News from a Gardener’s View Point

City Gardening peers at the past month’s news from Canada and elsewhere

Science and the Gardener

• Garden Wormwood, Artemesia, was used for flavouring the notorious French liqueur absinthe in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.  Prof. John Casida, a specialist in toxicology and environmental chemistry at the University of California, has found that the wormwood in absinthe acts by disrupting a vital part of the brain’s balance.  This may eventually lead to death, but prior to that can cause the mental disturbances seen in so many French artists of that time who used and abused the beverage.

• American scientists discover fossilized plant spores dating back between 510 and 500 million years ago, pushing back the dates of the earliest land plants by some 30 to 40 million years.

• An opinion survey establishes that about half the population of the U.K. are willing to eat genetically modified (GM) foods.

• Atmospheric pollution previously blamed on modern high-intensity chicken farms has now been determined to be caused by the ammonia released from seabirds when they urinate, contributing to acid rain, local plant damage and excess nitrogen.

• Researchers at the University of Exeter in England have discovered that a gram of ginger extract in tablet form is as effective in relieving nausea as is the standard pharmaceutical meloclopramide.

• At the heart of photosynthesis is the ‘reaction centre’ of the chloroplast, the green part of the leaf that makes things tick.  These transfer energy, a fact that has excited scientist Elias Greenbaum of the U.S. Oak Ridges National Laboratory, Oak Ridges TN.  Twenty times smaller than the smallest transistor on a processor chip, they would be ideal to advance computers still further.  There are plenty of catches, but Greenbaum is well on his way to solving them using spinach.  A spinach PC coming soon to your office?  Who would have believed in PCs themselves a half-century ago?

• English scientists conduct prolonged research into the doomsday scenario of the genes in genetically modified crops escaping to create resistance to antibiotics.  They try, but fail, to cause such a situation.

• As the Pacific yews available for the raw material for the anticancer drug taxol dwindle, scientists at the University of Portland, Oregon, find hazelnuts -and a harmless fungus growing on them- also produce taxol.

Progress and the Gardener

q       Scientists at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in Aberstwyth, Wales, have suggested British farmers grow lupine for their protein-rich seeds to replace expensive imported soya beans presently used to feed livestock.  Russian lupine seed was recommended, and is presumably –unlike many other species- a non-poisonous form.

q       Manitoba marijuana outstrips all others in quality owing to its ultra high THC content.  Sometimes as high as 20% this hydroponically-produced weed is shipped down south o’ the border as fast as it can be produced, much to the distress of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and numerous police forces intent in halting illegal business.

q       Dimosthenes Vergis –he who would be president of Greece- has but one purpose if elected.  He is going to ban real, live Christmas trees.  As head of the Ecological Union of Greece he should know, of course, that 2,500 years ago Greek writers were bemoaning the clear-cutting of every tree in the country.  Mr. Vergis campaigns with posters of himself in the nude, having bare-breasted models pass on literature on Athens avenues and painting the naked backsides of nightclub dancers.  Not exactly fighting fir with fir, but Mel Lastman, please note…  and Vergis lost.

q       The Sunmate garden sprinkler made in Utah comes without operating instructions but with a warning “For outdoor use with cold water only”.

q       European forestry workers first decide that dead wood must become officially “coarse woody debris”, or CWD for short.  Now in its infinite wisdom the European Union refer to the CWD as the “necromass”, a term bound to find use in future references to the cranial tissue of bureaucrats everywhere.

q       A British patent is granted to make slag heaps blooming beauties.  Dredged silt from tidal estuaries is mixed with hydrated calcium sulphate and pulverized coal ash from power stations (also waste products); seeds are added, and then the whole kit and caboodle is moistened and sprayed over the slag.

q       After almost a quarter-century of neglect as offices and a movie location, Toronto’s Graydon Hall Manor (near York Mills and Don Mils Roads) is restored to its former glory by a volunteer team of 50 interior designers and landscape architects, who donate almost $1-million to the project.

Fashion and the Gardener

Ø      La vie en Rose offer an inflatable bra to their “figure-enhancing collection”.  It proves, alas, less than popular with rose growers and cactus collectors.

Pathogens and the Gardener

• Joris Keane and Ronald Chase at McGill University discover that garden snails –which are hermaphrodite- sexually stimulate each other by firing calcareous love darts into each other as a part of their mating rituals.

• A new, environmentally safe method of controlling the ubiquitous cockroach is well on its way, thanks to entomologist Jeffrey Scott of Cornell University who is busy developing a birth control method for male roaches.

