always happy to provide information, I’m just as thrilled to be the person learning. In fact, there are few things I enjoy more than talking to gardeners who are eager to share their knowledge about plants, products and techniques. So, even though many of you thanked the staff and myself for the open house, I’d also like to thank all of you for coming down and sharing your stories with me. Here’s to a great gardening season!

Hits & Misses
Hit: Back Deck Bahamas
I’m loving our ‘Red Abyssinian’ banana plants. Not only are their leaves a rich burgundy colour, but the huge size of them is perfect for making a bold statement in a container garden. True, we may not live in a tropical climate, but if you put one of these beauties on your deck, you just might think you’re on a café patio in the Bahamas…for a few months anyway.

Miss: Gluttony
Last week, we discovered a few pots of begonias with some leaves that were cupped downward. After inspecting the plants and determining that pests weren’t causing the leaf distortion, we sent a tissue sample to the plant diagnostic lab. The results showed that a few begonias had absorbed excessive amounts of “trace elements,” such as zinc, manganese and copper. Some plants, given the opportunity, can be rather gluttonous when it comes to absorption of trace elements. And gluttony is just as bad for plants as it is for people. Fortunately, an overdose of trace elements can usually be corrected by putting the plants on a strict metal-free diet for a few weeks. Problem solved.

Question of the Week
Now that the snow has melted, should I start fertilizing my trees and shrubs?
Not just yet. Fertilizer is for actively growing plants, which means a plant that’s still dormant (or even breaking dormancy) won’t be able to utilize the nutrients. Most fertilizers should be applied during the period of rapid growth in the spring (just after leaf buds begin to break).

The Business
Enjoy Gardening Summer 2009!Over the last two months, everyone in our publishing department has been busily putting the final touches on the Summer edition of Enjoy Gardening. Well, I’m happy to report that not only is finished and at the printers, it’s also our best issue yet! It should be in our stores for the May long weekend and on newsstands everywhere shortly after that. In the meantime, we leave you with this sneak peek at the cover. Enjoy Gardening!

Did You Know?
The high sugar content in tubers allows French fries to become dark upon frying.

“When all is said and done, the weather and lover are the two elements about which one can never be sure.”
—Alice Hoffman

Our Spring Open House was a great success! Despite the flurries we had an excellent turnout. Musicians serenaded us while we listened to experts talk about trees and shrubs, vegetables, perennials, flower arranging, do-it-yourself projects, and cooking with herbs.

There were even behind-the-scenes tours for anyone wanting a peek at how we turn seeds into beautiful blooms. It was a perfect day for the kids, too. They were more than enthusiastic to plant up some marigolds that they took home to watch grow. It was nice to see everyone excited about the upcoming gardening season. Lots of terrific questions were asked, and our experts were on hand with plenty of advice.

This event also proved the perfect opportunity for the community to learn about our new facility (the Enjoy Centre) and to see some of the plans we have for it. Oh, and we can’t talk about our open house without mentioning the petting zoo. The kids enjoyed playing with goats, sheep and even a wallaby! It was a great chance to engage the whole family and to get excited about gardening. Thanks to everyone who came out. We hope to see you again next year!

Enjoy Spring and Rediscover Hole’s: Open house
If you want to get excited about the gardening season, mark Sunday, April 26th on your calendar. It’s the date of our open house and the perfect opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at some exciting new plants, as well as some old favourites. There’s an entire afternoon of events scheduled, one of which is a seminar I’m giving about my favourite what’s-old-is-new-again trend: vegetable gardening. Having spent the greater part of my life growing vegetables, I love talking to gardeners about how to get the best out of their vegetable patches. So come down to see us. With tours, do-it-yourself projects and stuff for kids, there’s should be something for everyone. Hope to see you there!

Enjoy Spring and Rediscover Hole’s
Join us and get excited about the gardening season!
Sunday, April 26
Noon – 4:30 p.m.

