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City Gardening
July 2002 

WATERING AND WEEDING, NATURAL GRUB CONTROL WITH NEMATODES, NUDE GARDENERS AND IRIS SPLITTING

Special Feature for July:
When the Saints Come Marching In

Plus:
Garden Web * Horticultural Happenings * Garden News

Finally it would seem we have left a wild and wet spring far behind. So much precipitation came our way that one dispirited gardener described it as English literature weather: it rained like the Dickens. Notwithstanding this, the jovial month of July might be summed up from a gardening perspective as "weeding and watering." 
In one of his more despondent and blatantly sexist moods, Martin Luther proclaimed: "Girls begin to talk and stand on their feet sooner than boys because weeds always grow up more quickly than good crops." Alas, he would have been even more despondent if he had learned that an average acre of arable soil contains 3,000-pounds of weed seeds. Some of these, such as corn spurry and lamb's quarters, can live for 1,700 years and still germinate. And those seeds are profusely produced: curly dock comes in at 40,000 seeds per plant, purslane 50,000, pigweed 100,000 and mullein a staggering quarter-million. Worst yet, one of the commonest allergies is to weed pollen, such as our infamous ragweed. So forget about Emerson's observation to the effect that a weed is a " plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." Inventor John J. Terhune (4852 Apache Ave., Sierra Vista Arizona 85635) had a much better idea when he invented the "Weed Kicker" about 1989. Strapped to the foot you boot the blighters out. Perhaps though it would not sell so well in either the municipality of Weed, California, or Weed, New Mexico. Back home, a sharp hoe wielded weekly is the answer to weed control. Move back and forth just below the soil surface to severe weeds from their roots. This is best done early in the day, allowing sun and wind to shrivel the toppled invaders and prevent rerooting. Get 'em young and get 'em often is the answer to controlling weeds which, besides causing allergies, also act as hosts for many plant pests and diseases as well as swiping nutrients and moisture. As poor Sarah Binks, Poetess of the Prairies, bemoaned:

And faith we get the garden dug -
And what do we reap - we reap the bug,
In goodly faith we plant the seed,
Tomorrow morn we reap the weed

Sarah, whose life, works and terrible death are documented so thoroughly by Paul Hiebert would, however never made the appalling error of the young man for that Yorkshire industrial city:

There was a young fellow of Leeds
Who swallowed a package of seeds
In a month, sill ass,
He was all covered with grass
And he couldn't sit down for the weeds.

Although sprinklers that cast water out in a circular pattern can cover very large areas, their application is liable to be discontinuous. Assuming the garden does not have a built-in irrigation system, the answer one of those which sweep backwards and forwards, applying water to a rectangular-shaped area. Technically they are known as oscillating sprinklers. The better of these come with a convenient built-in timer, enabling water to be applied at the best time: in the early hours of the morning. Most plants require a half-inch of water every three days for healthy growth. This translates into about an hour's nocturnal watering at average municipal water pressure. Watering the garden at this time has several advantages. Less water is lost to evaporation, as, despite the opening liens of Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and the Carpenter, the sun doesn't shine in the middle of the night. A good drenching at this time also knocks a great many otherwise noxious pests of their perches, down to destruction. The same drenching also discourages larger creatures of the night such as raccoons, skunks, amorous cats, and, we recall on one similar occasion from a secluded downtown lawn, business ladies entertaining their clients. The rewards of thorough and timely irrigation are manifold.

Overnight watering cannot be depended upon to keep birdbaths pristine. A dirty, untended birdbath is a health hazard both to birds and humans. Birds pass on diseases and parasites to other avian visitors when they wash in or foul the water. And stagnant water will attract mosquitoes possibly, the health authorities advise, bearing the much-hyped West Nile virus. Even if they don't, having the bite put on one by a ravenous female keeter does little for a relaxing spot of gardening. Empty, then clean with dilute household bleach and refill at least weekly and all will be happy, especially our feathered friends.