• There’s more than one way of getting stung in Las Vegas.  Twice already this year swarms of enraged killer bees have attacked in the famed Nevada gambling mecca, with the latest victim –an elderly woman- being stung over 500 times.

• Bees –disturbed by vandals- are also responsible for attacking 300 people in Lahore, Pakistan.  The victims were attempting to raise money for a local hospital by participating in a charity walk.

• Amsterdam offers its citizens roughly the equivalent of an Ontario student minimum wage to pick up dog faeces in an effort to control a major problem there.

• The commercial greenhouse operation of Frank Rosen in Pender Harbour, B.C., is threatened by the prolific elk population.  The animals also are reported to trash gardens and render golf greens unusable.

• The Canadian Forest Service warns that the Asian Long-horned Beetle, imported originally from china and now established in the U.S., may spread north to wreak havoc here.

• Henry Kock of the University of Guelph’s Elm Recovery Programme is interested if you know of a healthy elm at least 7’ in circumference.  Call 519-824-4120 ext.2113.

• Gardeners in our neighbour Mississauga report a new urban pest.  A herd of about half-a-dozen deer are menacing lawns and gardens in the Rattray Marsh area.  One source claims that lion manure discourages them…

Health and the Gardener

q       Megadoses of vitamin C may impair your health.  A team led by Prof. Dwyer from the University of Southern California found that 500 mg daily, which equals about 10 oranges, causes serious thickening of the arteries.  Meanwhile another report, this one from Tampa, Florida, indicates that vitamin C taken by cancer patients can interfere with treatment of the disease.

q       European gardeners now have to be wary of that famed insectivore, the hedgehog.  According to Ian Keyner, former pathologist of the London Zoo, the prickly little mammals can carry up to 16 diseases known to affect people, including tuberculosis.

q       Once again, Canadians are threatened with unpleasant Cyclospora attacks caused by consuming imported raspberries and blackberries from Guatemala.  Raspberries are supposedly a “controlled” import from that nation but blackberries – well, Health Canada can’t make up its mind.  They could and did, however, send around a booklet to every household advising on how to avoid various other nasties.

q       It may come too late to help the financially-troubled Cha-Na-Ta Corporation of B.C., but a team of scientists at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital have discovered that Canadian-grown American ginseng reduces blood sugar when taken prior to meals, offering new hope for treating diabetes (and for ginseng farmers).

q       An aboriginal shaman told a teenage girl complaining of abdominal pains to disrobe, then smeared her with a “cedar-based liquid” and attempted to suck out the “negativity”.  An Ontario judge convicted him nevertheless of sexual assault, and not practicing alternative medicine.

q       Scientists at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, have confirmed the powers of the famous Purple Cone Flower, Echinacea, saying it may fight routine infections, flesh-eating disease and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  “Echinacea definitely works, there’s no question about that,” says Tim Lee, professor of microbiology and immunology.

q       Nagla Guthrie and her colleagues at the University of Western Ontario have concluded from studies that cranberries reduce breast cancer risk in mice.

Law and the Gardener

Ø      Santa Cruz, California, has this month legalized the growing and use of marijuana for medical purposes, without a prescription.  Relief from pain caused by cancer, AIDS and other afflictions will thus be legally possible.

Crime and the Gardener

·        2,000 government trees were vandalized in a Victoria, B.C. area orchard.  A group concerned about “Frankentrees” and operating as “The Ministry of Forest Defence” claims responsibility.  The cost to taxpayers will be $100,000.

·        A disgruntles unknown Aussie attacks the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh -on their visit to his country- with a tomato.  Obviously no cricketer, he misses.

·        Being active in the Maple Syrup Producers’ Association is getting downright dangerous.  The president and two other executives have lost their sugar shacks to arson in less than four weeks.  The demand for the sweet sap is high everywhere, attracting black marketeers who are not adverse to using violence.

·        A stolen tractor tore through a Tim Horton’s drive through in Stewiacke, N.S., wrecked parked cars, and then drove in circles before the 45-year old driver was arrested.

·        A man suffering an allergic reaction after being severely stung by bees while moving hives in Gladstone, Manitoba, drove drunk to the hospital for treatment.  A charge of drunk driving laid against him was dismissed, as –said the judge- he had to break the law to save his own life.

·        What happens to all that expensive hydroponic equipment used for illegal marijuana growing?  Police raided a home on Major Mackenzie Dr., Vaughan, and found 130 Cannabis sativa plants but no tenant.  Or how about the 500 plants found up in an East Gwillimbury home?  Even better was the haul from combined raids in B.C. in early April: $400,000 worth of equipment, no less, according to spokesman Randy Elliot.

