Many of my in-office days have been brightened through the year by reader mail. Thanks to everyone who has written to听share gardening experiences, photos, tips and useful comments.
The questions poured in this year, without the usual slowing down of the flow during the summer.
To celebrate readers鈥� perspectives on the garden, here's a sampling of insights and observations that have arrived recently.
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Nasturtiums. At the start of this month Dave passed along observations on one of my favourite summer flowers:
鈥淚n this past dry summer my nasturtiums did not attract a single aphid. They bloomed right up until our cold snap last week.
鈥淭hey were in a south facing bed 18 inches by six feet up against the garden shed and they grew and flowered right to the end. Usually I have to pull them out by late August because of the aphids.
鈥淣ow I鈥檓 wondering whether having poppies in with them was a factor in their being aphid free. This is the first year that I tossed a few poppy seeds in the bed and they grew quite nicely in one section. After the poppies were long gone the nasturtiums kept growing around the front and back of the shed, up the hose and over flower pots.鈥�
Dave concludes his letter with 鈥淛ust for fun, this story.鈥�
I regard nasturtiums as jolly flowers. I too like the way they ramble freely in a garden.
I haven鈥檛 found any information to indicate that poppies discourage aphids, but, curiously enough, though nasturtiums attract their own (black) aphids, they have the reputation for keeping aphids away from other plants growing nearby.
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Acidanthera. Peter White in North Saanich wrote about an Acidanthera planting. This gladiolus-like plant grows from frost-tender corms that produce long, sword-shaped leaves and, in late summer or autumn, up to 10听sweetly scented white flowers. Each bloom has six pointed petals and a rich purple blotch at the centre. Acidanthera is sometimes identified as Gladiolus callianthus. Here鈥檚 what happed with Peter鈥檚 plants.
鈥淚 thought you might be interested in seeing this photo I took today (Dec. 7) of some Acidanthera that I potted in July this year. The corms had been saved from last year. Flower buds formed in late September and early October, when the pot was on our back patio facing west. In late November I brought it inside because of the cold. The fragrant flowers opened within the last week.鈥�
I鈥檇 never thought of potting Acidanthera late for indoor bloom. The corms are usually planted in garden beds or pots in April for August to October flowers. Plant late: Enjoy the flower fragrance indoors.
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Sick days. Dana Waite described a creative way of 鈥淕ardening when one is unwell.鈥�
鈥淚 have often meant to write you and haven鈥檛, but now that I am laid up (on a sunroom sofa) with a miserable cold, I feel inspired. I want to share what I听am doing for great gardening pleasure without even leaving the sofa.
鈥淚 am an obsessive gardener. I听love every element of gardening from turning over the compost pile to creating mini greenhouses for transplants. I despair when deer eat my plants and I鈥檝e been known to buy glossy gardening magazines. They are at the centre of this letter.
鈥淥ften those lovely magazines pile up, never revisited. Inspired by sickness I hauled them out and began cutting out photos, advice and whatever caught my fancy. Then I brought out my folder of miscellaneous gardening information and sorted it: to keep or not to keep. Add a big scrapbook, glue and coloured felt听pens and I鈥檓 in project heaven.
鈥淚鈥檓 crafting a personalized magazine with notes, articles, fertilizer recipes, photos, and sketches. It鈥檚 been a fun and productive period of illness.鈥�
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Arbutus. Early last month Karen Butler wrote in response to a photograph that accompanied a column: 鈥淚 noticed a photo of the flowers on a strawberry (arbutus) tree this morning. I thought you might enjoy a photo of the same subject that I took a while ago and the accompanying haiku that I wrote to go with it.鈥�
Onto Karen鈥檚 photo of a large hanging cluster of glistening white floral bells was placed the poem:
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If these bells could chime,
Just imagine how lovely
A sound they would make.
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In a later email Karen sent a photo of 鈥渂eautiful strawberry arbutus berries.鈥� Both pictures were stunning.
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Happy New Year! Be safe. We鈥檒l meet again in 2016.
