Helen Chesnut
Despite overstuffed schedules last month, Vancouver Island gardeners wrote with comments on columns and to offer ideas.
A sampler:
Winter garden gift
Thanks to Sheila Ruffell, who passed along a note about a present that has given her the gift of year-round gardening comfort. “A couple of years ago, at Christmas time, I bought a pair of outdoor workman’s overalls. They are waterproof, warm and comfortable. They have pockets to hold foam for knee pads, and they can be put in the washer without losing their waterproofing. I did have to shorten them quite a bit and they are pricey, but I wouldn’t be without them as they have extended greatly the days I can garden comfortably, year round.”
Sheila’s email brought to mind Daphne, a friend who gardens with me for a few hours every two weeks.
Her intrepid toiling in many different gardens, in all sorts of weather, is made reasonably comfortable by layered clothing underneath moisture-proof overalls topped with a lightweight, hooded waterproof jacket.
Double harvest
A mid-December column that contained information on prompting sprout development on Brussels sprouts plants by removing the top tuft of leaves in early autumn elicited this response from Alan Purton:
“Your mention of the top greenery on Brussels sprouts made me think of a gardening practice of my father’s in the old country during the war. After cutting a cabbage just below the head, he would make a one-inch deep cut across the stump. About two months later he would harvest fresh greens from the stump — a bonus from what otherwise would have been a compost-bin item.”
Alan’s comment reminded me of a wonderful tip I’d seen in one of Linda Gilkeson’s early spring newsletters this year. Once all the sprouts have been harvested, Linda cautions not to remove the stalks from the garden.
“Even if your plants never produced sprouts or if you have harvested them all, the plants will send up a spring crop of shoots from each sprout site. These shoots are tender, tasty and great steamed or in stir-fries.”
This makes Brussels sprouts a uniquely spacethrifty vegetable, with three different crops possible from each plant: the top cluster of leaves in early autumn, the sprouts in late fall and winter and fresh greens in spring.
Hummingbirds again
Gardeners who delight in the presence of hummingbirds in their landscapes, and who grow plants that attract the tiny, fast-moving birds, will be interested in a December email from Andrea:
“I just read your article (on late-season flowers and other fall and winter food sources for hummingbirds). I thought you might be interested to know that our Fatsia japonica was a popular food source for a couple of hummingbirds all through November. Our Fatsia flowers every year in the fall with clusters of fluffy white flowers that turn into attractive dark berries during the winter.”
For those unfamiliar with the plant, Fatsia japonica is a substantial evergreen shrub with large, glossy leaves that are deeply lobed and fanshaped. In fall to winter, the shrub bears many rounded clusters of white flowers followed by small, shiny black berries.
Fatsia is often seen at shaded doorways and on patios. The shrub prefers shade. Direct, hot sun will turn the foliage yellow. The species will grow from 150 to 240 cm tall and wide. There are compact and variegated forms of the plant.
Summer flowers that most effectively attract hummingbirds for feeding are single, and tubular in shape because they hold the most nectar. Red is the favoured bloom colour, though the birds also visit others, such as orange, hot pink and deep blue. Fuchsias are considered the backbone of a hummingbird garden. Hanging in baskets at a window, the plants night ensure a long season of avian entertainment.
GARDEN EVENTS
VRS meeting. The Victoria Rhododendron Society will meet Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Couvelier Pavilion of the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich. Anne Allen and Ian Duncan will present Wildflowers of Switzerland and Austria by Bike. Doors open at 7. Seedy alert. Next weekend, the first Seedy Saturday event of the year will be hosted by Haliburton Community Organic Farm at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Speakers include Bill Jones of Deerholme Farm at 11, on gardening with mushrooms, and Dan Jason of Salt Spring Seeds at 12:30 on ancient grains and seeds, the subject of Dan’s latest book.