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PRECAUTIONS FOR COLD TO COME Care of Perennials, Roses, Evergreens, Houseplants; Storing Tools Special Feature: Lustful Limericks for the Gardeners How cold is it getting? One disenchanted Torontonian observed that, downtown, one could judge when it was really cold when the Bay Street lawyers had their hands in their own pockets. While raking the final fallen leaves is a good way to both exercise and keep warm, take advantage of a warm day to wash the windows. This is not merely for aesthetic appearances. Clean glass admits more light, up to 30 per cent, to the benefit of indoor plants. Houseplants will also benefit from feeding this month. Choose a fertilizer high in nitrogen for foliage plants, while elevated levels of phosphate are more advisable for flowering plants. Determine which is which by looking at the three figures that appear on the container label. Known as the ‘NPK ratio,’ nitrogen is represented by ‘N’ then phosphate by ‘P’ and, finally, ‘K’ is for potassium. Those experienced with houseplants also know that as the heat comes on and air gets drier, so pest problems are likely to proliferate. Foliage that has a dusty appearance, sticky leaves and sooty specks on the floor below are all indications something is amiss. So for that matter is a dead plant. Before things reach such a crisis, spray every five days with insecticidal soap. Back outside, cut back any perennials left with the exception of the ornamental grasses. These are left because they are just that: ornamental. Even dead, they present a fine appearance, adding winter interest to the garden with both their texture, colour and rustling in the breeze. Do not mulch perennial borders until next month, when the soil commences to freeze solid. The idea of the mulch is to retain this frost and prevent the notorious freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw cycles of mild winter days followed by cold nights that kills perennial’s crowns. If the garden contains rhododendrons or other tender Erica, then mulching is necessary this month. This both protects the roots and, importantly, maintains the lower pH levels in the soil that these fascinating shrubs require. Pine needles, oak leaves and peat moss are all fine materials for achieving these ends. Spread three to six inches deep and then water to prevent the mulch being blown around by strong winds. Newly planted specimens will also benefit from burlap screens to protect them from the same winds as well as strong winter sun. Upright needle-bearing conifers can be badly damaged by wet, heavy snows. Just over a decade ago, southern Ontario was devastated by several days of such snows the second week of November. The damage is still visible for those who know where to look, and tragic it is. Protect against such calamities by either wrapping in burlap, sold at garden centres. This makes them look like giant brown cocoons and rather spoils one of the main reasons for planting evergreens, namely to add winter interest. An alternative is holding branches up by encasing them with a protective mesh, which, although white, blends in with the foliage. Attracting birds to backyard feeders seems to be growing ever more popular. Unfortunately this also means the unnecessary death of many of the same visitors. While cats and hawks will be responsible for some of these a more insidious cause is responsible for most. Salmonellosis is a common disease of birds in winter, according to the newsletter of the Toronto Field Naturalists. Filthy, uncared for feeders and birdbaths may be a source of this and other avian disease. Toronto Field Naturalists recommend washing them in a ten per cent solution of bleach and allowing to dry before refilling. In order to reduce personal health risk, use a bucket, not the kitchen sink for this and wear rubber gloves. They also recommend wearing gloves or using a scoop for filling feeders. Hybrid tea, floribunda and grandiflora rose bushes should by pruned back to a foot high by mid-month. A plastic rose collar is then placed around each specimen – these ‘queens of flowers’ are terribly formal – and these filled with composted cattle or sheep manure – not such treatment usually associated with royalty, even the House of Windsor. In harsher climates than our own, some protection is recommended for climbing roses. In southern Ontario it is fairly safe to assume this is not necessary. Hardy shrubs roses, such as those of the Canadian ‘Explorer’ and ‘Prairie’ series, soon to be joined by Canadian ‘Artists,’ need no such pampering. Rather than wait until next month, check the outdoor Christmas decorations now, including the lights. Many stores have additions or replacements on sale at present. Also, don’t wait until next spring to have the lawn mower properly serviced. Push mowers’ blades need professional attention when it comes to sharpening. Check the ‘Yellow Pages’ for local hardware store and others offering this service. While about it, hand implements aren’t getting any cheaper and, as the expression goes, a good gardener can be judged by his tools. Clean, and lightly oil all metal parts. Use a flat file to sharpen hoes, turf edgers and spades. Sandpaper smooth and rough spots or splinters on wood handles, then rub down with a cloth soaked in linseed oil. Hang on nails or in store-bought racks; a heap tossed in the corner is an indication of a similar mindset. Such was the casual attitude of Pete, possibly a politician:
November for Gardeners . . . and others November Flowers Chrysanthemum November Month Alcohol Education Month [ever tried to teach alcohol?] National Stamp Collecting Month National Ice Skating Month (Ice Skating Institute of America) Holidays Are Pickle Days (final 2 weeks and all of December)
North American Native Peoples Full Moon Beaver Moon trapping before rivers froze over
November Weeks 3rd National Children’s Book Week
November Days 11th Remembrance Day (Canada)
November Birthdays 1. Joseph Tyrell, 1858 Weston, Ontario, Canadian explorer, geologist (died Toronto 1957)3. Vihjalmur Stefannson, Canadian Arctic explorer, born 1879 Anes, Manitoba (died 26 August 1962) 7. Konrad Zacharias Lorenz, 1903, Austrian ethologist, Nobel Prize 1973 14. Prince Charles, 1948: espouser of organic gardening and other men’s wives 26. Charles Munroe Schulz, 1922, creator of Peanuts James Simkins, 1910, Winnipeg, creator of cartoon bear Jasper 30. Jonathan Swift 1667 (died 19 October 1745) Samuel Laghorne Clemens aka Mark Twain 1835 (died 21 April 1910) Sir Winston Churchill 1874 (died 24 January 1965) Lucy Maud Montgomery, 1874, Clifton, Prince Edward Island, (died 24 April `1942) Anne of Green Gables
November History 3. First Opium War between China and Great Britain commences 1839, Hong Kong taken4. James Bruce, 40, reaches source of Blue Nile 1770 on Ghish Mountain, Ethiopia Florence Nightingale arrives at Scutari with 38 nurses 18544. Arnold ‘The Brain’ Rothstein discovered mortally shot outside Park Central Hotel, New York City 1928 Britain defeats Germany at Al Alamein in Western Desert 1942 52 U.S. citizens taken hostage in Tehran 1979, kept for 444 days, until 22 January 1981 5. Guy Fawkes Night (U.K.); said to be the only man ever to enter Parliament for a good reason 24. Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species 1859
November Saints 1. St. Maturinus d. 4th century priest, patron of fools, and so possibly gardeners in our climate3. St. Hubert d.727 Bishop of Liege, patron of foresters, also hunters, smelters, makers of precision instruments 15. St. Albert the Great d. 1280 patron of students of natural sciences 17. St. Gregory the Wonderworker d.268 invoked in times of flood and earthquake 30. St. Andrew d. 1st century patron of Scotland, Russia, the Order of the Golden Fleece of Burzmund, the Order of the Cross of St. Andrew, fishermen and fish dealers
Ideal Time to Establish Wildlfower Meadows from Seed, Experts Say In the opinion of 19th-century gardener Mrs. Earle, "Wild gardening" is, I am sure, a delusion and a snare." Today, urged on by eldritch cries of environmentalists to plant wildflowers, many are tempted but few succeed, at least with seed. The giant box stores are even peddling packages of such blends. For those with large properties to consider, cans and bags of wildflower seed mixtures are offered everywhere. After all, the uses of such have been touted for many years. Even in Shakespeare's King Lear (Act IV, sc, vi,) stage directions read: ‘Enter Lear fantastically dressed with wild flowers.’ But what is a "wildflower"? Recently Theresa M. Forte, writing the professional Landscape Trades (April 2002) offered these useful definitions: Native Plant: a plant that grew in North American prior to European settlement. Native plants have evolved over time and have proven their resistance to disease and pests – they are attractive to many forms of wildlife found in that particular area. Wildflower: plants that grow in the wild – some are native; others were introduced by European settlers (i.e. Queen Anne’s Lace, chicory, daisy and dandelion). According to OSC Seeds the best time to establish native grasses and wildflowers, ideally is between 15th October and 15th November. This, OSC notes will additionally stratify the seed, or subject it to the winter cold required to allow satisfactory germination. It is for this reason that spring plantings are often not so successful. Most native wildflowers will respond best to a pH of 6.0, or slightly acidic conditions. It is important to cultivate the site very lightly with a hoe or three-pronged cultivator. Do not use a roto tiller, which tends to destroy the soil structure as well as penetrate too deeply. Remove all perennial weed roots encountered while doing this. Prairie flowers, says OSC, "germinate and establish themselves much better when planted into a bed of sand rather than compost or top soil." Consequently, they recommend spreading an inch or two inches of sand over the area to be seeded. That is, of course, if a prairie wildflower blend is chosen – as such usually is if a sunny, open area is to be transformed into a natural meadow. As with most gardening then, it is the preparation that is most important and takes the time. All that is necessary after establishing a suitable site is to broadcast the seed mixture and, as OSC concludes, "let Mother Nature do the rest." They do add, however, that mixing the seed with a "carrier" such as sawdust or kitty litter will make it easier to spread evenly. Horticultural grade vermiculite is also and excellent carrier. It is not necessary to cover the seeds, as frost action will work them down into the soil to an appropriate depth. Many wildflowers will take at least two years before flowering, so some patience is required. It is also essential to water during dry periods during the first year. Never be tempted to fertilize, though. The greatest enemy of wildflower meadows, however, is unwanted weeds. These are often imports, accidental or otherwise, from other countries. Botanists known these as ‘aliens,’ to the delight, no doubt, of flying saucer enthusiasts. Tear them out, roots and all, before they have the chance to seed and spread themselves still further. A fall mowing after the first heavy frost also helps control weeds. The enthusiasm for native plants, wildflowers and grasses, started a dozen or more years ago and shows no signs of flagging. Indeed, with every season, interest seems to arise anew, just as next spring will see the seeds sown this fall do likewise. As the late movie mogul Sam Goldwyn once proclaimed in one of his fame remarks: "It will create excitement that will sweep this country like wildflowers." An excellent source of further information is: North American Native Plant Society, P.O. Box 84, Station D Etobicoke, Ontario M9A 4X1 Tel: 416-631-4438 E-mail: nanps@nanps.orgWeb site: www.nanps.org
New for 2003: Gardening Never Looked So Good Late in October, thousands of professionals from Canada’s gardening world – landscapers, garden centre operators, horticulturists and others – gathered at the Toronto Congress Centre to discover what was new for 2003. To that end, several hundred growers, manufacturers and wholesalers were displaying their wares in fascinating variety. Overall, the biggest impression was the increasing numbers of perennial plant growers present, as well as nurseries diversifying into this area where previously they had been better known for their trees, shrubs, evergreens and other woody plants. Further specialization was apparent, with many of these growers especially offering various lawn substitutes "down low and fun to grow," as the attractively named "Jeepers Creepers" calls them ( www.jeeperscreeprs.info). Commercial nursery JEA Perennials is the licensed distributor for Stepables® in Ontario, a hugely successful they have been too, with 50-plus varieties to choose from (www.stepables.com). Linda Erskine from JEA promises us more excitement next season in these and other perennials. Willowbrook Nurseries handles the Medallion Perennials™ Groundcover Collection with informative and attractive literature featuring low-growing plants.You will see the Palace Perennials plant tags in garden centre displays next spring, featuring perennials, water plants, clematis and other vines, as well as tropicals. A new feature from them for 2003 will be special collections for hummingbirds and butterflies ( www.sipkensnurseries.com). Tesselaar continue to introduce their fabulous forms of canna lilies, C. var. Phasion, such as ‘Tropicanna,’ with magnificent blooms that may reach 6-feet high in the ground or 4-foot in containers, above vibrantly-striped foliage. (www.tesselaar.com). These are also the people who developed both the Dream™ Rose and the ground cover rose Flower carpet.Wildflower lovers can also rejoice! At least one major Dutch bulb supplier, Langeveld, based in New Jersey, is offering such Trillium grandiflorum, T. erectum and T. sessile ‘Luteum,’ along with jack-in-the-pulpit, Virginia blue bells, hepatica, butterfly milkweed and others. While, like many, they have a website ( www.langeveld.com) they are wholesalers only, and you must look for their offerings at retail outlets, although many suppliers list these on their websites.You will have to wait almost another year for the new colours in Icicle™ Pansies ( www.iciclepansy.com). However the good folk there would like you to know that if you’ve planted them for the first time this fall, just keep them watered and give them a shot of liquid flowering plant fertilizer. In Toronto last year, some gardeners were amazing their friends by having them still blooming when they were giving their Christmas parties!McKenzie from Brandon, Manitoba, is an old and valued name in Canadian seeds. We’ll certainly be looking further at their two-dozen new flowers and vegetables early in the New Year, not forgetting their expanded line of specialty Italian and Chinese vegetables. As if all the foregoing was not enough – and there was far, far more – there were all the support materials and decorative items we have come realize make gardening easier and even more fun. Take Terry Scott of Scottclay. He recently laid hands on six tractor-trailer loads of classic clay moulds. Any gardener will gasp and then hope to grasp on viewing his new ‘Victorian Collection.’ Give you local garden centre a nudge and tell them to log on to www.scottclay.ca and, if you are into orchids, don’t forget his classical orchid pots and even a clay orchid "log."Raingrow from Oliver, B.C., are, as they say, "proudly Canadian." As so often with firms from the West Coast they march to a different drummer, and that drummer is beating a tune way in advance of us Easterners. Raingrow’s speciality is organic liquid fertilizers, and very good they are too, for outdoors or indoors and, yes, they have eliminated obnoxious odours ( www.raingrow.com).Back east in Scarborough, a couple of years back, Safer gave a shrug and became Victor Safer. But it is still the same reliable firm founded in Canada around a quarter-century ago when natural solutions were just emerging from several decades of obscurity. Since this is the commencement of the aphid, whitefly and mite season on indoor plants, it is appropriate to bring to attention their "End-All." And it certainly does, as this combination of canola oil and pyrithrins not only wallops the critters themselves but also, unlike other pesticides, natural of otherwise, eliminates their eggs ( www.victorpest.com).Finally, again from the west comes the funniest and uniquely Canadian garden decoration we have yet seen. A 10-foot Ogapogo spitting a stream of water from its mouth. Ogapogo, you ask? Shame, not knowing the name of Canada’s very own lake water monster from B.C.’s Okanagan Lake. Yes, they do produce and presumably drink a lot of wine in the Okanagan Valley, and very good it is too, but Western Statue and Ornaments of Winnipeg are suitably silent on this. You can contact them at fax 204-878-9389 for your nearest dealer though, sans any liquid but water,
John Innes: Pioneer of Potting Soils Even in the days when container gardening was practiced the Ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks and Romans it was recognized that soil dug straight from the garden was not the best growing medium for pot-bound plants. By the end of the 18th-century horticulturists in London, England, were recommending such diverse blends as one based on copious quantities of well-rotted goose manure, soot other ingredients somewhat difficult to find in three centuries later. Isaac Emerton, in his 1815 tome on Culture and Management of the Auricula, noted these forms of primula could be grown in either one of two "composts" (on which more later): Compost No.1 Compost No.2 3 barrows full of goose dung, steeped 2 barrows full of goose dung, steeped in bullock's blood in bullock's blood 3 barrows full of sugarbaker's scum 2 barrows full of sugarmaker's scum 2 barrows full of fine yellow loam 2 barrows full night soil 2 barrows full fine yellow loam "Night soil," for those raised in more delicate if less euphemist times, is human excrement. By the second half of the 19th-century it seemed that every head gardener in Britain had his own blend, exotic or otherwise, for pot plants. Many swore by specific formulae for different plants. Others, equally earnest, swore at them. It took a Scottish gardener, John Innes, to straighten matters out. Innes may or may not have read Dr. Johnson’s advice to his countrymen that the best road a Scotsman could ever travel was the high road to England. Like so many others before and after him, he made his way south of the border to find fame and fortune. In his day, confusing as it is to us now, potting soils were referred to as "composts." Innes recognized that scientific horticulture could not advance without some standardization. His answer was a blend of equal parts pasteurized soil, sharp sand and peat moss. The latter two are fairly standard items. Soil is far from standard, as any gardener knows. Innes’ answer was to stack "turfs," today’s