Flora Friday Mystery Plant
Dear Plant Detectives: Can you identify this plant? I found it at a plant sale with no tag – just these pretty little woodland flowers about the size of a loonie.
April 30 2010 | Flowers and Gardening | 12 Comments »
Archive for April, 2010
Today is the Annual VanDusen Plant Sale
The VanDusen Plant Sale is an annual showstopper with more than 40,000 beautiful, unique and interesting plants for sale, master gardeners available to answer your every question, AND admission to the gardens is free for the day. The sale runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information check out their press release.
April 25 2010 | Gardening and Vancouver | 6 Comments »
Earth Day 2010: Attracting Beneficial Insects
Last year my husband came home panicking about the ‘bugs’ all over our plum tree. We only have room for one fruit tree so any chance that we may not get to eat all those amazing Italian Prune Plums is reason to panic. But these bugs I was aware of and I had actually been allowing to multiply because it was an aphid colony. Why on earth would I ever WANT aphids (aka plant lice), the tiny soft-bodied flies that suck all the precious juices from your plants? Well, because they attract beneficial insects to the garden.
Setting up an area of your garden, or a plant placed somewhere strategically, where pests are allowed will help to attract beneficial insects such as ladybugs, spiders, hoverflies and parasitic wasps to dine on them. I plant a few Shasta Daisies around the garden as aphid nurseries because aphids love them. A colony of the little green monsters will cover my Shastas and in no time the whole garden is being trolled by aphid hunters. This is particularly helpful near my lettuce garden, as the parasitic wasps and hoverflies zip in and between the lettuce leaves effectively cleaning my greens before I even pick them.
The aphids on my plum tree, however, don’t even get a chance to touch a leaf of plum because once the ladybug eggs hatch it’s covered with alligator-like larvae that can eat hundreds of aphids a day. By the time they pupate and become the beetles we are all familiar with, they have spit shined my plum tree without a sign of a pest. And of course my plum would never even set fruit if it wasn’t for pollinators so I make sure there are lots of flowers for the bees as well.
The lesson here in organic gardening is to do what you can to let nature take care of the problem. Plant flowers for pollinators, start an aphid nursery, and give beneficial insects a few extra weeks to arrive before you attack pests on your plants. If it becomes a fight and you are not winning, then perhaps it’s time to considering making a change to what and where you plant. Gardening should be about nurturing not napalm.
Want to check out more ways to garden responsibly this year? Check out Thanks for Today’s Garden Blogger’s Sustainable Living Project.
Happy Earth Day.
April 22 2010 | Gardening and Growing Food | 12 Comments »
April Bloom Day: Addendum
When I posted my bloom day photos on April 15, there were a few more blooms that were not quite ready for the paparazzi – but as soon as the pressure was off they came out in full red carpet dress. I snuck out and snapped a few shots of the new blooms and I’m posting them up because they are so magnificent I just had to share. What a difference 4 days can make!
As always, hover over the photos to see the names and click the thumbnail for a larger version.
April 19 2010 | Flowers and Photography | 11 Comments »
A Snippet of My Front Garden
I’m really happy with how this part of my front garden is coming together. The other areas are still filling in for the season but I’m happy with the mix of colour and textures here. The plants that work best for me? Mini, dwarf, teeny – call it what you want – the small cultivars are most successful in a tiny urban garden if you want to have lots and lots and lots of plants all crammed in together.
April 18 2010 | Flowers | 14 Comments »
How to Grow Carrots
Well don’t ask me. This is what my carrots looked like this year: riddled with tracks from the disgusting, putrid, foul, menacing carrot rust fly. Those little buggers can sniff out a carrot with superhero powers so I planted carefully and didn’t have to thin them (thinning releases the smell and attracts the flies), but the females still found my carrot patch, layed eggs and a week later the larva fed on the hidden roots. Bummer.