White grubs are the nemesis of lawn lovers. The larvae June beetles or the European chafer, they have found recent mild winters much to their liking and expanded accordingly. Up to recently, the accepted way to control the vile beasts was to opt for chemical warfare. Still, these root-chomping grubs kept refusing to admit defeat. Every spring this could be seen in patches of dead grass. Enter Steinernema feltiae, a nematode or minute worm that likes to dine of our lawn pest enemy numero uno. Steinernema kill the grubs they come upon a day or so and are totally harmless to all other forms of life. Now the good news: You can purchase these wondrous worms in a dormant state from garden centres worthy of the name - which probably doesn't mean your mass merchandiser. Successful inoculation requires watering the lawn heavily the morning the nematodes are to be applied and then again afterwards. It may take several weeks if not months for Steinernema to parasite the pests but once in the soil and established any white grub becomes nematode grub. 

One major task remains to be undertaken if you are a bearded iris lover. And if you are not a bearded iris lover, you probably aren't even a Canadian gardener. If you want to know why the world looks upon us as iris experts, visit the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington. Acres of iris await your attention. But following last month's display it comes time to split or, in more genteel terms, divide the rhizomes. Later this month cut back the yellowing and dead foliage to about three inches. Lift the rhizomes gently with a flat-tined fork then clean off soil and any weeds. Divide into short lengths, retaining the younger, outer portions for replanting. The older, less floriferous roots can be passed on to other gardeners. Watch the Horticultural Happenings feature in City Gardening next month for sales of these and other iris at both the Royal Botanical Gardens and Toronto's Civic Garden Centre in Edwards Gardens. 

The Georgia Strait Alliance out in beautiful B.C. persuaded author and TV gardening personality Des Kennedy to appear nude on a B.C. beach, covered with seashells. It is about fund raising for ocean education. Des and 15 other mollusced men can be viewed at www.HunksforHabitat.com. It costs $50 to remove (or add) a shell. What does this posing portend elsewhere? Will the eastern gardening gurus also bare something more than their souls? Are we to experience Mark Cullen covered by calendula? Wes Porter peering out of portulaca? Bruce Zimmerman in a zoot suit of zinnia? Personally we prefer lilies - naked ladies, Brunsvigia, of course. 

July Days of Horticultural Note
July Flowers
Larkspur or Water Lily

Month of July
July Belongs to Blueberries (North American Blueberry Council)
Thunder Moon of the Native Peopels since fierce storms, can be expected seemingly coming from nowhere

July Days
4th Carnation Day

July Horticultural History
1. Darwin's and Wallace's papers in evolution read in London to the Linnean Society 1858
3. Joseph-Francois Lafitou, Jesuit priest who observed ginseng in North American, dies Bordeaux, France 1746
7. Albert Johnson, the Mad Trapper of Rat River, is first met near Fort McPherson, 1931
North York Controller Robert Yuill is defeated in his attempt to have the dandelion become the city's official
flower, 1986
12. Workers in Shreveport, Louisiana, are showered by small green peaches falling from a cloud, 1961
29. Charles Gibb, horticulturist, born Montreal 1845 (died Cairo, Egypt 8 March 1890)
William Roman, ornithologist, born 1891 Basle, Switzerland (died Edmonton 30 June 1957)
Forest fires engulf northern Ontario towns of Cochrane and Matheson 1916, killing 233

July Horticultural Saints
15. St. Swithin, Bishop of Winchester, d. 862, patron of Winchester; if it rains on this day, his feast day, it will rain for 
39 more days
25. St. Christopher, martyr, death date unknown, beside patron of archers and travellers, also of fruit dealers, 
mariners, motorists; invoked against water, tempest, plagues and sudden death

When the Saints Come Marching In

An old Arab saying, recounts Paul Theroux, has it that "Jews celebrate their feasts around gardens, the Christians around kitchens, and the Muslims around graveyards." [Paul Theroux: The Pillars of Hercules (New York: Putnam, 1995)]. Perhaps this was true a millennium or two ago but over the centuries a not inconsiderable number of Christian saints have come to be associated with gardens, flowers and horticultural enterprises in general. Since the world Catholic Youth are gathering in Toronto this July, when the Pope John Paul II is expected also, here the saints come marching in. And for those teenagers and others who might express disbelief, it behooves to recall the experience of 16-year-old Josh Rempel of Calgary. In 1998, in argument with his mother over religion, Josh proclaimed: "May God strike me down with lightning." The next day, sure enough, he was struck by a bolt from on high, surviving to express a belief in the Almighty. 