lawn sod, face-to-face in heaps perhaps four-feet high and allow them to breakdown for perhaps as long as two years. The resulting soil was crumbly, high organic and potentially loaded with pathogens. The next step then was to remove the pathogens while retaining many beneficial microorganisms by pasteurization. This is not as so often incorrectly referred to as "sterilization," which would involve the total eradication of all soil life. A heavy steel plate over and outdoor fire was piled with a few bushels of the turf soil, then covered with heavy, damp burlap. Since soil thermometers were almost non-existent at the time, a simple test was to poke a few potatoes into the mix. When the spuds were cooked, the soil was ready – and the spuds made good eating. Through until the 1950s, every horticultural student, apprentice gardener and keen amateur learned John Innes "composts". A John Innes Institute was established for the scientific advancement of horticulture in London, England. Unfortunately, modern pollution was such that, several decades later it was forced to move north to Norwich in East Anglia. Today, the government-funded JIC, as it is cheerfully known, has some 700 scientists, including 200 PhD students on staff, mostly engaged in fundamental research, some of which is not expected to produce results for 10 and even 20 years. The modern soil-less mixes have today largely superceded John Innes’ blend, especially commercially. These are still standardized mixes, however, usually based on peat moss and vermiculite or perhaps, as in the southern U.S., on composted bark. Still, a trip to the local garden centre’s houseplant soil shelves will reveal bag after bag based on the formula John Innes devised, a tribute to a Scottish gardener of scientific bent. Interested in seeing what his work has resulted in? Visit www.jic.bbsrc.ac.uk
Limericks: A Posy of Poetry From Bad to Verse in the Garden It is ten years since the prolific author Isaac Asimov died. In his three-score-and-ten years allotted him he wrote several hundred books. Many of these were science-fiction and now considered classics of the genre. Still more effectively explained science for Asimov had earned his doctorate in organic chemistry. Less known were his volumes not just of humour but specifically of those five-line versifications that constitute the limerick. For Asimov’s humour was frequently bawdy and so well-suited to certain aspects of this form of poetry, as Morris Bishop warned:
Unfortunately the Asimovian skills did not include a knowledge of gardening, a trait shared, alas, with many lesser sci-fi authors. He was quite obviously attracted to to possibilities of rhyming "dahlia with "Australia," as the classic:
But he appears to have been unaware of another anonymous classic from the land where, by repute, their beer is made from kangaroo hops:
Asimov knew his classics well, though and was never adverse to the tales from the Greek mythology:
It is the skill of the limerick maker to choose words that unexpectedly rhyme as here, lilies, fillies and Achilles. However, as all good gardeners know, Homer described Achilles as using the herb yarrow to help heal his troops’ wounds. So yarrow, botanically, is Achillea and not the lily King Edward VII is said to have enjoyed, according to Frank Richards:
Richards had a firm grasp on horticulture here although, again, Asimov did not know, or perhaps just could not resist the thought of another well-known ancient Greek, if no myth:
Perhaps it would be best not to quibble with the fact that tomatoes are the product of the Americas and hence did not arrive in Europe until the 15th-century and Columbus’ voyages. Plato lived in 4th-century B.C. Athens. According to a recent learned article in the Smithsonian magazine by David Stewart, the limerick started life close to that southwestern Irish seaport at the head of the Shannon estuary. Actually, he says, it is the small village of Croom, ten miles away, which claims the honour for its 18th-century Maigue poets, who derived their name from the stream that burbles through the village. It was though the Englishman Edward Lear (1812-88), humourist, artist and poet who popularized the limerick:
His Book of Nonsense was first published in 1846 and includes a limerick which, while demonstrating Lear knew his plants and their attributes, might leave a herbalist shuddering:
As David Stewart notes, W. S. Gilbert of Gilbert & Sullivan opera fame – and a failed lawyer, let it be noted – who was also attracted, or perhaps distracted, by limericks, and so composed this one from The Yeoman of the Guard (1888):
Isaac Asimov, another Gilbert & Sullivan lover and author of an excellent book explaining the operas, believes that Gilbert was not particularly enamored with limericks, and so produced this one. Perhaps so, but any gardener having the misfortune to be stung by a yellow jacket will not share such views. When it comes to bugs, and especially with the dread mosquito-borne West Nile virus threatening the gardening way of life, we gleefully recall:
The spouse of that clergyman serving a quiet parish in Berkshire, England, most definitely P. G. Wodehouse country, was apparently also a bug hater:
One would not wish to take up such practices when pollinating insects are around, especially bees, even if as an anonymous versifier noted:
The Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson is known to have indulged in composing limericks. Whether this amused Queen Victoria is not recorded, but since he neglected horticulture we can pass on to Anne Norris, who parodied him delightfully with her contribution: The rose gives a tremulous glance, And sighs, 'He is lost in a trance!' 'Let us wait,' cried the pink, 'He is coming, I thing' But the passion flower weeps, 'Not a chance!' But it is back to Australia for further musings on flowers, of which Ruth Silcock observed: Hibiscus is flaming and frillier; Oleander is neater and chillier; Frangipani smells sweeter, But is somehow effeter Than a tower of puce bougainvillea More on flowers in this rather randy offering which we offer on the excuse that it utilizes Ontario’s floral emblem, Trillium grandiflora:
Other bulbs have attracted the attention of gardening limerick fanciers such as this one by E. O. Parrott in memory of William Wordsworth in England’s Lake District: I spotted these daffs by the lake And a right pretty picture they make Because of these flowers, I'm dreaming for hours - Which gives my libido a break. Or, more bluntly as in Stephen Sylvester: 'How much,' sighed the gentle Narcissus, 'A man of my character misses! It's clear on reflection, I've got an erection, But all I can do is blow kisses!' And, once again back to lilies with Kenneth Petchenik:
Well, er yes . . . Then again when it comes to garden fruits there is no lack of limerick material, dating back at least as far as George Washington’s mythical destruction of a cherry tree – yes, the story was invented for morale purposes, according to it perpetrator – but that is the stuff of legend. Here is another contribution from Frank Richards: George Washington said to his dad: 'You know that big fruit-tree you had? I've just chopped it down - Now, father don't frown - I can't tell a lie. Aren't you glad?' Actually, it is apples that feature to a greater extent in our survey and, as usual with limericks, some may be bawdy but all are amusing, as is Gavin Ewart observed:
As American no doubt as that apple, but an anonymous scribe recorded the unfortunate demise of a maiden from the Ryde on England’s Isle of Wight, off the south coast, where may also be found the seaside town of Cowes which, despite its bucolic name, is associated with yachting:
The Isle of Wight is in Hampshire county, or was before the bureaucrats got busy a few years ago. Hampshire, like much of southern England, is indeed cider country, beer being left to the barbarians from the northern shires. Turning from fruit to vegetables, there are surprisingly few representations:
Other young ladies seem to have come croppers in the lands of the limerick, or at least the gardens thereof with astounding regularity. Many appeared to have needed little encouragement:
Or again, according to William Plomer:
And it was again Plomer who wrote of a Middle Eastern gentleman: There was an old person of Persia, Who called two nasturtiums, ''nasturtia'. How precious! What pedantry! A Pedant and sedentary - He died of progressive inertia Other males have bene unable to remain free of attention, usually from unknown hands::
Or that absurd and unlikely Brit from the Midlands whose propagation efforts were doomed to failure:
And certainly we can express little sympathy of the party-loving dendrologist residing in India and his canine encounters:
Any keen gardener who has experienced the tragedy of a careless relative can empathize with next though:
Finally, just as with all gardening, it comes down to a matter of personal taste, as environmentalists would do well to note. Douglas Catley wins the vote as our personal favourite not the least because it is slightly bawdy – or should we say ‘blue’? – botanically accurate (Isatis tinctoria is the source of the dye with which the Ancient Brits were wont to smear over their bodies before proceeding to battle) Boadicea often would goad Some chance soldier she met on the road, The paint with isatis, Their sex apparatus, And embrace, crying: 'One for the woad!' Somewhere up there, Isaac Asimov, arrayed in white with harp and laptop computer, must be letting out peals of delighted laughter.
