IN THIS ISSUE: What makes a good gardener? Annual Success: The All-Stars for 2003
Benesto Garden Clogs Reader's Q & A

After such a harsh winter, we’re pleased to find fewer plant casualties in the garden than we expected. Spring so far has been quite cool and wet – absolutely perfect for a nice, long bulb display.

Our store events have been very successful this season, especially the Great Garden Getaway that featured a ‘great’ line up of speakers. We met the lucky couple that won this luxurious weekend package in a contest sponsored by The Copper Leaf, Gardening Life magazine and Inn On The Twenty. It really was “great food and wine, great people and gardens.” We received a number of requests from participants to offer this event again in the future.

Looking ahead to the month of June, The Copper Leaf is offering events on three consecutive Saturdays: June 7th - The Good Earth Potager: build your own herb planter over lunch in a potager garden, June 14th - Living Wreath Workshop: create your own wreath of succulent plants, and June 21st - The New Perennial Gardening Guide: local author John Valleau will be signing his latest (fourth) edition of his popular resource book. If you can't make this date, John will be back at The Copper Leaf for a second book signing on July 26th. For more details on these and other upcoming events please peruse our 2003 calendar.

In this issue, Anne Van Nest outlines the makings of a good gardener, guest columnist Mike Pascoe shares this year’s annual “all stars”, and our staff gardeners profile Benesto garden clogs as well as answer a good question from an In Leaf subscriber.

Thanks for tuning in, now let’s all get back in the garden!

Sincerely,

Michael Schmahl
Editor-In-Leaf

What makes a good gardener?

The qualities of a good gardener are a bit like making a favourite fruitcake recipe. The type imagined is the one that takes half the grocery store and involves days to make it from scratch. By mixing many small ingredients together an entirely different product is achieved. Gardeners are like this too. Their personalities are made up of lots of smaller positive qualities that when combined form the essence of a gardener. Like good fruitcake, sometimes it just takes some time to "cure" (and a little flavouring helps too) before a gardener really becomes a great gardener.

Whatever the skill level, gardening often changes a person into something better. Gardening does have a positive effect on people. Many studies have shown that being around plants lowers the blood pressure and calms the nerves. Except for dealing with a wisteria that refuses to bloom after seven years of vigorous growth, the physical activity and emotional healing experienced while gardening will have a positive effect.

What are the qualities that make a good gardener? A love of plants is expected but often a love of all living things prevails. Gardeners often have a kind heart for birds, animals, and small children in addition to their love of plants. Gardeners by nature seem to be nurturers and caring people. Accepting the responsibility of caring for plants (animals and birds) makes us nurturers at heart. How can we help not being this way?

One of the most important qualities needed to be a good gardener, and what sets our pastime apart from many others, is a good old-fashioned dose of patience. Patience is a fleeting virtue among the "need it now", instant gratification world. Luckily patience is not a vanishing quality among gardeners. Gardeners have shown lots of patience when they spend two years looking at an algae covered pot of soil while hoping that the cold and heat treatments would get the finicky seed to grow. Even growing relatively fast crops like tomatoes are an undertaking of four to six weeks before they can be put outside in the garden. The anticipation of biting into that first ripe tomato teaches patience.

Connected with patience is a strong determination among gardeners to see a project through to the end or at least until the plant flowered. Orchid growers are especially determined gardeners. They buy the tiniest plants and through sheer determination, raise them to flowering stage years later. Luckily a lot of orchids bloom for weeks so that these gardeners can savour their achievement for a long time.

Along with the sheer determination needed to train plants in an espalier form against a wall or trim bonsai with mini-shears, gardeners often have stamina. Stamina is different than determination. Determination and perseverance requires will power and drive. Stamina takes both of this plus physical endurance. Stamina is spending an afternoon edging the entire driveway with a manual lawn edger (without many complaints) and then digging out the dandelions from the lawn.

A gardener with a sense of purpose is one with a vision. Having a vision and being able to picture the anticipated end result is a valuable quality that will eliminate lots of unnecessary frustration. A vision is the roadmap to follow when creating the garden. Gardeners should have a clear vision when they set out to create their botanical statement. This anticipated picture may change somewhat between the start and finish but it is key to success.

Being creative is the fun part of creating the vision. Gardeners are continually showing their creativity with new plant combinations and innovative accessories for the garden. Letting the creative ideas flow freely brings out some amazing results. Ingenuity is frequently linked with creativity. This ability to make do with whatever is nearby is also a trait that is particularly strong in gardeners. There are always makeshift trellises for the climbing beans, temporary compost piles or a new way to stake tomatoes (with hockey sticks?) showing this ingenuity in gardeners.