Scheduled Events
12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Tree & Shrub Care
Meet at the Nursery – Learn to care for your trees & shrubs with tips from Nursery Manager Maggie Neilson

12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Arranging Spring Flowers
Meet at the Floral Department – How to make “wow” spring arrangements with floral designers Lisa and Taryn

12:30 p.m. to 1:30 pm. The Enjoy Centre
Meet at the Garden Centre – Learn about our new adventure, the Enjoy Centre, with Bill Hole

1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Behind-the-Scenes Tour
Meet in the Bedding Plant Area – Let our General Manager Dave Grice take you on a behind-the-scenes tour

1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Perennials 2009
Meet at Perennials – Learn what’s new in perennials for 2009 with our Perennial Manager Bob Stadnyk

1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Enjoy Life Outside–Inspired Projects
Meet in the Bedding Plant Area – Author and DIY guru Linda Bodo shows you how easy it is to do-it-yourself

2 p.m. to 3 p.m. A Kid’s Garden
Meet in Indoor Plants – An opportunity for kids to plant and then watch it grow at home, an activity with staffer Janice Curle

3 p.m. to 4 p.m. How to Grow Great Vegetables
Meet at the Garden Centre – Ask our resident expert Jim Hole your gardening questions

3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Cooking with Herbs
Meet in Indoor Plants – Learn to use fresh herbs with our very own cooking contessa, Nikki Stoyko

“Nature is an infinite sphere of which the centre is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.”
—Pascal

first published April 9, 2009

At this time of the year, few things are more encouraging than the sight of black soil peeking out between patches of snow. It means the gardening season is near. To celebrate, I thought I’d, once again, take you all on a virtual walk of the greenhouse—a stroll down the aisles to see what’s making our plants happy and what’s bugging them—literally. Here we go…

Stop number one is Greenhouse 3. My first reaction? Wow! The hanging baskets are bursting with new growth, creating a canopy of green that’s almost overwhelming. A little ways over, however, I notice a subtle change. Unlike the rest of the plants in Greenhouse 3, the trailing verbena have a hue all their own—a bright purple one. As in the kind you’d get from holding your breath too long. Fortunately, it’s not as big a deal as it sounds. Whenever green plants turn purple, the problem can usually be attributed to a phosphorous deficiency in the leaves. And that deficiency can usually be distilled down to one of two things: either the soil is deficient in phosphorus, or the plant’s root system is not vigorous enough to absorb the phosphorus. The problem with the verbena proved to be the latter and was likely due to the soil being a bit too cool and wet. Come to think of it, since wet soil is often starved for oxygen, it’s entirely possible that the verbena were doing the equivalent of holding their breath. Once we added a bit of phosphorus-rich fertilizer to the soil and backed off on the water, the purple gradually gave way to green, which, at the very least, made me breath easier.

Down in Greenhouse 4, a few of the impatiens were experiencing almost the inverse of the verbena situation. Instead of boasting psychedelic foliage, their new leaves were rejecting colour altogether. The cause? Iron deficiency. Just as people can become anemic, so too can plants. Pale-green leaves are a pretty good indicator. No worries though; a simple adjustment to the feeding program will iron it all out. Sorry…I couldn’t resist the pun. It will take a few weeks, but with an iron “transfusion,” the impatiens will regain their green pigmentation. Onward and westward!

Next stop is Greenhouse 6, where a sea of gorgeous geraniums stops me in my tracks. The entire crop is just so stocky and well branched that I can’t resist bending down to pick one up. But not for long. Apparently, there’s a fine line between lingering and dalliance…and I crossed it. I quickly put down the geraniums and hustle to catch up with the rest of the crew.

A visit through Greenhouse 14 proves bittersweet. Most of the bananas and canna lilies look outstanding (lush, multi-colored plants shooting out in every direction!), but there’s one tiny patch of ‘Pretoria’ canna lilies that catches my eye. After taking a closer look, I notice a slight streaking on the leaves, which I immediately recognized as Yellow Leaf Streak Virus (YSV). YSV in cannas is a worldwide problem because it resides in the roots of infected lilies and spreads easily whenever the rhizomes (roots) are divided. Because of this, we don’t start our cannas from roots. Instead we rely on virus-free tissue culture (the virus-free leaf tips of plants) to propagate our cannas. The only exception to the rule this year was—you guessed it—Pretoria. The solution? Dump out the Pretoria and try to find some tissue cultured ones next year.