At Home with Raccoons According to one authority, raccoons are "omnivorous" and eat "anything available;" including the contents of unsecured garbage cans and improperly loaded composters. Feasting on such fare, Procyon lotor may grow to a chubby 35-pounds, measure from inquisitive nose to tip of tail three feet, and reach population levels in provincial cities across the country with the exception of Newfoundland. Raccoons, like squirrels do not exist in that island province. According the inhabitants there are no squirrels because "all the nuts are on the mainland." They are silent on the matter of raccoons. In Toronto, Saturday Night magazine in March 2000, claimed there were anywhere from eight to 22 per square kiolmetre. Later that same year, this number had risen to 30 per square kilomtre, according to John Barber of The Globe & Mail. More recently, Terry Thorsell, president of Critter Control Canada, said there are 40,000 to 50,000 raccoons in Toronto. Whatever the number, Toronto is regarded as the raccoon capital of North America. So prolific are the furry masked bandits indeed, that when the British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC, was preparing its 10-part documentary "The Life of Mammals," it was to good ol’ T.O. that the cameramen came to capture P. lotor on film In captivity, raccoons may live up to 14 years. And they grow big. ‘Bandit,’ who is just shy of 65-pounds, holds the record, and is from Pamerton, Pennsylvania, not Toronto. Owner Deborah Klitsch has tried putting her pet on a diet, but Bandit can get into any cupboard, heading for his favourite potato chips. This ability to penetrate anywhere will come as no surprise to Torontonians. The problem though, according to Terry Thorsell, is the composting habits of the city’s human residents. Despite widely disseminated advice, it seems some people persist in putting such unlikely waste as spaghetti, eggs and bacon into the garden composter. Garbage cans that are not secured also attract raccoons, as well as rats and similar vermin. Raccoons do not hibernate but prefer to choose a den close to an assured food supply. This has led to political embarrassment. Two years ago, raccoons took over the Pictou, Nova Scotia, county council chambers, forcing meetings to be held at Pictou's fire hall. A month later it was Halifax’s turn, when a raccoon got stuck in a tree outside the provincial Legislature, attracting politicians from their duties. "Some of us have always maintained that this place is a zoo," opined Brooke Taylor, a Tory MLA. Back in Toronto, the much-photographed City Hall is not immune from raccoons. In recent years both Councillors Joanne Flint and Olivia Chow discovered raccoons residing in their office ceilings, leading to observations on the choices of raccoons and their sanitary habits from the heights. Neither are the country’s top journalists protected. Allan Fotheringham, Canada’s beloved "Dr. Foth," may have graduated from UBC but now chooses to live in the continent’s raccoon capital. Preparing for a barbecue, he discovered a raccoon had missed a step on his roof and ploughed into the patio with fatal results. What do you do with a 20-pound dead raccoon, wondered the scribe, never at a loss to advise others. Fortunately friend Senator Janis Johnston knew the ropes. Get a shovel, load it into a garbage bag, she advised. And then, inquired Dr. Foth? Let us draw the curtain on this episode in the lives of others by observing that, if and when urban archaeologists ever excavate under very upscale condominiums coincidentally opposite the Fotheringham residence, they may discover remains of a certain urban animal in a garbage bag. It seems more than a little strange then that such a normally reliable source of information as Britain’s New Scientist magazine should be unaware of urban raccoons. Recently the publication gleefully reported that a "lone raccoon" had shut down "one of America’s biggest nuclear power plants." The raccoon went over the two-metre fence surrounding Mississippi’s Grand Gulf station and was electrocuted in the electrical switchyard there, causing three days of downtime. But, according to New Scientist, this was a "forest-loving creature." Well, not exactly everywhere . . .
Gardening Web
Daylily Rust Update City Gardening has reported on this potentially serious new disease of Hemerocallis since it was first identified in the southeastern United States and the subsequent rapid spread elsewhere. Commercial propagation appears to be to blame in the main for the latter. Fortunately, at this time, only a very small number of infected plants have been discovered in Ontario. Nevertheless, the professional horticultural association landscape Ontario provided funding to University of Guelph plant pathologist Dr. Tom Hsiang to conduct trials in which fungicide efficacy and cultivar susceptibility would be tested. The Daylily Society maintain a website at www.ncf.ca/~ah748/rust.html.
Feasting on the Wild Side Few gardeners fail to check out, at sometime or another, what can be harvested from the wild to add to the delight of fine dining. Not only can this be thoroughly un-environmental but also alarmingly risky. We have seen dandelion leaves being harvested from alongside the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto – yech! With the festive season fast approaching, and unusual gifts to be considered, perhaps then Forbes Wild Foods might be a better bet. Located in Toronto’s famed St. Lawrence Market on Front St. east of Yonge (1-877-354-WILD) there is a very full display, however, at www.wildfoods.ca.