Adam
As the first man, it would seem a good place to commence, although the Church has never recognized him as a saint.
He was scheduled to cultivate paradise and, as such, is regarded as the first horticulturist, if lacking a formal education in such. Kipling's immortal lines recognized this:
Adam was a gardener and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener's life is spent upon his knees
Unfortunately distracted by a woman, snake and apple, Adam lost his appointed position in Paradise and the Garden of Eden its first superintendent. The question of whether he had a navel has occupied philosophers ever since.

Adalhard
A patron saint of gardeners, as well as against fevers and typhus, according to the Rt. Rev. F. G. Holweck in his A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints (London, 1924) but for no reason that can be now explained. A grandson of Charles Martel of France and son of Bernard, King Pepin's brother, he lived from 753 to 827, being known as "the Augustine, Anthony, and Jeremiah of his age." He founded monasteries, cared for the sick and poor, and took part in political and ecclesiastical affairs - but was no gardener.

Agnes
A patron of gardeners and young girls, possibly the most celebrated virgin martyr of Rome, although of somewhat uncertain background. "On the eve of her day," Rt. Rev. Holbeck tells us, "many kinds of divination are practiced in England by virgins to discover their future husbands." However there appears to be no reason anything in her life to connect her with gardens or gardening except that, by superstition, St. Agnes' Day "heralds the first spring larks and swarming bees." She appears to have lived and died in the 3rd century

Ambrose
Patron of bees and wax chandlers, and so at least by the former not unimportant to gardeners This Bishop of Milan between 374 and 397 otherwise is not usually to modern tastes, having written: "Naturally I do not condemn marriage, I only consider chastity higher. The former is permissible, the latter I admire." In his day, he was revered as a magnificent orator, advisor to emperors and ecclesial organizer and consequently now considered the first of the four great western Fathers of the Church.

Antony the Great
Abbot, founder of Christian monasticism and, unlike many, he "cultivated the soil" at Pispir on the Nile River, for he was a native there, bon at Coma, near Heracleopolis, in Upper Egypt, in 251. As with many gardeners, he lived to a ripe old age, reputedly not dying until he was 105 years old, in 356. He is regarded as patron against pestilence in men and beasts, epilepsy, erysipelas and disease of the skin, and is said to be protector of hogs and farm animals, as well as of butchers, brush-makers, gravediggers and graveyards . . . bit not gardeners.

Barbara
Some specialists in the lives of saints, or hagiographers, consider the lady mythical, certainly unknown prior to the 7th century. Banished to a tower in Heliopolis (Baalbeck), Syria, by her pagan father, her accepting Christianity proved too much for pater, who killed Barbara. As patroness of both architects and stonemasons, she presumably protects landscape architects and interlock layers. 

Boniface
Anglo-Saxon Winfred was born 675 at Crediton, Devonshire, England and educated at Exeter, later taking the name Bonafatius when he took the habit near Winchester. Known as the Apostle of Germany until 5 June 754, when on 5 June, 754, he was killed with 52 companions near Dockum, on the eastern coast of the Zuider Zee. Some years prior to this in Hessia, recounts Rt. Rev. F. G. Holweck, at Fritzlar, near Geismar, he felled a great oak tree held sacred by the locals to the Thunderer, upon which "the shuddering pagans at once bowed before the superior might of Christianity." Boniface may have used the wood to build a chapel to St. Peter but today we can only also shudder at what would have happened if environmental activists had caught up with him.

