Late May 2000

The Scottish poet Robbie Burns held forth on that most beloved of spring blooms -the lilac- in June, 1793, just three years prior to his death:

O’ were my love you lilac fair

Wi’ purple blossoms to the spring,

And I a bird to shelter there,

When wearied on my little wing.

How I wad mourn when it was torn

By Autumn wild and Winter rude!

But I wad sing on wanton wing,

When youthfu’ May its bloom renew’d.

Others, ranging from the Roman Emperor Augustus to the comedian W.C. Fields, have been less concerned with the visual and olfactory delights than with those of a culinary nature.  “Quicker than boiled asparagus!” exclaimed the emperor, while the ever-practical Fields advised children, “It is unwise to play squat tag in an asparagus bed.”

Acknowledging both emperor and comedian, there is nothing like lilac.  The lilacs we are more familiar with originated in the Balkans and were first cultivated in gardens by the Turks, who also domesticated tulips.  The true homeland of the genus Syringa, however, is far towards the sunrise, in western China.  About two-dozen different species are known from that part of the world and other oriental countries.  Three-quarters of a century ago, Canada’s first professional female plant breeder, Miss Isabelle Preston, used these to hybridize what are known elsewhere as “Canadian Lilacs,” Syringa x prestoniae.  Apart from not suckering with abandon as do their European cousins, they are also very resistant to that bane of the common lilac, powdery mildew.  This white or greyish dust covering the foliage is making its appearance now.  It will disappear within a few weeks without your resorting to chemical warfare.  Another larger and later blooming lilac -also a Canadian introduction- is the famed “Ivory Silk Tree”.  A selection of the Japanese Tree Lilac, it is ideal for small, sunny gardens, growing 25 to 30 feet tall with profuse cream flowers in June.  It came from Sheridan Nurseries in the early 1970’s.

Problems with planning what to plant where?  How much of a particular vegetable do you really require?  How goes it with your herbs?  From Lunenberg, Nova Scotia come the Garden Wheels.  The brain wave of gardeners Barbara Schultz and Helen Opie, there are wheels for vegetables, herbs and companion plantings available now, with further wheels for pests and diseases as well as fruit to follow shortly.  If you cannot find them locally, contact Calendula Publishing, P.O. Box 1, Lunenburg NS, B0J 2C0, or www.calendula.net. 

The record giant pumpkin presently runs at 439 kilograms, or approaching 970 pounds.  The seeds of such have sold for as much as $110 each.  You too can try for a half-ton monster.  Dig a hole about a metre square and 60 centimetres deep.  Fill with compost mixed with 2 kilograms of bonemeal heaped up at least 30 centimetres above grade level.  Plant two or three seeds of Hungarian Mammoth Squash in the centre.  When the seedlings emerge, feed weekly with a liquid flowering plant food.  Allow only one fruit to develop on each vine.  Let us know how you make out but please, don’t offer any pumpkin pies.  You should be able to make several hundred from a single pumpkin.  What you do with three such pumpkins is, frankly, your own affair, as is extracting them from your front yard…