Next stop: the coldframes. Because our coldframes are about 10C colder than the regular greenhouses, it makes them a haven for growing cool-loving crops such as pansies, snapdragons and petunias. And while the flats of bedding plants look tough and are well branched, the real stars are the strawberry combination baskets. The hanging baskets contain two varieties: ‘Berries Galore’ and ‘Pretty in Pink.’ Both produce edible berries, and the white flowers of Berries Galore beautifully complement the pink flowers of Pretty in Pink. It truly is the best of both worlds—beauty flowers that transform into delicious fruit. I do, however, expect to see one problem about a month from now. Last year around that time, the ripe fruit dangling from the base of baskets invariably and “mysteriously” disappeared. I don’t know the exact cause, but there seems to be a correlation between height of the baskets and height and arm length of the walk-about crew.

Just as I leave the coldframe and call an official end to our walk of the crop, I notice one last cluster of thriving plants on the west-facing outside wall of the greenhouses: dandelions. Healthy as can be, popping up through the snow, and without any supplemental iron, phosphorus or even heat for that matter. Sigh…there’s just no justice in the world.

Hits & Misses: Tough customers & wet feet
Question of the Week: When should I remove the winter protection from my tender perennials and shrubs?
Science & Technology: Deterring wasps

From the so-you-think-you-have-problems-in-your-garden vault, consider the trials and tribulations of gardening in the Grande Prairie area. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Alberta, Grande Prairie is about 500 km northwest of Edmonton. On the upside, gardeners in that area have great soil and very long summer days, which provide for rapid plant growth. As for the downside, consider this. Whereas most gardeners battle aphids, caterpillars and the occasional rabbit, gardeners in the Grand Prairie area deal with more formidable adversaries such as deer, elk, moose and even the odd buffalo. In fact, I recently spoke to one Grande Prairie gardener who was irate about an elk that not only trampled through her garden but also managed to rip a locked granary door off its hinges and somehow drop it 275 metres away! So…I promise to quit complaining about the family dog nibbling the ends off my shrubs.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Tough Customers

The snapdragons and pansies in the coldframes are looking pretty tough right now. And when I say tough, I mean tough as nails. Tough plants are conditioned to endure all sorts of unpredictable, late April weather: a bit of frost, heat and, yes, even a blanket of snow—which is why I’m planting a few of them in my yard this weekend. In fact, the biggest challenge with transplanting pansies and snapdragons early isn’t the toll that the weather takes on them; it’s the toll that the weather takes on our psyches.

Miss: Wet Feet
As I was looking at pots of vinca ivy in the greenhouse, I thought that two varieties had been accidentally placed together. Some had a rich-green colour, while others were distinctly lime green. Upon closer inspection of the plants, which were in a trough above eye level, I realized they were the same variety but that the lime-green ones were sitting in water. With their roots sitting in water-saturated soil, they’d become starved for oxygen and unable to properly absorb nutrients—a reaction typical of most plants in the same circumstances. Fortunately, the lime-green vinca plants will have their rich-green colour restored once they’ve been out of their wading pools for a while.

Question of the Week
When should I remove the winter protection from my tender perennials and shrubs?
Generally, you should remove protective coverings (such as mulch) from your tender plants as soon as the native trees are breaking bud. It’s possible that there may still be a hard frost after this point, but it shouldn’t cause much harm to your plants.

Science & Technology
Deterring Wasps
You may have heard that hanging a fake wasp’s nest will deter the real McCoy from taking up residence in your yard. Well, forget it. According to entomologist Dr. Ken Fry of Olds College here in Alberta, wasps aren’t territorial when it comes to other wasps. In fact, the only message that a faux nest sends to other wasps is “Welcome to the neighbourhood!”

