Going back in time for mystery flower; going bold with tomatoes
Anote from Dean sent me scrambling back to the early days of writing this column, when I continued a tradition begun by my father of organizing spring seed offers through the column. Each column describing an offer’s content would have a coupon that, clipped and sent in along with a stamped, self-addressed envelope, would ensure delivery of a packet of seeds.
Dean’s email described a flower that had bloomed and seeded itself in his garden every year from the time he had sent for a floral seed mix. He wanted to know the name of the charmingly simple flower with “small, forget-menot type magenta blooms.” He described it as a nice cut flower, which he valued as a “hardy survivor.”
I scrabbled around a storage closet where I keep clipped columns and found a box of seed-offer files. A search through them uncovered an offer of oldfashioned flowers I’d called “Memory Lane.” In the mixture were several that approximated Dean’s description.
His flower could be Malcomia (Virginia stock) or a Silene (catchfly), but I thought it most likely to be Agrostemma (rose of heaven). He checked the names against photos on the internet and agreed his faithfully selfsowing flower is most like Agrostemma.
Cultivated forms of the wild Agrostemma githago (corn cockle) grow up to 90 cm tall, with willowy stems bearing broadly funnel-shaped, purple-red, white or lilac pink flowers marked by delicate black lines on the petals. Chiltern Seeds lists three cultivated, “cottage garden” forms. Johnny’s Selected Seeds lists a white and a purple variety.
Wild Agrostemma once was a problematic weed in wheat and corn fields because the seeds are poisonous and could harm poultry and cattle, if the crop residues were fed to them. During the 20th century, growth of the weed with crops became uncommon.
Dean’s question took me back to those seed-offer years, and the fun in putting them together and naming them. I called a blend of miniature vegetables “Vita-mins” — a name chosen over a suggested “Nutri-nibbles.”
“Summer Encore” was a blend of everlasting flowers, “Return Engagement” a mix of favourite self-sowing flowers.
In the files, one for each year, are cards and notes from readers, often with photos of the plantings they had grown from the seeds they had sent for. Memory Lane indeed. “Black” tomatoes. As I choose tomato varieties each year, I make a point of including one of the “black” tomatoes, characterized by dark skins and flesh with a full, rich flavour. Many originate in Russia.
Black Krim, a Russian heirloom, is popular for its bold, smoky taste. Visitors to the garden have been impressed with the taste of the Indigo Series tomatoes that began with Indigo Rose and expanded to Indigo Cherry Drops and the larger-fruited Indigo Apple.
Black Plum is a beautiful tomato. The shapely oval fruits are brown and mahogany with dark red flesh that is described an naturally smoky with tropical fruit undertones.
The “black” tomato that I grew this year has been the best of all. Japanese Black Trifele’s name is a puzzle. It’s not Japanese. It’s a Russian tomato. Trifele means truffle. I found the fruits deeply flavouful, as delicious as they are good looking. Seed sources are Seed Savers Exchange and Full Circle Seeds in Sooke.
GARDEN EVENTS
VRS meeting. The Victoria Rhododendron Society will meet on Monday, Oct. 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd., in Saanich. Geoff Ball, executive director of Milner Gardens in Qualicum Beach, will speak about the development of the gardens with a specific focus on the creation of a new species garden. The public is welcome at no charge. Gordon Head meeting. The Gordon Head Garden Club will meet on Monday, Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. in Gordon Head United Church, 4201 Tyndall Ave. Emily Peltier from Cordova Bay Golf Course will speak about “Horticulture at the Golf Course: Vegetables year round.” There will be a parlour show and raffle. Visiting non-members admitted free. VHS meeting. The Victoria Horticultural Society will meet on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Garth Homer Centre, 813 Darwin Ave. Renowned expert Ann Nightingale will speak about fall and winter birds in our backyards and the rarely seen Northern Saw-whet Owl’s migration. The pre-meeting workshop at 6:30 will feature Anastasia Petrou of Oak Bay GardenWorks presenting both old favourite and new house plant varieties to keep green thumbs active during the winter.