SEPTEMBER 2001

That Hint of Fall is in The Air.

Planning and Planting Bulbs, Looking for Sales and Garden Care

Almost all that appears on the boob tube is pathetic and, as Fred Allan once said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of television.”  If, this fall, we must be subjected to yet another Survivor series, may we suggest Garden Survivor?  Six gardeners would be left on an island in the Ottawa River.  They must each, unaided, create a landscaped garden using materials that are available only from supermarket garden centres (when they are open). 

Their tools would all be manufactured in China and advice supplies from television garden shows and magazines, especially those from the U.S. and England.  Resident bureaucrats are to be on hand to ensure every pettifogging by-law is complied with, while environmentalists constantly patrol the island, harassing at the slightest excuse and calling in the CBC for alleged infractions…how much better to be able to garden ourselves this sunny September.  And there is, as usual, much to occupy us.  Bulbs in particular, of which much more later pages along with sources such as Gardenimport and Veseys.

Then there is the doyen of all Canadian bulb catalogues, Cruickshanks, which made a startling metamorphosis to emerge under the banner of the Indigo Empire.  This fall’s edition is worth looking at if only for four pages of “native plants and their hybrids,” including several hard-to-find Trillium as well as Erythronium, Dog’s-tooth violet or Trout Lily (1-800-665-5605).

Out in the garden itself, it is time to stop deadheading the roses, allowing them to realize that the season is drawing to a close, and they must prepare for winter.  It is still months away from earthing up, though.  Still, rose collars and composted cattle manure supplies seem to run low at garden centres about this time, so it may be as well to lay in a modest stock of the same.

If not already undertaken, fertilize the lawn but cease and desist elsewhere in the garden, although houseplants will appreciate continued attention.

Since the first frosts will not occur in Toronto or the GTA until well into October, there is no need to worry this month about saving treasured tender tropicals being used outside.  Next month will also be time enough to lift, divide and replant many an old favourite of a perennial that has grown a trifle overpowering.  So why not treat the garden for what it is meant for: a place of relaxation.  Sit back, take it easy and contemplate some of the many and varied peculiarities inflicted upon us.

Mysterious and strange are the ways of big business.  In these days, with natural living style being all the rage, one would think that support would be engendered for equally natural liquid container plant foods, for outdoor and indoor use.  Strangely, probably the best on the market, Wilson’s Lakefish, is eschewed by the big-name chains such as Canadian Tire and Home Depot.  In fact they have little to offer in this respect.  Who does their buying remains a mystery.  Well-worth looking for, now that fall is in the air and a liquid fertilizer will be needed inside next month for plants returned to indoor protection.

Many garden centres will be greeting the fall with sales of their shrubs, trees, evergreens and perhaps perennials that have failed to sell over the summer.  Any professional horticulturalist knows the risks of plant material kept too long in the pot, perhaps neglected to boot.  Of course, a sale is only a sale, as the old maxim goes, if you need it.  And if it is not guaranteed, what does that say for the vendor’s faith in the likelihood of its survival?  A wise amateur gardener recently advised:  “If you can’t afford to lose it, don’t buy it.”  Even at sale prices, these are words worth listening to.

“My Favourite” Perennial Mum

Coming this fall, ‘Autumn Red’ is the first of a new series of perennial garden chrysanthemum being introduced by a joint venture between the Ball Horticultural Company and Anthony Tesselaar International.  For far too long, we have been subjected to this season’s chrysanthemums that might better be described by the writings of 17^th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes when he wrote of the life of early life of man as being  “short, nasty and brutish.”  They fade fast, are not hardy under our climatic conditions and come in a horribly limited palette.

‘Autumn Red’ is over 30-inches high and up to a full 4-feet across, flaunting a canopy of up to an incredible 5,000 red blooms with a yellow centre during its four-to-five week season.  It then merely requires to be cut back and will re-emerge the following season.  It needs only sun, water and fertilizer to repeat this superb performance and no periodic pinching of shoots, or any other special care, making it ideal for all gardeners seeking low maintenance plants.

