New flower farming business brings healing to its young owners

This holiday season, you may be planning to give flowers to someone on your holiday gift list. Flowers give comfort, lift spirits, and make us happy.

New book has you covered on ground covers

Ground covers can take your garden design to the next level. In his new book, The Complete Book of Ground Covers (Timber Press, 2022), Gary Lewis illustrates the many ways that ground covers offer limitless creativity, playfulness and flexibility in garden spaces.

Relax into summer and visit magnificent gardens in Manitoba

This July, gardeners throughout Manitoba will once again have the chance to tour a range of garden styles. Garden tours are an opportunity to be inspired and to explore innovative ideas, a chance to talk to other plant enthusiasts and receive gardening advice and valuable tips for success. Beautiful gardens and welcoming hosts await your visit.

Nature Manitoba will host its annual Gardens of Distinction Garden Tour showcasing gardens in North and East Kildonan on July 9, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tim Evans, garden tour organizer, says that many of the gardens on this year’s tour were selected in 2019 but with the popular tour cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to pandemic restrictions, the gardens and garden owners have been preparing for three years now. One of the stops on the tour includes Renata Cook’s garden which Evans describes as fascinating and eclectic with all kinds of unusual plants.

Cook, who is a member of the East Kildonan Garden Club, has lived at her property since 1989. Over the years her spacious backyard garden has grown to include a pond, cottage-style garden, kitchen garden, and flowering perennials including daylilies which she purchased from Beausejour Daylily Gardens. In recent years Cook has been inspired by workshops offered by Blue Thunderbird Land-Based Teachings Learning Centre and has incorporated more native plants into her garden design. A favourite is fireweed, a vibrant native wildflower with purple flowers. “It should be in full bloom in time for the tour,” says Cook.

Nature Manitoba’s Gardens of Distinction tour also includes a plant sale and refreshments at Seven Oaks Museum, 50 Mac St. Purchase tickets online at naturemanitoba.ca. The website also includes a list of locations where tickets are available.

Six bang-for-your-buck vegetables you can plant now

With the arrival of the first day of summer, is it too late in the growing season to plant melons, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and herbs? Don’t tell that to Tiffany Grenkow, urban farmer and garden steward for the food forest at Sustainable South Osborne Community Co-operative. “It’s not too late,” she says. “For anyone who thinks they have missed the boat, there are still great planting opportunities.” Grenkow planted her peppers and tomatoes only last weekend and is planting melons, potatoes, and herbs this weekend.

There are 70 or more growing days left so if you start planting right now, says Grenkow, a range of food crops will have enough time to develop and ripen in time for harvesting in late summer or early fall. “Checking maturity dates is key, though, as some things like large pumpkins might run out of time,” she says. But there are plenty of options for growing food plants in your garden as well as ways to manage your garden so that it is more productive and efficient.

Grenkow, who maintains both a large rural vegetable garden as well as an urban food garden, admits that she felt disgruntled after the challenges of gardening in last year’s extreme drought and excessive heat. Last year’s water bills are a not-so-distant memory for anyone who planted a food garden last year. But in the face of rising grocery and gas prices, growing at least some of our own food is too good of an opportunity to miss. “I’ve decided this year to plant things that are productive and easy to grow and won’t consume all my energy and resources. Only my wisest strategies and fruitful plants — the biggest bang for my buck — are getting my attention and space in my garden this year.”

Grenkow has asked herself, “If I had just one or two square feet of space in which to garden, what could I plant that would actually give me some dinner at minimal expense?”

Specimen plants that stand out from the crowd

The unusual or unexpected attracts interest or attention in the garden. As much as any of us recognize the value of simplifying a colour palette, limiting the number of species and cultivars, and emphasizing plant groupings in specific blocks of colour, an empty space in our gardens can be motivation enough to try something completely different.

Harmony does not have to be sacrificed by incorporating one or a few individual specimen plants into your garden design. There is always an opportunity to draw on similarities in leaf and flower colour, shapes or textures. But also, garden design rules don’t preclude the sheer love of something for its own sake. Call the addition of a specimen plant to your garden a statement, a fresh approach or a focal point, if you will, but growing a plant that is weird and wonderful as well as winter hardy can be very satisfying. Local garden centres are ripe with opportunities as shipments of perennials and shrubs continue to arrive throughout the coming weeks.

I have found all the plants listed here at local garden centres but admittedly, it can be a bit of a treasure hunt.

