The first seed and garden catalogues will soon be arriving, and dreams for a new gardening season will begin. At the same time, it鈥檚 pleasant to look back at听highlights of the past summer. Each year brings its own special treasures.
I鈥檓 surprised, and thrilled, with the Tidal Wave Silver petunia blooms still billowing around a lemon cypress and spilling over the side of a tall urn in the front garden. After flowering all summer, that鈥檚 extraordinary staying power.
A patio tub filled with ornamental hot pepper plants provoked much visitor comment for the planting鈥檚 compact, neat form and colourful, upright fruits as they changed from lavender to deep purple, then orange, and finally to red. Aurora (Seed Savers Exchange) fruits are described as 鈥渕edium hot.鈥� I听just bit into one and my mouth is on fire. Nice flavour though.
A potato that produced a fine harvest of tasty fingerling tubers with bright red skin and deep red flesh is called AmaRosa (Eagle Creek Seed Potatoes) and an outstanding winter squash this year is Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck (Seed Savers Exchange), producer of enormous, curved fruits with long necks and a bulbous end containing the seeds.
This is a winter squash equivalent of听the summer squash Tromboncino, a听long, climbing zucchini of similar shape. The winter squash has sweet, dark orange flesh recommended for听pies and soups.
In the spring, I always look for osteospermum plants with narrowly spoon-petaled flowers and rarely find them. This spring, as I quickly and quite by chance scanned plants in a small greenhouse parked beside a store, there was the elusive bloom. The plant I bought that day flowered on the patio all summer and still has a few blooms.
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Oddities. The unusual summer brought its oddities too, some likely the result of plant stress from extreme heat and drought.
It seems almost as though the Deodar (Himalayan) cedar on the (never watered) boulevard was intimidated by the conditions into prolific reproduction mode. Its broad, sweeping branches are thickly dotted with huge, upright cones that are now taking on lovely bluish tones.
My large, spreading strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) does not usually produce berries, but this year, probably for the same reason as the cedar cone production, I encountered many as I pruned away overgrown parts. I tasted one and found it mildly pleasant but mealy and seedy.
One of my sources says the descriptive term 鈥渦nedo鈥� means 鈥渙bscure,鈥� though the Roman naturalist Pliny took the meaning to be from the Latin unus (one) and edo (to eat), suggesting that no more than one should be eaten. More would be unwholesome. Certain horticultural wags take Pliny鈥檚 鈥渆at one鈥� interpretation as signifying that anyone sampling a berry will not desire another.
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GARDEN EVENTS
Lily meeting. The Victoria Lily Society will meet on Monday in the Mel Couvelier Pavilion at the Horticulture Centre of the 91原创, 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich. The evening will feature the society鈥檚 Annual Rare Bulb Auction starting with Wine and Cheese from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. followed by the auction starting at 7:30.
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Orchid meeting. The Victoria Orchid Society will meet on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Gordon Head United Church Hall, 4201 Tyndall Ave. Display table viewing and听sales begin at 7. Society member Sasha Kubicek will present a slide show of Mexican orchid species that he viewed on a two week trek from the highland pine and oak forests of听the Sierra Madre to the tropical lowlands of听the 91原创 coast. Guests are welcome.
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Cactus meeting. The Victoria Cactus and Succulent Society will meet on Wednesday at听7:30 p.m. in First Memorial (Funeral Services), 4725 Falaise Dr. in Royal Oak. The meeting room is at the back and is reached by a path to the right of the parking lot or a ramp at the left hand side of the building.
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View Royal meeting. The View Royal Garden Club will meet on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in听the Shoreline Community School, 2750听Shoreline Dr. Paul Spriggs, owner operator of Spriggs Gardens, will present a slide show highlighting plants that do well in crevice gardens and our local rocky landscapes. As听well, there will be a sales table with plants and garden items, and a judged mini show featuring exhibits from members鈥� gardens. Visitors and new members are welcome. For information, call 250-220-5212.
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VIRAGS meeting. The 91原创 Island Rock and Alpine Garden Society will meet on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in Gordon Head United Church, 4201 Tyndall Ave. Jay Akerly, alpine enthusiast, will speak on North American cordillera plants for the B.C. garden.鈥�
