Dear Helen: I delight in the peony bushes in my garden, but this year I noticed a few wilted and blacked shoots on two of the plants. Is this a serious problem, and is there a remedy?
T.R.
This is a common disease of peonies, called botrytis blight. The spring of this year brought a lengthy period of the wet conditions that foster the development of botrytis.
It鈥檚 important to cut away infected parts as soon as they are seen. Make the cuts at the base of the affected stem and do not compost the removed material. Then check for congestion and prune away enough leaf stems in the plant鈥檚 centre to facilitate free circulation of air through the plant. In the flowering season, keep peonies harvested of blooms or dead-head promptly.
In the fall, as soon as top growth begins to flag and die back, remove all the stems, preferably just slightly beneath the soil surface. Clean the area and mulch with compost around the plant. Avoid burying the plant crowns, which need to remain shallow (no more than five cm beneath the soil surface) for the plants to bloom well.
To thrive and flower bountifully, peonies need a sunny, open site with a聽deep, fertile, humus-rich soil that drains well of excess moisture and has a pH that is neutral or slightly alkaline. Try to avoid watering overhead, especially late in the day.
Peonies are beloved garden plants whose charm evokes the grace of old world gardens. The plants are incredibly long-lived and need minimal care. They maintain a handsome appearance from spring through early autumn. The flowers, superb for cutting, are large and luscious, in beautiful shades of pink and red, coral, white, and yellow. Many are fragrant.
Dear Helen: In my Oak Bay garden I聽have in the past had no problems growing productive zucchini bushes from purchased transplants; however, for the past two years either the flowers produce no fruit or fruits start to form and then rot.
J.S.
This question has appeared in my mail repeatedly this summer. I think the extreme heat could be a factor in zucchini plants鈥� failure to fruit. It has been an odd summer. Another reader just wrote that her vegetable garden is flourishing 鈥� beets, kale, potatoes 鈥攚hile on the zucchini plants fruits begin forming and then rot away.
Bee populations are another consideration in the issue of zucchinis failing to fully launch. In recent years, and in particular in the past two years, I鈥檝e been hearing from readers and gardening friends and neighbours about their concerns over the diminishing numbers of bees in their gardens. Though other flying insects can act as pollinators, bees are the paramount players in the pollination process for food plants.
Something we can do as home gardeners is to plant a diversity of garden flowers that most effectively attract and nurture bees. Cilantro, alyssum and parsley are among the best.
Fruits not forming, or rotting off as the begin developing, indicates that female flowers are not being pollinated or that something (like adverse weather conditions) is impeding the completion of the pollinating process.
You can try hand pollinating, best done in the morning while the flowers are fresh. First, identify the male from the female flowers on each plant. Female flowers have short stems and little bulges (squashes-to-be) on the stems, right behind the flowers. Male flowers have longer stems, no miniature fruit behind the flower, and yellow, dust-like pollen at the bloom centres.
Find a male flower, carefully peel back the petals, and dab its pollen onto the centres of several female flowers before finding another male flower for a fresh supply of pollen. Keep the plants well hydrated with an evenly moist (but never wet) soil. A mulch layer of a nourishing compost is helpful, ideally timed as the plants begin to produce and as air and soil temperatures begin to warm.
Dear Helen: I鈥檝e been having lively 鈥渄iscussions鈥� with family members from the prairies over when to pick the聽figs on my tree. They think the fruit is ripe as it begins to soften. I鈥檝e been trying to tell them that鈥檚 too soon.
F. A.
People who have only ever purchased them here likely won鈥檛 know what a fully ripe fig is like. I wait for figs to soften, droop, and drool a little syrup from the stem end. I share my fully ripe, slightly drippy figs with friends who remember buying figs like聽this in Italy.