Classical Chinese Garden in Canada In what is frankly one of the less salubrious parts of downtown Vancouver there is one closely-guarded secret that even many locals don't know about. Shame on them for right behind the decorative gateway of the Chinese Cultural Centre is the unsurpassingly lovely Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden. According to the authorative Japanese Garden Society of Oregon, these are "the best example of an authentic classic Chinese garden in North America." Winter on the "Wet Coast" never being exactly as testing as the rest of Canada, there is no excuse not to visit physically anytime while in Vancouver, or at www.cancouverchinesegarden.com
Civic Garden Centre Library A great resource for horticultural information, located in north-central Toronto on bus routes or a beautiful and invigorating walk up through the Don Valley system and Wilket Creek Park in Edwards Gardens, 777 Lawrence Ave. E. at Leslie St. (phone 416-397-1340; fax: 416-397-1354). This is one of the few gardening libraries available to the general public in Canada. Drop into the Centre or browse the library online at www.infogarden.ca
ID That Tree Wondering what that kind of tree that is? Dendrologists, or those who study trees, can usually do so at a glance, fall, winter spring or summer alike. John Seiler of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University at Blacksburg, Virgina, hosts this site which, although aimed at an American audience has many of its 450 tree species occurring north of the border as well. Good illustrations enhance the site, including not only leaves and twigs but flowers also (yes, trees do have flowers) www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro
Trees from the Time of the Dinosaurs There are some 250 species existing of Cycads, ancient, palm-like plants that flourish under usually specialized conditions in the tropics and subtropics. Given the right conditions they can make excellent, if expensive and large indoor plants that seem to be almost immune to most pests. This site, set up by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia, features descriptions and the natural history of each and every cycad known plantnet.rbgsyd.gov.au/PlantNet/cycad/index.html
The Earliest City Gardeners Courtyard landscaping, container gardening, even water gardening were practiced by the Ancient Egyptians around 3,000 years ago. Thanks to their concern with the afterlife, they took great care to illustrate these on the walls of their tombs so that the departed would enjoy all the pleasures found in the "red land, black land." Unfortunately, these paintings have suffered, and continue to suffer, from the ravages of time and tourism – and when they are faithfully illustrated in books, such tomes tend to command high prices. A site by the Theban Mapping Project is very welcome then. While it gardening is not exactly the principal aim here, the Ancient inhabitants of the Nile Valley took such obvious joy in flowery delights that we can learn much from such studies. www.thebanmappingproject.com
A Chorus Line Living in the city separates us from that myriad of background noises made the most prolific form of life on this planet: insects. But the sounds they create areas individual as birdcalls if far less well known. Now scientist Richard Makin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s station in Gainesville, Florida, has established the web site Bug Bytes to in some measure correct this deficiency. Nor are the sound recordings of simple general interest. Being able to identify a particular bug’s cri de coeur could mean early detection of important pests. cmave.usda.ufl.edu/~rmankin/soundlbrary.html
November Horticultural Happenings
Toronto Field Naturalist Outings Free guided walks; children welcome but please no pets; all are TTC accessible; dress according to weather, bring beverage, camera, notebook and binoculars’ more 416-593-2656 or www.sources.com/tfn3 November TFN Meeting; visitors welcome; commences 2 p.m. Emmanuel College, 75 Queen’s Pk Cres. E just south of the Museum Subway east entrance. Peter Kotanen: "A Natural History of Joker’s Hill Scientific Reserve." 6 November Etobicoke Creek Nature Walk: meet 1:30 p.m. on bridge over the creek on north side of Lakeshore Blvd, west of Brown’s Line. 9 November Prospect Cemetery Trees & Shrubs: highly recommended; meet 1:30 p.m. at entrance north side of St. Clair Ave. W. at north end of Lansdowne Ave. 10 November Western Lakeshore Nature Walk: meet 10:30 a.m. northwest corner the Queensway and Windermere Ave.; bring lunch 13 November Taylor Creek Nature Walk: an editor’s favourite; meet 10:30 a.m. southeast corner Don Mills Rd and Gateway Blvd; bring lunch 23 November East Point Nature Walk: meet 10 a.m. east end of Guildwood Parkway at foot of Morningside Ave; morning only 24 November Bluffers Meadow Nature Walk: meet 11 a.m. southeast corner Kingston Rd and Chine Dr; morning only
Civic Garden Centre A well-established organization ‘helping people grow.’ Edwards Gardens, 777 Lawrence Ave. E. at Leslie St., Toronto tel: 416-397-1340; fax: 416-397-1354; e-mail: civicgardencnetre@infogarden.ca; website: www.infogarden.caLectures: Door sales only – no advanced registration 20 November Perennial Pleasures 7:30 p.m. Courses: 12 November – 3 December Botany Basics (members $60, public $90) 14 November Festive Holiday Centrepiece 12:30 – 2 p.m. (members $45 public $55) 18 November Forcing Bulbs for Indoor Bloom 7 – 9:30 p.m. (members $20 public $30) hands-on workshop 28 November Holiday Garland Workshop 7 – 9:30 p.m. (members 55 public $65) Events: 7 – 10 November Mistletoe Magic, Gift and Craft Sale Thur & Fri 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Sat & Sun 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. $5
Mycological Society of Toronto Meetings on mushrooms and "forays" to look for them; more information 416-444-9053
Ian Wheal Heritage Walks 2 November Anderson Springs, a lost medicinal spring; meet 1 p.m. northwest corner Yonge and Lawrence Ave.
Kettleby Herb Farms Workshops & Open House 3 November Wreath Making 2 to 4 p.m. with Liz Brock. $60/person; Pre-registration and a $20 deposit is required; to register, phone 905-727-8344 or fax 905-727-1415; e-mail info@kettlebyherbfarms.com23 & 24 November 4th Annual Open House 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with complimentary wine and cheese and herbal teas. A ½ hour drive north of Toronto at 15495 Weston Road; more at www.kettlebyherbfarms.com
High Park Sunday Walks Meet 1:15 p.m. south of the Grenadier Restaurant; a $2 donation is requested; more 416-392-1748 10 November: Ducks by the Pond 24 November: High Park’s Monuments and memorials
Toronto & Region Conservation Authority 23 November: Tommy Thompson Park meet 1 p.m. at foot of Leslie Street; walk lasts for about two hours
Toronto Entomologists’ Association 23 November monthly meeting, 1 p.m. Room 119, Northrop Frye Hall, 73 Queen’s Park Cres. E.; Chris Darling talks on the Royal Ontario Museum in Vietnam.
Ontario Rock Garden Society 24 November meeting at Civic Garden Centre, 777 Lawrence Ave East, Toronto commences with plant sale at 12:30 followed by speaker at 1:30 p.m.: Liz Knowles on "The Beauties of Corsica in April" Visitors welcome
Cavalcade of Lights 30 November Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto: great way to celebrate winter in the city, presentd by Scotiabank more: www.toronto.on.ca/special_events or 416-338-0338
World Championship Punkin’ Chunkin’ 1 through 3 November at Lewes, Delaware; competitors challenge each other to fire pumpkins from cannons using exotic propellants. More from www.punkinchunkin.com
32nd Kona Coffee Festival Kona, Hawaii 1 to 10 November in Kona, Hawaii, includes tours and judging of coffee farms on the island and a "coffee bean-picking contest," although you would think that such specialists would know that a "coffee eban" is a figment of botanical imagination; more at www.konacoffeefest.com
Smithsonian Study Tours 16 - 24 November: The Greatest Adventure in Natural History: aboard the 27-passenger La Turmaline, explore the secluded headwaters of the Amazon For more information, 1-877-338-8687 or visit www.smithsonianstudytours.org
Nature Conservancy Travel Trips For more information, call 703-841-7413, visit www.nature.org/magazine/spring2002/jounreys or e-mail jcadams@tnc.org1-3 November North Carolina’s Jocassee Gorges, sea kayaking and hiking 8-10 November North Carolina’s Roanoke River Swamps weekend canoe trip 9-17 November Peru Amazon Voyage aboard a 28-passenger riverboat
Allan Gardens South side Carleton Street between Jarvis and Sherbourne Streets; open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekends and holidays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; further information 416-392-7288 or www.allangardens.comFall Chrysanthemum Show: Late-September to mid-November
Centennial Park Conservatory Three greenhouses with a total of more than 12,000 square feet of interesting and changing plant collections. 151 Elmcrest Road. Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. More information at 416-392-8543.
Cloud Garden Conservatory A walk-through greenhouse that recreates the lush tropical foliage of a Costa Rican cloud forest. South side of Richmond Street, between Yonge and Bay Streets. Open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (closed on holidays). More information from 416-392-7288
Gardening in the Headlines A round-up of the past few weeks news of interest to gardeners
Landscaping Making a streetcar service yard is not exactly a common landscape aim, but that is what east end Toronto’s Connaught Yard Garden Project is aiming at on Queen St. E., between Greenwood and Coxwell. The group has raised $65,000 of the $96,000 needed and work should be completed by late next spring. More at http://100bain.com/~connaughtgdn The spaced rocks in raked gravel at Kyoto’s Ryoanji Temple garden attract contemplation by creating the image of a tree in the unconscious minds, according to recent research, to the bafflement of those iconoclasts who merely regard it as the ultimate in rock gardening Water gardeners, please note: The indefatigable New Scientist "Feedback’ feature reports the underwater Isis pump comes with a manual which, the manufacturer requests, be left "with the pump as it contains maintenance and safety information." According to Michael Kesterton’s ‘Social Studies’ in The Globe and Mail, "an amazing musical frog from Anhui Province in China has astounded biologists with a repertoire so broad and variable that 12 hours of taped sounds from 12 males showed not a single repeated call." We can’t wait for these to be offered to water gardeners as the latest novelty, thus squeezing out "the Bophis frogs of Madagascar which have a repertoire of 28 distinct types of calls."
