 |
| Marjorie Mason |
“Really
Cool Plants” was the topic of Marjorie Mason’s presentation at the May meeting
of the Tweed and District Horticultural
Society. Her power point presentation showed members the “cool” plants for
2014! After this long cold winter, the audience was eager to hear about the
newest plants and even more excited to be able to purchase plants that she had
brought from the from the Mason House Gardens greenhouses.
Throughout
her presentation, Marjorie gave little snipits of information about gardening.
The trend now is that foliage is more important than the actual flowers on
plants!
Tender plants, like the coleus family need to be acclimatized
slowly to the outdoors…especially this year with the very cool or should we say
cold spring we have been experiencing.
Did
you know that dahlia tubers can be eaten…why not
try substituting these tubers in place of zucchini…. instead of zucchini loaf
you can bake a dahlia loaf!!!
Impatiens…..SHOULD NOT BE GROWN THIS YEAR!!! Even Mark
Cullen has said that growers should not be growing the bedding impatiens (the
ones we buy by the flat for instant garden colour). Why?? The only way to get
rid of the Impatiens Downy Mildew
disease is to stop growing the plant until this disease has disappeared…the New
Guinea impatiens do not carry the disease. Marjorie suggested using begonias,
dragon wing begonias and spider plants
in place of the impatiens…and her photos certainly proved that these plants are
equally as appealing as the impatiens...if not more so!
Another tip….elephant ears and cana lilies make a
dynamite combination together.
For bird lovers…plant Wendy’s Wish salvia that blooms
all summer and attracts hummingbirds.
2014 plant of the year….Panicum Northwind… an outstanding
grass perennial!
Allium Millennium…blooms in summer (how exciting is
that) and the foliage does not turn that sickly yellow (now that IS exciting)!
TIP….always
open the soil ball of a plant before planning to ensure that the roots will
spread out to get the moisture. This will also cut down on watering!
Audience
members shared their concerns about Echinacea and
the fact that it does not overwinter well.
Again Marjorie had a tip…..the plant needs to develop a “clumping” at
the base of the plant to help with over wintering. To do this, she said that it
is best not to have the Echinacea bloom during the first year…groans could be
heard throughout the audience….so Marjorie had another suggestion….allow just
one bloom, cut it and place it in your favourite vase to admire it and then cut
back the main stem on the plant to promote this clumping….the rewards the
second year will be well worth the wait!!!!
Marjorie
invited the audience to visit her greenhouse at 3520 Regional Rd #1 Brock Road Uxbridge , ON
905-649-3532 info@masonhousegardens.com
COMING
UP….
May
10…Spring
Cleanup of flower beds. Meet at Moira
Garden
May
17…Annual
Plant Sale at Tweed Memorial Park
May 23….10:30
am at the Library….Scarecrow making workshop for children. Participants are
asked to bring in old clothes, hat and accessories to make their scarecrow.
Straw will be supplied.
Please
pre-register at the Library for this event.
May
27...Planting
town planters and flower beds. Meet at empty lot across from ValuMart @ 5:30
pm.
June
3…Hypertufa Workshop starting at 6:30 @ 240 Uens Rd
GENERAL
INTEREST EVENTS…
July
4-6…Tweed Fair. Members are encouraged to bring some of their
planters or flowers to set up a Club display on Saturday at the fair. Set-up is
8 am on July 5th.
July
18-20…OHA
Conference in Cornwall
Posts