I fell in love with Roger’s Flower (Astilboides tabularis) the first moment I set eyes on its distinctive form. Notable for its large shield-like leaves perched atop round, hairy stalks, Roger’s Flower is zone 3 hardy, suitable for damp shade, and grows to a mature height of 36 inches (90 cm). The cream-coloured, upright flower spikes resemble those of Astilbe. Watching the hairy stalks as they emerge from the ground and the leaves taking shape in the spring is immensely enjoyable. I do get a little worried when wind speeds become severe because tears sometimes develop in the enormous leaves which can measure more than 24 inches (60 cm) across. A protected part-shade site with moist soil is best. I protect the emerging stalks in spring with a wire ring to deter rabbits but once the plant grows, the ring is removed. I’ve transplanted Roger’s Flower a couple of times and it never protested.

Ecological Peace Garden coming to Mennonite Heritage Village

When the Dirk Willems Peace Garden at Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach officially opens in August, visitors will discover a well-planned and well-executed naturalistic planting scheme featuring drifts of grasses and flowering perennials. The diversity of plants selected for the ecologically sensitive design have been carefully considered for their adaptability and easy-care and laid out en masse using a technique that will highlight their contrasting shapes and textures. What will pique the interest of many is how matrix planting, a design method that layers plants in sweeping masses, so effectively achieves visual impact and year-round colour.

“It’s what we see in nature,” says Mike Plett, landscape designer, Skyview Landscaping. “The actual landscape design may be more organized but it draws inspiration from the flow of plants in nature and how plants intermingle.” Part of Plett’s inspiration for the garden design at Dirk Willems Peace Garden came from his research of the gardens designed by Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf, most notably Oudolf Garden Detroit on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan.

Plett has worked closely with Mennonite Heritage Village as well as the Steinbach & Area Garden Club whose members are coordinating the installation of the plants. SAGC members have also played a prominent role in influencing the rationale behind the design decisions.

Initially the design which was developed for the space a few years ago was focused more on a formal garden, says Elsie Kathler, a long-time member of SAGC. When MHV first approached SAGC to review the initial plan along with its request that garden club volunteers plant the proposed garden, SAGC declined despite its close volunteer relationship with MHV in planting and overseeing other gardens on the museum’s property. SAGC’s concern was that the proposed design which featured moisture-loving hydrangeas and assorted ornamental plants was not water-wise.

Thinking outside the boxwood

With fall barrelling towards us at record wind speeds and winter not far behind, now is the time to decide how you will protect your tender plants. Boxwood is a good example. My experience with growing boxwood in my Zone 3b garden has gone something like this: buy in spring, plant, dig up the following spring, repeat. It’s like one of those videos that plays on a continuous loop.

Digging a trench and burying my boxwood for the winter months beneath a layer of soil and shredded leaves has proven (mostly) successful. When the boxwood is lifted in spring, every speck of debris needs to be cleared from the centre of the plants to prevent fungal disease. I relocate the overwintered boxwood temporarily to a deep shade location to protect the foliage from burning which can occur in the cold temperatures of early spring. Once the root ball has fully thawed, boxwood can be safely replanted into containers and window boxes where it can live on happily for another summer.

But what makes boxwood worth all this trouble and aren’t the boxwood varieties sold at local garden centres supposed to be hardy (or relatively hardy) to our area?

Boxwood is one of the world’s most popular shrubs. It has the distinction of being one of those few plants so widely recognized and beloved for its inimitable structure and style that it can be found growing in landscapes around the world from Europe to Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean, and North America. In addition to the appeal of its small, glossy green, elliptically shaped evergreen foliage, boxwood can be shaped into almost anything. Boxwood is equally beautiful in the landscape or in container arrangements. Its architectural shape and glossy emerald green texture dresses up window boxes and adds pizazz to planters. Boxwood can be purchased in quart size containers, which are less costly, and used as a stand-alone plant or in a linear arrangement of three or more or as the thriller in a container arrangement.

Food to grow

These days there is always something simmering on Bill and Lenore Linton’s stove. The now vintage blue enamel canning pot that Lenore purchased in 1962 for three dollars is filled with jars and the pungent smell of vinegar wafts through the kitchen. Several different types of beans are picked in the garden each morning, meaty and juicy tomatoes are ripening on the vines and ready for canning, the peppers are ready to harvest, next the carrots will be finished growing and then it will be time to dig up the potatoes and begin curing the squash. Bill and Lenore are planning delicious and healthy meals and making favourite recipes as they stock their freezer and pantry for the fall and winter months.

Theirs is a marriage story that revolves around the fruits of their labour in the garden. Their resilience and self-sufficiency through 62 years of marriage, including the lean times that so many couples experience at some point, resonates more than ever this summer.

