It’s Still Just Dirt, The Tillsonburg News – February 2015
by Penny Esseltine

Garden festival season is coming up in our part of Ontario. First off the block is the Stratford Garden Festival which runs from March 5 to March 8. Last year it was named the 2014 Festival of the Year by the Canadian Garden Tourism Council so of course it’s a must see for local gardeners. The theme this year is Blooming Beautiful and that is what you will experience with their display gardens created by area landscape businesses. The event takes place at the Stratford Rotary Complex and you can find directions online at stratfordgardenfestival.com.

Among the speakers lined up for Stratford are local favourites Brenda Sutherland and Judy Larkin (Lilies and Daylilies: Eye Candy for Your Garden), Beckie Fox (New Garden? What to do First) and David Hobson (Great Plants: Great Gardens).

David will also speak at the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society’s March 3 meeting and his presentation there is titled Plants to Impress Your Neighbours. Another must see! That’s Tuesday, March 3, starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Senior Centre Auditorium at the Tillsonburg Community Centre. All welcome.

Culture Tillsonburg is celebrating spring with a bus tour to Canada Blooms on Friday, March 20 (the first day of spring). The cost for a ticket is $60 plus HST and for Cultural Improvement Alliance members (which includes Historical Society and Horticultural Society members) the cost is $50 plus HST. This includes a ticket for the show plus the coach ride.

Started in 1997, Canada Blooms is Canada’s premiere garden festival and altogether it runs from March 13 through March 22 this year at the Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place in Toronto. Let’s Play is the focus for Canada Blooms and among the feature garden designs competing for space at the show are ones with themes like Pollinator Playground, Backyard Sanctuary, Tic-Tac-Toe, Outdoor Exercise Garden, and Fairy Frolic.

Well-known gardening speakers at the show include Mark Cullen, Denis Flanagan, and Frank Ferragine (aka Frankie Flowers). Speaker presentations are scheduled most days between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. and for a complete schedule visit canadablooms.com.

In London on April 18 there’s a Carolinian Canada event called Go Wild Grow Wild with workshops, speakers and special exhibits for those who consider themselves native plant gardeners or birders, adventurers, backyard gardeners, seed savers – things like that. It’s at the Agriplex Arena in the Western Fair District. Workshop and speaker information is still being confirmed but for additional information you can visit gowildgrowwild.ca.

I’m writing this column on a day when snow is all around – filling backyards, front yards, sidewalks, and roadways. Temperatures (with the windchill factor) are expected to sink to minus 35 degrees. It’s hard to imagine that on the other side of winter, spring waits. Then we will be able to take our personal garden festival experiences and put them to work in our own gardening spaces. Hurrah!

The Tillsonburg Horticultural Society meets the first Tuesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the Senior Centre Auditorium at the Tillsonburg Community Centre. An annual membership in our group costs $15 and comes with a number of great benefits (like a $10 discount on the Culture Tillsonburg Canada Blooms bus excursion). Check us out on line at tillsonburghorticultural.ca.

Weather means more when you are a gardener
It’s Still Just Dirt, The Tillsonburg News – January 2015
by Penny Esseltine

Right out of the gate, early in January, CFPL TV’s former star meteorologist Jay Campbell came to talk to the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society about weather. Weather can be a preoccupation for area residents especially during the winter months, but for gardeners, it’s of year-round interest.

Jay says weather is what happens daily and is measured every hour. You can retrieve extensive information about weather in newspapers, on radio, and on TV, or on line at the Weather Network. There’s an easy link to that from the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society website tillsonburghorticultural.ca.

“Climate,” on the other hand Jay says, “is based on a 30 year average of parameters and is updated every 10 years. The global temperature has been increasing .5 degrees centigrade every year since 1973,” Jay says. “We are getting significantly warmer.”

Some people use folklore to forecast the weather. Things like if the cows are laying down in the field it’s going to rain. There’s red sky at night, sailor’s delight.  Ring around the moon, rain will come soon, is another. Jay says if you count the number of stars inside the ring that will tell you the number of days before rain will come. “I have always been fascinated by folklore,” Jay says. “I have thousands of them.”

Meteorologists on the other hand use any number of instruments including thermometers and barometers. A hygrometer measures humidity and an anemometer measures wind speed. Weather balloons measure weather higher up in the atmosphere and weather satellites track large-scale air movements.

Many factors affect the weather. Extraterrestrial forces is the big one, Jay says. Others include volcanoes, ocean currents and lunar activity, acid rain, ozone depletion, the orbit of the earth, comets and asteroids and greenhouse gases.

