Sanctuary vs. Obsession

Am I obsessed or am I offering a sanctuary to plants that are headed for the compost? I have to admit it seems wrong for any cultivated plant species to end up in the compost heap just because someone decided that it is no longer needed.

This is how I get a lot of my "freebies". Plant sale leftovers always have them although I can afford to be picky once I already have that particular plant. At the RBG the other day, we were to pot some "heritage" Sedum spectabile 'Meteor' taken from an on site heritage cottage at the Laking Gardens. The plant list indicated that we already have a few so the plants were heading out to be composted! So, I took a clump home and it has settled nicely in my front garden, looking like it belongs there.

Last Saturday was the big "clean up" at the manse (Glen Morris United Church) for the Master Gardener group. I brought home an Eastern Redbud tree sapling (Cercis canadensis) which is only about 45 cm. tall; more white trilliums, Camassia spp. and some Asiatic lily bulbs. They look half dead now but hopefully next year will give me new surprises.

Today, I helped out at the Bell Homestead herb garden (another MG volunteer project). If you click on the link, the garden is beyond the white picket fence. I came home with more herbs: Egyptian onion, Garlic chives, Purple fennel , Rue, to name a few.

Shown above are the plants I brought home today. The potted ones are grown from seeds & given by Kay, the MG who is the coordinator for this annual volunteer project.


It is just as well that it rained on and off today as I found new homes for these plants. Obsessed? Guilty as charged.

All Gardened Out

Yes, I do realize that I just made the noun "garden" to a verb. But it is how I felt after a week of helping out with two Plant Sales in one week!










At the RBG, I was overenthusiastic: not only I did I help out with the Perennial plants, I had to be involved in the Native plants as well. I could not possibly pass up such a learning opportunity.

The bottom picture : part of the Native Plants table; just inside the hoop was the "shade plants". We did well in this category alone: $3,000 worth of sales!

The top picture: part of the perennial tables. A whole greenhouse had the annual plants including herbs (no veggies).

After spending 3 half days helping out at the RBG, the rest of the week (Friday & Saturday) was spent helping out with the Garden Club's Plant Sale. Those 2 days were more intense and were full days because there were less volunteers involved.

Both events were exhausting but enjoyable. I was able to use my gardening knowledge as I helped out fellow gardeners with their inquiries. From what I learned at the RBG Native Plants, I was then able to convince people to buy my native plants at the Garden Club Sale.

All gardened out does not mean I am not in my own garden, however!

Beyond Raisins

Call me Ishma-weird. I love porridge for breakfast. But more than that, I love putting in the toppings which are usually the organic Jumbo Thompson raisins, nuts (used to alternate almond, pecan & walnuts) and flax meal. Well, ever since I've been going to the Green Living Show, I have discovered a whole new world of superfoods: chia seeds (Salvia hispanica), golden berries (Physalis peruviana) and cacao nibs (Theobroma cacao).

Chia seeds (yes, these are the same seeds used for Chia pets) are not particularly tasty but they are crunchy and they turn gelatinous when added to a liquid. Adding 1/4 cup of chia to a cup of soy milk or a tropical type of fruit juice and then letting it soak for an hour will turn it to a tapioca pudding consistency: yummy snack!

The golden berries are tart and seedy (crunchy) which adds an interesting texture & flavor to the porridge. These berries are related to the ground cherries that we received in our Food Box (Community Supported Agriculture) in Kitchener and the Chinese lantern plant!

The cacao nibs are my favorite: aromatic, chocolaty and crunchy. The more I chew them, the more flavor I can get from the nibs.

Of course, these superfoods also make their way to the ice cream, yogurt and smoothies. I have also tried them in my granola bars and gorp snacks. I am open to any other suggestions!

So, next time you have a bowl of porridge, go beyond raisins and make your mouth sing ...

Growing too fast!

Okay. One would think that I would have learned from last year about sowing seeds indoors too early in the year. Unfortunately, the propagation paper I had to do for my course had precipitated it. Although, at the time, I only had to grow 3 annuals, I thought I would toss them out after the observation period was over. But... how can one throw those babies that I nurtured and coaxed for 3 whole weeks!



In the foreground are the marigolds planted in late January while in the background are the green peppers planted in mid February.






German chamomile in the background and Garden sorrel in the foreground which I had to start harvesting while under the lights!




From left to right, this tray has the Menthol Mint (part if the Tea Time Herb Collection) on the left. the Pansies in the middle, and the Clove Pinks on the right. All sown at the beginning of March.

There are heritage tomatoes "Brandywine" that are about 45-50 cm tall; they had to be repotted about 3 times as they grew a lot quicker than any of the other plants.

Most of the perennials had been planted in the garden: Anise-hyssop (Agastache foeniculum, Bergamot (Monarda didyma), German chamomile (Matricaria recutita), Salvia 'Purple Volcano' (S. lyrata), Speedwell (Veronica officinalis).

The world is bright and it is joyful to get up every morning (no matter what the weather) when there are living things to be nurtured.