·        A 57-year old delivery woman turned out to be the pest befouling a Courtland, southwestern Ontario, garden.  A video camera was rigged up and caught her defecating on the plants, for which she received 9 months probation and had to pay for the camera.

·        The Warburtons of Bristol, England, were less lucky.  They and the police are still searching for their entire front garden.  Horticultural hit men made off with perennials, shrubs and even the pool with its goldfish.

Garden Ornaments

q       France’s dreaded Garden Gnomes Liberation Front struck again, releasing 20 gnomes from durance vile in the Bagatelle Park, Paris, on the night of Sunday, 9 April.

q       P.E.I. grandmother and P.C. candidate Eva Rodgerson runs in provincial elections, in part on her record of creating the 14-foot Russet Burbank spud in fibreglass that now graces the entrance to the Prince Edward Island Potato Museum.  She succeeds in defeating the NDP incumbent.

Parks and the Gardener

Ø      Toronto will plant 1,100,000 annuals this spring throughout the city’s parks and gardens.  According to municipal employee Arthur Bureaugard, the city grows 500 different seed varieties for orders from 40 parks supervisors.

Ø      It’ll take ten years, but the conservatory in Allan Gardens will undergo restoration, along with the historical park itself.

Travelling Gardener

·        The 11^th Annual Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in London, England, is to be held July 6-9 this year.  Said to be the largest flower show in the world, it will feature three mazes, a collection of insectivorous plants, a thatched cottage and 30,000 roses.  The ancient palace has 10 hectares of garden and park, all yours for a mere $45.00 a day, plus air fare and the cost of staying in one of the world’s most expensive cities.  By this time the native insectivorous plants will be on view in Toronto’s own parks.

·        So much rain has fallen in the so-called “Dead Heart” of Australia that a 3,600-square-mile lake has formed and arid climate flowers are flowering for a second time, attracting those interested in botanising to participate in hastily-organized tours.  More information can be found on 1-800-333-0319 or at www.australia.com.

Gardener’s Gardeners

q       Nellie Watson dies at the age of 87.  Mrs Watson, with her late husband Robert, planted thousands of trees from the late 1940’s onwards at the Morgan Arboretum of McGill University, at the west end of Montreal Island.  One of their children continues as manager of the arboretum.

War and Gardeners

Ø      “Letter of thanks received from the Director of Propellant Supplies for chestnuts gathered for the making of munitions.”  So reads an entry in an English school log book in 1917.  Modern researchers are trying to discover what lethal purpose “conkers” could serve.

Weather and the Gardener

• Researchers at East Anglia University in England say that British winters are becoming wetter and when the rain does fall, it is usually heavier downpours than usual.  Visitors from elsewhere are hard pressed to tell the difference.

• Environment Canada points out that the last frost date in downtown Toronto is now April 20, a week after a blizzard hits the city.  At the same time Toronto garden centres report their best March sales ever.

• Hotels in the Niagara Peninsular are reported to be placing palms in pots outside their premises to celebrate the milder climate.

Business and the Gardener

q       Scientists at Monsanto have managed to introduce a gene into the chloroplasts of tobacco plants, causing them to produce an economical supply of a human hormone –somatotrophin- used to treat dwarfism.  A whole new industry has been predicted, producing drugs from plants grown in greenhouses utilizing the green parts of plant cells (the chloroplasts).  This should give a new meaning to the phrase “branch plant”.

q       Texan Paul Oliver wants to make compost from municipal waste using maggots.  The maggots would process thinly-spread organic garbage in days, and would then be forced out of the resulting compost by heat and fed to fish or hens, suggests Mr. Oliver, who does not regard this process as chicken feed.

q       Ginseng may be the in thing with some, but owing to East Asia economies being still somewhat shaky, prices have crashed down to $12/pound.  North America is vastly overproducing, with some 6.8 million pounds last fall.  Canadian Cha-Na-Ta harvested 1.1 million pounds of the root from over 400 acres in B.C. and Ontario farms.  However, the companies estimate its cost to be $15/pound.  Ginseng may or may not be good for one’s health, but it is, at present, a poor investment.

q       A “non-profit” organization offers to plant a four- to six-foot sapling in backyards for $35 to $55.  A much larger tree can be purchased for the same price from any number of local garden centres.  Some gardeners may recall what Barnum said some 150 years ago: There’s a sucker born every minute.

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