Trees Unfazed by mountain pine beetle staining lumber blue, B.C. entrepreneur Lynn Pont from Quesnet forms the Denim Pine Marketing Association to promote the wood of infected lodgepole pine in "value added" items such as furniture, linoleum, even log homes. The fall colours just finished are caused by stress on the trees, according a team of scientists based rather unsurprisingly in Vermont and the red colour helps maples, oaks and others to continue to absorb nutrients later in the season after cold and shorter days have caused the death of chlorophyll. Dutch ecologist Franz Vera causes a stir by publishing an extensive study which he claims proves that the primordial forests of Europe were kept in park-like condition by the grazing of large wild herbivores, and were not a dense, impenetrable mass, citing Holland’s Gostvaardersplassen experiment as proof of his theories. The pathogen causing Sudden Oak Death (SOD) in California continues to worry foresters as it also attacks redwoods amongst trees. Ecological researcher Matteo Garbelotto, at University of California Berkley, has achieved some control by injecting phosphorus into infected oaks, but more extensive investigations will be necessary before practical control is achieved. Eurasian trees such as oak, pine, fir, beech, and other species survived the climatic fluctuations during the Pleistocene in refuges in southeastern Europe, pollen analysis of sediments from the Ionninia basin in northwestern Greece by Tzedakis et al. establish (Science vol. 297)
Shrubs Air rage, car rage, phone rage, now they are joined by hedge rage, at least in England, where laws are lax and hedges can tower 40-feet and more high. There is even a support group, Hedgeline, for those suffering from such. And this from the land from whence came the saying, "Good hedges make good neighbours." A John William Waterhouse masterpiece, Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, is discovered in a Canadian farmhouse after mysteriously disappearing shortly after it was painted in 1909. Due to be auctioned by Christie’s in London, England, later this month, the oil painting is expected to fetch $7-million. The scent of roses was claimed to emit from the corpse of a 19th-century priest, Irimia Hagiu, exposed by workers at a church in Husi, Romania.
Flowers Dennis Kozlowski, former CEO of Tyco International, is presently accused of diverting US$100-million into his own and colleagues’ pockets, part of which, so a report claims, included a mere $96,943 on flowers. Can the man be all bad? Toronto alternate weakly Eye magazine revives the hoary old myth that goldenrod causes widespread hay-fever, thanks to the "burgeoning population of naturalized gardens and native plants," but fortunately Arthur Beauregard, manager of natural environment and horticulture for T.O., injects some sanity into the proceedings. The rare redroot, Lachnanthese tinctoria, a plant of East Coast swamps, receives protection under the Nova Scotia Endangered Species Act According to Modern Bride, bouquets and other flowers at a $20,000-plus wedding run just under $1,000 or about 5% of the total cost (the biggest item: the reception, running about $7,500 or 34%)
Wildflowers Exotic species of grasses from Eurasia have swamped native Californian grasslands out of existence creating, amongst other problems, serious fire risk. A study by Eric Seabloom of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara, California, suggests that the situation could be corrected by something as simple as very heavy overseeding with native species, reported at the Ecological Society of America’s 87th Annual Meeting, Tucson, Arizona.
Down in the Vegetables Non-GM potatoes can take their toll also: a Meaford, Ontario man sampled a improperly-prepared baked spud at a local noshery, contracted botulism, became partially paralyzed and lost most of his sight while spending weeks in hospital on intensive care. A hoard of several hundred kilograms of rotten spuds is unearthed by Trans-Canada Highway construction crews in New Brunswick. The potatoes, illegally dumped by persons unknown, are said to be free of any virus disease. In an attempt to persuade her husband to spend more time at home, a 66-year-old Greek granny used tomato sauce as a substitute for blood, claiming she had fought off two knife-wielding burglars, stabbing one of them and, consequently, being bloodstained. Another use for tomatoes, at least. Feature kids flick Jonah: A Veggie Tale Movie, from the Christian children’s cartoon studio Big Idea hilariously retells the story of the prophet with a whale of story. But this is children’s (and certain adults) entertainment, so Jonah is an animated asparagus spear, supported by a cast of equally anthropomorphized cukes, squash, tomatoes and assorted other veggies. And, although hardly horticultural, not to be missed is Nineveh’s appalling vice of fish slapping. No preaching, just excellent family fair. Cold potatoes, baked beans and porridge are more effective than breakfast cereals in reducing bowel cancer, says a report to the British Association Annual Festival of Science held in mid-September. An 82-year-old Italian granny from La Spezia couldn’t understand why her 24-year-old grandson’s tomato plants weren’t producing fruit. Then the police arrived to inform her that the tomato plants were, in fact, marijuana.
The Pumpkin Patch Jerry Howell, a farmer Thorold, Ontario, offers a chance for enthusiasts to utilize a giant slingshot with which to propel pumpkins to their doom against target a hundred feet away. Cost is just $7.75 but, warns Howell, it is an addictive sport. Pumpkin purchasers at Whittamore’s Berry Farm in Markham, Ontario, are forced to run for it as a 13-year old warms things up by setting a hay maze on fire. Tip o’ the gardener’s hat to Ben Habb, pumpkin grower extraordinaire of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, who raises a record Canadian pumpkin weighing 547 kgs. Not recorded is whether Mr. Habb particularly enjoys pumpkin pies. Amongst other morsels savoured by Queen Elizabeth while dining at the Ottawa residence of the Governor General over Thanksgiving was "Rideau Hall garden pumpkin ice-cream." Is there nothing this poor woman must not endure?
Fruit & Nuts "My motivation is the anticipation of seeing one of my bananas in the supermarket." – Emma Schofield, leader of Syngenta’s banna quality project at Jealott’s Hill, Berkshire, U.K. (www.syngenta.com) Indonesian farmers claim that illegal logging is destroying the forest habitat of local monkeys, forcing the animals, desperate for food, to decimate the farmers’ banana crops. Steven Tanksley et al. at Cornell University Ithaca demonstrate that pear-shaped fruit as in pears and some tomatoes is caused by a mutated copy of the OVATE gene, which they suspect of also being responsible for the shape of some eggplant and squash (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).
Spices and Herbs The Toronto weekly alternate newspaper Eye recommends "geraniums, particularly the citrosa variety," to repel West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes. Alas, the folks at Richters Herbs dispel this folk legend in their catalog. Eye also suggests basil. While this is traditionally planted in pots outside French restaurants, as well as similarly in Mexico on dinner tables, neither country is exactly known for the lack of flies in such establishments.
Houseplants The latest in indoor gardening are "living walls," complete eco-systems of water, plants and wildlife all in a space 30-inches wide, 48-inches deep and floor-to-ceiling, which will set you back a trifle $15,000. A larger commercial installation, 3-storeys high, is being designed for condos at 430 King West, Toronto, by the redoubtable landscape architect firm of Janet Rosenberg and Associates. Orchid fanciers are aghast at reports that chicanery may be behind the recent commercial introduction of a spectacular new discovery from Peru, Phragmipedium kovachii, a magnificent ladyslipper orchid named after its supposed discoverer, Michael Kovach, by experts at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. But Peruvian officials have been said to have protested while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigates whether international law has been broken by illegally bringing the orchid into the U.S. (Science, vol. 297)
Propagation "Although GM technologies form only a small percentage of agribusiness sales, they have the potential to bring the most radical changes in crops." British-based New Scientist magazine acknowledges that genetic modification has uses in agriculture.
Seeds Percy Schmeiser, the Saskatchewan farmer found guilty of planting patented Roundup Ready canola without paying the licensing fee, changes his line and admits he did so intentionally, instead of blaming passing trucks or whatever. Still, three federal court judges hearing his appeal disbelieve his original claims and order him to pay up. Seed banks are in a sorry state internationally, causing a new organization, the Global Conservation Trust, to attempt to raise a $260 million endowment rejuvenate these seed banks, reports the journal Science Nasrat Wassimi, a plant biologist and field coordinator of an international attempt to help Afghan farmers, has seen looters destroy his wheat seed, steal the plastic containers in which it was stored, and take irrigation pumps. But the hardest part, he says in the journal Nature, is the destructive vandalism. "Whatever destruction you see in Afghanistan, a quarter can be attributed to bombing and shelling, but the rest is vandalism."