And they are hardy in most anything that can be thrown at them here.  Indeed, they’ve been tested down to below –20C in central Minnesota.  Indeed, this is where they originated, bred at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Horticultural Science by the team of Neil Anderson, Peter Asher and Esther Gesick.  And they are versatile, too!  Apart from perennial borders and seasonal bedding, they also excel when used as shrubs and even hedges.

They have already been tested under Ontario conditions and should be found in better garden centres and other retail outlets across the province.

So You’re Planting Bulbs?

 Here are some useful tips to save you time and money as well as bad language.

• While just about any flower bulb colours seem to go with others, either choosing one colour, such as pinks or blues, or perhaps all-white selections can offer a striking appearance.

• White flowers also show up best at night or against a background of evergreens.

• Blue flowers bring the impression of depth to a small garden

• Some tulips also have mottled or striped foliage for additional interest

• Spring-flowering bulbs require a well-drained, good soil but will grow in the shade of deciduous trees or large shrubs

• Follow the depth-planting instructions that come with individual bulbs.

• Plantings in outdoor containers often fail for what are, frankly, mysterious reasons.

• If you can’t afford to plant the whole garden, don’t spread out your bulbs, plant in clusters of a dozen or more.

• Position very early and smaller-flowered bulbs close to the window of a frequently used room, or alongside a walkway so they can be easily seen and appreciated.

• Those bulbs with scented flowers (see opposite page) are also best beside frequently used paths.

• Planting is best done with a narrow-bladed trowel, which has a stainless steel blade and wood handle.

• Many gardeners believe in spreading generous quantities of bone meal natural fertilizer before digging the holes is highly beneficial; others use commercial blends.

• Before planting, shaking the bulbs in a paper bag with pepper powder deters squirrels.  There are also commercial liquid deterrents for the same purpose.

• Spreading chicken netting over the beds will also prevent damage by squirrels.  Remove the following spring when the first green shoots appear.

• If you cannot protect the bulbs from squirrels, all daffodils and narcissus, as well as Scilla are poisonous to them and so remain unharmed.

Think About Bulbs with Scented Flowers for Spring

Sweet smells of a successful spring commence with fall plans.

As denizens of The Great White North, we like to think that we know all about winter.  And then there is the glorious garden spring that follows with bulbs bursting into flower, just like on the posters and in the catalogues.  But what about the scent of spring?  Even the winter-fresh fragrance of conifers fails to revive the spirits after a severe bout of cabin fever.  So don’t just plant for colour.  Demand that the air of the early garden be redolent with wonderful odours also.

The bulbs that will deliver these are should not be hard to discover at garden centres worthy of that designation.  One of the oldest and largest wholesalers offers a fabled selection to retailers.

Scented Tulips

‘Angelique’ is a double of various pink shades, while ‘Apricot Beauty’ a salmon rose; ‘Ballerina’ is a bright orange; ‘Bastogne’ poppy red, and ‘Crème Upstar’ double yellow; the ‘Double Colour Explosion’ features ‘Monte Carlo’ (yellow) as the parent of Abba (red) and ‘Monsella’ (yellow with blood red spots); ‘Early Glory’ is pink with a white base and ‘High Society’ salmon rose edged with coral; ‘Little Beauty’ is a species of tulip, of a reddish pink colour; ‘Princess Irene’ a distinct orange and finally ‘Sunray’ is a yellow.

Scented Crocus

‘Golden Yellow’ an heirloom from 1600.

Scented Hyacinths

Over and above the usual offerings, all of the following will repay searching for them:

‘Blue Ice’ a.k.a. ‘Koh-I-Nor’ powder blue with violet-blue stripe down each petal; ‘Peter Stuyvesant’ has royal purple-blue flowers, while ‘Hollyhock is an heirloom form 1963 with multiple layers of wide open dark pink almost red flowers’ ending these is ‘Woodstock’ dark purple inside, maroon outside.

Daffodils and Narcissus

‘Actea’ white, yellow cup; and heirloom from 1927; ‘Cheerfulness’ white; another heirloom form 1923 and ‘Geranium’ white and orange’ heirloom from 1930; ‘Hillstar’ is a lemon yellow and long lasting while ‘Martinette’ is yellow and orange; ‘Minnow’ is a miniature, white with yellow cup and ‘Quail’ a bronze yellow and very long lasting; ‘Sundial’ is also a miniature, and yellow; ‘Thalia’ a white is an heirloom from 1916, with finally ‘Yellow Cheerfulness’ being a yellow heirloom from 1937.