Lenore, 81, and Bill, 87, have lived in the same house in Old St. Vital for the past 58 years. Built in 1912, the one-and-a-half story house sits in the centre of a lot that is 75 feet wide. Two weeks prior to taking possession of their house July 1, 1962, Lenore, who was expecting her second child, asked permission of the existing owner if she could plant seeds in the garden. By September she was harvesting and canning tomatoes. She has been canning tomatoes every year since. When Lenore worked as a primary school teacher and there was a glut of tomatoes, she put them into a bag and froze them for later use in soups and stews. “I grow tomatoes because they can be used in just about any dish all winter.” Now that the last jar of tomato-orange and ginger chutney is finished from last year, Lenore will grow Jaune Flamee tomatoes next year so that she can have more chutney.

When Bill replaced all the plumbing in the house with copper pipes, he repurposed the old iron piping to use as tomato stakes. This year they are supporting 13 tall tomato plants that have produced a bounty of fresh tomatoes. Favourite varieties, to name a few, include Sun Sugar, an early maturing cherry tomato; Juliet, a saladette tomato that is great in sauces and salads; and German Johnson and Rose, both productive heirloom slicing varieties that make great sandwiches. Lenore grows Forme de Coeur tomatoes every year because they are excellent for canning, sauces or sandwiches. She buys many of her tomato seeds from Casey’s Heirloom Tomatoes in Airdrie, Alta. Although many of the vegetable crops, such as beans and peppers, did well in this year’s heat and humidity, Lenore says her tomatoes didn’t set any fruit during that period.

Just so many days left…

Brace yourself Bridget!

We are now entering one of the most dangerous seasons of the year.

We think we have time, but do we?

For?

Weathering steel ideal for gardens with its rusty patina, year-round durability

Weathering steel’s crossover into the garden landscape is reaching new heights of popularity for the same reasons that make it one of the most predominant materials used in architecture today. Weathering steel is made with alloys that develop a handsome patina of rust over time with exposure to the elements. The natural oxidation process is only on the surface and never rusts through. The aged patina has an authentic feel that resonates in a way that a synthetic material never could. Frost and crack resistant, weathering steel is an ideal material in our winter climate. I admit, I’m wild about weathering steel.

In Winnipeg, the most prominent example is the dramatic 400-foot-long interpretive wall built of layered steel at Upper Fort Garry Provincial Park. Place Louis Riel Parkade features a contemporary extension clad in perforated weathering steel panels. A weathering steel streetcar sculpture, an iconic image of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike sits, tipped, in front of the Pantages Playhouse Theatre.

Weathering steel brings an organic modern style to the landscape and lends itself to many useful and attractive garden elements from arbours to wall art, sculpture, planters, window boxes, fences, retaining walls, gates, water features, trellises, privacy screens, landscape edging, frames for garden mirrors, and more. It’s possible even to have weathering steel rusted roofing or siding panels for your house or garden shed.

Veradek is a Canadian company located in Ontario that sells a line of weathering steel planters and a privacy screen series made from laser cut steel. James Manley, sales manager at Veradek, says the steel has become a big part of the company’s business because of how well it holds up in all types of weather conditions compared to other types of metal and materials such as plastic, fibreglass or even concrete. Blemishes that you might see over time on other types of materials are minimized on weathering steel because of the rust finish, says Manley. “The renewed interest in weathering steel in both the architecture and design community spurred the interest in developing our line of COR-TEN steel planters,” says Manley, referencing the trademarked name held by U.S. Steel.

Artsy garden a touching homage

Ok, two things today.

First, a heartwarming story about a unique raised garden; and second, a mission for all of you who have berries in your yard you’re not going to use.

The garden.

Got an email a couple of weeks ago from a reader “wondering if you might be interested in a tale of a rather ‘artsy’ garden and how it came about?”

Knowledge blossoms

When a group of gardeners get together to talk about growing vegetables, it leads to some interesting dynamics. Curious gardeners ask many questions because they know that to be a successful food gardener, learning from one another is key. Networking naturally leads to collaboration. All of this was in play on a recent visit to Norm Sylvestre’s eight-acre farm in St. Adolphe on a hot and sunny morning earlier this month.

The members of the group — the Manitoba Master Gardener Association’s Branching Out study group — who visited that day included myself and Debbie Innes, Karen Steinfeld, Meera Sinha, Karen Fontaine, Esther Chen, Kathie Partridge, Barb Rach, and Dianne deKock Kingdon.

