A small episode in the garden two weeks ago served as a pointed and timely reminder to curb the plant lust that surges mightily with the arrival of the new seed and garden catalogues.
Those catalogues, with their alluring photos and rhapsodic descriptions, are the sultry-eyed tempters of the gardening world, luring those of us addicted to horticultural adventuring into acquiring far more seeds and plants than we can realistically manage to plant, care for and monitor.
It was my gardening friend Daphne who brought to light an example of my personal excesses in this regard. Ever the eagle-eyed observer, she spotted an almost-black, pincushion type flower near the zinnias, cosmos and marigolds in a bed along the front fence. I did not recall planting it and we couldn鈥檛 find a plant label for identifying the flower.
Puzzled, I turned to my record of seed and plant purchases made early in the year and found an annual scabiosa (pincushion flower) among the few items I鈥檇 ordered from Chiltern Seeds in Oxfordshire, England. The forgotten flower, Scabiosa atropurpurea 鈥楤urgundy Beau,鈥� was a听new listing in the Chiltern catalogue this year, pictured on听the inside front cover and described as a 鈥渟tunning鈥� flower in a 鈥渟urprising and unusual luxurious deep purple.鈥�
Descriptions I鈥檝e found elsewhere of 鈥楤urgundy Beau鈥� include terms like 鈥渉ugely floriferous,鈥� 鈥渓ong-flowering,鈥� and bearing 鈥渂lack currant coloured pincushion blooms on wiry stems through the summer.鈥� Too bad I missed it, until the season鈥檚 ending. Classic case of self-inflicted overload. Still, it鈥檚 a reminder to keep plantings to realistically manageable levels in next year鈥檚 garden.
鈥楤urgundy Beau鈥� will be worth growing again. (I have seeds left from this year鈥檚 order.) Even in the second week in November, the last few blooms were in remarkably lovely condition.
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Virgin birth and zucchini. One of last month鈥檚 columns dealt with zucchini plants producing few female flowers. The result: almost no fruits. That question was one of many about unproductive zucchini plantings last summer.
I offered various explanations and ideas on improving the situation next year, but there was one possible solution I didn鈥檛 think to include.
Enter Faye, from Russell Nursery in North Saanich. She wrote to point out a zucchini variety that she grows exclusively now, 鈥済etting more than enough fruit on even one plant for two people. This year I had two plants and could barely keep up with the quantity of delicious, dark green zucchinis.
鈥淚 always order a large packet of these seeds, start them, and sell the starts at Russell Nursery in the spring.鈥� The magic zucchini variety is Partenon, available from William Dam Seeds in Ontario (also Johnny鈥檚 Selected Seeds in Maine).
What makes Partenon so productive? It鈥檚 a 鈥減arthenocarpic鈥� zucchini, which means the plants bear all female flowers that produce fruit without fertilization of the flowers鈥� ovules by pollen; that is, they do not require pollination to fruit and they don鈥檛 produce seeds unless pollinated. Seeds may appear in the fruits late in听the season.
The word parthenocarpic is derived from the Greek words for maid, or virgin, and fruit. Partenon zucchinis are 鈥渧irgin fruit.鈥� Parthenogenesis means 鈥渂orn of a maiden鈥� or 鈥渧irgin birth.鈥�
Plants that have mostly female flowers for increased production are termed gynoecious, a word derived from the Greek woman and house.
Cucumbers, like zucchinis, grow on plants that almost always have both male and female flowers on the same plant 鈥� except for parthenocarpic varieties. An example of a parthenocarpic cucumber is Sweet Success, for many years my earliest and most productive cucumber variety. As with Partenon zucchini, Sweet Success cucumber plants bear female flowers that don鈥檛 need pollination to produce fruit.
Like Partenon, Sweet Success is available from William Dam Seeds. Visit their website, dam seeds.ca, to request a catalogue.
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Garden Event
Orchid meeting. The Victoria Orchid Society meets Monday, 7:30 p.m., in听Gordon Head United Church Hall, 4201 Tyndall Ave. Sasha Kubicek will speak about New Zealand orchids. Sasha is an orchid grower who has travelled to many parts of the world on orchid expeditions. An avid hiker and climber, he has gone to areas that are out of reach to many in order to view orchids in their natural habitats.