Christopher
Probably few Christians would be unable to confirm that Christopher is protector of all travellers. Yet he is of much interest to gardeners as also protecting against hail and thunderstorms. In truth, little is known of any certainty about him, his name also being rendered as Christophorus, Christobal, Tobal, Kester and Kitt. Presumably he lived, and was martyred prior to 452 when a church was dedicated to him in Constantinople. 

Dorothy
Patroness of gardeners and florists and often represented by roses or, less frequently, apples. This arises from her martyrdom in 303 when during Emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians, she refused to sacrifice to pagan gods. Accordingly, she was condemned to death after torture at Ceasaerea. She joyfully accepted the sentence, proclaiming that she would shortly be picking roses and apples in the heavenly garden of her Lord, and do so through all eternity. While taken to be executed, she was mocked by a lawyer, Theophilus, who asked her to send him the roses of paradise. In one version, as she knelt for execution, and angel appeared with a basket of roses and apples, in another it was Theophilus who received the proof. He duly became a Christian himself and was, in his turn, martyred.

Eurosia
Celebrated as patroness of "the fruits of the field," she is said to have been a noble-born native pf Bayonne, France but most believe her to be an apocryphal saint. She is said to have been killed by the Saracens in the 8th century at Jaca in the southern Pyrenees and her cult brought to Italy by Spanish soldiers. Her name is sometimes rendered as Orosia.

Fiacre
Fiacrius of Meaux is represented in the Karlsruhe, Kunstalle, 16th century painting by a rosary and a spade as the patron of gardeners. Born 610 in Ireland where he became a hermit at Kilfiachra, he moved to Breuil at Brie in France. Given a plot of land there by Frao, Bishop of Meaux, to continue as a hermit, legend has it that upon the touch of his staff, the soil immediately blossomed forth. Known for his charity, aid to the poor and wisdom, he is also held to be a patron of florists, lattice-, box-, knife-, stocking- and tile-makers, along with coppersmiths, potters, sewers and tin founders. Parisian cab drivers also claim him as their patron saint as the original coaches for hire were parked near the Hotel Saint-Fiacre and hence became known as fiacres.

Gertrude of Nivelles
In the his Encyclopedia of Saints, Clemens Jockle notes that according to superstition, Gertrude's Day, 17 March, "is important as prediction of weather," and further that as "summer bride" she "sets the garden in order." It is also said she cares for the dead on their first night in Paradise following their death. She was born 626, daughter of St. Iduberga and sister of St. Beggha, and Abbess of Nivelles, who died 17 March 659. However, according to Anthony S. Mercatante's Zoo of the Gods (1974) she is founded on the pagan German goddess Nehalewnnia (Hludana), symbolized by a rat and who accompanied the souls of the dead. Be that as it may, she is a patroness of gardeners as well as of travelers

John the Patient
A monk from 12th century Kiev, he lived during Lent buried in the soil up to his shoulders. Rather unsurprisingly he is said to have "suffered much from diabolical obsession" and died 1160. 

John the Mower
Abbot John Theristus, born 1049 while his mother was a prisoner of the Moors in Palermo, escaped when he was 14 and took the Basilian habit. He gained his name of "The Mower" after helping peasants cut a large field within a few hours at Stilo, where he later became abbot and died there 24 February 1110.

Isadore the Labourer
An 11th century ploughman near Madrid, he and his wife led, it is said, model lives of "hard work, prayer and charity," so much so that angels laboured for Isadore to allow him time for prayer and to perform miracles. He died about age 40 on 15 May 1130. 

Macarius the Alexandrian
Also known as Marcarius Urbanus, he gave up his trade of fruit seller in the city of his birth, Alexandria, and retired to Thebaid in Upper Egypt about 335 to discover God. Legend has it that eventually he came to govern 5,000 monks in the Nitrian Desert. He died about 385.

Marina
Following her husband's death, the unfortunate wife of St. Gordian was "condemned ignominiously to work in the fields at Aquae Salviae (Tre Fontane), where she died of exposure and misery, about 363." Perhaps garden centre workers should adopt her as their patron. 

