My Local Red Hot Poker

Summer's hot colours match the temperatures in August.  This is known as Red Hot Poker. I was at Cole's the local garden centre, taking pictures.  I did drop into the grocery store and I was a bit shocked to see the mushrooms on the shelf from Korea - we grow these mushrooms here, so it seemed unusual.  It was more unusual that the broccoli and beans were from the U.S., given they are in season now here. I found this introduction to the environmental cost of shipping groceries around the world: "Cod caught off Norway is shipped to China to be turned into filets, then shipped back to Norway for sale. Argentine lemons fill supermarket shelves on the Citrus Coast of Spain, as local lemons rot on the ground. Half of Europe’s peas are grown and packaged in Kenya." I've just started the investigation stage for a new garden presentation on the Ethical Gardener. 'Local' is a significant topic now in relation to food and plants - and we're returning to the notion of the gardener growing vegetables for their own table.  It isn't just because they taste better or cost less, it is more friendly to the environment and reduces the carbon footprint.  I wonder what my own gardening carbon footprint is, and will start to figure some way of assessing this. As for the beautiful Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia), it is native to Africa - discovered in the 18th century when plant exploration around the world was the rage and local was considered boring.

Wake Up to Spring

Wake Up on the Bright Side Spring starts tomorrow at 12:30am EDT, so we'll wake up to spring.  If we were in the west, it would be 9:30pm tonight on Saturday March 19. Somehow this seems reversed, so it is most interesting. This will be the earliest arrival of spring in our lifetime in the Northern Hemisphere, according to the Farmer's Almanac.  On the equinox, Earth’s two hemispheres are receiving the Sun’s rays about equally because the tilt of the Earth is zero relative to the Sun, which means that Earth’s axis neither points toward nor away from the Sun.  (Note, however, that the Earth never orbits upright, but is always tilted on its axis by about 23.5 degrees.)  The Farmer's Almanac is an interesting source of fun facts:  Did you know that the March Moon is called "The Full Worm Moon"?  And if you are planting your garden, blooming crocus are the cue to plant radishes, parsnips and spinach. Our local garden centre is busy making changes - out front is a bob cat and dumpster.  Inside there is a treasure trove of spring flowers. View this email in your browser

Grimsby Gardens - Cole's Nursery

Hi everyone,

I am lucky to have an old-fashioned garden centre in my neighbourhood in Grimsby.  This means that it still has summer perennials, annuals, and trees and shrubs for sale.  They actually get new plants in so I can spruce up my planters.

This is in contrast to the other greenhouses - Seaway on Lakeshore has cleared the greenhouses out of summer stock and has started the Poinsettias.  Sunshine's is 3/4's empty with gift pot plants, herbs, etc in the front section.  Almost all the perennials disappeared just over a week ago, probably to the hoop houses for repotting.  Of course the big box stores have eliminated the summer plant section.   I was at Valleybrook Nurseries, the wholeale perennial growers in the spring, and there were oceans of Superstore pots going off to delivery - what a lot of plants must be sold by the Supercentres.  

Cole's has a mass show of colour out front, including a lovely garden in front of the Christmas Cottage.  I took pictures on the weekend of the gardens, as they are recipients of a commercial Trillium award for 2014. I realized how big the beds are, and how many interesting plant selections there are in the beds this year.  Walking along the beds brought the realization of the care and creativity that went into the designs. 

Here's an extract of this history of this wonderful florist/greenhouse operation, including a picture of the original greenhouse:

Providing Fine Flowers For Over 100 Years In 1891 Albert Edward Cole erected a 1,000 sqft greenhouse on the former sawmill property in Grimsby, and grew violets and vegetables. A.E. Cole’s three sons were involved at an early age selling vegetables and later delivering flowers by foot, horse and buggy or the street car that ran along Highway 8. By 1930 the greenhouse was expanded to 25,000 sqft of the property! Cole’s three sons, John, Gordon and Norman, purchased the business in 1932 and more expansion followed as the floral industry grew. The children and grandchildren all worked to make it Cole’s a success! In 1957 Norman Cole & Elizabeth became sole owners of the business and they ran the business together for 29 years. After 95 years of family ownership, Cole’s Florist was sold to Harry DeVries in 1986. See more at: http://www.colesflorist.ca/history.php Here we are in 2014, enjoying the wonderful gardens.