Posted by admin to Jim's Notebook on 2008-03-27, 07:11:03

Hits & Misses: Neglect & timing
Question of the Week: What does it mean when a plant is biennial?
Science & Technology: Amaryllis bulbs

This past week I watched a pair of pileated woodpeckers feeding voraciously at our neighbour’s bird feeders. Pileated woodpeckers are North America’s largest woodpeckers and judging by their beautiful red crowns, must have been the inspiration for Walter Lantz’s Woody Woodpecker cartoon. If I remember correctly, the original Woody Woodpecker was a bit of an odd, ‘screwball’ character before he settled into a more ‘normal’ mischievous role. I’m sure that Lantz thought any bird that would spent a good part of its day smacking its head against wood must have dislodged a few brain cells along the way. If you think about it, the old woodpecker cranium must be one of Mother Nature’s better designs because, unlike humans, no matter how hammered the woodpeckers get, they always look none the worse for wear.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Neglect
Hen and chicks (Sempervivum) are amazing perennials. As the snow recedes from my front yard, most of my perennials have a decidedly brownish-grey, dead-looking theme going on. But not my hens and chicks—they look as good now as they did in the summer. I never water my Hen and chicks or fertilizer to protect them during the winter, yet they continue to grow and thrive…hmm, what is the definition of a weed again?

Miss: Timing
We have a gorgeous crop of hydrangeas that will be ready for sale this week—a week AFTER Easter. Ideally, the hydrangeas should have been ready two weeks ago, but with Easter being so early this year, the only way to get them to bloom on time would have been to grow them warm. But the problem with growing hydrangeas warm is that they become spindly and weak. Given the choice between poor-quality hydrangeas that bloom on time or high-quality hydrangeas that bloom late, I’ll take the latter choice every Easter.

Question of the Week
What does it mean when a plant is biennial?
A biennial normally requires two growing seasons to complete its life cycle. Most biennials grow only foliage the first year and then flower and set seed in the second, before dying. Some common biennials are hollyhocks, English daisies and forget-me-nots.

Science & Technology
Amaryllis Bulbs
A customer mentioned the other day that the amaryllis bulb she bought five years ago is now the size of a soccer ball and produced nine shoots this last Christmas. Judging by that description, it’s safe to assume the bulb has been well taken care of. That means giving it a very sunny location while it’s blooming and then fertilizing it through the spring and summer so that it can store up enough food energy in its bulb for future growth. Quit watering your amaryllis in mid fall. Once the leaves wither and dry, store the plant in a cool, dry place for 2–3 months. When the first signs of new shoots appear, bring the plant into the light and resume watering.

Trend Spotting

Water bowls are more popular than ever this year. This one with a bamboo fountain works well indoors or outdoors, although you may have to wait a while to put it outside.

Did You Know?
Draceana marginata is called the money tree in Hawaii because they were first planted outside of the Bank of Hawaii.

“Snow and adolescence are the only problems that disappear if you ignore them long enough.”
–Earl Wilson

Posted by admin to Jim's Notebook on 2008-03-20, 11:07:58

Hits & Misses: Sweet success & slackers
Question of the Week: Is it time to prune my trees?
The Business: Bring on spring!
The Path to Enjoy 2009: Integration

Having just read the latest newsletter from the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), it struck me that all of us are mere dilettantes when it comes to the produce we eat. Our plant diet is pretty much corn, wheat, rice and potatoes—with a few greens scattered in for good measure. If you don’t believe me, check the list of ingredients on the next package of food you buy. I can virtually guarantee that one of the Big 4 is on the label. As the one ISHS article on food plants of Peru illustrated, many of that country’s indigenous tuberous root vegetables are unknown to North Americans. We are very familiar with the potato here in Canada, but have you heard of the other Peruvian tubers? How about arracacha, achira, yacon, macka or ahipa. No? Then what about ulluco, oca, mashua or maca. They are all Peruvian food staples that I’ve never heard of, let alone seen. The sad thing is that many of us will never have the pleasure of tasting these foods because the Big 4 have become so dominant in our culture. Who knows? If the world really is becoming more global, maybe someday soon we will be ordering macka fries at Macdonald’s. Hmm…on second thought.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Sweet Success
So far, I’m pretty impressed with the ‘Sweetunias’ that we are growing in hanging baskets. They have a nice, compact growth habit and are already starting to bloom. One variety called ‘Soft Pink Morning’ is aptly named because its delicate colour makes one think of warm, summer mornings on the back deck with coffee in hand…yes, believe it or not, those days are coming.

