Everywhere I go these days people are remarking on the ultra-exuberant flowering this spring on so many plants. Apple trees, rhododendrons and roses have been spectacular. As they speculate on possible causes, many think back to last year鈥檚 long, hot听drought.
This could be the link. I鈥檓 speculating that last summer鈥檚 threatening conditions triggered a听species survival reaction. In听plants that means copious flowering and seed setting.
Another plant that has bloomed wildly is honeysuckle. A vine that didn鈥檛 get its usual cutting back has sprawled wildly over a side fence to cover itself in an expanse of fragrant flowers, near my office door. Stepping outdoors in听the morning is to enter a cloud of sweet scent. Gardening in many parts of the garden this month has been made doubly enjoyable by floral fragrances, roses and honeysuckle predominating.
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Food and roses. I once read that in听monastery gardens it was traditional to grow a pillar rose at听one corner of herb and vegetable plots. I liked the idea, and听installed a post at a corner of听one large vegetable growing area.
The most suitable rose I could easily find at the time was a Don Juan climber that, unlike most climbing roses, blooms well trained in an upright (pillar) shape. The plant yields gorgeous dark red, heavily scented flowers from late spring through much of the autumn. A small-flowered Clematis viticella 鈥楢lba Luxurians鈥� twines through the rose and produces white, green-tipped flowers.
More roses grow in association with food plants. A simple arbour over a path into the main vegetable garden houses a yellow-flowered, fragrant climbing miniature rose called Laura Ford, which grows with another Viticella clematis.
Filling a far corner of the food garden, just beyond this year鈥檚 peas, is a gigantic Cecile Brunner climber that becomes an immense cloud of scented pink flowers in May and June. And on the opposite side of the food-growing area, a听small bed houses a congregation of roses that include a small-growing climber and the Hybrid Musk roses Buff Beauty and the cluster-flowered Ballerina. Completing the semi-circle of roses around the food garden is a wide-ranging Mermaid, a听vigorous climber with lemon yellow flowers.
Roses and vegetable plots: What were those monks thinking? Food for the soul as well as the body, perhaps.
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GARDEN EVENTS
Orchid meeting. The Victoria Orchid Society will meet on Monday at 7:30听p.m. in the Gordon Head United Church Hall, 4201 Tyndall Ave. Thomas Mirenda, the Smithsonian Institution鈥檚 Natural History Museum orchid expert, will speak about the orchids of Costa Rica. He helps to maintain the nearly 8,000 orchids in the Smithsonian collection, and writes articles for the American Orchid Society bulletin. Guests are welcome to the meeting.
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Rose meeting. The Mid Island Rose Society will meet on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the North Nanaimo Library, across from Green Thumb Nursery on Hammond Bay Road.
Government House plant sales. The听Plant Nursery at Government House will be open to the public every Tuesday and Thursday morning, 9 a.m. to noon, in June, July and August. The nursery is听located next to the tea room. Parking is听free. Choice perennials will be sold to fund development of the gardens. Payment by cash or charge card.
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Quadra Island tour. The 2016 Quadra Island Quilt and Garden Tour is on June 25 and 26, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The self-guided tour of 11 gardens will include displays of quilts and offer a听blend of new homes and old homesteads growing food accented by flowers. Eight of the gardens are in Granite Bay. Tickets at $15 are available on the island at the tourist booth near the ferry, at Inspirations in听the plaza at the top of the hill, and听Works of听H鈥橝rt in Heriot Bay.
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HCP courses. The Horticulture Centre of听the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd., is offering the following courses on Sunday, June 26. To register call 250-479-6162. hcp.ca.
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鈥� Converting Lawn to Native Meadow, 9听a.m. to noon Includes planning, site preparation, choosing materials and maintenance. Cost to HCP members $45,听others $60.
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鈥� Advanced Soils for the Home Gardener, 1 to 4 p.m. Participants must have taken the Soil Basics workshop on June 5. HCP members $30, others $35.
