CANNAS: When & Where to Plant, How to Overwinter

Canna spp

FULL SUN

This plant belongs to and is the only genus of the family Cannaceae. Contrary to its common name, Canna Lily, it is in fact not a lily at all. Some of its better-known, closest living relatives are gingers, bananas and Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia spp). The original species plants are from Southern Asia and from the tropical areas of South America. Canna is valued not only as an ornamental plant but is is also important in agriculture as its roots are quite edible. Canna is one of the world's richest starch sources. As an ornamental plant it is valued both for its large foliage and for its bright blooms. It is quite resistant to fungus and mold due to its waxy leaves, which repels water. However slugs and snails love the foliage so be sure to protect young plants! Cannas are attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies.

  

WHEN/WHERE/HOW TO PLANT: Cannas prefer humus rich, moist soil in a full-sun location. Once the danger of frost has passed, rhizomes can be planted 4 – 5” deep, and about 12” apart. Plant the rhizome horizontally, with the eyes pointing up. Once planted, keep the rhizomes moist, but not wet, or you will run the risk of them rotting, however mature plants can actually tolerate poorly-drained areas and even in shallow ponds.

IMPORTANT CARE TIPS FOR GROWING CANNAS:

• • Plants should be deadheaded regularly for continual bloom, but be careful not to destroy developing buds when doing so
  • These plants are NOT drought-tolerant and will not do well if the soil is allowed to dry out. Leaves will start to curl slightly when the plant needs watering.
  • Cannas are heavy feeders, so be sure to supply them with lots of organic mulch/compost, or feed them with a 20-20-20 fertilizer every two or three weeks.
  • Take note that improper watering (not enough) can result in tearing and cracking of the leaves.

FALL/WINTER CARE:

• • Allow the foliage to be killed by the first frost
  • Dig out plants, making sure NOT to remove the soil that is attached to the rhizomes
  • Place them in a cool dry place and allow the foliage to completely die back then cut stems back to 4 – 6” above the rhizome – but do not let the rhizome dry out – moisten as necessary.
  • Store the rhizomes in a cool (slightly below room temperature), dark location for the winter. The rhizomes should be placed in a plastic bag with moist peat moss, sterile sand, vermiculite or sawdust (rabbit bedding). It is important that the rhizome does not dry out, so check on them now and then and moisten as necessary. Remember: moist, not wet!

Organic Pest Control

For humans, good health is ensured by by way of prevention: eating right, exercising, plenty of rest, etc. The same holds true for the plants in our gardens. Give them what they need (ie: plant them in the right place!) and they will grow strong and healthy and will generally be able to resist pests.

Honestly, it's not hard to keep your plants happy and healthy! Mulch regularly with compost (homemade compost or wood chips for permanent, established display beds are the best in my humble opinion).  Keep your beds weed-free with regular cultivation (hoe once every few weeks with a sharpened hoe), deadhead as needed, and ensure that all plants are receiving enough water.

However, there are times that those pesky pests just seem to get the better of us and extra measures need to be taken. Before you run off to the store to buy a bottle of 'bug killer', try one of these easy, ready-at-hand remedies instead:

  

SLUGS & SNAILS

These pests tend to hang around a little too long when we've had a lot of rain and everything is nice & moist. Here are a few tricks to keep them at bay:

EGGSHELLS: Keep your eggshells and crush them up! Sprinkle liberally around plants as the soft-bodied slugs and snails do not like slithering over them since the sharp edges can cut and insure them. (Remember that you can also add eggshells to your compost!)

BEER: Slugs & snails just LOVE beer, but unfortunately the yeast just doesn't seem to agree with their systems and thus it becomes a fatal attraction. Pour some beer into a shallow container or dish and sink it into the earth near the plants that are suffering an excess of slug & snail visits. Check periodically for casualties & remove them (you can put them in the compost!), and be sure to refresh the beer after a rainfall.

SLUG DOUGH: This is a recipe that also takes advantage of the slugs' and snails' attraction to yeast products:

• 1 tbsp molasses
• 3 tbsp cornmeal
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tbsp yeast

Mix all ingredients together and put into an open-top container, sunken into the ground. NOTE: you don't need to activate the yeast ahead of time!

