From this home gardener’s point of view, the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday weekend will be a time of true rejoicing. It will follow the type of blessedly moderate spring and summer that were common before the time of heat domes and seemingly unending drought.
Who knows what winter will bring? For now, it’s enough to be thankful for a fairly “normal” growing season and the resulting garden bounty.
Rebirth of a hat. When my friend Caron volunteered to repair and restore my very old and much shredded garden hat, I was dubious.
Caron was optimistic.
In the end, after valiant attempts at cobbling the sorry old thing together, even my skilled seamstress friend was unable to resurrect the hat. Instead, she used it as a pattern to construct a new one.
Caron showed me the fabric she intended to use. Its lovely blend of violet, blue and plum was thickly dotted with tiny white flowers.
What delighted us both was the name of the pattern, printed along the fabric selvedge: “Garden Bliss.”
I love my new, feather-light hat. Good friends are treasures indeed. Thank you, Caron.
Return of the suckers. Last fall I had a large sweet bay tree cut down to leave a low stump, because the tree had become overgrown and also because control of a pest called the bay tree sucker had become difficult on such a large plant. I cleaned meticulously under and around the stump, and laid a generous compost mulch layer.
In the spring a forest of new stems appeared, absent of the thickened, yellowing, curled leaf edges indicating the pest presence — until late summer. I’ve been cutting away affected stems and have reduced stem numbers drastically to make monitoring the plant manageable.
The pest overwinters in adult form under debris, which needs to be kept cleared away and not composted. In the spring, I’ll be watching for the first sign of curled leaves and remove them.
Autumn break. For those of you who read only the weekend editions of the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, I’ll be taking a three-column break beginning with next Saturday’s (Oct. 5) column. I’ll be back after Thanksgiving. Today’s Garden Events cover the time until then.
I wish you a truly gratitude-filled Thanksgiving. May you relish tasty home-grown foods, fruits of your gardening endeavours.
GARDEN EVENTS
VHS meeting. The Victoria Horticultural Society will meet on Tuesday, Oct 1, from 7:15 to 9 p.m. in the Garth Homer Centre, 813 Darwin Ave. Gordon Mackay will speak about pruning small backyard fruit trees to improve fruit production and tree health. Gordon has an extensive background in arboriculture. Non-member drop-in fee $5. vichortsociety.org.
Gordon Head meeting. The Gordon Head Garden Club will meet on Wednesday, Oct. 2, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Gordon Head Lawn Bowling Club, 4105 Lambrick Way. Bonnie Dinter will explore “Gardening in Fall: A time of Transition.” Visitors are welcome at no charge.
Dahlia meeting. The Victoria Dahlia Society will meet on Thursday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. in St. Michael’s Church, 4733 West Saanich Rd. Society member Jessica Lacey will demonstrate best practices for digging and dividing dahlias in the fall. Visitors are welcome.
Peninsula meeting. The Peninsula Garden Club will meet on Monday, Oct. 7, at 7 p.m. in the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney. Ann Nightingale from Rocky Point Bird Observatory will give a slide-illustrated presentation on Bird Friendly Winter Gardening. Ann will discuss birds you can expect to see this winter and how you can make your garden safe for them. Bring questions. Guest admission $5.
Floral art. The Victoria Floral Artists Guild will meet on Tuesday, Oct. 8, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Garth Homer Centre to celebrate their 55-year anniversary of Floral Design in Victoria with a floral design retrospective slide show and parlour show designs. Members and guests will also learn about the guild’s October 26 one-day show: Floral Arts Passion. Non-member fee $5. victoriafloralartists.ca.
Qualicum meeting. The Qualicum Beach Garden Club will meet on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the QB Civic Centre, 747 Jones St. Mariah of West Coast Plants will give a presentation on garlic and Michalina of Cicada Seeds will speak about seed harvesting. Guest fee $3. qualicumbeachgardenclub.ca.
