Hits & Misses: All about height & all about timing
Question of the Week: Why are the petunia seeds I bought coated?
Science & Technology: Daffodils and Memory

Tomatoes fascinate me. It’s intriguing to see large, red fruits grow from small yellow flowers. But it’s the enormous diversity of shapes, colours and sizes that’s downright magical. This year, one particular variety has caught my interest. It’s called ‘Tomaccio,’ and it’s been bred so that its fruits dry on the vine. Shortly after maturing, the cherry-style tomatoes begin to dehydrate, concentrating the sugars. When shrivelled and dry, you get rich, burgundy-coloured fruits that are very sweet. These tomato-raisins can be eaten as is, or tossed into salads or sauces, or eaten before they dry. Red, yellow, purple and striped. Tiny, medium, large and enormous. Squat, round, oval and ridged. And now, raisin-like—there really is a tomato to suit everyone’s taste.

Tall and new, ‘Tomaccio’ is this year’s
must-have tomato.

Hits & Misses
Hit: All About Height
I love the pink-flowered ‘Alice Dupont’ mandevilla because it blooms profusely and thrives in hot, sunny spots. The only problem is it doesn’t start blooming until the plant is about a metre tall. Fortunately, now there’s the Sun Parasol series of mandevillas, which trumps Alice Dupont because the series flowers when plants are only a few centimeters tall. The ‘Pink’ variety also blooms profusely and is, in fact, already flowering in the greenhouses.

‘Pink’ is one mandevilla in the Sun Parasol series.

Miss: All About Timing
One thing you don’t want to forget to do over the next two weeks is prune your American elm trees. That’s because it’s actually illegal to prune them from April 1 until October 1. No, I’m not kidding. The fresh cuts from pruning during that time are very appealling to elm bark beetles, which spread Dutch elm disease. However, that doesn’t mean you should be the one pruning now—it’s often a job best left to certified arborists who have the right equipment and training. But if you have one annoying elm branch that whacks you on the head when you’re mowing your lawn—and you think you can tackle it yourself—then proceed, but with caution.

Question of the Week
Why are the petunia seeds I bought coated?
To make planting easier, tiny or irregularly shaped seeds, such as petunias, are often pelletized. Seed companies simply coat each individual seed with clay to enlarge them and/or to produce uniform shapes, which is especially useful for mechanized seeding.

Science & Technology
Daffodils and Memory
Galanthamine, a compound in daffodils, shows potential for delaying or reducing the affects of Alzheimer’s disease. According to an article in The Grower, researchers from the University of Guelph have teamed with an Ontario-based pharmaceutical company to explore galanthamine’s potential. They’re testing 12 daffodil varieties to see which ones produce the most galanthamine when grown in southern Ontario. For me, it was also interesting to read that Dr. Theo Bloom from the University of Guelph is part of the project. I’ve known Theo for many years, and not only is he a top-notch researcher, but he’s a heck of a nice guy as well.

Did You Know?
Wheat germ, which is actually the seed embryo, accounts for only three percent of a wheat kernel’s weight.

“The best friend on earth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth.”
–Frank Lloyd Wright