  

APHIDS & OTHER SOFT-BODIED INSECTS

It is important to note that aphids generally attack plants that are already stressed. Healthy plants have a certain amount of resistance to pests, so again, make sure your plants are being mulched, cultivated and watered regularly to ensure good health. When all else fails, try these ideas:

HOSE 'EM! Sometimes just hosing the aphids off will help! Try this or mechanical removal (pick 'em off by hand) before trying anything else.

MECHANICAL REMOVAL: It's a little 'icky', but if you don't have many aphids to deal with, sometimes just picking them off the plant and squishing them is all it takes!

SUNLIGHT DISH SOAP: Add a couple of drops into a spray bottle of water and shake & spray. The soap will penetrate the soft bodies and dry them out. The soap works immediately, so after spraying the insets, water your plants, rinsing them off.

ORGANIC PESTICIDE SPRAY:

1 large, very sharp onion with skin on (the kind that really makes you cry! If it doesn't, it won't work in this recipe)

• 3 cloves of garlic
• dash chilli powder
• tbsp hot sauce
• dash powdered cayenne pepper

Put all the ingredients into a blender and liquefy, adding water as needed to keep it liquid. Pour mixture through a cheesecloth over a bowl to strain out the onion skins. Fill a spray bottle with 2" of this mixture. To that add about 1" Sunlight dish soap and enough water to make the spray come out easily through the spray nozzle. Spray the mixture directly onto the affected areas of the plant. This spray is good for aphids and white flies, plus a few fungal diseases like leaf spot and mildews because garlic has anti-fungal properties.

***IMPORTANT!!!!! Just because it's organic doesn't mean that it won't cause harm! This spray can harm beneficial insects too, so use this as a last resort and with care! A healthy garden is a balanced environment. In order to have the beneficial insects around they need to have food. This means that some tolerance of pests is required. So don't panic if you see a couple of aphids or a slug or a caterpillar. Know that they are there to feed the 'garden guardians', like ladybugs, lacewings and other predatory insects. In the end Mother Nature does most of the work for us. All we need to do is slow down and smell the roses!

Some Ideas on How to be a Greener Gardener

HOW TO BE A GREENER GARDENER - A Few Easy Ideas for Consideration

1. Compost! Arrange a 'deal' with coffee shops for their coffee grounds, produce stores for their produce waste...

2. Reduce waste and reuse/recycle. Examples:

• Don't throw away your soap slivers!  Slip them into an old onion mesh bag or an old pair of panty hose and tie it next to your hose.  You can keep your hands clean out doors and the abrasiveness of the bag or nylon stocking will help scrub off the garden dirt.
• Recycle disposable drink cups - use them to start seeds.  When the plants are ready to go into the garden, remove the bottom inch or so of each cup and plant the whole thing directly into the ground.  The cup helps prevent cutworms from getting at your young plants!.
• Cut up old pantyhose and use the pieces as garden ties.
• Use old Popsicle sticks/leftover lumber as plant/row markers.

3. Mulch your garden regularly! This helps retain moisture in your garden beds and saves on water usage! Not to mention the mulch will add much-needed nutrients to the soil.

4. When you are washing veggies or your hands outside, do it over a large basin and use the dirty 'wash water' to water the garden.

5. When you're chopping veggies for a meal, save the excess bits for making soup stock. This includes items such as onion skins (which gives chicken stock that lovely golden colour!), stems of leafy greens, carrot ends, etc. Just keep them in the freezer until you're ready to make soup. These all really add to the flavour of the stock, and you'd be straining out the chunky bits with a cheesecloth at the end anyways!

6. Add the paper from your shredder to your compost! It's already all sized-up and a perfect 'brown' source! You can also use ripped up newspaper.

7. Save seeds, trade seeds, or order your seeds from the Seed Savers Exchanges. Try to grow heirloom or organic seeds where possible!

8. Plant flowers such among your vegetables to not only attract pollinators, but to offer them a food source while your veggies have yet to bloom.

9. Put out mason bee/solitary bee tube homes!

10. Put out bird houses - birds such as wrens, are a good form of pest control.

11. Participate in a Community Garden

12. Donate excess garden produce to the food bank!

13. Share your knowledge and ideas! Help inspire others! Encourage children to help so they can see where their food comes from and so that they in turn can pass on the knowledge. If you have time join local gardening organizations and clubs. Gardening is NOT an exclusive activity! :) And by the way, there is NO such thing as a 'brown thumb'! We all have green thumbs - you just have to discover yours! Cheers & Happy Gardening!