Did You Know?
Anthers, the pollen-containing structures on flowers, shed pollen in two different ways. The introrse type shed pollen toward the centre of the flower; the extrorse type shed toward the periphery.

“Life gets better when you embrace your geekiness.”
—Rose McGowan

Spring Photo Essay

This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to speak to the Calgary Horticultural Society. Apparently, the society has some 6,000 members, making it one of the largest horticultural societies in North America. When I showed slides of some of our spectacular garden plants, the oohs and aahs from the Calgary audience convinced me that I should share the same images with our Notebook readers. So with no further ado, here are a few plants that you can look forward to seeing this spring. Enjoy!

This canna lily lives up to its name, ‘Orange Punch.’

Black-Eyed Susan Vine ‘Lemon Star.’

Petchoa ‘Neon Rose’ is one of the new crosses (Petunia x Calibrachoa) featuring big flowers and lush foliage.

The rich colours of Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’ (Red Abyssinian Banana) work well in containers.

The elegant arching stems of this Solomon’s Seal hold buds that are nearly open.

Sanguinaria canadensis f. multiplex ‘Plena,’ commonly called bloodroot.

Assorted huecheras proudly strut their colours.

Phlox kelseyi ‘Lemhi Purple.’

This mandevilla vine is from the Sun Parasol Pretty series. The variety is ‘Crimson.’

first published March 26, 2009

Olericulture. The word has an air of sophistication and mystery, don’t you think? The kind of word you might expect bantered about at an art show or in dimly lit coffee houses. The reality, however, is that olericulture is the “official” name for—wait for it—vegetable growing!

A lot of people are surprised that an official term exists, but, really, why wouldn’t one? Just because vegetable growing lacks the glamour of, say, grape growing, shouldn’t preclude the need for an impressive name. Let’s face it, if grape growers can refer to the stomping, crushing and fermenting of grapes as oenology, then logic dictates that what’s good for one spin doctor is good for another. Then again, if this year’s trend spotters have it right, the once-humble vegetable patch will need little image bolstering.

Plain and simple, vegetable growing is where it’s at. And nothing’s fueling this trend more than the newfound desire to have more control over what we eat. Add to that a desire to reduce one’s carbon footprint and to save a few bucks, and it’s easy to see why vegetable growing is this year’s hottest trend. Need more convincing? Consider this. The average one-gram package of carrot seed contains about 800 seeds. Besides being a bargain at around $2, that’s 800 carrots that won’t need to be shipped hundreds—or even thousands—of kilometers to our local stores; stores that, for the most part, we must still drive to. Add to the equation the pleasure of eating impeccably sweet and fresh vegetables, and finding a carrot row’s worth of space doesn’t seem like much of an obstacle.

So if you want to delve into the trendy world of olericulture this year (and I hope you will), here is a sampling of some of the most interesting seeds for 2009. Give them a try.

Carrot ‘Purple Haze’
If you’re looking for a break from the ordinary, this carrot is it. As its name suggests, ‘Purple Haze’ has a deep-purple outside that conceals a bright-orange core. A very sweet variety and perfect for a gourmet garden.

Rainbow Radishes ‘Easter Egg II’
This is a premium blend of radish seeds in rainbow shades of cherry-red, white, plum-purple, and rose-pink. All are white fleshed with a crunchy texture and a mild flavour. Great in salads or as a bright garnish.

Asparagus Pea
This is an unusual gourmet vegetable that looks somewhat like a frilly, four-lobed pea pod. Its delicate flavour is reminiscent of asparagus and is best enjoyed while the pods are young and tender. Steam or blanch as you would asparagus spears.

Cucumber ‘Long White’
This ghostly white cucumber doesn’t need peeling, thanks to its thin, tender skin. The firm flesh is sweet and tangy, making it ideal for eating out of hand or adding to your favourite salad rolls. Can be grown outdoors or in a greenhouse.