Sylvestre, a master-gardener-in-training, is a window and door installer by trade. He grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan where his mother grew all her own vegetables but says that this is only his third year of growing vegetables. “I’m still at the learning and growing stage so I’m experimenting,” says Sylvestre. And how.

A fearless experimenter, Sylvestre extensively researches effective cultural practices and innovative gardening techniques. He starts his edibles indoors from seed and recently built a three-tiered grow light box that is nearly six feet tall and four feet wide. In his basement he maintains vermicompost bins with red wiggler worms. Outside he has three heated cold frames he built last spring.

Pro landscaper shares techniques and diverse plant choices

According to Sean James, the owner of Sean James Consulting & Design, an eco-focused landscape design company based in Milton, Ontario, fusion gardening is a philosophy, not an aesthetic.

“Any landscape design from cottage to formal or contemporary can be a fusion garden, which basically is a water efficient and sustainable landscape,” says James. “It’s how you choose to create topography, select a plant palette that suits your site’s sun exposure and hardiness zone, and decide what’s going to grow best where and what’s going to need the least amount of supplemental irrigation.”

When James presents at the Manitoba Nursery Landscape Association’s Grow 20 Conference on Feb. 12, at Canad Inns Polo Park, he will address the techniques for designing and building a garden that infiltrates rainwater efficiently into the soil, how to choose a truly interesting palette of drought-tolerant plants, and why soil stewardship is so important. These are the components for creating a fusion garden that can handle a downpour.

James’ company specializes in rainwater handling, habitat creation and biodiversity. He is a graduate of Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, a Master Gardener and teacher, and has built an international reputation for his award-winning, cutting-edge eco-landscape designs.

Still growing strong

Last May Marion Lewis received a phone call from the Governor General’s office. When the caller told Lewis she was to be appointed an Officer to the Order of Canada for her contributions to the prevention and treatment of Rh disease, Lewis modestly replied, “I hope you realize I have spent the last 20 years tending my gardens and my dogs.”

Lewis is 94. She is indeed a keen gardener and each year has maintained flower and vegetable gardens on her riverside property on Turnbull Drive, where she has lived since 1968.

Lewis co-founded the world-renowned Rh Laboratory in Winnipeg. A graduate of Gordon Bell High School, Lewis had plans to be a doctor but with her father overseas and responsibilities at home, she applied instead to be a registered medical technologist. Upon completion, she had an interview with Dr. Bruce Chown, who knew what a bright student she was and told her that together they would learn about Rh disease and research techniques to combat it. It was 1944 and Lewis was 19. “It was war time and all the young men who would have been doing post-operative work would normally have had that opportunity,” says Lewis.

Since it wasn’t known at the time who was at risk for Rh disease, Lewis and Chown showed up at baby deliveries around the clock. “We were on call seven days a week, 24 hours a day,” says Lewis. “Sometimes we would drive out to a rural community, transfuse a baby, drive back to Winnipeg, go to the lab which at that time was located in the basement of Children’s Hospital, then stop in at Grace Hospital to check on another baby. We weren’t always able to save someone’s baby.”

Blue is the new black

Consumers can expect Pantone’s selection of Classic Blue as its colour of the year for 2020 to influence everything from interior paint colour to fabrics for cushion covers and bedspreads as well as fashion and accessories. But will the colour of the year announcement affect your plant choices? The 2019 colour of the year was Living Coral, a warm pink orange. I can safely say Living Coral had little influence on my plant purchases. The colour blue in the garden, however, has immense appeal to gardeners on many levels.

Blue is considered a cool colour and can be effectively used in the garden to create a perception of spaciousness. When blue plants are combined with mauve and grey plants, visually the plants appear to recede into the border. A background of blue-flowered plants — say, for example, Blue Boy clematis or Veronicastrum virginicum Culver’s Root — draws our eye upward toward the sky making a small space feel light and airy.

In announcing the Pantone colour selection for 2020, Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, said that Classic Blue provides an anchoring foundation and lends itself to relaxed interaction. Nicole Bent, co-owner of Shelmerdine Garden Centre, concurs and says that using colour combinations of blue, gray, purple, indigo, even black, give a garden space a sense of stability and calm. Shelmerdine will offer a tempting array of plants this spring with captivating blue tones.

Deanne Cram, greenhouse manager at Shelmerdine, says a blue-flowered must-have perennial is Amsonia. Commonly known as blue star, Amsonia tabernaemontana pushes up green shoots from the soil in spring that by late June are fully adorned with round clusters of light periwinkle blue star-shaped flowers.