KNOW YOUR WEEDS: HAIRY BITTERCRESS

Cardamine hirsute (Hairy Bittercress). I am almost certain that everyone has seen this particular plant! It is from the mustard family (Brassicaceae) which includes cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, radish, etc!) It is edible and has a light, peppery taste. Butterflies are attracted to the small, white flowers.

This weed grows best in consistently damp, recently disturbed soil, and as such is often introduced into our gardens unintentionally by way of nursery or garden centre plants which provide these ideal growing conditions.

It is a cool-season annual which blooms in early Spring (sometimes even as early as late Winter!) and will continue to bloom off and on until late Fall. It has a shallow root system and is easily controlled through regular cultivation (hoeing). Large plants should be pulled by hand and disposed of immediately (in green waste) as the seeds can still ripen after the plant has been pulled up. You can work young plants into the garden bed as a green mulch. In fact, you can use Cardamine hirsute as a cover crop over Winter and till it into the soil before the seeds ripen - unless you wish to use it as a cover crop for the following winter. Seeds germinate in the Autumn, and the young plants will overwinter before blooming. Mulching your garden bed in late Summer will help prevent germination of this weed.

Seeds are formed in Siliquae which is a type of seed capsule that will burst explosively when touched, sending seeds flying far from the parent plant. I don't know about you, but I have had Hairy Bittercress seeds explode in my face more than a few times...

Based on personal experience it is my opinion that this weed is not that hard to keep under control through proper garden cultivation. Perhaps you might event want to keep a few growing for culinary purposes?

First Flower in Space!

History has been made!  Botanical history, that is.  This morning NASA Astronaut, Scott Kelly, Tweeted and posted this horticultural pride & joy on Facebook:

This morning's Tweet from NASA astronaut, Scott Kelly

It may just be a zinnia, but it may very well be the most important plant ever in human history!  NASA gives us a brief explanation about the challenges of growing a flowering plant in space.

As a SF junkie I'm super excited about this news because with this small botanical step we can move past the fiction and make space travel a reality!

One of the problems with long distance space travel is weight.  The more weight a ship carries, the more fuel it requires.  This is a huge problem because fuel is extremely expensive when it comes to space travel - inhibitively so! At this point there are no nearby planets that sustain life, so long distance space travel also means you need to carry all your food with you.  Think about it:  a tomato seed is significantly lighter to transport than a tomato.  What better way to bring your food with you than in seed form and grow only what you need - AND - you can propagate along the way!  Indefinite food supply!  Taking things a step further, I suspect that scientists will also find a way to overcome their other challenge - the creation of oxygen - as plants are instrumental in converting CO2 into oxygen.  Hey!  We're not just gardeners anymore!  We're space pioneers!

One small step in horticulture, one giant leap for mankind!

Further reading on this topic...

How Mold on Space Station Flowers is Helping Get Us to Mars

Spring! Where are you?

The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Pacific Northwest

The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Pacific Northwest 
by Lorene Edwards Forkner (Editor, Pacific Horticulture). 

In short, I love this book!

I may be a professional gardener with fancy paperwork, but I'll be honest, I don't know everything and vegetable gardening was something very new for me! This book is fantastic because it is, in essence, a gardening calendar for growing veggies in the Pacific Northwest.

It's organized in such a way that you can start your garden in any month - just turn to the relevant month/chapter. So easy to use & follow. The author advises what plants to start indoors, which to sow outside, and things to consider for the upcoming month - plus all sorts of other useful and handy gardening tips! I use it so often that it doesn't even make it to my bookshelf.

Garden-pedia: An A-to-Z Guide to Gardening Terms

Annual or biennial?  Or would you prefer perennials?  Evergreen or deciduous?  Herbaceous or woody?   Cool season or warm?  These are some of the basic, essential horticultural terms you will come across time over - be it reading your favourite gardening blog,  shopping at one of the better nurseries, browsing through a seed/plant catalogue, consulting a professional gardener or just simply trying to read a plant tag.  Knowing what these terms mean can make the difference between having a successful garden or complete garden failure which in turn could cause frustration and lead you to believe that you don't have a green thumb at all.  Believe it or not, we all have a green thumbs inside of us and a little basic education will help set you on the right track!

No, I'm not suggesting that you need a Diploma of Horticulture just to create and maintain a healthy and thriving home garden.  In fact, lucky for you, help has just arrived in the form of newly-published handbook entitled, Garden-pedia:  An A-to-Z Guide to Gardening Terms.

