The gardening season is definitely calling us, first with warmth and now with rain. This set of notes focuses on what we can do to make the most of this time of year. Our pandemic-inspired system of porch pickups will need to stay in service, but we can think about online garden tours. Read on!
Useful knowledge: When to prune roses
Nicole Schulman writes: “Seeing my forsythia start to bloom it occurs to me that some novice gardeners may not know this tip: the flowering of the forsythia signals it is time to prune your roses. That said, there are definitely microclimates in many gardens, so a forsythia that is against a South facing wall will flower before one in a shadier locale — and similarly a rose bush in a more sunny warm location will be further along than one that isn’t. Still, it’s a helpful visual reminder of a simple but impactful garden task :)
Mark and Ben Cullen Say: "It’s Finally Time to Get Planting"
A recent article in the Star (https://www.thestar.com/life/homes/2021/04/03/gardeners-its-finally-time-to-get-planting.html) gives more advice on when to do what. If you're hankering to plant seeds outside, start with root crops like radishes or onions, but save the seeds of more tender plants for a few more weeks. It's a good time, though, to divide your woody-stemmed perennials or take divisions your neighbours offer, because the plants won't have fully leafed out yet and will be more manageable. And do sharpen your pruning shears and prune your flowering fruit shrubs and trees.
Our usual Plant Fair won’t be possible (again, alas), but let’s keep sharing garden material in the way that worked so well last year. Here’s a preliminary list of alluring offers and two italicized requests.
Angela Miles: I have seeds for Bell Flower, Black Eyed Susan, Scilla, Holly Hock, and Rose Campion, and may have extra seedlings of some of these later. NOTE: My seeds (some with hulls and some without) are saved in small plastic food containers. I’ll divide and pass the seeds on in this rough state when I know how many takers there are. People should call me at 416-968-1282 to arrange pick-up of seeds.
Margaret Procter will gladly dig up self-seeded chamomile plants and second-year curly parsley plants for transplanting into pots or the ground. For tree-lovers, two second-year pagoda dogwood trees would grow well in partial shade. Please contact me at 69procter@gmail.com for pickup after April 15. Later on I'll have more seeds for in-ground planting, e.g., dill of course, nasturtium, pink and purple cleome. I'm hoping for white cleome seeds.
Nicole Schulman has oregano plants for transplanting and seeds (still on stalks) for her distinctive blue asters. Contact her at n.m.schulman@gmail.com to arrange pickup.
Leslie Carlin:If anyone has borage seeds I'd love some.Please let me know at carlin.leslie.e@gmail.com. I ordered packets of nasturtium seeds and can share them around if they arrive.
NOTE: The sharing season stretches ahead for many weeks! Decide what you want to give away or receive, and write to gardeners@harbordvillage.com so your note can be included in the next HV Gardeners’ message.
Photo tours of HV gardens?
Though we can’t organize group walks or outings this year, Kate Hamilton knows we have interesting gardens and fascinating plants we’d like to show each other and admire together. She suggests that we take photos, put together some personal comments about them, and think of ourselves as offering online tours via online postings.
Please confer with Kate (kate@maplekeys.com) and each other if you have questions or suggestions for this project, and write gardeners@harbordvillage.com when you’re ready to share your online tours via the Harbord Village Gardeners’ webpage.
Single photos are always welcome, of course, for this newsletter and for our overflowing webpage.
Spring Images
The changes are dramatic! In late March we were delighted by a few plants coming up through dead leaves. In early April we had swaths of spring bulbs and early perennials, all of them the more welcome for being ephemeral in the botanical sense. Now we're seeing flowering trees and shrubs, and even enjoying dandelions.
Message prepared by Margaret Procter for the Harbord Village Gardeners
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