Do you have your calendar handy? If so, there are a few gardening dates to mark down!
Just a reminder, Seedy Saturday takes place on Saturday, March 11 beginning at 12:30 at Dr. Brass School in Yorkton. There will be displays, booths, and interesting speakers. Next, Wednesday, March 15 is the date of the next Yorkton and District Horticultural Society regular meeting; our guest speaker will be Maira Waechli, owner of Florissima Flowers and Plants, speaking to us about “Growing and Caring for Orchids”. And then on Saturday, March 25, we’re planning a one-day bus trip to Saskatoon to visit Gardenscape. It’s a gardening extravaganza, full of ideas and products for your yard and garden! If you think you’d like to join us, please call Liz at (306) 782-2830 for all the details. This trip is open to non-members.
Aren’t we all starting to get eager about spring? The days are visibly longer, the snow has gone down quite a bit, and a friend of ours who is a keen gardener and nature-observer told us that he has already seen the first catkins on the willows — he said he’s never seen them, however small, this early in the season. For gardeners who follow it, the Old Farmers Almanac says this for the Prairies, for the period November 2016 to October 2017: “snowfall a bit below normal in Manitoba and central Saskatchewan and above normal elsewhere. The snowiest periods will be in mid-December, early January, mid- and late February, mid- to late March, and mid-April. April and May will be warmer and slightly drier than normal. Summer will be rainier and slightly cooler than normal, with the hottest periods from late July into early August and in mid- to late August. September and October will be cooler and drier than normal.” If this is right, those poor little catkins will be in for a shock! Have you been worrying about your perennials with this mild weather? I know I have been watching the snow go down with some worry, wondering how they are doing.
Since we all need some “spring”, I’d suggest browsing through our seed catalogues, or some new gardening books! The Library always has a great variety, and they can order books in for you if you have a title in mind. I recently borrowed a book called “Simple Flower Arranging: Step-By-Step Designs and Techniques” by Mark Welford and Stephen Wicks. It’s a beautiful book with amazing photos, plus a lot of interesting little factoids: for example, did you know that tulips continue to grow after they have been cut, and to stop this stretching we should make a slit in the stem, about one inch long, below the flower head? Or, if you are lucky enough to have calla flowers for an arrangement, you should gently massage the stem so that the fibers inside the stem break down slightly and make it curve better? Or, if you have cut hydrangea flowers that are starting to fade, plunge them head first (yes, head first!) into a pail of cold water and leave them there for 30 minutes. Then take them out, recut the stem, and they will be refreshed!
A dear friend of ours quite often has fresh flowers on her coffee table; they are so energizing to look at and enjoy! Fresh flowers make every day a celebration! And it doesn’t have to be a huge arrangement, just a few blooms in a vase brings cheer to a room. This book shows us how to make interesting arrangements with things we have in the house, even in recycled tin cans! So cute and easy! So let’s get ourselves some fresh flowers: we don’t need an occasion!
Have a great week, and if you are interested in joining us on the road-trip to Gardenscape, be sure to call Liz soon and get your name on the list!