Scented Muscari

‘Armeniacum’ a.k.a. ‘blue Grape Hyacinth’

Then there are the catalogues.  Far too many of these merely offer the same tired old selections.  Then we have two of the best: Gardenimport (Box 760, Thornhill, ON L3T 4A5 phone: 1-800-339-8314 or visit www.gardenimport.com) and Veseys Bulbs (Box 9000, Charlottetown, PEI, C1A 8K6 phone: 1-800-363-7333 or visit www.veseys.com)

Gardenimport has always offered top quality bulbs (and other plant material).

Scented Tulips

‘Angelique’ the double pink; Tulipa polychroma a species of white and yellow seem to be the only two offered this season.

Scented Hyacinths

‘Double Hollyhock’ is deepest pink, almost red and ‘Woodstock’ dark purple.

Scented Crocus

‘Korolkowii’ is golden yellow from north Afghanistan.

Scented Daffodils and Narcissus

‘Campenelle’ is yellow; ‘Curlew’ white; ‘Gigantic Star’ yellow, and lives up to its name; ‘Polar Ice’ a flurry of white; ‘Quail’ a yellow; ‘Replete’ is a double white with an apricot pink centre; ‘Tutankhamun’ is a chalk-white.

Scented Muscari

There are M. armeniacum and M.a. ‘Blue Spike’ as well as M. boytryoides ‘Album and M.b. ‘Superstar’.

Veseys offers few scented tulips but some intriguing other selections at competitive prices, as well as some other extraordinary selections.

Scented Tulips

‘Angelique’ double is various pink shades, while ‘Claudia’ is magenta edged white.

Scented Hyacinths

‘Multiflora’ Hyacinths; also ‘Peter Stuyvesant’ and ‘Woodstock’.

Scented Daffodils and Narcissus

‘Actea’ white, yellow cup and is large; ‘Apricot Beauty’ is salmon rose; ‘Bell Song’ is ivory with a pink cup, ‘Butterfly’ Narcissus are of mixed colours; ‘Cheerfulness’ is a double white; ‘Jonquil’ mix features various yellows; ‘Kedron’ is yellow with an orange centre; ‘Minnow’ a miniature white with yellow cup; ‘Prof. Einstein’ is white with a scarlet-orange cup and the ‘Recurvus’ is white with a yellow and red cup and to round everything off, the white ‘Thalia’.

Scented Muscari

We find ‘White Grape Hyacinth’ a.k.a. M. botryoides album; also ‘Blue Grape Hyacinth’ a.k.a. M. armeniacum.

Horticultural Happenings

Events of Interest to Gardeners in the Toronto Area and Elsewhere

Toronto Field Naturalist Outings & Talks

Free guided walks; children welcome but please no pets; all are TTC accessible; dress according to weather, bring beverage, camera and notebook and binoculars; more walks at 416-593-2656

3 Sept. Highland Creek Nature Walk: meet noon at McCowan Rd.  Terminus of LRT; Bring a snack.

8 Sept. West Dean Park Nature Walk: meet 10 a.m. S.W. Corner of Martin Grove and Eglinton East; Bring lunch; see migrating birds and flowering plants.

11 Sept. German Mills Settlers’ Park Nature Walk:  meet 10 a.m. N.E. corner of Steeles & Leslie; walk ends at 1p.m.

20 Sept. Toronto Islands Nature Walk: meet 10:30 a.m. ferry docks foot of Bay St.; bring lunch; good viewing for birds and flowers.

22 Sept. Ellesmere Stream Nature Walk:  Meet 10:30 a.m. entrance to Morningside Park.  West side of Morningside Ave, North of Lawrence; bring lunch; search for mushrooms

23 Sept. Don Valley Brick Works 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.; meet North end of Chorley Park (East end of Summerhill Ave), some quite strenuous climbs.

26 & 30 Sept.  Mt. Pleasant Cemetery Nature Walks: meet Davisville Subway Station; bring lunch; highly recommended for trees and shrubs.

