IN THIS ISSUE: Blooming Beauties Bringing Spring In
A Lakeside Garden Leafy Slug Pots Readers Q & A

In January I began a magical adventure as an advanced horticultural intern at Walt Disney World. My internship was interrupted when the U.S. Immigration Department required additional paperwork to be processed. I still have an apartment at Chatham Square on Disney property and we are presently negotiating my return to complete this extraordinary program. I'll share some of my experiences in future issues of In Leaf. For now, let me provide some facts and figures to give you an idea of the sheer magnitude of Disney's wonderful world of horticulture.

	30,500 acres, or 47 square miles, is the size of Walt Disney World property
	over 650 horticultural staff (plus 55,000 cast members!)
	3,000,000 annual flowers planted each year
	2,000,000 shrubs maintained in the landscape
	6,000 trees planted every year
	2,400 plant species represented, from every continent except Antarctica
	4,000 acres of landscapes and gardens - which amounts to 3 football fields!
	2,000 acres of turf - at three mowings a week, thats 450,000 mower miles per year,
	or 18 trips around the Earth!
	13,000 roses - the roses of Epcot alone require over 400 hours of deadheading a year!
	5,000 hanging baskets produced per year
	8,500 interior plants used each year
	200 world famous character topiary, some over 10 feet tall!
	1,250,000 beneficial insects released every year
	2 mice!

No wonder Disney horticulturists can often be heard singing, "Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's Off To Work We Go!" Perhaps after pondering these overwhelming statistics, your garden may not seem as much work to maintain anymore! I know mine won't. Have a great season.

Sincerely,

Michael Schmahl
Editor-In-Leaf

Blooming Beauties

Who's the sweetheart of the flowering plant world? Pansies for sure are one of the most favourite of the blooming beauties. Their round, brightly coloured blooms are like little smiling faces in the garden. It seems like pansies have the ability to bring contagious cheer and joy to garden visitors.

What's the difference between pansies and violas? Botanically, they are both known as viola, but common usage dictates that there is a difference. Pansies are the plants with larger flowers that could have blooms up to 10 cm in diameter. Pansies have a more rounded bloom with five equally sized petals. Violas, in contrast, have smaller (about 2.5 cm) flowers, but each plant has more blooms. The flowers of violas have 5 lopsided petals. Three small petals are on the bottom of the flower and two larger petals are at the top. Violas often will have better overwintering abilities and have better heat tolerance than pansies. Viola plants are also more compact and might self-seed more readily.

Plant breeders in their quest to create something new were not satisfied with the two distinct groups mentioned previously. They decided to play around with crosses between pansies and violas. The resulting breeding has created a group called mini pansies or small flowered pansies. These are small flowered plants that look like violas, but have a rounded pansy flower shape. This blending of pansy and viola characteristics gave rise to this new group with excellent overwintering abilities and heat tolerance.

A love of pansies spans the world. In cool climates, pansies offer versatility and year round colour. This has made them the 2nd biggest seller in the plant world (behind impatiens). One of the benefits of pansies is the vast selection of colours available. In England the most popular group of pansy has twenty-seven colours. This overwhelming number of colours is just one of the improvements of modern pansies. Pansies today have more flowers, earlier blooms and plants that are more compact. Another reason to love pansies is for their many uses. They can be used as pressed flowers to decorate cards, window ornaments, picture frames, lamp shades, candles and many other objects. Pansies can also be used as edible flowers. The smaller flowering violas are especially prized for decorating cakes. In the garden, some white and blue flowering violas also have the benefit of being sweetly scented.