Miss: SlackersI
don’t know why it is so annoying, but when one or two shrub roses out of several hundred fails to grow, it is like a tiny sliver stuck in your forefinger—not a big deal but irritating nonetheless. I suppose another analogy would be getting 98% on an exam but dwelling on the one or two questions that you got wrong…not that I have the foggiest idea of what that would feel like!

Question of the Week
Is it time to prune my trees?
Well, that depends. When it comes to broken, diseased, dying or dead branches, it’s always open season. Just remember that there is only one way to make a proper pruning cut on a tree, and that’s by leaving a 1-cm “collar” on the trunk where the branch was. No long stubs. No cuts flush to the trunk. As for general pruning, there’s a fairly easy rule to remember: if you want maximum flower production, prune spring-blooming shrubs in early summer, and prune summer-blooming shrubs in early spring. For example, lilacs and flowering plums bloom in spring (prior to June 20th) and should be pruned shortly after they finish blooming so that next year’s flowerbuds have time to form during the summer. Shrub roses, on the other hand, should be pruned in early spring because the flowers are formed on the shoots that develop during the spring. I would have to say though that the best thing about this rule is that even if you get mixed up and prune the wrong plant at the wrong time, you won’t ruin its health—you’ll just be forced to enjoy its foliage rather than its flowers.

Always leave a 1-cm “collar” when you prune branches.

The Business
Bring on Spring!
Spring is officially here, and although our Garden Centre and Indoor Plant area remain open all year, we are now counting down the days until we fire into full gear and open all the seasonal areas of the greenhouse. Watch for more updates as we near our official opening, scheduled the week of April 21st.

The Path to Enjoy 2009
Integration
When I brought chief architect Ernst von Meijenfeldt to see our new development site last fall, he saw the same thing we did: a beautiful undulating location. Thrilled with the location and that we wanted to retain the natural splendour of the land, Ernst began talking about the importance of the landscape and building working together. Recently, I heard Ernst speak at a Jung Forum, where he reiterated how important it was to complement and enhance the land one builds on. It was truly inspiring—especially when he recited this quote from Frank Lloyd Wright: “No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together, each the happier for the other.” I think that says it all.

Did You Know?
A 100 kilogram log contains 45 kilograms of carbon.

“Grass is the cheapest plant to install and the most expensive to maintain.”
–Pat Howell

Posted by admin to Jim's Notebook on 2008-03-13, 09:04:09

Hits & Misses: Chutzpah & extra space
Question of the Week: Why are my corn seeds pink?
Science & Technology: Green Gold

As our tree and shrub buyer/rose aficionado, Stephen Raven, and I were perusing this year’s crop of roses, I asked him what criteria he used for choosing the varieties. Stephen said that while he tries to have a fairly wide selection of colour choices, outstanding garden performance is the most important factor in the selection process. As Stephen succinctly put it to me, “Although I appreciate colour, choosing varieties that perform well in people’s gardens is far more important than bringing in some wimpy rose featured in a glossy magazine. Choosing the best is my job.” Makes sense to me.

Scentimental, a tender Floribunda rose.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Chutzpah
I mentioned in last week’s notes that we had received some 50,000 bare-root cuttings that we ‘stuck’ in a day. And while I’m amazed by the Herculean effort it took to get them all planted, it also never ceases to amaze me how all those plants figured out that they’d been lopped off their mother plants and needed to develop roots. I mean, I wouldn’t expect that if I lopped off one of my baby fingers that my highly evolved, human body would have the chutzpah to grow another finger. If it weren’t for the fact that plants ‘learned’ how to grow roots from severed stems, our gardens would look very differently than they do today.

Miss: Extra Space
The bananas are going…well, bananas! Although plant vigour is an admirable trait, in the greenhouse, it’s also a double-edged sword. Typically, vigour translates to great garden performance, but around here, it also means finding extra space in the greenhouse at a time when space is at a premium. Knowing that they will fly out the door when it’s time to sell them is a consolation, but that won’t be for a while. Bananas can be held in gardeners’ homes for a few weeks (if you have a sunny spot) but can’t be put outdoors until the weather is warm. Hmm…if I could just figure out a way to control the exuberance of these bananas between then and now, I would be set.