Friendship & Roses Convention

7 – 9 Sept. includes speakers and International Rose Show & Design Competition at Radisson Hotel – Toronto East, 55 Hallcrown Place, off Consumer’s Rd. at Victoria Park & Hwy 401

Ontario Rock Garden Society

16 Sept. Plant Sale and talk at the Civic Garden Centre, Lawrence at Leslie, 12:30 p.m.

Ikebana at Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre

Ikebana flower arranging classes commence week of 12 September at 6 Garamond court (Eglington/Don Mills Rd.); for more information call 416-441-2345 or visit www.jccc.on.ca also Ikenobo and Sogetsu

Toronto Bay Initiatives

29 & 30 Sept. Hanan’s Point Tree Planting and Naturalization 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; call 416-943-8080 ext. 227 first for details.

Mycological Society of Toronto

Information as to upcoming meetings and forays for fungi may be obtained from 416-HI-FUNGI

Greater Toronto Raptor Watch

15 Sept. High Park: from 9 a.m. at Hawk Hill, N. end Grenadier Restaurant parking lot; almost 200 species of hawks, eagles and vultures migrating south; experts on hand to answer questions.

Richters Free Seminars

Sundays at 2 p.m. 1 km east of Goodwood on south side of Hwy 47 (Bloomington Rd. at Hwy 404); for more information call 905-649-6677 or visit www.richters.com

9 Sept. Bringing herbs indoors

23 Sept. Making Potpourri

also:

16 Sept. Workshop: Pest Perfection $40.00

30 Sept. Workshop: Making Fresh and Dried herb wreaths $40.00

As with all Richters workshops pre-registration two weeks in advance is required; limited space; all materials included in fee; both commence at 2 p.m.

Lake Scugog Area

22-23 Sept. Harvest Festival Ocala Orchards Farm Winery, Port Perry 905-985-9924

23 Sept. Pioneer Fall Fair at the Scugog Shores Historical Museum, Port Perry 905-985-3589

Nature Tours with Worldwide Quest

8-15 Sept. Okanogan Valley and Cathedral Lakes:  Alpine flora and fauna as well as the valley’s hot, dry shrub grasslands;

24-28 Sept. Algonquin Highlands, Muskoka. Georgian Base:  Moose, mushrooms, birds and the area’s incomparable scenery; For more information call 416-633-5666 or 800-387-1483 or visit www.questnaturetours.com

Horticulture Magazine’s Garden Program

5-9 Sept. Hampton’s, Long Island Private gardens with plantsman David Culp

12-16 Sept. New England country gardens and private estates with Nan Sinton

22-28 Sept. Roman Gardens, Italy from the Renaissance to modern creations with Charles Quest-Ritson and Nan Sinton

For more information and registration details call 1-800-395-1901

News from a Gardener’s View Point

City Gardening peers at the past month’s news from Canada and the rest of the world

Landscaping

• A new movie-in-the-making, Lily and the secret Planting, is billed as a “green thumb romance” between a girl who engages in guerrilla gardening and a member of a garden centre.

• And the British comedy movie Greenfingers opens at the Varsity Cinemas in Toronto with a draw for a weeklong gardening vacation in Britain (see odeonfilms.com) without, presumably, the hortic-obsessed convicts the flick centres upon.

• Who wears the gardening pants?  In a survey by AC Nielsen for the hardware business, the trade magazine Hardlines reports that in making decisions about landscaping and gardening merchandise, 39% are made by a woman, 30% said they usually participate in a joint decision, and 20% are made by men.

• Rap millionaire promoter Sean Combs, friend of Martha Stewart, agrees to restore the natural landscape he whacked away illegally along the shores of his estate in New York’s Long Island Hampton’s.

Trees

• The wreck off Haiti of the Nova Scotian brigantine Mary Celeste is identified with the help of samples of white oak and yellow birch taken from her remains.

• One of the world’s rarest trees, the Saharan Cypress (Cupressus dupreziana) from Algeria’s Tassili N’Ajjer, of which 231 are known and the only one ever discovered to produce offspring, solely from its pollen.

• Rhododendrons, alien to Scotland, are threatening native plants by smothering undergrowth and tree seedlings, reports the Scottish Natural Heritage.

