Open the Doors to Petal Power

I got to only a few of the stops of Grimsby Open Doors Day on Saturday.  I definitely made it to Van Geest Greenhouses - growers of Gerber flowers for the floral trade. They are located close to the Museum on the western side of town.  I can imagine it would have been farmer fields when they built the greenhouses on Kerman Avenue. The greenhouse dates back to 1890.   This would make it less efficient than today's high-technology operations.  In talking with one of the owners, I found out that their second location is on Seventh Avenue in St. Catharines in a modern facility. That's very close to Brian's Lilycrest Gardens hybridizing field.  It is located on Fifth Avenue. This pretty picture is not the scene that awaited us for Open Doors Grimsby.  I realized it was the setting for a Petals and Plates dinner.  This is an initiative of Flowers Ontario and the Toronto Botanical Gardens.  Gourmet meals from the chef at Grand Oaks were served in 2 greenhouses in Niagara and a third location near Guelph in 2018.  I hope this is something to look forward to in 2019.   You can see that Gerberas are great big daisy flowers - they popular in florist bouquets.  They are showy, long-lasting and come it a lot of colours. In the greenhouse, the plants live about 2 years in pots and continuously bloom.  They are fussy, though, and take a lot of skill to grow. I learned  this when I planted some Gerberas in the garden this year.  I wanted a continuous line of red along the front of the garden bed.  In the shade were Begonias, but they burn in the sun, so I put in Gerberas to keep that line moving.  I knew from last year that they needed a lot of water.  I had them in pots on the outside kitchen windowsill.  Even in the garden I found they needed watering every day.  They wilted quickly whenever water was needed.  And they wanted a lot of fertilizer to ensure a continuous bloom of red flowers. For my colour line next year, I am counting on the red annual Salvia as a good choice. It comes in a brilliant orange-red and is continuously blooming.  That's if I stay with the orange red colour line.

Two of a Kind

Jazz FM knows a lot of musical stuff.  The other day I found out that Paul McCartney tried to meet Johnny Mercer to collaborate with him in the 1970's.  But Johnny Mercer was already ill and near the end of his life.  Johnny Mercer had remarkable musical accomplishments besides being a composer- he was the co-founder of capital Records, where the Beatles were signed in 1963.  JazzFM frequently plays is Mercer's "Two of a Kind" - and Mercer sings it with Bobby Darin. This is the most famous version. Two other American vocalists sang this - Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.  Recently I think John Pizzarelli and Harry Conick Jr covered it.  Here are the delightful lyrics of this American classic. Two of a kind For your information We're two of a kind Two of a kind It's my observation We're two of a kind Like peas in a pod And birds of a feather Alone or together you'll find That we are two of a kind What's so wrong thinkin' life is a song and reachin' for a star And who's to say if we'll go the whole way - at least we got this far Sharin' our lot, our vittles and viands, we're two of an ilk Say, what if we've got rare Chateaubriands or crackers and milk Makin' it plain Explainin' it fully We're simila-la-larly inclined Because we're two of a kind Two of a kind When he's out of rhythm, I'm singin' off key (I never heard ya do that, John) Say, never you mind, cause I'm stickin' with 'im, to C above C (He's-a for me) Oh, need we explain When he warbles sweetly, I'm flat and completely behind Because we're two of a kind I get kicks when I meet the cute chicks who hang around this lad And especially when they whisper to me, "Hey, honey, who's your dad?" Two of a sort Like two pomegranates from off the same tree I'm with ya sport, whatever you plan it's-a goes double with me (It's-a goes double with you, huh?) (Yeah!) Yeah, I got a terrible thought Most frightfully upsetting And yet we are getting resigned To being two of a kind We're two of a kind We like workin' single Or workin' in twos Keep us in mind, give us a jingle, we've got taps on our shoes (We'll dance!) We're both of us like, the Tower of Pisa I'm-a lean-a like he's-a inclined Because we're two of a kind Because we're Two of a kind So our pictures today show the CosMic orchid growing facility in Beamsville.  More than 800,000 orchids in production with Mike in front of their well know branding.  Maybe Orchids and Poinsettias are two of a kind.