Question of the Week
Why are my corn seeds pink?
The pink coating on your seeds is a fungicide treatment that helps prevent corn seedlings from rotting in the ground. Colouring the fungicide so that it can be seen also clearly marks the seeds as treated, thus indicating that they cannot be put into animal feed or human food.

Science & Technology
Green Gold
Researchers have discovered that algae could be the most economical organisms for converting sunlight into biofuel. Apparently, some algae species are comprised of about 50 per cent lipids (fats) that can be transformed into fuels ranging from jet to biodiesel. One company in particular, called GlobalGreen Solutions, has taken the algae/biofuel equation to the next level and developed a system that converts entire greenhouses to algae-producing factories. The system is called Vertigro, and it’s comprised of select species of algae that are grown in transparent, water-filled, plastic mats. Growing algae vertically allows the company to pack in the maximum number of algae per cubic metre in the greenhouse, which maximizes the amount of lipids the algae can produce from the available sunlight. Once the algae population has reached its pinnacle, the algae are pumped out of the tubes, the lipids are extracted and fat becomes engine fuel.

Trend Spotting

They’re back! Only this time, basket chairs have taken on a European inspired, Neuvo look. This particular line of furniture is incredibly sturdy, made from resin and designed to stack together, making storage a breeze.

Did You Know?
One of the ingredients found is Worcesteshire sauce is—wait for it!—Devil’s dung (Ferula assafoetida). As its common name alludes, the plant has a rather strong and unpleasant smell but still somehow manages to make the sauce taste great.

“Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.”
–Doug Larson

Posted by admin to Jim's Notebook on 2008-03-07, 10:14:58

Hits & Misses: Tissue culture & gray mould
Question of the Week: What can I do to get my plants off to a good start this year?
Science & Technology: Plants at work

It isn’t a great revelation to say that flowers and Valentine’s Day go together like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. But having flipped though Paisley’s Illustrated Language of Flowers, I was surprised to learn that the old Valentine’s flower formula of roses equal I love you, is just the beginning of the inextricable relationship between flowers and feelings. In fact, the moment you venture beyond roses, a whole unspoken language is revealed. For example, did you know that endive (Cichorium endivia) means “frugality”? And really, that should come as no surprise because anyone who would give his or her significant other a bouquet of endive probably still has the first dollar they ever made. The variegated tulip (Tulipa spp.), on the other hand, means “beautiful eyes” and is bound to put any guy onto the starting line of the romance all-star team. Of course, if all stories I’ve been hearing about forgotten Valentine’s Days are true, I would say that the most appropriate flower for a lot of men would have to be Love Lies Bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus), which appropriately means “hopeless not heartless.” Hmm…it could just be the romantic in me, but to my way of thinking, if you have a heart, there’s always hope.

Amaranthus caudatus a perfect pick for hopeless romantics.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Tissue Culture
I’ve never seen as many wonderful canna lilies as I have this year. And they’re not just beautiful, either—they’re incredibly vigorous, too. The reason for their outstanding performance can be attributed, largely, to one thing: tissue culture. Tissue culture is a propagation method that involves harvesting the tiniest tips of plants and then growing the tips into disease-free transplants. Worldwide, cannas are gaining notoriety for being infected with viruses, and the old propagation method of simply digging and dividing roots just accelerates the spread of the disease. Tissue culture circumvents the disease problem and assures growers and gardeners that the cannas will be clean. In my opinion, tissue culture is the only way to go.

Miss: Gray Mould
Fuzzy-leafed cuttings can be a bit of a pain to root. This year, a few of the geraniums succumbed to disease because their leaves didn’t dry out thoroughly enough between the frequent mistings we gave them. Diseases such as gray mould love that environment. Warmth and moist geranium leaves are all it needs to become established, and it can multiply very rapidly under these conditions. The solution? Simple. Ensure that free-standing foliar water is kept to a minimum.

Question of the Week
What can I do to get my plants off to a good start this year?
One of the first things that my mother taught me about growing plants was that watering is one of the most important tasks. The second was that a sturdy water wand with a flood nozzle is essential. The gentle but high-volume shower of droplets delivers a good soaking, without bowling over plants. A high-quality rubber hose is a must, too. Vinyl hoses crack and are difficult to handle, while a good rubber hose remains supple and easy to move around the garden. And if you prefer to water with a can, I recommend investing in a good galvanized metal one, such as a Haws model. Besides being durable, they are perfectly balanced in your hand and have long spouts to make reaching plants much easier.