Marina the Lily of Ecuador
Marina de Jesus Paredes y Flores was born 31 October 1618 at Quito and by eight years old was already demonstrating a life-long ability to abuse herself by placing thorn crowns upon her head and girdling herself with the same. Reaching puberty, she swore to remain a virgin, donning a chastity built embellished for good measure with thistles and iron teeth. Eating a single slice of bread a day, sleeping but three hours a night and keeping a coffin close by were her delights. She was rewarded with mystical gifts and an early death aged 27 on 26 May 1645.

Maurice
A peculiar Greek martyr who, according to the Rt. Rev. F. G. Holweck, came to a sticky end "covered with honey and killed by bees." 

Morand
Patron of "wine growers," this late 11th century saint was born on the Upper Rhine at Worms and educated in the cathedral school there, later taking the habit at Cluny and was an evangelist in Alsace. He died 3 June 1115. His association with wine, other than splendid vintages being produced in the areas in which he was active, is unknown.

Philibert
A 7th century French abbot from Eauze in the south, Philibert was educated at the court of Dagobert I and took the Benedictine habit at Rebais. An eventful life included founding a monastery and a convent near the River Seine, imprisonment and exile over selecting the wrong side that, however, granted him the time to found another monastery. Following the death of his opponent, he was returned to favour. He died 20 August 686, the date now known as St. Philibert's Day and about which ripen hazel nuts, of filiberts

Phocas
Legendary market gardener at Sinope in Pontus, on the Black Sea's southern coast, early in the 4th century. When soldiers called one evening demanding to know where one Phocas lived, who they had orders to kill, the gardener bid them wait until dawn when he would tell them. Meanwhile, he served them food and gave them shelter in his home, retiring to his garden and there digging his own grave. In the morning he fulfilled his promise to the soldiers, who carried out their orders. Somewhat later, sailors on the Black Sea and in the Adriatic and Aegean sang shanties in his honour, Donald Attwater tells us in the Penguin Dictionary of Saints, although "the incongruity of a gardener as a marine patron saint is not unexampled, as in the case of the younger St. Simeon, who lived on top of a pillar."

Reinold
Resigned from an army posting to become a monk at Cologne during the 10th century. Working with stonemasons, his preachings were not appreciated and he was battered to death by their hammers and his corpse thrown into the Rhine in 960. Possibly this gives him more than passing interest to interlock layers. 

Rita
Roses are blessed on the feast day of Margarita de Cascia, 22 May. She was born at Rocca Porena, Spoleto and led a rough existence until the violent death of her abusive husband, followed by both her sons, who had sworn vengeance for their father's murder. She took the veil at the Augustinian nunnery at Cascia, where she died 22 May 1457. In Spain she is known as the saint of desperate cases, Abogada de Impossibles.

Rose of Lima
Patroness of gardeners and florists, Isabel de Flores y del Oliva, the first American saint, was born at Lima, Peru 20 April 1586, daughter of Gasparo de Florez and Maria de Olivia. As a child, much given to prayer and austerity, she retired to live in a shed in her parents' garden. The last three years of her life were spent in the house of the royal official Gundisalvi. Like her counterpart, Marina Lily of Ecuador, she began at an early age to display a zeal for prayer and experience spiritual sufferings. At age 20, she refused marriage, became a Dominican nun and donned a chastity belt. The key to this she threw into a well in Lima, today a popular photograph site for devout visitors. Her penchant for penance became pathological. Prolonged fasting, chewing bitter herbs, daily scourging and worse have earned her the designation of "Founder of the School of Aggressive Chastity." The Penguin Dictionary of Saints states, "such saints pose delicate questions of religion and psychology." Legend does not worry with such, though. Upon her beautification, showers of roses were said to fall. Amongst others, she is patroness of the Philippines, where Rose remains an exceedingly popular name for girls.