Friendly and academic enough for gardeners of all levels (beginner to professional) to use, it is void of the textbook stuffiness and chock full of proper gardening terms, all in a quick reference, easy-to-read format complete with colour photos.

With this handy-dandy book by your side you'll be confidently moving forward in your gardening ventures, making decisions such as exploring the possibility of xeriscaping your front yard, while at the same deciding if you want to grow determinate or indeterminate tomato plants this summer.

So don't let fancy 'horty' terms stop you from being the successful gardener that you are!  I can personally say that this affordable little book will be one of your well-used favourites in no time!

FLOWERS IN WINTER: WINTER JASMINE

Jasminum nudiflorum (Winter Jasmine)

From the family Oleaceae, which also includes Forsythias and Olives.

The Latin name of this plant (nudiflorum) is for this plant's flowers which appear before its leaves. This is a deciduous shrub that is best trained as a vine over a frame/trellis or arbor. You  can also allow it to grow as a ground cover but be advised that it will readily root itself wherever it touches the ground!

This is a hardy and easy-to-grow plant which blooms from early Winter to early Spring. It requires full sun or part shade and is happiest in fertile (humus-rich), well-drained soil, but it will also tolerate poor soils. It tolerates pruning, and it is recommended to do an annual pruning after flowering to remove dead material and for shaping. Take note that flowers bloom on previous year's growth.

It is also easily propagated. Cut of green branches after flowering and just stick them in a pot of soil. Keep the soil moist and you will find after a short time that you will have a new growing plant!

Rain Gardens and Why They Are Important

 

 

The city I work for, and many other cities here in the Lower Mainland, are starting to develop roadways and other hardscapes with rain gardens. You may have noticed these in your travels or even in your community. They certainly add beauty to the area in which they are installed, but they also serve another very important function. These rain gardens are engineered in such a way to accept water flow off roadways, parking lots and sidewalks, while preventing the water from flowing into the storm drains. By diverting excess water from travelling down our storm system a great deal of wear and tear on the system is reduced. Less wear and tear on our infrastructure means less frequent repairs and ultimately a longer life span for the pipes. 

This rain garden is located off a large parking lot located at the back of one of the recreational facilities. This particular parking lot tends to flood a fair bit during rain storms, and is also the site where the fire department has practice sessions with fire hoses. That's a lot of water on the regular basis. As you can see, the garden is lower than street level and the concrete in front of intakes (cut into the curb) is graded so that the water will pour into the garden.

 

 

The garden has been planted with native plant material such as Deer Fern (Blechnum spicant), Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum), Spreading Wood Fern (Dryopteris expansa), Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), Vine Maple (Acer circinatum) and Low Oregon Grape (Mahonia nervosa). The plants are planted directly into the soil and the entire bed has
been mulched with arborist woodchips.

The drain that you see in the middle of the bed is actually raised quite high, thus giving the water time to be absorbed by the surrounding soil. It is only in the case of severe rain storms (such as a 1-in-10 or 1-in-20 year storm) that the water level would actually get high enough to start draining into the pipe and into the storm system.

 

 

Horticultural Humour

KNOW YOUR WEEDS: CHICKWEED

Stellaria media (Common Chickweed)

From the family Caryophyllaceae (Carnation Family)

This is a cool-season annual that starts to germinate in Fall or late Winter. It then forms large mats of foliage, blooming and setting seed at the same time. Small, white flowers are produced at the tips of stems and in angles between branches. These in turn produce egg-shaped seed pods which release reddish-brown, somewhat spherical seeds.

This plant will bloom as early as late winter here in the PNW and continue to do so until hot, dry weather sets in, at which point it dies-off, but its seeds lie dormant. One plant can produce 10,000 - 20,000 seeds in one growing season! Because of the heavy seed sets, It is a difficult plant to control.

It is good to get to know this plant in its early growth stages because this is when it is easiest to control.

Chickweed has shallow, fibrous, fragile roots, which makes it easy to pull up small, individual plants. However, left unchecked, it will spread horizontally, rooting at each leaf node. If you've ever tried to remove a clump of chickweed you will know how difficult it is to pull! You end up taking most of the top layer of soil with it!