Science & Technology
Plants at Work
A simple way to increase employee job satisfaction is to add plants to the working environment. According to research from Texas A&M University, employees who worked in offices that had plants and windows reported higher overall quality of life scores. In fact, the no plants/no windows group was the only one that stated that they felt miserable. Hats off to the Texas A&M University researchers for a scientific approach to the plants-equal-happiness equation, but I can’t say that I am surprised by the results.

Did You Know?
Ethiopia’s national flower is the canna lily.

“Kisses are a better fate than wisdom.”

–e.e. cummings

Posted by admin to Jim's Notebook on 2008-03-06, 09:32:09

Hits & Misses: Cool tools & misting lines
Question of the Week: Does saffron come from crocus flowers?
The Business: Moose mother and calf
The Path to Enjoy 2009: Complementary

Last week was the peak week for shipments of cuttings, with 58,500 assorted varieties arriving at the greenhouses in one day. The cuttings were shipped from several countries, including Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, Israel and the U.S. Once they arrived at our doors, we then began the tedious process of sticking each cutting into a special mix that encourages rapid rooting. It’s a remarkable amount of work, but what’s even more remarkable is that our crew of 18 people stuck all 58,500 in ONE day. Let me tell you, it takes dexterity, determination and a steady hand to stick that many cuttings (some of which are ridiculously small!) in that amount of time. Hats off to the crew!

Hits & Misses
Hit: Cool Tools
Who says shovels can’t be pretty? The Radius line of tools we’re carrying are undoubtedly the prettiest I have ever seen. The shovels have stainless steel shanks and a lime green, circular, haute couture-like handle that not only looks great but is ergonomically correct, too. Who would have thought that a shovel could make the neighbours envious?

Miss: Misting Lines
In the Note to Self File, I will endeavour to remember to flush out old misting lines before I install misting nozzles. Last week, I reactivated some long-dormant misting lines and was treated to a smell from the nozzles that was, as a friend of mine would say, “enough to knock a buzzard off a gut wagon!” The odour is pretty much gone now, thank goodness, but I won’t soon forget the flush first then mist strategy.

Question of the Week
Is it true that saffron comes from crocus flowers?
It sure does. In ancient times, saffron was obtained by drying the bright-orange stigmas of the autumn-flowering Crocus sativus over a fire. It was considered an invaluable medicine in ancient Egypt and has also been used as a dye. Today, 80 percent of the saffron produced comes from Spain. It is field grown and typically harvested during the month of November. The bright-orange stigmas are plucked by hand from each flower and quickly dried. Not surprisingly, it’s one of the world’s most expensive spices.

The stigmas of 150,000 Crocus sativus are needed to
produce a kilogram of saffron.

The Business
Moose Mother and Calf
This past Saturday afternoon, Bill’s wife,Valerie, was once again in the office working on what seems like an endless amount of paper when she looked up from her desk and saw a mother moose and her calf walking right by the window. Close behind was St. Albert’s Peace Officer. He’d been following them since 7:30 a.m. and was near the point of calling Fish and Wildlife to tranquilize and move the animals—that is until he saw the mother and calf move over the bank. Back on the river they’d be able to move out of the city, so it appeared that the problem was solved. Well, not so. There was still the fence around our property to contend with. The mother was able to leap over it, but the calf couldn’t. Neither was thrilled, but they moved along the fence together until the mother found herself in the backyards of several homes with no way of getting her calf over the fence. The exasperated Peace Officer was ready to call Fish and Wildlife, but Valerie thought to call Bill, and he was able to open the fence. In no time, the calf discovered the escape route and rejoined her mother….darn kids.

The Path to Enjoy 2009
Complementary
“Crystals in the landscape” is how Paul Schaefer from ONPA described how our greenhouses could be integrated into the landscape at our new location. “Imagine four greenhouse structures emerging from the rolling site with an amorphous-shaped building connecting everything.” Even though we aren’t near a final concept for our new lifestyle centre, Paul’s description of his and Ernst’s thoughts do excite us. It truly feels complementary to our vision and the unique features of the site.

Did You Know?
Trees can choke the life out of themselves with their own roots. The life-threatening roots are called girdling roots, and they tend to form on trees that have been grown in pots for too long. The roots wind around the inside of the pot, and unless they are cut off at transplanting, will eventually squeeze the life out of the tree.

“Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are that morning yawn.”
–Lewis Grizzard

Posted by admin to Jim's Notebook on 2008-02-28, 07:30:02

Hits & Misses: Boss moss & one of these things is not like the other
Question of the Week: How do I know what type of mulch to use?
The Business: Recreating Eden presents “A Mother’s Legacy”

As the days get longer and our greenhouse plants grow more aggressively, the one comment often heard on our weekly walks is that certain, leafy plants are “badly in need of a haircut.” Normally, I would agree that plants such as passion flowers or fuchsias could use a good trim to bring them into line, but Monday’s Oscar Awards may have changed my thinking. The epiphany came to me while Javier Bardem delivered his acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor in the film, No Country for Old Men and acknowledged that although he is a great actor, his bad coif played an important roll in helping him pick up one of those golden boys. Hmm…perhaps, this year, we could save bunch of labour on pruning and instead market Javier Bardem plants…it was just a thought.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Boss Moss
There is something plain old irresistible about the Scotch moss (Sagina subulata aurea) and the Irish moss (Sagina subulata) we’re growing. I don’t know if it’s the colour, texture or elegant simplicity that I love, but both are fantastic species that I wouldn’t be without. The Scotch moss is golden, while the Irish moss is a deeper green—but both are excellent shade plants for containers.

Miss: One of These Things Is Not Like the Other
It’s amazing just how different two similar varieties of bedding plants can be. A couple of weeks ago, we ‘stuck’ (yes, that really is the industry term for placing un-rooted cuttings into a rooting medium) two varieties of bacopa in our propagation greenhouse and waited patiently for them to initiate roots. The two varieties were placed side by side and treated identically. But did they respond indentically? Umm…no. The one variety called ‘Copa Rose’ produced thick lush leaves and lots of vigorous roots. The other (which will remain nameless!) looked emaciated and horrible and made a beeline to the compost bin. Needless to say, the literature that accompanied the bacopa to the bin extolled the beauty of the flowers but somehow left out the fine print about vigour. I guess a grower’s greenhouse is where glossy brochures and reality collide.

Question of the Week
How do I know what type of mulch to use?
There are two commonly used types of mulch: inorganic (rock based) and organic (plant based). Inorganic mulches are best used in alpine gardens, where they are needed to keep moisture away from the crowns of plants, and in Japanese gardens, where they are integral to design. Organic mulches are preferred in most other gardens because they improve the soil and are more economical. Organic mulches vary in particle size, ranging from compost (more of a top-dressing than a mulch) to bark chunks. The size chosen depends on the amount of attractiveness that’s desired. If appearance is not a concern, you may opt for arborist’s chips, which can often be obtained free of charge. If appearance is important, cocoa bean hulls or dyed wood chips can be used.

Organic mulches decompose over time and need to be topped up periodically.

The Business
Monday, March 3, “A Mother’s Legacy”
We are very excited to announce that Recreating Eden, Vision TV’s Gemini Award-winning spiritual gardening series, will be present an episode dedicated to our mother, Lois. It’s called “A Mother’s Legacy” and will air Monday, March 3, Channel 93. Check the Vision TV website for the show time in your city.

Trend Spotting

Tillandsia is a fascinating genus of air plants that is sure to raise a few eyebrows. Air plants are epiphytes, meaning their roots grow above ground, attaching themselves to rocks or other plants. Furry scales on their foliage allow them to absorb water and nutrients from the air and airborne dust. Plants that don’t need soil or containers!—what’s not to like?

Did You Know?
Coffee comes from the Arabic word kahveh, meaning stimulant.

“The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.”
–Gertrude S. Wister

Posted by admin to Jim's Notebook on 2008-02-21, 07:05:52

Hits & Misses: Encores & High maintenance
Question of the Week: What do I do with my celeriac?
Science & Technology: Porcupine whine
The Path to Enjoy 2009: History repeating

I know I shouldn’t have laughed the other night when my daughter began crying about her homework, but I couldn’t help myself. Her frustration was due to a Grade 4 English assignment that involved writing a fairytale to fit on no more than five double-spaced pages. Having written 10 pages of her fairytale, my exasperated daughter screamed out that not only was she less than half way through her story but also that a five-page fairytale was “impossible and stupid.” Now, seeing as I was 650 words into my 500-word maximum Western Living magazine article, I could empathize to a certain degree…damned genetics! Whenever I ramble on with my writing, I always remember Dad quoting Winston Churchill. Apparently, Churchill had ended a letter to a friend of his with “I’m sorry I wrote you a long letter but I didn’t have time to write you a short one.” Uh…I think I will stop my intro right here.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Encore!
I know, I know. I’m always writing about primulas at this time of year, but I just can’t resist! Everyday, I walk past a sea of primula that yield a multitude of brilliantly coloured flowers that perfume the entire greenhouse with a truly amazing fragrance. To my way of thinking, primulas are the very definition of spring.

