Gardening in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada
Sounds like a cheery song from a Disney movie, doesn’t it? It’s the scientific name for the five spotted hawkmoth, which, of course, is what emerges from the pupa of a tomato hornworm. What I learned on Monday is that the caterpillars eat everything in the Solanaeae plant family. That includes tomatoes, yes, but also […]
I wandered about the parched yarden late this afternoon, cutting a few stems for a jar I could enter in tonight’s Ameliasburgh Garden Club meeting floral competition – the theme was ‘Rainbow Arrangement.’ As much rain as we’ve had this summer (record setting!), it’s been dry and hot the past two weeks and much of […]
Last year I purchased a few Nicotania bedding plants, wanting them to fill in some bare spots left by spring bulb foliage dying back. They survived but I wasn’t really satisfied with them so I purchased some seed and started them myself, indoors, in the spring. Nictoania seeds are tiny and need light to germinate, […]
I was at a local garden club meeting last Monday evening where Karen Legros was the guest speaker, talking about and demonstrating Ikebana. She’s studied it for more than 20 years and is an executive of the Toronto chapter of the Ohara (no apostrophe) School of Ikebana, which was founded in Japan in 1895. From […]
I spent an hour or so early last Friday morning watching the first annual poppy of the year pop into bloom. It’s called Lauren’s Grape, Papaver somniferum, obviously for the colour, but I wondered who Lauren is? Is it a real person? Are they alive? I went down the internet rabbit hole early this morning […]
About a month ago, as the leaves on my yellow tree peony (planted in 2019, on the label it’s called Poaeonia suffruticosa yellow) were expanding and flower buds getting ready to burst open, I noticed a few leaves that looked quite different. Following the stem down it appeared to come from the base of the […]
There’s a diminutive pink rose that you can spot this time of year at the side of country roads, where there’s a bit of shade from a tree line or woods. I’ve noticed it once or twice at the edges of my property as well, but just now and then…it hasn’t been spectacularly showy. But […]
Whoever thought earwigs were beneficial insects?
I learned a new way to propagate daylilies!
A rescued Boston fern is so happy it’s producing babies.