Based on my personal experience, the best way to manage chickweed is to hoe off, or pull out as much of it as you can, then immediately much the area.  Depending on the severity of the problem, this could be quite a job - initially - but if you're smart, it's only a big job ONCE!  Once you've got your garden bed weeded & mulched it is a good idea to monitor your garden beds every few weeks to stay on top of any possible newly germinating chickweed (and chances are there will be!)  Here's the good news:  If the seedlings are just starting to sprout (wee tiny little plants with only seed leaves), simply 'roughing' the soil surface with your fingers will help to keep things under control as the plants are very young with no more than a single root.  Disturbing the soil around them allows air to get around their root and helps desiccate them.  You won't get all the seedlings this way, but you'll get most of them!  If you start to see true leaves forming on the seedlings then I recommend to hand-pull or hoe the surface with a sharpened hoe.  Frequent visits to your problem areas mean that you will only spend a couple of minutes in weed maintenance either scruffing the surface of the soil with your fingers or quickly zipping through with a sharp hoe.  Take note that chickweed is a very fast-growing plant and subsequently goes to seed quickly too.  Waiting too long to check on your bed may result in another chickweed problem!  Persistence!  That is the key to winning the war with chickweed!

On a positive note, chickweed is actually is quite edible and very nutritious. Many people use it as a leaf vegetable, often raw, in salads. It is high in Vitamin C and also contains beta carotene, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, sodium, selenium and silicon.

INTERESTING TIDBIT: Chickweed is one of the ingredients of the symbolic dish consumed during the Japanese spring-time festival, Nanakusa-no-sekku.

The Beauty of Diatoms

As part of a greener approach to gardening, diatomaceous earth is an effective form of non-toxic pest control.  Diatomaceous earth is the fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of algae.  Diatomaceous earth is not poisonous and it does not have to be eaten in order to be effective.  It is great for pest control because it causes insects to dry out and die by absorbing the oils and fats from the cuticle of the insect's exoskeleton. Its sharp edges are abrasive, speeding up the process.  FYI - The reason why diatoms are so sharp is because they encase themselves in silica as a form of protection.  In other words they literally live in glass houses

In addition to pest control, diatomaceous earth is used to create filters for hot tubs, pools, aquariums and even drinking water.

While most diatoms are single-celled organisms, they are far from simple!  I recently came across this fascinating video about a man who actually collects diatoms and organizes them into beautiful arrangements!




Click HERE to watch "The Diatomist"



Vaccinium ovatum - How to Keep Wedding Memories Alive

Exactly one month ago today I married the love of my life, my best friend, and the only man in this world who can cohabitate with me and somehow maintain some form of sanity...

It was a beautiful and memorable wedding held in our back yard.  In addition to the assorted help from friends and family (including the awesome wedding cake made by my former roommate) that wonderful day would not have been the day it was without the special care and attention made by my Mom (who organized nearly everything plus did the cooking and catering), and my Auntie (who was Mom's associate and also made all the floral arrangements).

A happy day!  My Auntie, me and my Mom!

While I truly (and ever will) appreciate all that everyone did (Mom there aren't thanks enough!) it is the floral arrangements that this blog will focus on.

Morning of the wedding and my Auntie is busy making the floral arrangements!

My bouquet and table décor consisted of hot pink roses, mini white carnations, Blue Statice, Dusty Miller leaves, and Baby's Breath all arranged with evergreen huckleberry from my Auntie's own garden.  Each mini bouquet was displayed in small mason jars and they were stunning!  Wanting to keep some memoirs from that happy day I dried some of the flowers, but I left the majority of them in their jars because they were so wonderful to look at, not to mention fragrant! I wanted to live in the moment for as long as I could and the flowers were a happy reminder.

Placing my bouquet in a vase, surrounded by the other floral arrangements that my Auntie made.

Gradually the roses wilted and the petals started to fall so I pulled them out.  The remainder of the cut flowers were still looking quite nice (carnations last quite a long time and the Baby's Breath and Statice actually make for great dried flowers).  Soon we returned to our regular lives and the arrangements were left to sit out on the table on our deck.  Soon the carnations started to turn brown and hubby finally asked what we were going to do with them.  With a sigh I moved to compost what was left of the arrangements and lo and behold!  The evergreen huckleberries were rooting!

One month later and this is what was left of the mini bouquets.
 

Roots!


So today, exactly one month after we were wed, my husband and I potted up the huckleberries.



Rooted huckleberries!



Potting 'em up!