Miss: High Maintenance
Heat is a friend and an enemy from a grower’s perspective. Grow plants too cool and they stop growing and become more susceptible to root rot and leaf spot. But grow them too warm and plants become lanky, weak and—you guessed it—more prone to root rot and leaf spot. This year we have a few begonias that have been grown just a tad too warm and are a little too tall for their own good. The solution is to move them from their nice, warm, 20°C environment to a slightly cooler, 16°C greenhouse for a few weeks. It’s amazing how quickly a temperature change of a degree or two can change the life of a plant.

Question of the Week
What do I do with my celeriac?
To serve celeriac on its own as a vegetable dish, cook it as you would a turnip. The cut surface of raw celeriac darkens quite quickly when exposed to air, so if you want to retain its milky colour, don’t cut it until just before cooking. If you’re serving it raw, simply rub the cut surfaces with lemon juice or vinegar. A great choice for enhancing soups or adding flavour to vegetable juices, stews and salads.

Science & Technology
Porcupine Whine
When porcupines dine on bark, they’re also dining on the tree’s vascular cambium, the thin layer of tissue beneath the bark. Vascular cambium is responsible for moving nutrients from the leaves to the roots, and destroying this cambium eventually starves the tree to death. We’ve lost cherry, apple, pear and spruce trees in exactly this way, so as you can imagine, porcupines are one of the least welcome visitors to a yard or farm.

The Path to Enjoy 2009
History Repeating
“Are you willing to consider some new ways of constructing this building?” was the question our architects asked us last week. Well, yes, but we never thought that our follow-up meeting today would include ideas that involved using rubber tires, straw, scrap lumber and rusted metal in our new location. In that moment, it became clear to Bill, Valerie and myself that we needed to think outside the box and, in some ways, get back to our roots. Convention, after all, was not something our parents always subscribed to. When Dad started on this farm, his first greenhouse was made of wood trusses from a cancelled project with Nelson Lumber. The first root cellar was insulated with straw, and rubber tires were used to hold down the roof. Today, nearly 45 years later, we’re considering using some of the same materials and methods. Can it work? It might just be a little bit of history repeating.

Did You Know?
An Oriental sacred lotus seed germinated after lying dormant at the bottom of a dry ancient lake bed for over 1200 years.

“Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow.”
–Lawrence Clark Powell

Posted by admin to Jim's Notebook on 2008-02-07, 07:47:56

Hits & Misses: Umbrella pines & things that go bump in the night
Question of the Week: Will adding sand to my soil increase the drainage?
Science & Technology: Night Watch

I am spoiled. There—I said it. It really struck me this week that I take for granted that every day, regardless of how cold and miserable it is outside, I get to walk about greenhouses filled with tropicals and spring bedding plants. Of course, I know that once I leave the greenhouses, the reality of the prairie winter will hit me square in the face, but even so, the hours I spend in a tropical oasis way outnumber the minutes I spend in the cold outdoors. I know! Spoiled! Hmm…as I get older, the thought of adding some sand and a heated pool to the greenhouses doesn’t seem as far-fetched as it once did.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Umbrella Pines
The umbrella pines (Pinus pinea) are receiving a lot of accolades from customers and staff. I think it’s the pine’s wonderful texture and the attractive pots that they’re grown in that are really striking peoples’ fancies. They are Zone 4–5 plants, which means they’re not reliable outdoor plants for our climate, but they really can’t be treated as standard houseplants, either. The reason they don’t fall perfectly into the latter category is that umbrella pines require a 10-week dormancy period (in 3–10°C conditions) around the end of January/beginning of March. After the dormancy period, they can be moved to a sunny window and treated as houseplants—and fabulous ones at that!

The foliage is so dense on this tree that some people mistake it for a plastic plant.