Gardeners are a very reliable and dedicated group given the unforgiving nature of their charges. Anyone growing seedlings, bonsai, or hanging baskets is destined to be reliable when plant care is involved (or they won't be growing for long). Getting water to a parched plant is crucial or they cease to exist. The more reliable the gardener the better gardener they will be. Wouldn't this be a great way to teach this skill to young children?

Given the unpredictability of the weather, gardeners had better have a good sense of humour. Marble size hail dropping from the sky and shredding the leaves of hosta, cannas or bananas is not a sight for the uptight. Mother nature likes to play tricks so gardeners have to learn to live with it. For other challenges, like the dog rolling over a prized delphinium and snapping it off at the ground, the healthiest response is the grin-and-bear-it one. Even if this plant was the one that was started from seeds that came all the way from England.

Being forgiving goes along with having a sense of humour. When a treasured plant dies, the garden does not cease to exist. Good gardeners have a forgiving nature that allows them to look at the opportunities present and start anew. Plant life and death situations in the garden are a frequent occurrence that cannot be avoided.

Gardeners always have intimate knowledge of Canada's favourite subject. Gardeners are keenly aware of the weather because it affects their gardening life. This interest in weather allows gardeners to strike up a conversation anywhere with other gardeners. Sometimes a conversation with a new gardener friend will even result in plants exchanging hands. Gardeners are also very willing to share their plants with others. Sending a part of ones garden home with an admirer is a tradition that goes back to pioneer days in Canada. Gardeners are a generous lot.

Lastly, gardeners have a love for plants, flower and nature that gives them an appreciation for the finer things in life.

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.

Annual Success: The All-Stars for 2003

I started my gardening career with an annual, I clearly remember that plant, a yellow Pocket Book Calceolaria, It lasted a mere couple of weeks, even in the cool damp of the Cornish summer, it was smothered with attention; I realize now too much, and promptly gave up life much to my dismay: I was only six. A month ago I sowed a package of Calceolaria in the college greenhouse in anticipation of great things, the same story told to my senior students of how this annual introduced me to a career that I have been practicising for over fifteen years. They as I once did, monitor the seedlings progress daily and much to their and my dismay, the young Calceolaria plants are a pathetic bunch; I have too conclude that they must be a difficult plant and are best relegated to the expert touch, which I as a professional in the eyes of the Calceolaria obviously do not have.

The search for the new and entertaining plants is always a challenge for the gardener today, to be the first to have that unique specimen, and especially if it is a plant that is effortless to grow is an age-old pursuit of the dedicated gardener fostered by generations before us. The ‘annual’ scene was once passé, it was the fools that planted Marigolds and Petunias, Cosmos and Portulacca; the refined and knowledgeable individual pursued the perennial, the tree and shrub with passion and dedication, however for the last several years annuals have been the conductors of the garden symphony, the statesman that hold court in all their finery grace pot, patio and even planting bed with unblemished abandoned. We have come full circle and are now replanting what our Victorian forefathers once called bedding out, Tropicalissmo is the catch phrase, plantings reinforced with exotic Cannas, Coleus and Potato Vine are the expected concert of the dedicated and knowledgeable gardener.

To add to that exotic flair of that bygone era this year consider some of the winners from the All America Selection (AAS) trial gardens, new annuals that have proven performance across the United States and Canada. AAS winners are independently trialed throughout North America and are rated by an expert panel of Judges for characteristics such as earliness, bloom period, disease and pest tolerance, novel colours, flower forms, and overall performance. Only varieties receiving an outstanding rating from the judges are given the designation as an AAS winner.

There were twelve winners this year, ten flowers and two vegetables, being a self proclaimed connoisseur of annuals I decided to refine the selection even further for you and having total disregard for vegetables (I have friends who are passionate and generous vegetable gardeners) I decided to limit my evaluations to four of the best of the best.

Rudbeckia hirta ‘Prairie Sun’, with flower form typical to members of its clan it is the unique colour, a combination of gold and primrose and a lime green central cone that distinguish it from similar cultivars such as ‘Irish Eyes’ and ‘Indian Summer’. ‘Prairie Sun’ flowers prolifically from about late June until hard frosts claim the garden and although it may survive a mild winter it is best treated as an annual. Reaching a height of 36 “ it may be combined to full effect with ornamental grass such as Helictotrochen, Calamagrostris and Miscanthus, while plants such as Perovskia and Blue Mist Spiraea are regal companions for that sunny border planting.

I have never been a fan of Petunias, I considered the plant uncultured and unsophisticated, much like the brash, overbearing guest someone brings to your party. The ‘Calypso’ series we all try to forget, those red and white-stripped affairs that looked like they came from the circus have given this plant the reputation of the clown of the garden. Nowadays, however the Petunia has redeemed itself, new varieties with smaller flowers and subtle shades refurbish a sense of regality to this poor plant. Two worthy of consideration this year are Petunia ‘Merlin Blue Morn’ and Blue Wave’.

‘Merlin Blue Morn’ is a pale blue, large flowered Petunia with a white center, quite unique in the world of Petunias since most are singled coloured. ‘Merlin Blue Morn’ is best suited to hanging baskets and planters where it will have some benefit of a sheer drop to display its finery. Combine this plant with perennials such as Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’ and Artemesia ‘Powis Castle’ for stellar patio pots. In baskets you might consider growing it with Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’ the golden form of Creeping Jenny and Lamiastrum ‘Herman’s Pride’, the Yellow Archangel.

Petunia ‘Blue Wave’, blue is a cool colour in the garden proclaiming a sense of restfulness and calm and alluding to depth. ‘Blue Wave’ a vigorous cultivar of the popular Wave series expands over 1 meter in area and can be used to full effect around the edges of perennial plantings and in pots to create that calming effect. Consider it at the far corners of small gardens to create depth or around patios to mollify those sultry summer evenings with its cool tones. Be aware, since it is a vigorous grower it also does have an appetite and when blooms decrease it should be fed with a common annual fertilizer, ideally a slow release formulation.

The star this year, the gold medal recipient, the highest honour an annual plant can receive in the AAS is ‘Purple Majesty’ Ornamental millet, Pennisetum glaucum ‘Purple Majesty’. Millet to me is akin to growing corn in the garden and I trialed this plant last year with some trepidation, however, it was a showstopper, and inevitably once a week someone would ask what that plant was on my corner lot. Growing to about 2m in height and forming a clump of 75cm in breadth, ‘Purple Majesty’ is the punctuation point in the garden. I planted my group with a Golden Elderberry backdrop in the mixed border where it held court in its purple finery the entire season, I may try some Golden Lemon Balm, Melissa officinalis ‘All Gold’ this year at the base of ‘Purple Majesty’ since it seems to need a strong anchor. Thriving in the hot dry summer this plant is not for the timid soul, it is vocal, proud and domineering and is not to everyone’s tastes, but since we all strive for that special plant ‘Purple Majesty’ may be the charge de’affair that our gardens lack.

The full compliment of winners are displayed along with past AAS recipients in AAS designated display gardens such as the Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington, Centennial Park Conservatory, Etobicoke, Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens, Niagara, The Humber Arboretum, Rexdale. For a full listing of sites across Canada and the United States visit the AAS website at www.all-americaselections.org.

Mike Pascoe is a graduate of the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture and the Coordinator of Fanshawe College's Horticulture Technician / Landscape Design program. Mike is also the owner of Kernow Gardens, a garden design and consultation firm that has been recognized by the Perennial Plant Association.

This past March, after speaking at The Copper Leaf’s Great Garden Getaway, Marjorie Harris quietly purchased a red pair of Benesto clogs just as she was heading back to Toronto. Marjorie featured these clogs in the Saturday, May 17, 2003 edition of The Globe and Mail. She wrote, “All the colours these Benesto garden clogs come in are great, but the bright red is especially saucy. They are not only inexpensive, but are actually comfortable, which can’t be said for many other garden clog-type shoes. These anchor the foot so you don’t feel as if you’ll fall off and twist an ankle. And they’re cheap enough that you can have one pair for the front door and one for the back.” The Copper Leaf received numerous orders by phone and e-mail, literally from coast to coast - from British Columbia to Nova Scotia as well as Saskatchewan, Alberta and all corners of Ontario.

We profiled the original Benesto garden clogs in the Fall 2000 issue of In Leaf. Benesto now offers an improved clog with inner cork soles. Made in Italy, they are constructed of lightweight rubber that is both durable and washable. Easy to slip in and out of, not only are they great for the garden – they’re ideal for barbequing, washing the car, taking out the garbage or walking the dog. They are colourful, comfortable and just plain fun to wear!

Benesto garden clogs come in a variety of colours and sizes at a price of $39.95 a pair.