Our modern day pansies had their beginnings back in England around 1815. Much of the credit for their introduction has been given to William Thompson, Lord Gambier's gardener in Buckinghamshire. Thompson started to work with the little multicoloured viola called Johnny Jump Up. He wanted to improve them by increasing their size and colour range. He also wanted to produce flowers that did not have long stems. Other violas were used for cross breeding and by 1850 many new colours were available to European and British gardeners. The familiar face or blotch found on many modern pansy flowers was a chance seedling that appeared in a neglected corner of Thompson's garden domain. He immediately realized the potential of this flower and started breeding pansies with faces. Today, darker blotches in the centre of many pansies add to their charm. By the early 1870's pansies were a popular florist flower. By 1910, pansies and violas were being used in the garden. Large, showy F1 hybrids started to appear in the late 1950's and 1960's. Today, breeding has focused on increasing the quality of plants so that they have good vigour, heat tolerance and are free flowering. There are over 300 cultivars available world wide today. Their colours range from red, purple, blue, apricot, orange, lavender, white, yellow, pink, bronze, black (some people say that the black pansy is the closest to black that there is in a flower) and mahogany. Today the largest breeding programs are in Holland, Japan, and the United States. A goal for the future is to put more ruffles on flowers and to increase the winter blooming abilities of pansies. Pansies should be allowed to dry slightly between waterings but never to let them totally wilt. If pansies are left to dry too much, the open flowers will wither and the leaves could become damaged. Gardeners should also be cautioned about overwatering too. Soggy soil that is waterlogged will damage roots and lead to plants that turn yellow and die. Overwatering can cause wilting just as easily as underwatering. Warm temperatures and dry soils can also cause pansies to decline.

Gardeners who are buying pansies should look for plants that are not stretched. The plants should be a healthy medium green colour and no soil should be showing in the cell pack. The plant should be a good size and fill the entire cell. Vigorous plants will have well formed flowers and flower buds ready to open.

The old-fashioned favourite called Johnny Jump Ups is correctly known as Viola tricolor. This is the original pansy parent even though it was a weed at the time infesting European cornfields. This three-coloured viola has a yellow lip, white wings and purple upper petals with fine dark whisker lines converging on the centre. It is also called Hearts ease or Love-in-idleness by some gardeners. Johnny Jump Ups are smaller plants with smaller (2.5 cm) flowers. Their beautiful cheery faces are virtually unchanged after several centuries. These plants are hardy to zone three and are ideal for a partly shaded, moist area. Some plants will tolerate a little more sun and partial drought too. In a good location it will self-seed itself, but these seedlings are easy to remove from unwanted garden locations. They are not easy to remove from the lawn unfortunately. These spring blooming plants are great for filling any empty spaces between rock garden plants, perennials or used as a low groundcover for a damp, shady spot. Johnny Jump Ups will sometimes act like an annual, biennial or a perennial in the garden. The severity of the winter and suitability of the environment will determine how the plants will act. Trim them in early summer to keep them less straggly and contained to their ultimate 15 cm height.

Whether pansies, violas or Johnny Jump Ups are grown, all offer a bright splash of colour for the springtime garden.

Anne Marie Van Nest is a graduate of the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture, where today she is also an instructor. Anne is a member of the Garden Writers Association of America and the garden columnist for The St. Catharines Standard.

Bringing Spring In

Spring flowering shrubs and trees can be admired earlier than you may think by bringing them indoors and causing them to bloom with a technique known as forcing. Forcing allows us to cheer spring along that much sooner, and it also provides an exciting homegrown addition to floral design.

Plants that are the most successful for forcing are those which bloom in early spring. They are the plants that form flower buds the previous fall, such as: Crataegus spp. (Hawthorn), Forsythia spp., Malus spp. (Crabapple), Philadelphus spp. (Mockorange), Prunus spp. (Cherry) and Pyrus spp. (Pear). In order to flourish, these plants require at least eight weeks of cold weather (below 40 F) outside. After this time frame they are ready to break their dormancy, and simply by taking branches inside you'll mimic warmer spring conditions, which fools the plant into thinking it's time to bloom!

Carefully prune the selected branches, being sure not to disrupt the plant's natural form. The goal of pruning is to ensure that your cuts are not noticeable to the naked eye, since unsightly pruning cuts can really detract from a well maintained garden. Choose healthy looking branches of a good length and shape that you can picture displayed in your home or desired location. Avoid extremely thick branches because they usually do not produce the same quantity of blossoms that younger twigs do. Look for branches that have lots of flower buds (which can be differentiated from leaf buds because flower buds are larger).While it is true that pruning spring flowering shrubs and trees at this time will lessen the blossom count, this sacrifice is definitely worthwhile due to the refreshing atmosphere forcing creates indoors.

Once cut, the branches should be brought directly indoors and placed in water immediately. Submerge the entire stems into your bathtub or a large basin which will help simulate the moisture of spring. If a tub or basin is not practical for you, try soaking pieces of burlap in water and gently cover the stems. The branches will need to be submerged overnight and then placed in a bucket of water which will need to be changed regularly. The temperature required to force the stems is about 60 F. This is rather cool, but it is necessary because warmer temperatures may cause the buds to develop unevenly or too quickly. The branches will require occasional misting in order to sustain an ideal humidity level. Once they begin to show colour (which will take between 2 to 5 weeks depending on the variety) you may wish to display them in a decorative container and a warmer location. Keep in mind that the warmer the environment, the shorter the duration of bloom.

Forcing is an easy gardening project that can be accomplished by almost anyone, anywhere! Recently I had the opportunity to force a couple varieties myself and I was rewarded with outstanding beauty and fragrance. Join me in bringing a bit of spring indoors!

Emily Godfree is a graduate of the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture and radio host of 1220 CHSC's Saturday morning garden show. Emily has worked on Mark Cullen's HGTV series and she has interned at the acclaimed gardens of Langdon Hall in Blair, Ontario. Although this is our guest gardener's column, Emily is now on staff at The Copper Leaf.

A Lakeside Garden

If you're lucky enough to have a cottage, with a tranquil garden, less than half an hour from your home, as one of our clients do, then spending time at the cottage becomes a reality rather than a planned, hours-long trek through weekend traffic. Their cottage, on the outskirts of St. Catharines, is set against the backdrop of Lake Ontario, an easy drive from their home, and is used year-round, both indoors and out.

The garden was designed to take advantage of the lake view, providing picture-perfect vistas of the water and many opportunities to sit and watch the lake's activity. A cedar stairway leads down from the cottage on a rise above the lake to the lower deck where you can watch fish jump at sunset and seagulls wheel overhead. The lower garden can be seen from the cottage balcony and gazebo. Loose arrangements of ornamental grasses sway in the winds of all seasons, framing the sunsets over the lake. Bold drifts of perennials, chosen for effective erosion control as well as bursts of colour, texture and foliage, are attractive year-round and birds, bees and butterflies are common visitors.

You could almost believe the garden overlooks the ocean instead of lake Ontario, with the thick marine rope railing of the cedar deck, and dune-like Fountain, Plume and Feather Reed grasses. Gravel, rather than sand, surrounds clustered plantings of Coneflower, Catmint and Russian sage in the lower garden, a contrast to the more formal garden above which outlines a neat lawn. Limestone boulders add structural punch and sitting area around the fire pit near the breakwall that holds the property back from the lake.

Because it is used so often, our client's cottage garden was designed to be multi-functional. Plant combinations provide pleasing color and texture, while the garden is organized to provide room for the many activities that go on here. The shelter of a gazebo is used as much for blocking the sun as for enjoying the outdoors on rainy days. The fire pit, a favorite of their grandchildren, is for roasting marshmallows and when no youngsters are afoot, for simply gazing at the fire, enjoying its music and appreciating the night (there's also plenty of premium stargazing space).

This cottage and garden provide the perfect getaway and a chance to enjoy lakeside living year round. A casual, friendly atmosphere is created by the many "rooms" of this garden and is enhanced by the moods of the lake, sometimes active with boats or waves, sometimes quiet and peaceful - everything a cottage should be.

Doug Glancy is a graduate of the Fanshawe Landscape Design Program and has studied under world-renowned British garden designer John Brookes. Doug is the staff garden designer of The Copper Leaf and Outdoor Images Landscape Services.

Place in the garden. Fill with beer. Watch those slugs disappear!

Leafy Slug Pots are a great new garden idea. Simply fill these mushroom-like stone pots with beer (that you can part with!) and strategically place beside your precious garden greenery - namely your veggie, Hosta or Calla Lily patch. The pots remain, looking not only perfectly innocent, but right at home, attracting and eradicating the bane of your life....slugs.

These leafy pots are quite practical - they'll get even with your garden slugs in no time at all. As an added bonus, they are also very appealing in a worn alabaster color with a leaf impression on the lid. Choose from six leafy designs: dandelion, fern, juniper, maple, blackberry or parsley. Made in Canada, these pots are 4 1/4" diameter by 1 1/2" high.

Leafy Slug Pots -- $11.95 each.

Laura Yates is a graduate of the horticultural program at Niagara College and is a staff horticulturist at The Copper Leaf.