Jewel-Toned Beets ‘Red Sangria’ ‘Golden Beets’ ‘Striped Chioggia’
Beets are a truly undervalued vegetable. Besides being incredibly versatile, they’re a great source of vitamins and fibre. The tender young leaves can be added to salads or enjoyed steamed. This mixture boasts burgundy, golden, and candy-striped beets. Easy to grow and succulently sweet. Give them a try.

Simply put, everyone should try growing at least a few vegetables this spring. You don’t need a lot of space—or even a garden. Many vegetables grow nicely in containers that fit on even the smallest of balconies. So give olericulture a try, and don’t let the fancy name intimidate you. After all, culture is from the Latin word cultura, meaning “tend, guard, cultivate, till” and oler, is from a…uh…Canadian word, meaning “just get off the couch and plant something you can eat.”

Hits & Misses: A passionate tendency & vibrant verbena
Question of the Week: Should I clean the leaves on my houseplants?
Science & Technology: Grand new carnivorous plant
The Business: Hotmail account holders

Even though 500-horsepower tractors aren’t easy to manoeuvre around bedding plants, I always manage to find something at the Edmonton Farm and Ranch Show that pertains to gardening. This past weekend it was the Rhodiola rosea booth that caught my eye. R. rosea is a rather attractive plant commonly known as roseroot. We’ve always sold it for its ornamental value, but now it’s being touted as an “adaptogen” thanks to its purported ability to foster increased resistance to stress and to boost physical and mental performance. If you’re interested in farming roseroot, get in contact with the Alberta Rhodiola Rosea Growers Organization (www.arrgo.ca). By the way, you won’t need a 500-horsepower tractor to grow it.

Hits & Misses
Hit: A Passionate Tendency
While walking down aisle after aisle of plants in our greenhouses, it’s easy to forget to stop and admire the strategies plants employ to eke out their niches in the world. This week, for example, I couldn’t help but marvel at the tendrils on our rapidly growing passion vines. At times, they seemed part human as they reached out to grasp anything that offered support. On a selfish note, if passion vines didn’t have tendrils, our staff would have to spend endless hours tying each plant to its hangers. Long live tendrils!

Passion vine tendrils readily latch onto supports.

Miss: Vibrant Verbena
Verbena leaves should be a rich green colour, so you can imagine my surprise when I came across the distinctly purple foliage on some of our hanging verbena baskets. The cause? A phosphorus deficiency. Fortunately, a quick drench of some 10–52–10 fertilizer (high in phosphorus) corrected the problem within a week.

Question of the Week
Should I clean the leaves on my houseplants?
Indoor plants will benefit from a monthly cleaning. This schedule isn’t likely to be followed by many of us, but at a minimum, try to clean the leaves a couple of times per year. If your plants have smooth leaves, use a soft damp cloth to remove the dust. If the leaves on your plants are fuzzy, like an African violet’s are, you can use a soft paintbrush to gently dust the leaves. Tweezers and/or a cotton swab work well when cleaning cacti.

Science & Technology
Grand New Carnivorous Plant
A new species of carnivorous pitcher plant has been discovered on a mountaintop in the Philippines, Science magazine reports in its March issue. The plant may well have the largest pitchers of the 120 or so known species. According to the plant explorers, the trumpet-shaped pitchers (30-cm long and 15-cm wide) are “akin to an open stomach.” Not so appetizing but interesting, nonetheless.

The Business
Hotmail Account Holders
Hotmail has placed severe limits on the number of Hotmail recipients who can receive a single email. That means those of you with Hotmail accounts may or may not arbitrarily receive a copy of the Notebook in a given week. We have previously been able to avoid this restriction but have noticed a large number of bounces from those of you with Hotmail accounts. FYI: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/09/limits_on_hotmail/

Did You Know?
The high oil content of shrubs, such as chamise (common in the California chaparral), is largely responsible for the speed at which brush fires spread.

“To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds, and watch the renewal of life—this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do.”
—Charles Dudley Warner

Silver Grey kalanchoa, Million Kisses Romance begonia & Designer Orange Punch canna.