Bugs and Gardeners You think you have problems with household pests? The West Edmonton Mall’s famed water park has become infested with what were identified as Australian cockroaches. Whether they were surfing, sun bathing or simply doing the famed Aussie crawl in the water, reports failed to mention. Not all pea aphids are successfully parasitized when attacked by minute wasps that lay their eggs on the unfortunate plant lice. Their defence turns out to be a little-known bacterium living in the aphids’ cells but how and why it protects them is still a mystery, reports Kerry Oliver et al. at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
For the Birds In case you were wondering, those white "doves" released at weddings and various assorted commemorative events are, in fact, specially-bred pigeons, about a third of which fail to return to their lofts. Just what we need: more pigeons on the loose. West Nile virus may be devastating wild birds, say concerned ornithologists. Although Crows, blue jays and other corvids are the best-known victims, the disease has been reported in at least 120 North American species, reports the journal Science. The Ornithological Council, a U.S. organization, is calling for a major federal study. See www.nwhc.usgs.gov/research/west_nile/wnvaffected.html
Weeds Warren Porter and a team at University of Wisconsin-Madison reported worrying effects of a popular off-the-shelf herbicide containing mecoprop, dicambra and 2,4-D, unnamed but obvious to most gardeners. Minute levels in the drinking water of pregnant mice causing loss of fetuses and reduced litter sizes are reported in Environmental Health Perspectives. The levels were about 1/7th of those recommended by the EPA. Porter suggests alternatives such as spraying weeds with vinegar or household bleach might be safer.
Composting Etobicoke, the western portion of Toronto, kicks off the city’s first curbside pickup of organic household waste in the new "green boxes." Amazingly for Toronto, not exactly renown for proficiency in bureaucratic efforts, the program appears to be a success.
Gardening in the City Toronto Health Committee Chairman Joe Mihevc announces city officials are considering placing a non-chemical biological agent in city sewers next spring to kill mosquito larvae in an effort to combat West Nile virus. Mihevc refers to these as "pucks," but we may have mistaken the city councillor’s pronunciation. A Toronto bylaw banning pesticide use on private property will commence with a Board of Health meeting this month, then move on to Works Committee and the Economic and Parks Committee for debate, according to Toronto Public Health spokeswoman Mary Margaret Crapper. Then it faces the full council, perhaps in late winter or early spring. Satirical magazine Frank runs an "editorial" signed by "Heather Reisfrank," who writes that "it would be nice to see more articles about gardening – flowers, ferns and such. So long as you realize there’s nothing funny about gardening." Toronto Board of Health announce that spraying for the West Nile virus will only be carried out in the city next season as "a last option.". "This is something that should be done as a last resort where one has a comprehensive mosquito control program already in place and where there are confirmed human cases that have not been prevented by a whole host of measures," Dr. Sheela Basrur, the city’s medical officer of health, said. A Montreal man mowed down his neighbours flowers, amongst other harassment despite a court order to stay away from them, a pair of homosexuals who also had to endure golf balls hit into their yard and narrowly missing being run down by a car. Toronto’s parks & wrecks bureaucrats want the cash-strapped city to spend $195,000 in 2003 on goose control, including $50,000 for re-landscaping, $45,000 for equipment to pick up droppings and $65,000 for "public education." It is politically incorrect in T.O. to admit liking Canada geese, which are a whole lot more fun than snivel servants.
Tools The satirical Frank magazine features a tongue-in-cheek schedule celebrating CBC’s 50 years of state television, including a consumer program showing "the late George Finstad explores the dangers of using electric hedge trimmers in the bathtub." There was also a sit-com purporting to feature a pair of bureaucratic klutz who accidentally gas the "Parliamentary Standing Committee on Liverworts and Mosses." We hate having to write of serious accidents involving gardening equipment but believe it is necessary to warn of such hazards. A young girl from Scarborough, Toronto lost two fingers to a lawnmower this fall. Please remember, children and pets have no place in the same garden when power equipment is in use.
Inventions A waterproofed loudspeaker emitting high-frequency sound in the 16 to 32 kilohertz range, reports New Scientist on patent WO 02/052933 issued to Michael and Herbert Nyberg of Connecticut, can destroy mosquito larvae
Science and the Gardener Agriculture originated in the "fertile crescent" of the Near and Middle East not for its food value but to brew beer, says University of Manchester, U.K. experimental archaeologist Merryn Dinely whose husband, by coincidence, happens to be a home brewer. Studies elsewhere in Britain also report that beer is good for bones and, drunk in moderation, helps prevent bone disease later in life. Canadian farmers are increasingly choosing GE crops. This year, 70% of all canola, 35% of corn and 30% of soybeans were from genetically engineered varieties. In the U.S. 70% of soybeans and 30% of field corn were GE varieties. "Indeed whenever we hear this or that Green activist lecturing impoverished Third World farmers to put their faith in organic methods, we cannot help but wonder if he’s ever visited Africa and seen its meagre "organic" crops." Editorial, National Post Minute threads of cotton found in a copper bean bracelet unearthed by archaeologists in Mehrgarth, Pakistan, prove that cotton was in use by 6000 BC, 2,000 years earlier than previously believed, reports New Scientist. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Pioneer Hi-Bred, the biotech business have used GM to engineer a soya that lacks the protein P34 which causes soya allergy often suffered by children as well as some adults. Since 1996, the UN has been distributing GM food as emergency aid without notifying the recipient countries, reports New Scientist. This in the main originates from the U.S. which, although New Scientist neglect to inform us, supplies roughly 60 per cent of all food aid to the world’s needy. The antibiotics known as munumbicins occurring in the snakevine, Kennedia nigriscans, are shown to be produced by an endophytic Streptomyces species that lives within the plant’s tissues. These are of great interest as potential new antibiotics against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and antimalarials, reports the journal Science Over a century ago, Charles Darwin, noting similarities in the blooms of the Venus flytrap and the aquatic waterwheel plant from Europe, suggested they were closely related. Late in the 20th century, botanists pooh-poohed this. Now DNA analysis shows that Darwin was correct. Why do we have to consistently look to foreign publications for news of Canadian science? New Scientist reports a possible break-through with a new crop for salt-polluted soils, a growing problem internationally, discovered by Massimi Marcone at the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph. He is recommending the native North American saltwort bush from saltwater marshes, saying thee seeds come packed with nutritious proteins, oils and starches that also have industrial uses. "A major report on the threat of agricultural bioterrorism is being delayed as U.S. government officials wrestle with the National Academy of Sciences over whether its release would provide information that could be useful to terrorists," reports the journal Nature (vol. 419)
Travel Kew Botanical Gardens near London, England, reports a flower-shaped "crop circle," presumably the work of pranksters – or perhaps extraterrestrials fancied some terrestrial flora to decorate their UFOs. Accidents will happen, even occasionally when visiting botanical gardens, but it seems a little extreme to have an alligator tear one’s arm off, as happened to an unfortunate visitor to such an facility in northern Florida. Meaford, Ontario, on the southern shore of Georgian Bay, breaks the world record for resident scarecrows in any one community with 2,041, previously held by Portugal since 1998 with 1,113 in this Straw Wars battle. Toronto city councillors might wish to note such suitable employment opportunity. Interesting things to be found in hotel gardens: a two-headed snake, Macroprotodon cucullatus, was found in tourist hotspot Majorca, in the western Mediterranean.