Clearly I’m not doing well at all in the carrot department but there is a wonderful set of posts by Abby Palmer at Green Slate who has written 2 helpful carrot posts: 18 Carrot Gold: The Secret of my Carrot Success and A Carrot For All Seasons . I’m going to give them another shot this year so I’ll be following her advice to the letter. The only exception is that Abby suggests using seed tape but my beloved red and purple carrots only come in seeds packets so I’m sticking with old school loose seeds. The carrots this year are in a new location and will have a row cover to keep those vile, hated, stupid flies out. Any other suggestions are appreciated and thanks, Abby, for your wisdom.
Me: 0 ; Carrot Rust Fly: 1
April 17 2010 | Gardening and Growing Food and Projects | 14 Comments »
It’s Seedy Saturday in Vancouver
Hey everyone, if you’re in Vancouver and have some seeds or need some seeds, the Environmental Youth Alliance is hosting Seedy Saturday at the Strathcona Community Gardens today from 10am-1 pm. Come on by!
April 17 2010 | Community Garden and Vancouver | 4 Comments »
April Bloom Day
Here is what is blooming in my garden this month. There are lots of tulips in bloom and a variety I didn’t plan – tulips just seem to appear don’t they? But certainly mine don’t compare to the Tulip Festival I was at on Monday. I really wanted to bring some back with me but I wasn’t up for illegal tulip smuggling and the possibility of getting strip searched over some bulbs. The border guards do know how crazy us gardeners are.
Here is are rest of the blooms. Hover over the photos to see the names and click the thumbnail to see a larger version. Enjoy!
April 15 2010 | Flowers and Photography | 12 Comments »
Delighting the Senses: a Trip to the Tulip Festival
Yesterday I took a quick trip cross the border to Skagit county in Washington state where each year they delight visitors with a teeny taste of what Holland’s tulip farms might be like. The area is one of the largest produces of spring bulbs, including tulips, daffodils, and irises. During April you could usually find a couple fields of tulips in bloom – during the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival – but you best be quick, because the blooms don’t last more than 2 weeks before they are cut, bulbs removed, and soil turned for another year. Unfortunately I saw many a field where the tulips had once been but luckily there were a few still in colour and now that I have the taste for it, I’ll be sure to plan a trip early in April 2011.
It’s really no wonder why tulips are my favourite flower. The textures and colours are simply delicious and they come at a time of year when I am ready for bold colour. When the Easter pastel blooms are fading in spring, it’s the first sign of the colourful summer to come with brilliant orange and rich black-purple blooms guiding the way. There is so much variety in tulips you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t get a bit of joy from seeing a huge, frilly bloom in the garden.
Here is a gallery of my shots from the trip. Hover over to see the names of the tulips or click on the image for a larger view.
If you still do want to see tulips this month there is always Tulip Town – a tulip demonstration garden and retail store that’ll cost you $5 per adult (kids free). They’ll have the tulips out all April if you miss the farmer’s fields, which are pretty much done for this year.
April 13 2010 | Flowers and Gardening and Photography | 24 Comments »
Whole Wheat Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Scones
Ever had those pumpkin scones at Starbucks? Here is a recipe for a much healthier version that is so much better with a flaky texture due to the mixing technique. Best hot from the oven – so freeze half of them after baking, and warm in an over at 350°F until just crunchy on the outside and warm on the inside. If you make this recipe I would very much appreciate if you leave me a comment and tell me how it turned out.
Ingredients
- 4 cups organic whole wheat pastry or all purpose flour
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3/4 cup cold butter
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 4 tablespoons black strap molasses
- 6 tablespoons half-and-half
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup cranberries
- 1 cup walnuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F and line a baking pan with parchment and sprinkle it with flour. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the butter and with fingertips, pastry knife, or food processor gently cut the butter in until it is well combined and resembles course crumbs, some lumps are fine. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, cream, pumpkin and molasses. Add to the dry mixture and gently combine. Gently fold in walnuts and cranberries until just mixed.
Shape the dough into 2 equal balls and flatten to 3/4″ thick on the floured parchment or pan. Using a knife slice each circle into 6 wedges and carefully pull the wedges away from the center to separate them to 1/2″ space around the outer edges. Optional: brush each scone with milk and sprinkle with sugar for a sweet and crunchy top. Bake until golden about 16 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
Makes 12 extra large scones
April 11 2010 | Baking and Recipes | 14 Comments »