For weather specifics we can look to publications like the 2015 Farmers Almanac which gets its information from Environment Canada’s Climate Services. The almanac says that the growing season length in nearby London is 151 days. The last frost of the spring is expected on May 9 and the first frost of the fall on October 8. Unfortunately this information has not been updated in many years. It’s based on 1951-1980 norms.

Similarly, the Canadian Plant Hardiness Zone Map was revised in 2000 using weather data from 1961-1990. This map places Tillsonburg in hardiness zone 6A. Zone 6A plants will tolerate temperatures as low as -17 to -23 degrees celsius. Often  gardeners in our area use zone 5 as our guideline. Perennials from zone 6 will likely be sold as annuals here since they aren’t guaranteed to last the winter. Seed packets and catalogues usually indicate zones for trees, shrubs and flowers.

Looking ahead through 2015 Jay predicts that spring temperatures in March, April, and May will be near normal, possibly slightly higher than normal, but precipitation is expected to be lower than normal. This can result in dryness in the soil. He says he expects June, July, and August temperatures to be above normal.

Jay says Grandma Campbell got him interested in forecasting weather. “I still look at it everyday and I’m always optimistic about the weather. I have four favourite seasons. There’s always something good,” he says.

For gardeners for whom weather is always of interest too, we can listen to the forecasts, use weather instruments of our own, and rely on climate statistics. As well, coming up on February 2, we can watch for Wiarton Willie (the albino, weather-prognosticating groundhog) and his forecast for spring this year.

The Tillsonburg Horticultural Society meets the first Tuesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the Senior Centre Auditorium at the Tillsonburg Community Centre. An annual membership in our group cost $15 and comes with a number of really excellent benefits. Check us out on line at tillsonburghorticultural.ca.

Create your own family-friendly Christmas containers
It’s Still Just Dirt, Tillsonburg News – December 2014
by Penny Esseltine

Tillsonburg Garden Gate’s Matthew and Thea Fenn brought Christmas greenery and arrangement ideas to the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society recently. We are very near to Christmas. If you haven’t already you might want to try your hand at some original outdoor decor that will last well into spring.

You can create your arrangement right in an urn or pot or use an insert that you can drop into a larger container. The soil from fall plants that’s already in the pot can hold your arrangement or you can use a block of oasis. Matt also suggests that sand works well because it’s especially firm once frozen.

“Filler, spiller, thriller and chiller,” are the components of a winter container arrangement Matt says.

For thriller you can start with red twig dogwood or white birch. These stand tall and stay upright. Red twig dogwood gets redder as the temperature falls. You could also use artificial red, lime green, or silver branches, or white or gold twigs. “New this year are battery operated lighted branches,” Matt says. You could use these as well in your urn.

White pine, spruce, yew, boxwood, and holly make good filler. Fraser fir has a nice blue tinge. British Columbia cedar has a nice droopy look and is good for spiller. Matt says the more layers of greenery you have the better your container will look.

“Chiller,” Matt says, “can be things you have in the garden that have hardened off after the frost.” Think about blossom heads on hydrangea stems. You can use these in your arrangements too.

Matt says things look good in odd numbers like three or five. You could use three white birch branches, all of the same length or in different lengths.

You can make your Christmas container arrangements look good on just one side or all the way around depending on where you are going to place them. For all-around containers keep spinning the container as you add pieces so that it will look even and full.

For seasonal decor choose things like large silver balls, gift-wrapped presents on a stick, a top hat, or artificial apples. Pine cones and bird nests will give a more natural look. “The big colour for Christmas this year is blue,” Matt says.

Bows can be important. Use 20 gauge floral wire wrapped in green floral tape to gather ribbon loops into a bow.  As well Matt suggests using Geo Mesh ribbon. “It’s made of a fabric that is really bright and has a good show factor. It’s easy to use too. Take about one and a half feet of the material to make a loop on a stick and insert it in your arrangement.” At the museum this past week staff from XQZT Flowers were working with crafters to construct geo mesh wreaths.

If you’re thinking it’s a little late in the season to be putting together Christmas urns I’d suggest it’s a great family friendly, pre-Christmas activity. Collect branches and greenery by trimming the trees and bushes in your yard, or in open areas that you have access to. A winter adventure for sure. Of course greenery is also available at area garden centres.

It can be equally pleasing to create indoor arrangements and table centrepieces using oasis in a bowl or dish as your base and again natural elements from outside. Be sure to add fresh flowers too. Water-laden oasis will keep everything fresh.

Matt says, “To get good value from your outdoor Christmas containers, simply take out the Christmas decor pieces after the New Year and leave the greenery through until spring.” Merry Christmas!

