WHAT'S IN BLOOM NOW

Colts foot.

Every spring, this is the first really visible wildflower to come into bloom. You see it everywhere along the roadsides. It's colts foot, a weed that can live in pretty poor soil. The cheery yellow flowers look a lot like dandelions, but are not the same at all. This perennial plant has large light green leaves that have silvery undersides and toothed edges. They start from seed, but also spread quickly once established by fleshy white underground rhizomes. That makes them hard to pull out when weeding, as any piece of the roots left in the soil can sprout into a new plant. The flowers open up on scaly stems long before the leaves begin to open, making it difficult to relate the spring flower to the summertime weed in the garden.

Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa)

Glory-of-the-snow is a lovely, delicate light blue flower in slowly spreading grassy clumps of green foliage about 4" tall. It is a bulb plant, but can be handled like any perennial, but dividing clumps and transplanting.The flowers are up-facing with light blue petals that are whitish at the centre of the flower. This differentiates them from a similar spring bulb called scilla, which also naturalizes well, and persists for years in slowly spreading clumps. Scilla is darker blue, and its flowers droop downward

Siberian squill (Scilla)

See above for some words on Scilla.

BUGS 'N' THINGS

The best defence against bugs and disease is healthy plants. That starts with a good volume of organic topsoil. Proper sunshine and drainage are key. Exposure and hardiness of the plant for that zone are important too. Adequate moisture and nutrients complete the picture. With healthy plants, the occurences of damage are less frequent, and usually minor enough you don't have to do anything.

Warning: Borers are common in Flowering Crab, Fruit Apple Trees, Mountain Ash, and Peking Cotoneaster. They can kill. Look for weak growth and holes near the ground in the trunks...

Borers are beetles that lay eggs in tree trunks. The larvae bore their way around under the bark, eating bark and wood tissue until they mature and leave via a round, pencil-sized hole. Several larvae feeding on one small tree may kill it during one or two seasons. Symptoms are first noticed as reduced vigour of the tree. The exit holes with 'sawdust' in them are a sure sign. In our area, borers attack flowering crabs, peking cotoneaster, and mountain ash. Look for the holes within 6" of the ground. Rotenone dusted onto the trunk bases is one organic control. Or spraying Safer's Trounce into the holes may kill them. Poking a wire up the holes may work. Trees can recover from moderate damage ok.

GARDENING TIPS

Gardening Tip #1 The Dwarf Alberta Spruce came through the winter of 2007 with fair browning . The brown is from dehydration that happens in cold winters when the root system is in solid frozen ground, and can't keep the foliage supplied with moisture. Although the foliage is dormant, it still releases a small amount of moisture every day, and in sunny windy weather, that adds up.The good news is that during June's flush of new growth, the brown will get replaced by new green needles in most cases.

	Gardening Tip #2 This beautiful chiffon yellow lily finally produced its first flower in my pond this summer, after being planted for over a year, maybe two (I can't remember!) My point is, you have to be patient with lilies, like many other plants, to wait for them to establish a fair sized root system and bulk before they can attempt to make flowers. I strongly suggest permanently planting water lilies onto the rubber liner on the bottom, then covering the root mass with beach stone. The roots will then creep over the liner under the stones, getting nourishment from the sediment.
	Gardening Tip #3 If the deer grazing your tulips becomes unbearable, don't forget the other main bulb that they don't even touch- Daffodils. These cheery yellow flowers also multiply and last for years, which tulips generally don't do. If you really want to have tulips in the deer zone, try mixing them in with daffodils. That makes it a little less desirable for the deer. Blood meal sprinkled on the ground around them helps too. Plantskydd is the new product you spray on with the strong smell of blood to keep deer away. Use it weekly in heavy deer areas.
	Gardening Tip #4 Remember to plant natural groupings of perennials, rather than just singles of everything. The group looks more relaxed, and shows up from a distance. If groups of 3, 4, 5, or more are generally used, instead of a hodgepodge of mixed singles, the bed will have a calmer, more appealing look. It also makes life a little easier for the gardener. It's easy to make these groupings or 'drifts' of perennials this time of year when you are dividing large clumps anyway.
	Gardening Tip #5 Don't use inflexible materials to tie around tree trunks and branches, as when the trunks thicken as they grow, they will cut off their own circulation, and eventually die above the tie!
	Gardening Tip #6 This little guy showed up in the small pond outside my back door in early Oct., maybe looking for a place to spend the winter. He could do worse, as I keep it gently heated so it doesn't ice over for the gold fish. A pond can be kept open if during construction you place a gutter heater cable under the rubber liner, keeping the thermostat above the pond out in the open. Make sure the cable doesnt cross itself. I have had luck with 400 watt models on small ponds.