• Glorious fall colours are in fact the trees way of warning off the parasites that might be tempted to feast and over-winter on them according to evolutionary biologist William Hamilton of Oxford University.

Lawns

• Are well-kept lawns a class issue?  One of the quandaries said to be facing web advice columnist Judy Rebick, better known for her feminist views.

• “Why can’t you buy a lawn mower with a muffler?” was an unanswered question to ‘Reporter’ National Post 28 July, 2001

• Thanks to a severe water shortage, some lawn lovers in Victoria, B.C. are resorting to having professional garden maintenance companies spray their brown grass with water-soluble green pigments.  A few months ago, when China bid for the Olympics, we were laughing at them for doing the same thing in Beijing.

• “Stop the motor before attempting to change blades” advises instructions for installing Victa lawnmower blades, according to New Scientist

Flowers

• Indian Member of Parliament Phoolan Devi is assassinated outside her home. Ms. Devi’s name means “Goddess of Flowers”

• Scientists announce that the scent from snapdragons is from methyl benzoate by the catalyzing of the enzyme S-adenosylmethionine: benzoic acid carboxyl methyltransferase, or BAMT for short.

• Teenagers in Kamloops, B.C. are hospitalized after sampling the alleged good highs of angle’s trumpet, an extremely dangerous hallucinogenic plant.

Down in the Vegetables

• University of Toronto scientists use genetic modification to create tomato plants that happily grow in salt water.

• PEI potatoes again make news: a deal is struck between the U.S. and Canada allowing the 2001 crop to be exported across the border, leaving island farmers with smashing feelings.

• But not one Danny Hendricken of the National Farmers Union who claims mandatory inspections of P.E.I. fields for potato wart virus will turn up other pests that will be used by the U.S. regulators to once again close the border.

• Corn Leaves fall from the sky for two days on to Wichita, Kansas.

• A tractor-trailer load of canned pumpkin is destroyed by fire following a crash on Highway 403 Burlington.

• In Germany the Rhineland Chamber of Agriculture appoints 7 gherkin inspectors to assure the vegetables are straight.

• Distribution of new, virus-resistant varieties of cassava plants is attempted to avert starvation in war-ravaged Congo.

Fruit & Nuts

• Canada is noted for wild blueberries, reports the National Post in a front-page story, with harvests in some years exceeding 20,000-tonnes worth around $20-million.  Unfortunately for the Maritimes, a heat wave there destroyed much of the crop.

• Scientists in Portugal discover that using a laser on lemons apples and kiwi fruit can be a method of discovering their ripeness as the fruit fluoresce with increasing brightness as they age. (Sensors and Actuators, vol. 77, p. 593)

• In sequencing the banana genome, one result will not be straightening the fruit, promises French scientist Emile Frison, the director of the project: “It would take all the fun out of bananas,” he says. “They’d be so boring” [New Scientist]

• Opposition from Banana-producing countries Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua threatens to put back a deal brokered by the U.S. with the European Union to end the infamous “banana war”.

• Fashionable wahines in Polynesia have taken to dancing while wearing half-coconut shells as bras and shortening their grass skirts, reported a horrified Cook Island News

• How the other half line:  Arlene Byon throws cherry pits from her BMW convertible as she drives to her cottage in Beaverton, or so she writes.

Herbs

• Diane Francis, writing in the National Post, reveals that Canadian Marc Emery’s infamous but very high quality marijuana seed website is at www.emeryseeds.com

• Youths belonging to satanic heavy music cults in Malaysia will be treated with unspecified herbs to “stimulate” their brains so they can resume their scholastic studies.

Mushrooms

• The Nisga’a People of B.C. increase mushroom forager’s fee on tribal lands to $250.00 from $25.00, causing outrage amongst local mycology fanciers.

Indoor Plants

• Equipment in a shed full of marijuana plants near Cranbrook, B.C. suffers electrical problems which sparks a forest fire.

Bugs and Gardeners

• Police close part of downtown Sydney, NS because of a swarm of honeybees on a utility pole.

• Disgusted at having his garden damaged by cats, a St. John, NB man traps and turns them over to the local Animal Rescue League, which is forced to euthanize the fouling felines.

