From The Old Farmer's Almanac.
It's very rare now to walk into a nursery or garden centre and not be confronted with a bronzed woman lounging in some shallow form of modesty. They're everywhere. At the front door; next to the counter; drawing your attention to the new annuals or gazing at you seductively from the lawn mower section. You would have to be wearing blinkers to miss them.
And, it appears that the retail industry is becoming far less discerning in what it offers and the days of little boys peeing and blushing pixies are but a distant memory. Some of the recent collections are up there with Formula 1 bimbo models or Hooter's waitresses.
Stylized couples, life-size bronze sculptures and the modernization of formal classics appear to be the big sellers. But my question is, "Who buys these?" While they appear in their abundance at retail outlets I'm yet to see any that reside in local gardens.
Maybe those who purchase them place them in more secluded spots than the gardening shops? Perhaps the lawn-hugging lounge babe is couched across a creeper in the backyard rather than in the middle of their front garden turf? Who knows? They seem to disappear from the nurseries but never reappear in society.
Maybe some Victorian vigilante is knocking them off to rid society of its ills? Whatever the case, they can't be ignored - they don't seem to be going anywhere fast just taking up floorspace that could have been granted to more interesting plants.
So, would you (do you) have a nude sculpture in your garden? Would it offend the neighbours if you did? Would you care? Interested to hear your thoughts.
Hits & Misses: Sweet promises & blotchy nuisances
Question of the Week: Is it too late to prune my apple tree?
The Business: Clothing and Textiles Collection
I am one of the official judges for Western Living magazine’s 2008 Western Designer of the Year Awards. It is truly an honour to see the outstanding portfolios submitted by this year’s finalists. Not surprisingly, there seems to be an eco-friendly slant to all of the submissions, yet none of the designs appear to have been aesthetically compromised. More proof that we can have our cake and eat it too.
Hits & Misses
Hit: Sweet Promises
The popularity of tomato transplants never ceases to amaze me. Year in, year out through heat, cold, rain and even snow, gardeners buy transplants for the promise of that first bite into a juicy, sweet, homegrown tomato. It just goes to show that regardless of how much effort goes into developing tomato varieties for commercial sales in grocery stores, the humble homegrown tomato will always have a place in our gardens.
Miss: Blotchy Nuisances
Some of our passion vines recently developed a strange case of the measles. Yellow blotches began showing up on the foliage several weeks ago, and we received confirmation from the lab that the cause was a virus called potyvirus. Fortunately, the virus doesn’t spread from vine to vine, and it has proven to be more of a nuisance than anything.
Question of the Week
Is it too late to prune my apple tree?
The best time to prune fruit trees is in the very early spring before the buds begin to swell. But the reality is that many commercial apple growers prune throughout the growing season, so removing the odd branch now is not a big deal. However, the key question to ask before you begin is why you are you pruning? If the answer is that you just bought a new pair of loppers and you want to cut something—anything—then I would say test them out on a fallen tree branch. But if you have an apple tree branch that is growing through the fence, by all means cut if off now.
The Business
Clothing and Textiles Collection
Garments of our mother’s that were donated to the University of Alberta’s Clothing and Textiles Collection have been selected to appear in the upcoming exhibition “Marijke’s Choice.” A particular item of interest selected by the retiring collections manger, Marijke Kerkhoven, was Mom’s gardening boots. The exhibition will be on display in the lobby of the Human Ecology Building from May 15 to August 3, 2008.
Trend Spotting
Just because you don’t have a yard doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a garden. Container gardens, such as this hanging ‘Tumbler’ tomato basket, are more popular than ever. And why wouldn’t they be? Just one of these baskets produces hundreds of sweet, cherry-type tomatoes.
Did You Know?
Only 0 .1% of the sun’s energy is trapped by living organisms. And trees trap 50% of the 0.1%!
“You can’t be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion, or challenge the ideology of a violet.”
–Hal Borland