Sebastian
While Sebastian is perhaps better known for the manner of his death, being shot with arrows by Numidian bowmen according to one legend, other tales tell that on his day, 20 January, trees are sacred and may not be cut. Sap in tree trunks is said to start rising on the same day. A patron saint of gardeners, who have to share him, however, with archers, marksmen societies, soldiers, hunters gunsmiths, firemen, tinsmiths, stonemasons, upholsterers, ironmongers, tanners, crusaders, invalids of war, potters, cloth workers, frail and sickly children, and the dying. He is also invoked against the enemies of religion and to protect cattle.

Servetius
A 4th century bishop at Tongeren in Belgium, he died in 384 at Maastricht and is subject of many legends. According to hagiographer Clemens Jockle: "Thieves that break into vineyards belonging to the sepulchral church are turned to stone and can only move again after appealing to Servatius." Servetius is also claimed to have met martyrdom in a most peculiar manner, by having wooden clogs thrown at him. His grave, it is said, stays green throughout winter and no snow settles upon it. Rain on his day, 13 May, foretells that wheatears will be full while, better still for gardeners, he protects crops from frost.

Swithin
9th century Bishop of Winchester, one of the most popular of English saints. A native of Wessex, he was educated at Winchester, ordained about 830 and was a favourite with King Egbert and later, his son King Ethelwolf. He was active during the Danish incursions into Wessex, which saw the sacking his Episcopal city, where he died 2 July 863. His feast day, 2 July, is associated with the folk belief that if it rains on that day, it will continue to rain for forty days thereafter, hence he is sometimes known as "The Weeping St. Swithin." His remains were, in fact, unable to be moved from the churchyard into the cathedral at Winchester in 971 owing to a similar period of wet weather.

Teresa
Carmelite nun known as "The Little Flower of Jesus." Mary Frances Teresa Martin was born 2 January 1873 at Alencon, France, and raised at Lisieux. Three of her sisters also became nuns. She died in the same town as she was raised 30 September 1897, aged just 24, leaving behind writings in which she claimed, "After my death, I shall let fall a shower of roses."

Tryphon
This saint is of some importance to gardeners being patron against insects as well as evil spirits. A Syrian goose herder, he was brought in the time of Decius to Nice where, refusing to acknowledge the gods, he was tortured then beheaded in 251. Other legends are known but much of his life is now regarded as "fictitious," according to Rt. Rev. Holweck. This hagiographer also records another St. Tryphon simply as: "a priest, who was hanged to a willow tree. Feast 19 December MGr."

Tychon
5th century bishop of Limassol, Cyprus, who according to legend caused a dead grape vine to bear fruit and so became a patron of winegrowers upon that island. History also recounts that he was active in opposing the cult of Aphrodite, exceedingly popular in Cyprus. Rt. Rev. Holweck, ever a mine of information, records another Tychon, a Moscow monk who chose as his abode a hollow tree and founded a monastery. 

Urbanus
No less than 27 saints by the name of 'Urbanus' are listed by Rt. Rev. F. G. Holweck (London: 1924). The Roman Urbanus I, Pope 222-230, has his statue crowned by vintners on his feast day, 27 May, if the weather is good; however, if the weather be bad, they hurl the statue into the river and throw mud on it. In Germany, he has been the patron saint of vintners since 13th century and much legend and local practice surround his name. He is represented in art, not surprisingly, by grapes. 


Still unconvinced? On a Sunday back in 1968, Prince Rupert, B.C. radio station CHTK was on air with its popular on-line religious show with the topic "God Is Dead." For an hour all went well. Then the transmitter was hit by lightning and the station was off the air for the next twelve hours. May the Saints preserve us.


Bibliography
Donald Attwater: A Dictionary of Saints
Donald Attwater: Penguin Dictionary of Saints
John J. Delaney: Christian Saints Biography
Rt. Rev. F. G. Holweck: A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints (London: Herder Book, 1924)
Clemens Jockle: Encyclopedia of Saints (London: Alpine Fine Art Collection, 1995)
Charles Panati: Panati's Extraordinary Endings (New York: Harper, 1989)
Don Sharkey: Popular Patron Saints (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing, 1960)
The Globe and Mail, MetroToday, National Post, Toronto Sun

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