Miss: Things That Go Bump in the Night
One situation that I find both annoying and disappointing is when I receive a shipment of clay or metal patio pots, open the crate and find nothing but damaged goods. It just seems so senseless. Carefully crafted pots should never be destroyed in shipment. Of course, we can claim for the damage, but everyone in the chain—from manufactures to shippers to retailers—suffers. The damage can’t always be blamed on the shipping company, either. If the packaging is poorly done, it is nearly impossible to receive a shipment of pots and not find at least a few clay pots cracked or some metal containers looking like they have been in a traffic accident. Part of the equation simply escapes me: if thousands of eggs can get shipped to supermarkets unscathed, can we not figure out a better way to package and ship pots?

Question of the Week
Will adding sand to my soil increase the drainage?
Reaching for a bag of sand is the natural inclination for a lot of gardeners, but it can be a very serious mistake. Most sands are quite fine and often transform hard clay into even harder concrete! Sand fills in the pore spaces in clay soils, creating a solid, nearly impenetrable block. Unless a huge amount of sharp, coarse sand can be added to the clay soil—enough to create about a 50/50 ratio of coarse sand to clay—adding a bit of sand only makes matters worse.

Science & Technology
Night Watch
Plants are not often thought of as restless sleepers, but many of them are. Plants actually have biological clocks, and several species undergo ‘nyctinastic’ or sleep movements. The leaves on some plants, like the wood sorrel, will drop their leaves from a horizontal position to a nearly vertical position at night. One hypothesis for this nyctinastic movement is that it prevents absorption of moonlight, thus protecting the plants photoperiodic clock so that it can grow and reproduce at the optimum time of the year.

Did You Know?
Last year, the NFL planted 3.5 acres of trees to offset the estimated 260 tons of CO2 that were generated by the Super Bowl in Miami.

“Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.”
–William Dement

Posted by admin to Jim's Notebook on 2008-01-31, 10:10:23

Hits & Misses: Diversity & Mother Nature
Question of the Week: Can I reuse the soil from a container that used to have a houseplant in it?
Science & Technology: An Artichoke by Any Other Name

Apparently, Ginger, our Havanese ‘wonder’ dog must have a latent desire to be an interior decorator. I assume this is the case because she has decided that the decorative peat moss covering the soil of our indoor plants would look much better scattered on the floors throughout our house. Can’t say I agree. However, since Ginger doesn’t seem to share my wife’s preference for keeping the moss in the pots, we have resorted to stretch wrapping the surface of the pots in an attempt to keep the dog’s snout out of the moss. So far so good, but knowing the tunneling expertise of the Havanese breed, I’m not declaring the stretch wrap barrier a success just yet. Did I mention that the dog is giving lessons to my son? Sigh…

Gardening starts early in Jim’s household.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Diversity
I don’t know how deep the begonia genetic pool is, but I find it amazing that breeders seem to be able to pull out every possible colour permutation and combination from these plants. This year’s shipment is a testament to that. In fact, I’ve never seen so many outstanding varieties of begonias with multicoloured foliage as I have this year. And because there is such a great diversity in begonia varieties, there is likely to be an ideal begonia to suit almost every taste. Of course, begonia’s intrinsic ability to grow well without a lot of sun also makes them the perfect plants for brightening up the shade.

Miss: Mother Nature
The one thing a January cold snap does is make one realize that although greenhouses are great for letting light in, they aren’t exactly hermetically sealed from the cold winter winds. Regardless of how well we think we have sealed up all of the nooks and crannies, Mother Nature has a knack for pointing out our flaws. During the worst of the snowy and windy weather, tiny snowdrifts show up around door and vent seals in spots I had assumed were pretty airtight. Fortunately, the one thing you do learn in the greenhouse business is to always keep the caulking and weather stripping close at hand.

Question of the Week
Can I reuse the soil from a container that used to have a houseplant in it?
Reusing soil from the pots of dearly departed plants is never a good idea. If the plant died because of pests or disease, the soil may contain some of these pests. Even if the plant died because you dried it out, chances are the soil has too few pore spaces (pockets of open spaces that can be filled with water) to sustain a new plant. As the soil decomposes, it starts to lose pore space and becomes too dense for air to infiltrate easily and for roots to grow properly. Pots can, however, can be reused—just be sure to scrub them clean and then soak them in a solution of 10% bleach and water.

