Garden Category

7 Tips To Get Your Moth Orchid to Bloom

pink phalenopsis orchid flower

Moth orchids come in a vast vari­ety of flower colours & patterns.

Phalenopsis or Moth Orchids, once exotic, are found in stores every­where these days. Their gor­geous, waxy blos­soms can last all win­ter before they fade. The trou­ble with these beau­ties, is get­ting them to pro­duce flow­ers a sec­ond time. Too often they are tossed out, and treated as annu­als. At a recent meet­ing at my local gar­den soci­ety, I found out I’ve been doing it all wrong. Tips below are for Phalenopsis or Moth orchids.

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No Junk Food for the Birds

goldfinches at bird feeder

As spring arrives, the male goldfinches feath­ers become more and more bril­liant yellow.

Some of us, (*cough*  gar­den­ers), merely endure win­ter, count­ing the days till spring. Guilty as charged, even in this blog. No leaves, no grass, no flow­ers. When will it end? Yes, I too was an avowed win­ter hater until I began to feed the birds in my back­yard. Winter—and the garden—was sud­denly full of life. Bird life is so enjoy­able, I don’t even mind trudg­ing out bright and early to fill the feed­ers. The soft flut­ter of a chick­adee wing whizzing past your ear is a sound every­one should hear at least once. A sim­ple bird feeder filled with black oil sun­flower seed will bring many species: chick­adees, car­di­nals, blue­jays. Find a spot in your yard where you can watch from a win­dow, and hang a feeder. You’ll have live enter­tain­ment with your morn­ing coffee.

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Keeping Herbs in Winter: Rosemary

Rosemary herb

Rosemary is hap­pi­est in a Mediterranean climate.

Keeping rose­mary in pots is the only way to have year-round rose­mary in our cli­mate. Bringing plants indoors over win­ter means a bit of spe­cial care how­ever. Our houses are too hot and dry, the oppo­site of what a rose­mary needs: a cool, slightly moist envi­ron­ment. Here are some tips:

1. Have your rose­mary grow­ing in a large size pot. If you are buy­ing a plant now, the larger, the bet­ter. Four inch pots can dry out too quickly. If you are over­win­ter­ing a plant you already have, take note that the more estab­lished your plant is in the sum­mer, the more likely it will last over the win­ter when you bring it in. Plants that you dig up out of the gar­den in the fall are less likely to live through the winter.

2. Soil should be well drained. Add sand, grit, and peat or coir to the mix.

3. Water thor­oughly, then let almost dry out, but don’t let it get bone dry.

4. Keep pot in a large, deep saucer with a 1″ layer of aquar­ium gravel, so that drained water will evap­o­rate, keep­ing air moist around the plant. But don’t let the pot ever sit in water above the base of the pot.

5. Keep it cool. 60F or 15C. An unheated sun porch that stays above freez­ing is ideal. If you have deep win­dowsills, clos­ing the drapes at night so that the plant enjoys the cool air next to the win­dow can help.

6. Bright sun­light, a south or west fac­ing win­dow, for best results.

7. Although moist air is ideal, keep the air mov­ing with a fan (on low), to stop any mildew form­ing on the leaves. This is a good tip for all your plants.

It’s true that herbs can be tricky in our mod­ern houses, but it’s well worth giv­ing it a try. Snipping off your own sprigs of rose­mary for your din­ner casse­role is one of life’s great­est plea­sures, espe­cially in the dead of winter.

 



75 Days Till Spring

Grolau chives growing in a pot

Growth on my chives burst into action this week. Hooray!

About this time of year, when win­ter is in full force, I pull out all the psy­cho­log­i­cal stops to remind myself that winter’s only tem­po­rary. Does 75 days seem shorter than ten weeks? To me it does, so I’m going with that, and count­ing off the days.

Plants send us spring sig­nals too. I pulled this neglected pot of chives off my deck some­time in December. It was strag­gly looking—you can still see the dead growth attached—but it was still alive, so I put it in my kitchen win­dow and for­got about it, fig­ur­ing at the very least it would strug­gle through the win­ter and I could put it back out­side in spring. Yet, this week my chives burst into vig­or­ous green growth assur­ing me what plants know in their cells: days are get­ting longer, sun is get­ting stronger. Other indoor plants are notice­ably perkier too; there are even some flower buds on my gera­ni­ums. (Pelargoniums)

This par­tic­u­lar vari­ety of chives, by the way, is called Grolau Chives, (Allium schoeno­pra­sum ‘Grolau’) and is par­tic­u­larly suited for indoor pot or green­house cul­ture, stay­ing green and less likely to become leggy. It’s worth hunt­ing out, as fresh herbs in the win­ter make all the difference.



Winter Survival: Tropical Toronto

Allan Gardens Conservatory

Allan Gardens Conservatory at Sherbourne and Gerrard is a hid­den gem of Toronto.

There’s ice on the side­walk, the snow shovel is sud­denly a use­ful tool, and you have no trip to the south seas planned. You need a break. Luckily, this city has places where you can feel balmy trop­i­cal air and inhale the deli­cious smell of earth with­out leav­ing on a jet plane. Allan Gardens Conservatory is one such place: a Tropical Toronto oasis. They change exhibits over the sea­son, and the win­ter show is on till January 8th. It’s a great out­ing for par­ents and kids. Admission is free.

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