Early July 2000

The sultry suns of Summer came,

And he grew thick and strong;

His head weel arm’d wi’ pointed spears,

That no one should him wrong.

-Robert Burns 1759-96: John Barleycorn (1785)

Or, as Canadian lumbermen would say in the late nineteenth century, “Hop and hang all summer on white spruce”.  And that might be what you will be tempted to do if a singularly unpleasant disease spreads north to Ontario plum trees.  Pennsylvania has infestations of Plum Pox Virus.  This disease doesn’t kill the trees, but it does ruin the fruit.  It is spread over short distances by aphids and long distances on nursery stock.   All nursery stock has been banned from importation from the United States, not just Pennsylvania.  It takes trained experts to recognize the disease, which mimics many others (to the confusion of all amateurs).

Wisteria are winding back into popularity.  These leguminous plant originated in the Orient, where they symbolize youth and purity.  In Japan, the fuji are frequently centuries old and are tended under contract by professional gardeners familiar with their special needs.  High on the list of requirements is pruning- ignore such cultural necessity at your peril.  This vegetative octopus is more rampant than the famed silverlace vine.  And it is all those side shoots that must be pruned back hard to within a few buds of the main branches.  Since most wisteria are also grafted, any shoots emerging from the ground around the base or right at soil level must be cut clean away as well.  If there are many large branches, it will be necessary to carry out the above treatment and then, next March, cut out all but the best-developed branches.  These should emerge from a single trunk for best effect. 

Wisteria does best in deep, rich soil with six or more hours of sun a day.  Despite entreaties from garden centre sales help, avoid too much fertilizer.  Certainly none is needed for the rest of the season.  Many experienced gardeners still swear by bonemeal applied at the same time as late winter pruning.  Japanese wisteria, W. floribunda, is somewhat hardier than the Chinese, W. sinensis.  If you are not sure which wisteria you have, the Japanese twines clockwise (from right to left) and appropriately the Chinese vines twist from the left (or anticlockwise). 

Is it because they are from eastern Asia that wisteria dote on rice?  According to a story from (where else?) England, one gardener solved the lack of bloom on her neighbour’s wisteria by feeding it rice pudding.  The next year it bloomed in abundance.

Turning from plants to structural materials, why do fences always have to be nothing but boring board?  The grossly over-used board-on-board overlapping fences are bad enough, never mind the mindless monotony of solid panels.  More perceptive gardeners, if not carpenters, are turning to the decorative ideas of Dennis and Wendy Orosz in Collingwood (1-800-341-1054).  Their “Fence Art” may be fastened on or set into fences, bringing life and sophistication to such structures.  Better yet, it is so easily installed that you can do it yourself, leaving the carpenters to bite their nails.

The natural fertilizer “Milorganite” has been the delight of gardeners and professional greenskeepers since the mid-1920’s.  In three-quarters of a century there has not been one report of parasites associated with its use.  And  “Milorganite” is treated Milwaukee sewage—note the word treated.  This, apparently, is not the sewage sludge heading from Toronto to create the famed-logo “Produce of Ontario”.  Then again, the killer strain of bacteria, E. coli 0157:H7 is found at any one time in 30% to 40% of cattle and sheep.  Yet their composted manure is sold to gardeners in millions of bags every season.  Has anybody died of infections from this composted manure?  Are commercial fertilizer and compost companies more responsible than municipal bureaucrats?  Are you willing to bet your life on the answer?

Finally, many thanks to the keen reader who believes King Solomon- and not Lewis Carroll- to be the originator of a recent quote used in this column.  Alas, my sense of humour is, to some, as aged as that of the 19^th century author and mathematician.  It may well be sophomoric, suffering from what is defined by the editor of New Scientist as a severe case of endobuccoglossia.  But then, I am in good company.  Toronto Councillor “Boy George” Mammoliti announced recently that “it’s time that I roll up my sleeves and fight the cats.”  He adds “All these cat owners let their cats run freely, if they see me in their neighbourhood, they should keep their cats indoors.  If I have to hide behind the gardens and tomatoes and meow to get them into cages, I’ll do it.”  Purr-fect, George.  But watch out for those endobuccoglossia.