Wheresomeness

When searching for odd words, such as wheresomeness, one retrieves equally odd results.  Here's a quote from a short poem: "Every morning dawns with an ache, a pang of wheresomeness and shallow water." In terms of definitions, "Ness" is an English suffix  forming abstract nouns denoting quality and state - darkness, goodness, kindness, preparedness. There are places, organizations, people, and myths where "Ness" occurs.  One could be named Ness Ness as it is a given and surname.  And if one were an Irish princess from mythology one could be Ness Ness Ness.   Typically a movie or toy character pops up with names that are unusual.  Ness is a game and a playable character in Super Smash Bros.4.  There's nesstheband and their tag line is "whatever's unclear to you, it's the same for me - ness." And there are many products on Amazon with "Ness" in their names - from Scottish clothing to soup ladles, hats, mirrors, motorcycle handlebars, and cat litter pans.   Today our pictures show the Chrysanthemum display at the Niagara Showcase Greenhouses.  It is a popular festival every year throughout the world.  Longwood Gardens has the thousand flower tree display right now. Japan has Chrysanthemum Day - one of five ancient sacred festivals.  Korea, Germany, China, and more have displays where Chrysanthemums are used in mosaic culture displays. The Niagara Parks display always has a Romantic section with pinks, purples and whites, and a contrasting primary colour display section.

Vineland Research Station

I checked out the Vineland Research Station  last week.  There's a nice collection of flowering spring trees, including Paulownia, a warmer climate tree also known as the princess tree and empress tree.  It doesn't look like it will blossom this year, even though it is in the most protected location.  It has huge blossom heads with big flowers so is quite the show in spring.   There are some nice magnolias there, and you can see in the first picture's background the state-of-the-art greenhouses being constructed.  Vineland Research is a research and innovation centre and one of its latest projects is greenhouse technology.  With the construction, there were also some good abstracts on the metal bins and trailers. The same tree from the other direction shows a grove of cherry trees that should be in bloom this week.  More on Vineland Research Station here: http://vinelandresearch.com

Escape the Cold of February

Escape the Cold

Canadian Winter Escape Thank you for the Birthday Wishes for Gerry!  We go to Florida on the weekend and will escape the Canadian winter cold for two weeks. How many Canadians take a winter trip to the sun?  I saw an article that said 45% expected to take a winter vacation in the sun (the article was in 2000).  That seemed high, so 'expecting'  might be based on the desire, rather than what people do. I take mini-breaks in the winter by going into the conservatories in the GTA and surrounding area.  I can go to the Niagara Falls Floral Showcase, the Royal Botanical Gardens Mediterranean Greenhouse, Toronto's west-end Centennial Greenhouse, and Allan Gardens in downtown Toronto.  And for pure delight, consider the Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory. You'll see scenes like these - little versions of Florida botanical gardens. You'll get the benefit of the smells of the tropics too. It is such a contrast with our austere winter landscape and lack of scents in the cold air. So consider a trip to a conservatory - there are two tropical beauties in these pictures - the first is Dutch Man's Pipe - a climbing vine that has these big brim flower at the front and a 'pipe' shape at the back.  And the next flower is an orchid cactus like the Night-blooming Cereus - high white flowers with a lush tropical scent.

Orchids in Niagara

Niagara's Winter Crop

Niagara's Crops There are acres of greenhouses in Niagara.  Some stretch as far as you can see as you drive along the QEW or the Niagara Stone Road into Niagara-on-the-Lake.   We're looking at the orchid 'crop' growing in the Cosmic Greenhouses, in Beamsville.  I stopped in last week to see if they would allow photography and got a quick tour.  Plant production is efficient and scientific:  The orchids we see for sale in the grocery stores and florists take 19 months to grow from tissue culture sprouts to blooming plants. They start in warm greenhouses below, where they receive water and nutrients on a rigorous schedule.  When large enough, they are moved to the next greenhouse where it is cool.  Cool temperatures are needed to make phalaenopsis (what you see here) spike and bloom. And then they are off to our houses.  While it is great to see in winter, this isn't just a winter crop.  These orchids are grown year round, with the greenhouses heated and cooled to match the growing conditions needed.   Our third picture is at Niagara College in the learning greenhouses of the horticultural program. The usage instructions to students include 'maintaining a clean environment and no food or drink in the greenhouse'.  It looked like a cucumber crop in this special greenhouse, and in the larger greenhouse where we are allowed to walk around, begonia seeds will sprout for this summer's gardens.

Valleybrook - A Perennial Master

I had the great experience yesterday of visiting the Valleybrook Niagara-on-the-Lake operation.  It is an operation - a large one.  It seemed like dozens of polyhouses that I walked through.  And then I walked into the open yard with what seemed like thousands of pots outside, too.  The size of the operation is what grabs one's attention.  It seemed like millions of plants in pots.

It is great to live in Niagara with plant production operations, commercial greenhouses growing flowers, plants and vegetables.  Valleybrook has always grown distinctive plants of high quality.  These plants really did look like the best of the best.  And yes, the Dancing Queen host is that yellow.  There were lots of yellow plants being grown.  I would think this is a trend towards bold planting designs.

Here are a few images of Valleybrook's operation: