The OGC has put out a call to its members to keep in touch with each other and to share our gardening stories through the summer. To that end, I have offered to put together a bit of a garden blog...not sure if it will be useful or interesting...but I am open to write about anything and everything that is gardens, if you would like. I will not be writing on a regular basis, although there is always something happening out there, so I might not be at a loss for words when all is said and done! I will try to answer any questions sent to me, but, again, I am not the most reliable these days, so you will need to be patient!
During this time of uncertainty and fear, we are fortunate, indeed, to have gardens to escape to! Places of healing, of solace, beauty and solitude. What would we do without them?
While there have been cataclysmic changes around us in recent weeks, much stays the same.
Look out at your garden this beautiful early spring morning. The sun still rises in the east and sets in the west, changing its arc ever so slightly from day to day until we work our way back into midsummer, winter, and then cycle back to summer again. The flowers we will have in our gardens this summer more or less emerge in the same order each year. Those first returning birds...robins, turkey vultures, white throated sparrows, red winged blackbirds....they are all fairly regular. And the smell and feel of the garden doesn't change. It is predictable, it is safe, it is calming and powerful. We need our gardens now more than ever before.
If you do nothing more than clean up a few leaves out there today, away from the confines of your home, it will be good for your soul. So get out there as much as possible while staying away from others. Close your eyes and feel that sun or rain or heat or cold on your cheek. And know that, one day, this awful situation, too, will pass.
And the Ottawa Garden Club will go on....let's keep in touch through this difficult time
First Spring Blooms
Which flower blooms first in your garden? For me, there is a yearly competition to get to the starting line. Number one and two are always snowdrops (Galanthus) and winter aconites (Eranthis), but the order changes each year depending on how much snow there is, the heat of the sun, the porosity of the soil, etc.
Eranthis
Most people know snowdrops, those delightful white bells tipped with either green or yellow - so delicate in look, but tough as nails in our hard winters. But very few are familiar with the winter aconites, or Eranthis....small, acid yellow buttercup-flowers surrounded by an Elizabethan ruff of sepals which look like leaves. Every year I see passersby stopping and pointing at them in my garden, not knowing what they are looking at. I should put up a big name tag! They are what I would call 'a controllable invasive'. They will self-seed like crazy if allowed to, and form an amazingly thick carpet of yellow which flows through the garden beds and covers every inch of soil if allowed to do so. But if you don't want that to happen, they can easily be pulled before seed set. Also, your friends and neighbours, and all of those passing by will be thrilled to take some aconites off your hands, and you will be happy to share them so your garden is not overrun!
These little beauties are very well known in England, but not so much here. But they can be purchased through garden catalogues and some local nurseries here in Canada if you search around for them.
Eranthis Buds
Eranthis in bloom
Snowdrops (Galanthus)
I was watching a new episode of Gardener's World yesterday with Monty Don. A wonderful gardener who travels the world in search of interesting plants and gardens...always dressed in linen when he works....you’ll love him! Monty Don had someone on the show who was a galanthophile (Steve Owen), a collecter of snowdrops. He looks after the National Collection in England, which has 1900 different varieties of snowdrops! One of them has no green, one has yellow markings, etc., and yet another is named after Steve Owen. He has waited 17 years to find one he wanted to name after himself. They sell for around £400!
Snowdrops (Galanthus)
Photo taken by Jane Panet
Travel Tip
If you ever find yourself in London, England in very early spring, you must go to the very quirky Chelsea Physic Garden where you will find a ‘snowdrop theatre’ which is used to display samples of their Galanthus.Simply a set of shelves in a decorative cart covered in black velvet, it shows off the simple white blooms to perfection. Many of the bulbs are also sold at that time, although we cannot bring them home, unfortunately.
Galanthus for sale at Chelsea Physic Garden, London, February 1.
Snowdrop Theatre, Chelsea Physic Garden
Shows the garden with the statue of Sir Hans Sloane who owned this property in the 1700’s - interesting link to the British Museum to learn more about him...
https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/sir-hans-sloane
Care Tip
Galanthus grow in clumps and can be readily when ‘in the green’ — after the flowers have faded and before the leaves die back. Just lift the clump and pull apart with your hands and replant in a damp, slightly shady spot under the trees.