Science & Technology
An Artichoke by Any Other Name
If you are planning on planting a few Jerusalem artichokes in your garden this year, there are two important things to remember. The first is that these plants are not from Jerusalem. The second is that they aren’t artichokes. Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) are actually cold-hardy, wild relatives of the sunflower and were spread from Saskatchewan to Ontario and down into Arkansas and Georgia by the Native Americans. The tubers contain high levels of a carbohydrate called inulin, which is currently being researched as a ‘bulking agent’ in sweeteners.

This old photo shows Kate, Bill and Mike in front of their Jerusalem artichokes. As you can see they bear little resemblance to the traditional vegetable.

Did You Know?
U.S. federal law forbids concentrations of more than 5 parts per billion nitrosamine in cured meats, but chewing tobacco contains 9,600 to 289,000 parts per billion nitrosamine.

“Don’t knock the weather. If it didn’t change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn’t start a conversation.”
–Kin Hubbard

Posted by admin to Jim's Notebook on 2008-01-17, 10:23:53

Hits & Misses: Stylish succulents & stubborn Christmas guests
Question of the Week: Are my shrubs budding?
The Business: It’s A Magazine!
The Path to Enjoy 2009: Unique

Elephant Ears, Elephant’s Ear or Elephants’ Ears? Who thought that a pachyderm’s body part could cause so much controversy? For the past week, Akemi Matsubuchi, one of our bedding plants supervisors, has been trying to gather consensus on what the correct name is for Colocasia esculenta. It may sound like a petty issue to outside observers, but it’s amazing how something as ‘simple’ as finding the correct common name for a bedding plant can cause a maelstrom in peoples’ minds. Our solution to the conundrum was to contact the Royal Horticultural Society of Britain for the answer. We deem them experts on matters like these because of their excellence in horticulture…plus, let’s face it, there’s just something about the words Royal and Britain that have an air of authority. So what was their verdict you ask? Wait for it…the winner is…Elephant’s Ear! Now I can sleep at night.

Hits & Misses
Hit: Stylish Succulents
This will be the year of the succulents at Hole’s. For those unfamiliar with succulents, think of drought-tolerant plants with intriguing foliage shapes and colours. I trialed a number of them in my yard last year and loved the look—not to mention the fact that they sip water rather than guzzle it. This season, we’ve quadruple the number of varieties that we normally carry so that we can offer our customers an exceptional mix of succulent containers for decks and driveways…unless I buy them all first.

Miss: Stubborn Christmas Guests
I know that I shouldn’t be talking about poinsettias at this time of year, but I have to mention that the variety ‘Monet Twilight’ looked outstanding this year. The problem with that is they should have looked outstanding LAST year—as in Christmas 2007—not January 2008. I suspect the Monets were a little heat delayed, but no matter how good their excuse is, it doesn’t change the fact that there has yet to be a January where poinsettias have been a sought-after plant.

Question of the Week
Are my shrubs budding?
Whenever the midwinter weather turns mild, I get a lot of people swearing that their shrubs’ buds are swelling. The reality, however, is that the buds aren’t swelling; it’s just that gardeners are having their first close-up look at buds that were concealed by leaves during the summer. It really is a common misconception, and the reason is because the buds on many spring-flowering shrubs are fully developed by the end of the summer and, therefore, tend to stand out on barren branches. So if you’re a little disappointed that your shrubs aren’t precocious overachievers, don’t be. If they had swelled due to imbibing water, they would certainly be dead come spring, and you wouldn’t want that.

The Business
It’s A Magazine!
Everyone here in the publishing department is proud to announce that the premier issue of Enjoy Gardening has hit the shelves here at Hole’s and is expect to be on magazine racks across the country in the next couple of weeks. We are all very excited about this new publication and hope that our readers will love it as much as we do.

The Path to Enjoy 2009
Unique: Can an ornamental houseplant produce tomatoes?
The ‘Minimato’ can. It’s a dwarf cherry tomato plant (about 14” tall) that’s grown as a low-maintenance indoor houseplant. What makes the Minimato so consumer friendly is that it’s sold when its first fruits are just ripening. That means the new caretaker needs only to place it in a sunny spot and add a bit of water. According to the website, if all goes well, the Minimato will last two months and yield about 50 tomatoes—all while adding beauty to your home. Kind of like a fern but with fruit!
Watch for it spring 2008.

Did You Know?
By bathing plant tissue in just the right mixture of hormones and nutrients, embryos develop, producing what are referred to as ‘artificial seeds.’

“To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June.”
–Jean-Paul Sartre