At least for this year, May is the new April. With prolonged cold spring temperatures and a harsh winter that left behind extra cleanup to be done, I鈥檓 about a month behind in my spring gardening routines of tidying, soil preparation, and planting.
It鈥檚 not a comfortable feeling. Maybe the stress of overload could be alleviated by mind games like tuning into tired but apt cliches: Roll with the punches. Lighten up. Live in the moment.
I鈥檝e decided, on this Mother鈥檚 Day weekend, to ponder thoughts of children, adult responsibilities, and a plaque I saw recently in a gift store. Its message was something like this: After careful consideration I鈥檝e concluded that this grown-up thing just isn鈥檛 working for me.
It sticks in my mind. How would the mind of a care-free child address a towering stack of work projects? Thinking back to my children鈥檚 early years, I know they would find a way to turn each one into playtime fun. They鈥檇 become entirely absorbed in each project and think only of it. They鈥檇 enjoy each moment.
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Hard-working gardening mothers may be more than ready for a bit of absorbing fun this spring. Here are a few possibilities.
鈥� Coloured potatoes. A notable advantage to the cold spring was the perfect condition of potatoes stored in-ground over the winter and dug in April. Both the red-fleshed and purple-fleshed potatoes were beautiful. They are tasty, and fun to cook. Children (and grandchildren) delight especially in the pinky-mauve mashed potatoes made from one of the purple-fleshed varieties found in garden centres.
鈥� Consider a few decorative or whimsical solar lights for Mom鈥檚 favourite section of the garden.
鈥� Entice her to stop, rest, and enjoy the garden with a reclining lawn chair or hammock.
鈥� Cherished plants. Rose bushes are popular and well loved Mother鈥檚 Day plants. Check labels carefully and look for her favourite flower colours and notes on fragrance if that is important to her. Another popular gift plant in May is rock daphne, a neat, compact evergreen usually in full, fragrant bloom around Mother鈥檚 Day.
鈥� Long term indoor flowers. For an easy-care house plant that blooms over a lengthy period and is easily duplicated and renewed, look among the Rieger begonias. I鈥檝e had plants, bought in the fall, flower all winter and into late the following spring. Cuttings root easily, and when the parent plant does finish flowering it can be cut听back to around eight centimetres, repotted, and allowed to regrow.
鈥� The unusuals. At garden centres and farmers鈥� market plant stalls there are often unexpected treasures to be found for passing on as gifts. My most recent, pre-Mother鈥檚 Day, 鈥渇ind鈥� is a gorgeous epimedium (barrenwort, bishop鈥檚 hat) with red-edged leaves and dark rose flowers. It鈥檚 called 鈥楽weetheart.鈥�
Epimeniums thrive reliably, once established, in dry conditions and part shade. All have ornamental foliage, which I cut down in late winter. Spring flowers, like miniature columbines, emerge with the new leaves.
I spotted Sweetheart at a plant stall at my community farmers鈥� market. The grower had two of the plants. One was in the process of being sold. I snapped up the other.
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GARDEN EVENTS
Workshops at HCP. The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich, is offering the following workshops on Saturday, May 20. Register by calling 250-479-6162. hcp.ca.
鈥� The Art of Bonsai: Root Cuttings, 9听a.m. to 12 p.m. Learn how to control roots by trimming and using different types of soil. Workshop includes an Asian style shallow pot. HCP members $60, others $70.
鈥� The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Wild Edibles, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Learn how to identify, harvest, and use healthy edible and medicinal plants that grow all around us. Take home recipes and enjoy a听wild edible meal prepared during class. Members $45, others $50.
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Tomato Day at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific is Saturday, May听20, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Sale of organically grown tomatoes and vegetable transplants.
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Flower show entries. The Mill Bay Garden Club invites entries from the public at its Flower and Garden Show on听May 27. If you wish to enter any of听the 80 competition classes, pick up a听program with a list of the classes and rules at Buckerfield鈥檚, Thrifty Foods, Country Grocer, Valley Vines to Wines, or听Dinter鈥檚 Nursery. Or download from milllbaygardenclub.com or email [email protected]. Another option: call 250-743-9875.