• Soybeans in southwest Ontario are threatened by a plague of aphids and denizens of downtown Toronto are horrified when choking clouds of the same pests invade the city core one rush hour evening.

• Changing water in birdbaths and rain barrels once a week and cutting grass and hedges reduces mosquito bites, says Metro Today.  So does staying inside and reading City Gardening.

• Latest reports indicate that the mountain pine beetle is causing tree losses in Banff National Park, with infestations doubling in the past two years.

• Winnipeg commences spraying for mosquitoes when traps catch 100.  The average for the past month was 1,275 of the notorious Manitoba mossies.

• Bullfrogs up to a kilogram in weight threaten the tranquility of Langley, BC, reportedly feasting on other frogs, goldfish, ducklings and even almost a pet cat.

• Aracologist Ronald Ochoa of the United States Department of Agriculture opens a website devoted to mites and ticks.

• Black Widow spiders emerge in masses in Kazkhstan and terrify the population of this former Soviet satrapy.

• Engineers finally solve the mystery of why wind turbines operating at high speed lose up tom 25% of their output:  They need to clean them more often of the deposits of smashed insects flying into the blades, or so they discover researching the problem in the Netherlands.

• It is now proven that it is indeed possible for pathogens to develop resistance to natural pesticides.  A major pest of cabbage and related crops, the diamondback  moth, is alarmingly reported from some locations to now be resistant to the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) owing to extensive spraying by farmers.

• Evolutionary scientists have been staggered to learn that a pest of citrus, palms and tea, the false spider mite, Brevipalpus phoenicis, makes do with just one copy of its chromosomes.

• Bio-controls are used for the first time by a developer when the Rockport Group deploy Gallerucella calmariensis and G pusilla beetles that lunch on the loosestrife at a project in Newmarket, ON.

Gardening in the City

• The Sunday Star reports that bearded iris grows from tubers and earthworms are insects, news that will fascinate gardeners everywhere outside of that newspaper’s pages.

• “Apart from being with my grandkids, I love to be in my garden…” Julie Andrews in an interview.

• Former Saskatchewan farmer Brain Gall invents and builds a Goose Poop Buster for Regina park officials to remove offending Canada goose droppings as well as doggy dung, syringes, cigarette butts, paper leaves and twigs.

• The potting barn at Casa Loma is closed because the deteriorating floor may collapse

• Toronto residents use up to 2.2 billion litres in less than a day, much of it on their gardens. This says MetroToday, is enough water to fill the sky dome.

Compost

• Brookfield, PEI residents protest the construction of an indoor composting facility.

Science and the Gardener

• The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reveals that it gave permission for GM wheat resistant to mildew to be tested on Prince Edward Island last year, but where it isn’t saying, nor this year’s experimental sites in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

• Predictable the self-appointed Council of Canadians demands a ban to testing GM crops in PEI because it is a “haven for multinational corporations to conduct field trials.”

• The National Post labels Greenpeace and fellow travelers “neoMarxists” and “environmental scaremongers” while claiming that their campaign against genetically modified foods are based on “ignorance, fear and falsehood.”

• Guelph scientists are reported to be working on prolonging the shelf life of seasonal fruit such as blueberries by optimizing osmotic hydration, a natural process.

• A team of researchers at Pennsylvania State University announces in the journal Science that plants from the sea colonized the barren land of this planet 760 million years ago, instead of the 480 million formerly believed and, indeed lichens had arrived 1.3 billion years ago.

• The United Nations report Making New Technology Work for Human Development, confounds environmentalists by recommending development of genetically modified crops for the world’s poorer countries.

• Major biotechnology firms testing genetically modified crops in Australia request the government to keep the test locations confidential.

• Scientists at Pennsylvania State University develop fertilizer granules that only release as much phosphorus as plants require, reducing pollution and delighting Florida and Danish flower raisers who have used it.

• Scientists at Purdue University discover the gene responsible for making 350 plants highly efficient at absorbing metals from solid, calling them hyper-accumulators, holding promise for cleaning polluted sites, mining metals and human health.

Art

• An 18-year-old Iranian student living in Canada displays a miniature of Ommar Khyyam painted on a fungus she found in the Gatineau Hills and is viewed by the Iranian ambassador, Mohammad Mousavi.