The Tillsonburg Horticultural Society’s first meeting of 2015 is set for Tuesday, January 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Senior Centre Auditorium at the Tillsonburg Community Centre. Jay Campbell, former star meteorologist with London’s CFPL TV, talks about weather including our latest climatic outlook. Everyone is welcome.

It’s Still Just Dirt, The Tillsonburg News – November 2014
by Penny Esseltine

Christmasfest in Tillsonburg launched this past week so we know it’s not too soon to offer up some great gift ideas for gardeners. Chances are the gardeners on your list will love these suggestions, fresh from Tillsonburg Horticultural Society members. Gardening gifts at Christmas are a great way to stretch out the fall gardening season, or to take a leap ahead toward gardening in the spring.

Benoit Janssens tells us that last Christmas his son gave him an Accu-Rite Digital Weather Station that he totally enjoys. Ben says it consists of two parts. The sensor hangs outside and the receiver screen can be placed wherever you like – on a desk or mounted on a wall. The weather station tells you the temperature, relative humidity, and barometric pressure at 6, 12, and 24 hour intervals. “It’s not a real gardening gift,” Ben says, “but it certainly helps with planning gardening activities.”

Jan Torrell says that the one thing that was very pleasant to receive from her hubby for Christmas was a collapsible bag that you can take into the garden. “As you trim or remove dead plants, or even deadhead or weed, you can throw everything into the bag to take to the compost pile. When you are through, the bag collapses down to almost nothing and will hang on a hook or a nail in the shed.” Jan says there are several sizes and she has received two different ones. “The largest one,” she says,”is too big for me to handle when it’s full so Al has to help in the garden as well, which is an added bonus!”

You may have seen these bags in the window at Sinden’s Paint & Paper store not so long ago. Drew says he still has a dozen or so and they sell for $12.99.

“My most favourite gardening gift is a pair of rose gloves,” says Christine Nagy. “They were given to me at least 10 years ago and they are still going strong.” The gloves are gauntlet style, in a supple leather and the hand of the glove is quite fitted which allows for greater dexterity. The gloves extend almost to the elbow so they protect most of the arm. “These are great for any prickly pruning jobs and since I just use them for this task they are lasting a long time.” Christine says she can’t remember where her friend purchased them but you can find them at www.bionicgloves.com.

Mignonne Trepanier remembers a year when her youngest daughter Renee purchased two plate dahlia tubers for her through one of the garden catalogues. “She included pictures of them in her gift card.” One was two colours of pink, a lighter and a darker shade, and the petals of the second were coloured white at the base and then a hot pink at the tips. “They were delivered in the spring,” Mignonne says, “and I planted them. By the end of the season they had grown taller than me. They were spectacular.”

Joan Massicotte says the best garden gift she ever received was a gift certificate for a massage, to be used after that first full day of gardening in the spring.

For the budget conscious gift giver or for one who likes to give hand-made items, Monique Booth suggest “collecting the seeds from your annuals and putting them in special envelopes or labelled containers. Pass them on to family and friends who love to garden along with a picture or planting instructions.”

Here, in shorter form, are some additional suggestions well worth considering.

• Carol Acre says unique garden art objects, or solar lighting to show off the garden in the evening make great gardening gifts.
• Catherine Burke suggests that for aging parents, a gift of garden or lawn care services would be much appreciated. “For stocking stuffers perhaps some twine, fertilizer, or garden label stakes.”
• Marian Smith recommends gift certificates for your gardener’s favourite garden centre.
• Judi Misener suggests a subscription to Canadian Gardening magazine. “It would last all year long and it’s full of tips and advice and do-it-yourself information.” For eight issues the cost is $20.95 per year. Visit canadiangardening.com.
• Lastly there is Lee Valley, which a number of our members have recommended, for gift certificates, or for in-store or on-line shopping (www.leevalley.com). Lee Valley has a solid reputation for its wonderful selection of quality gardening items including tools and gifts.

My best garden gift idea was a lovely hexagon-shaped, hand-crafted pottery garden stone like the one I picked up at Don Zver Pottery in Troy. It reads, “Life without gardening? I don’t think so!” Sadly they have sold this year’s supply, but promise to produce more in the spring.

Don’t forget as well that you can stuff gardeners stockings with a 2015 membership to the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society. This costs $15. With this membership you can attend all of our monthly meetings and learn a lot from our speakers and other members of the group. There are great gardening trips that you can sign up for, and often you will receive a discount at local garden centres when you show your membership card. For information about memberships check out our website at tillsonburghorticultural.ca and look under About Us. You can contact us too at tillsonburghorticultural@live.ca.