I'll be honest, when I think of huckleberries I think of those juicy, red tart berries (Vaccinium parvifolium) that grow here on the west coast.  Little did I know that the West Coast boasted of yet another type of huckleberry:  Vaccinium ovatum.

 

Adding some soil...

Also known as the evergreen huckleberry, winter huckleberry or the California huckleberry, it is a small to medium sized shrub that can be found growing in conjunction with its cousin the red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium), as well as with Western Sword Ferns, Coastal Wood Fern, California Snowberry and the Common Snowberry.  All these plants grow in association with coniferous forests which are the typical landscape of the Western Pacific Coast of the United States and coastal British Columbia, where they are all native.  As such, Vaccinium ovatum requires acidic soil, yet can grow in sun or shade.  Plants growing in full sun rarely grow larger than 2-3' in height while plants growing in full shade can reach up to 10' in height!  If the soil is moist enough they can also reach about 10' in width.  In spring the plants produce pale, pink urn-shaped flowers which later become red berries that ripen to a deep dark purple, almost black.  The berries are edible and can be eaten fresh or used to make jam or preserves.

25 Evergreen Huckleberries plus a couple of iris and some asters that also needed potting.

So it seems that while not all my wedding flowers have lasted I will still have fond memories year after year as I harvest the berries from my evergreen huckleberries to make jam for my sweetheart!

Thanks Auntie!

...and they lived happily ever after!

Meet Charlotte the Orbweaver

When I got home from work today my husband was just beside himself with excitement.  "Come see!!" He gestured to me, motioning me to come to the side of our covered deck.  As I approached he smiled and pointed upwards.  "Look!" he said with a big grin on his face.  I looked up and all I saw was a large-ish grey wad dangling from the deck roof.

 

"Okay, what am I looking at?" I asked him, puzzled.

 

"Look!" he pointed upwards again. 

 

I peered closer.  Just under one of the support beams I saw some legs.  Spider legs to be exact.  And not the legs of a small spider either.  "Holy cow!" I exclaimed.  "That's one HUGE spider!"

 

Holy Cow!!!

"I know!" he answered giggling.  "See that?" he asked me as he pointed to the grey wad.  "That's her dinner!"

 

That's when I realized that the grey wad was an entombed moth.  A LARGE entombed moth.  Holy crap!  This by far was one of the largest outdoor spiders I've ever seen.

 

That's one big girl!

Now I'm sure there are many of you who are now eeewing and squirming in your seats and possibly making signs of the cross.  "A Spider???   Aaaaaaah!!  Kill it!!!!"  But hold on!  You need to understand that this girl is our friend!  Yes, truly, she is!  Please allow me to introduce you to our special lady guest, Charlotte!

 

Don't worry!  I promise!  She won't bite you!  Can't say the same for that poor moth there!

Because Charlotte is such a big girl (and yes we are fairly certain she's a 'she') it made ID'ing her very easy.  According to my copy of Garden Bugs of British Columbia (a Lone Pine publication) Charlotte is an Orbweaver (Araneus spp). 

 

Consulting the book I learned that fully-grown female Orbweavers can be as large as a loonie - that is the name we Canadians gave our $1 coin.  For those of you unfamiliar with our currency, that's a bit smaller than an American silver dollar.  I would say Charlotte is about that big (14-15mm).  Yep, that's a BIG spider! 

 

We named her Charlotte because 'Charlotte' in Charlotte's Web was an Orbweaver, and wasn't that Charlotte a kind and sweet spider?  Well truth be told, our Charlotte on our deck is as harmless to us as the storybook Charlotte was to Wilbur the Pig.  She may be large and formidable but all she's really interested in is a safe place to hide, a good meal, and a safe place for her to lay her eggs so that her offspring will succeed after her.  Like all her kind, she is 'hugely beneficial to gardeners, devouring numerous insects including plenty of pesky ones.'

 

Her kind are quite common in our province of British Columbia and are often encountered in late summer.  Notable features are a 'plump, brown body with large, lighter brown abdomen, often marked with dark brown and white, giving the appearance of a cat face (or arrow on some specimens).'

 

Hey!  Quit shining that light on me!  I'm trying to have dinner here!

FYI males only get to be about half the size of the female (about 6-7mm) which is why we know Charlotte is a 'she'.

