The garden is full of daily surprises!
If you are keeping a garden journal, each day gives us the chance to record the beauty of various flowers opening, or various birds visiting the yard.
Writing down when things come into bloom is a great way to plan a garden that is in continuous bloom, from spring until fall. There is one glorious time in our garden when the golden yellow day lilies are blooming in full force, and just a short distance away are the deep purple campanula, and across from them are the candy-floss pink roses, a variety we don鈥檛 know, but one that resembles Hansa roses in bloom shape and fragrance.
Mix in more fleeting blooms like the purple and white Siberian iris and cut-leaf peony and it is a breathtaking show to welcome spring!
But there can be other surprises, too.
We had a mystery plant coming up among our hostas. It was there last year, but quite small. This year it was larger. The leaves looked very much like celery, rising above thick stalks in a lovely bright shade of green. Not sure if this was a plant we wanted or a very pretty weed, we asked a dear friend of ours who is a garden expert to give us some advice. He took a picture of it and went home to do some research. When he found out what he thought it was,
it wasn鈥檛 good news! He thought that the plant was a wild parsnip. He asked us to read about it before removal.
Yes, the plant did look very much the same, so we knew we had to get rid of it. You`d think that just pulling it out is enough, right? Wrong! The wild parsnip has a tap root that looks just like a parsnip, and must be dug out, and danger lies in handling the leaves. The sap has chemicals that are phototoxic, that is, they react when the sun shines on them. The resulting condition is called phytophotodermatitis. In plain English, it is a painful reaction of blisters and burning skin that truly looks as though it has been scalded.
We were very cautious.
Long sleeves, heavy garden gloves, and a garbage bag ready to catch the plant as soon as it was dug out.
Luckily the plant was less than two feet tall, so a lot of handling was not required. Where could such a plant co me from?
The culprit could be some of the wild winds we鈥檝e had in recent years, blowing in a seed. Or, it could have been brought in by one of our many bird visitors. Did you know that birds can deposit seeds as they fall out of their beaks or through their droppings if they have been eating fruit such as a raspberry? And some seeds actually have to pass through a bird鈥檚 tummy before they will germinate!
Wherever it came from, it was a learning experience for us. And we will certainly be on the lookout in case any more come up! We never stop learning with gardening!
Can you believe that it is the last day of June? What a month! Freezing rain, exhausting heat, and then on the longest day of the year we had to worry about frost! We had to adapt to all kinds of things--no wonder gardeners are such a hearty lot! Please visit the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society website at www.yorktonhort.ca to see what鈥檚 new, some great photos, and information about hort happenings here and there.
Take time to stroll through your neighborhood and admire the planters and flowerbeds. Or go and see the barrel planters downtown, and the city planters, they always look great, too!
Thank you to our friends at Yorkton This Week for their ongoing exceptional work in bringing us local news. Have a great week!