Weather After recording the hottest September in city history, Toronto enters October by breaking the 1988 record of 26.9C by reaching 29C on 1st October. The Farmers’ Almanac predicts a storm of "Saxby Gale proportions" for the Maritimes, recalling the early October, 1869 gale that killed 100 people. Meterologists predict – correctly – light rain. Vincent Gra’s book refuting the reason for the Kyoto protocol, The Greenhouse Delusion: A Critique of Climate Change (Multi-Science Publishing Co.http://www.multi-science.co.uk0 stires up even more trouble when it is critiqued by David E. Wojick, a journalist and a policy analyst who chooses to live in both Virginia and Ontario. For more, e-mail: dwojick@climatechangedebate.org Not all scientists think the planet is heading into a heat wave. Dr. Robert Gagosian, president and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, notes vast amounts of fresh water pouring down from the Arctic into the North Atlantic could trigger another ice age the change, he says, possibly coming within a decade. Environment Canada predicts Greater Toronto Area (GTA) temperatures will be above normal this winter, and it also will be drier than average, although not as mild as last winter. Prairie gardeners will be able to receive better warning of summer storms sweeping across the area as improved technology is to be supplied to meteorologists in the region. Adjacent areas of the U.S. have long had enough meteorologists stationed in the region to provide such a service. If you live in south-central and southwestern Ontario and found late summer rainfalls missing you but damping down friends’ gardens, join farmers in the region who found the weather great for corn but restrained enthusiasm for their soybean crops.
Law and Gardeners The Mounties always get their mushroom: RCMP discover an operation raising hallucinogenic psilocybin "magic mushrooms" in a Coquitlam, B.C., commercial storage building. A 25-year-old office clerk returning from a Jamaican vacation is caught at Toronto International Airport trying to smuggle 14 kilos of marijuana concealed inside a suitcase load of yams. Isn’t there enough of the wacky weed grown here already? New Brunswick marijuana growers around Fredericton are discovered by police to have used more than 30 booby traps to protect their patches. You just can’t trust anyone these days. The Dutch like to keep things in perspective. A drunken 65-year-old man driving a horse and cart damaged some ornamental flower tubs, before falling off the cart, reported the Algemeen Dagblad. He lost his driving license. Various citizens are taking the U.S. government to court over presumed damage global warming will cause, amongst them a Vermont maple syrup producer, and the city of Boulder, Colorado over claims the federal government financed coal-fired power plants. Magazine New Scientist cites Silicon Chip for advertising the weather forecasting device sold by Altronics of Perth, Australia, that "predicts changes in weather conditions ahead of time." A novel suggestion for GM foods labelling is published in the journal Nature, where a letter from Renton Righelato, Reading, U.K., suggests the EU should insist labeling include the beneficial attributes of GM foods in their environmental, nutritional or economic attributes of their modifications. This, he says, "would help consumers make informed decisions to buy or avoid products."
Business German-based Bayer AG, recent purchaser of international agribusiness giant Adventis, now find itself somewhat short of the necessary spare cash and is rumoured to be negotiating with Reckitt Benckiser PLC, U.S.-based S. C. Johnson & Son Inc. plus two other companies for the sale of its household insecticides division. Asking price is said to be US$1.24-billion, if anyone else is interested. The sale is later confirmed. Coffee bean prices are down 50 per cent from 1999, reports The Globe and Mail, leading to severe hardships for small growers in the tropics, devastation for developing counties’ economies and poor-quality coffee for consumers. Meanwhile, coffee cognoscenti are paying $600 per pound of ‘Kopi Luwak’ from Indonesia, made from the partially digested beans found in the feces of the marsupial luwak. It is available in Canada only at the gourmet Urban Fare stores in Vancouver and Edmonton. An insurrection in Ivory Coast, West Africa, threatens to escalate prices of chocolate, as the country is the source of 40 per cent of the world’s cocoa Afghan agriculture reverts to its former pattern, with opium production rising from just 185 tonnes under the late and unlamented Taliban, to 2,700 tonnes this year under the democratically elected but impoverished government Fernand Meyssonnier, France’s last executioner writes in his best-selling new book Words of an Executioner, that he operated a pest control business in Tahiti for 30 years after departing from Algeria in 1962, where he had practiced his guillotining skills. He has now retired to France. McCain Foods Ltd.of New Brunswick purchases Montreal-based Wong Wing Foods, a frozen Chiense entrée business with over 300 employees. Prince Charles is reported to be developing a line of garden furniture, just the thing to locate under the ‘Royalty’ crabapple tree
Environment Ottawa’s Kyoto Klowns create a kerfuffle by concealing their estimates of the damage ratification will inflict on Canadians from not just taxpayers but the federal Cabinet. They are then forced to admit it would cost at least 200,000 jobs lost and a GDP reduction of 1.5%. But the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters organization, say it will be more like 450,000 jobs in manufacturing alone, and 3% in GDP. Greenpeace releases its How To Avoid Genetically Engineered Food Guide for ludicrous luddites and fellow travellers. Greenpeace and a gaggle of other environmental organizations may be less than eager to advertise that at the end of the recent World Summit for Sustainable Development, a group of farmers from Africa and Asia presented them with a hunk of cow dung on a piece of wood for their contribution to the "preservation of poverty." The award is known as the "Bullshit Trophy." According to Benjamin Chapman, a graduate student with the Food Safety Network at the University of Guelph, Ontario, the Washington-based National Centre for Food and Agriculture reported that if the 32 biotech crop varieties still under development were patented, they would reduce pesticide use by 117 million pounds per year. Present use has reduced annual use of chemicals on such crops by about 45 million pounds. "The rest of the world has to stand up to the axis of environmental evil that is the U.S. backed by Canada and Australia," said Tony Juniper, vice-chair of Friends of the Earth International, 29 August 2002 "We want global environmental standards for corporations, with sanctions that include dissolving the companies. Sending CEOs to prison is not enough," Michael Dorsey, a director of Sierra Club, who presumably would endorse the same treatment for environmental groups that conduct false and irresponsible campaigns. ‘The UN Environment Program remains one of the worst culprits" for perpetuating the "myth of irreversible, long-term African desertification," says New Scientist magazine. Thanks to novel and simple techniques by local farmers in the Sahel, the Sahara’s southern border is retreating and the desert blooming with crops and pasture. To those who have experienced the UN’s presence in the region, this will come as no surprise. Rice is responsible for between 10 and 15 per cent of all methane emissions but not all rice varieties are so prodigious producers, so plant breeders should be able to include low-methane production traits into new, modern selections, says Heinz Rennenberg of the Fraunhofer Institute of Environmental Research in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, according to New Scientist magazine. According to The Daily Telegraph, the World Conservation Union has 5,611 plant species threatened listed in its ‘Red List,’ but this is considered to be vastly underestimated.
Health "You are statistically more likely to be killed by a falling bale of hay than by the mosquito-borne virus." Hugh Gurdon puts into perspective the chances of dying from West Nile virus in the United States. Death looms over those who outside toilers in the public service through West Nile virus, say head honchos of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 416, that’s T.O. of course, and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. But Toronto’s Parks & Wrecks Manager Claire Tucker-Reid, says there is insect repellent at each work yard. Yet another reason to drink tea, scientists tell us: a brew of Thea sinensis lowers cholesterol, so preventing heart disease, while as an antioxidant it reduces the risk of cancer. The medicos didn’t say anything about the urge to pee though. 50 dead crows, ravens and blue jays test negative for West Nile virus on Prince Edward Island as human cases continue to be identified in Ontario and Quebec
Horticultural Humour A young apple grower, whose wife is about to have a baby, told the doctor he must have a son who is going to be, like his father, an apple grower. The doctor was hesitant, pointing out that on the first birth it is a fifty-fifty chance and on the second, again, no guarantees. When the baby was born, the doctor came out to the pacing dad, laughing happily: "Well, you get both your wishes: you have a baby son and I can tell he is going to be an apple grower because from the moment he was born he has been crying," return to Hort-Pro title page
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