Weather

• And you thought the sun was hot?  In Port Sudan on the Red Sea 37 people die as temperatures reach over 50C.

• York Region to the north of Toronto bans outdoor use of water by residents owing to a prolonged summer drought.

• Toronto declares its first heat emergencies as temperatures climb to 38C.

• Grape growers in the Niagara Region predict that heat wave others are enduring will result in an excellent vintage, providing at least some rain arrives.

• The Prince Edward Island potato crop is endangered by unusually hot, dry weather.

Travel

• You too can see gardens fit for a queen as part of those at Buckingham Palace, London, are opened to the public this fall.  For a fee, of course.

Law and Gardeners

• Ottawa bureaucrats delay two years issuing a permit for the Saskatchewan-invented “Gophinator” for humanely and efficiently killing this Prairie pest, despite a state of emergency being declared for some western areas.

• Natural gardener Doug Counters sues the City of Toronto for $150,000, alleging harassment by officials threatening to destroy the memorial garden to his mother planted in his front yard in the former municipality of Etobicoke.  Meanwhile, the new amalgamated City of Toronto encourages natural gardening….

• Japan’s laws, through a loophole, permit selling hallucinogenic mushrooms and even ensure they have a “best before” label on the package.

• Building inspectors in Terrace, BC try to determine if a transplant from Ireland is breaking by-laws by building a model of Youghel, a town on the emerald Isle, on his front lawn.  Meanwhile, it becomes a major tourist attraction.

Business

• The Potash Corp. of Saskatoon, a giant fertilizer business, reports a slump in business compared with last year, with sales of only US $43.1-million in the second quarter compared to US $60.1-million in the same quarter of the year 2000.

• Diane Francis demonstrates that the illegal cultivation of marijuana in B.C. generates $29.8-billion annually, compared with BC’s forest industry’s about $29-billion.  The value of all of Canada’s agricultural exports to the United States in the year 2000 was 10.4-billion according to her figures.

• Waterford Wedgwood Canada Inc. introduces a new dinnerware line inspired by Jennifer Lopez’s 2000 Grammy Award dress by Versace.  The collection, called ‘Jungle’ is displayed on a wicker table, resting on a bamboo mat surrounded by a rainforest of plastic plants.  Don’t expect the prices to plunge like Ms. Lopez’s dress.

Environment

• Rather than acting as a carbon dioxide “sink” Canada’s forests are net producers of CO2 report federal scientists.

• Vancouver Island Logging threatens the most rare of North American bats, Keen’s long-eared Myotis.

• The European Union contemplates turning farmland over to crops such as sugar beet to produce “bio-fuel” for transportation.

Health

• The sap of a southern African succulent, Hoodia gordonii, is used in a patented natural cure for dyspepsia and heartburn.

• Prolonged exposure to insecticides, herbicides and fungicides causes male infertility, states a new study from Argentina.

• Madonna chooses a power protein to nosh on backstage, which includes zucchini blooms, marjoram, and shiso leaves.

• Acetaldehyde, a human carcinogen, is a natural component of apples, broccoli, coffee, grapefruit, grapes, lemons, mushrooms, onions, oranges, peaches, pears, pineapples, raspberries, and strawberries, says National Post, along with, amongst many other things, aflatoxins produced by types of fungi that may contaminate grains, peanuts, tree nuts, and cotton seed meal.

• “It takes an estimated 1,500 lbs of marijuana to achieve a lethal dose – smoked in under 15 minutes.”  Dr. David Gratzer author of Code Blue: Reviving Canada’s Health Care System, compares marijuana to prescription drugs.

• Lemon juice may prevent deep vein thrombosis (the “economy-class” syndrome), according to Japanese researchers at Tokai Gakuen University, Nagoya

• Research in Finland confirms cranberry juice is effective in preventing female urinary tract infections.

• Thanks to vegetarians’ diets, they have a plentiful supply of salicylic acid in their blood, so have less risk of heart disease and some cancers.

• Chinese medicine herb Aristolochia alarms Health Canada into issuing a warning to consumers only after years of similar warnings in many publications on herbal medicines.

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