 

The book continues to say that her species mates in autumn after which the female produces an egg case then dies. (Just like in the story.)  'The egg case overwinters, often tucked away in a protective crevice.  In spring after the eggs hatch, the spiderlings climb to a high spot and release silken threads that the wind catches, carrying them to their new homes.'  Remember that part in the story?  Just when you thought you were finished sniffling over the death of Charlotte, all her babies suddenly hatch and started to float away saying good-bye to a heart-broken Wilbur?

 

So on behalf of Charlotte and her kin, if you can't love her, please try to co-exist with her as she will earn her keep by taking care of your pesky pests!

 

Om nom nom nom nom

  Photo credits (all photos):  Trish Paquette (aka The Happy Hedgehog)

 

 
 



The Greener Side of Vancouver's Pacific National Exhibition Grounds/Hastings Park (aka 'The PNE')

My Mother and I decided to visit the PNE today.

The PNE itself is living Vancouver history.  The Pacific National Exhibition was officially opened in 1910 by Canadian Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier.  At that time it was actually known as "The Industrial Exhibition".  To quote the PNE official website, "The Fair was seen as a showcase of British Columbia to the rest of Canada and the world, and was the second largest event of its kind in North America, behind the New York State Fair."  In addition to Playland and its many carnival rides, the PNE also features 4-H competitions, dog shows, cat shows, horse shows, music and dance, a trade show, scattered booths full of vendors hawking many gadget, do-dads, temporary & henna tattoos... and of course the many, many food vendors selling new and exciting ethnic foods as well as old fair favourites.  Hey!  Don't forget the famous PNE mini donuts and the opportunity to try just about anything deep fried.

When I was younger, the PNE and more specifically, Playland, were an exciting destination for my brother and I when we were kids back in the 70's and early 80's.  As I got older my interest in the PNE dwindled.  The amusement rides weren't that amusing anymore, and there were always far too many people for my liking.  I haven't been to visit the PNE for years, but today my Mom and I decided to see if we were missing anything...

...and I can honestly say that it really hasn't changed at all.  The permanent buildings (the ones that weren't torn down) are the same, the game booths are the same, and I wondered if the stuffed animals were just old stock from back in the day...?  OK!  Slight exaggeration, but really!    It looked no different from when I was a kid running around to get into the next ride lineup.  Truthfully we went because I wanted to see the Game of Thrones exhibit.  That proved futile as there was an 8 hour wait!!  So my Mom and I decided to have a look at the fair map to see if there was something else to tickle our fancy and we noticed that there were two 'green spaces' marked on the map that did not exist the last time we visited the fair ground. Of course being a gardener my curiosity was piqued so we decided to have a look.

The first green space (which happened to be next to the Game of Thrones exhibit) was labelled as the "Momiji Gardens":

'Momiji' is Japanese for "red leaves" or "maple tree".  The Momiji gardens were completed in 1993 and were built to "commemorate the tragic Hastings Park internment of more than 8,000 Canadians of Japanese origin almost 52 years earlier."  While they were built to remember a tragic time in our history, the gardens themselves are simply beautiful.

Double Hibiscus (possibly Hibiscus rosa-sinesis)

 

  

 

Anemone hupehensis (Japanese Windflower)

Upon exiting the Momiji Gardens we headed straight for area on the fair map listed simply as just "The Sanctuary".  The map diagram indicated that there was a large body of water surrounded by green space.  This was definitely new to us.  When I got home I immediately Googled this location and followed the links to the City of Vancouver website.  There I discovered that The Sanctuary is the first phase of a long-term project by the city to transform Hastings Park (the PNE grounds) "into a greener, more active, year-round destination, while ensuring its economic viability and long-term sustainability.  The Master Plan includes renewal of the annual Fair and Playland, and improved connections to greenspaces, the waterfront, and the surrounding community. This ambitious vision for Hastings Park will require substantial funding through partnerships, and could take twenty years to complete."  

Walking through "The Sanctuary" it was hard to believe that we were right in the middle of all the hubbub of the fair...

Impatiens capensis (Spotted Jewelweed)

 

Impatiens capensis (Spotted Jewelweed)

             

               

 
 ... it was a true oasis in which we discovered a splash of Yarn Bombing!

 

 

 
In the end we were glad that we decided to forgo the deep fried Mars Bars and took a walk in the garden instead.



Photo Credit (all photos):  Trish Paquette (aka The Happy Hedgehog)



Further reading:

Hastings Park / Pacific National Exhibition Master Plan:  A New Vision for Hastings Park