In the past week I heard two wonderful presentations that got me all fired up for spring: first of all, Glen Tymiak gave a very interesting, information-filled talk on Gardening 101 to a full house at the Prairie Sun Seed Festival; then just a few days later, Frank Woloschuk gave a very interesting, information-filled talk on large container planting, again to a full house, at our Yorkton and District Horticultural Society meeting! Both Glen and Frank are great presenters: they’re amazing gardeners and know their topics very well! Thank you, Glen, and thank you, Frank, I enjoyed your presentations very much, and I know everyone who attended did as well.
I was out in the garage rummaging around our planters, having great dreams for each and every one! It’s always fun to try something new, so let’s make a cup of tea and talk about a plant that we will want to add to our planter list this year: dichondra.
Dichondra is one of those plants that, if we saw it in a gardening friend’s planter, we’d say “Oh, how beautiful, what is that?” Have you seen a planter with a delicate-leaved, silver vine cascading over the edge of the pot? That is dichondra, specifically “dichondra argenta” or Silver Falls.
Dichondra is a member of the Convolvulaceae family, a two dollar name for the morning glory family. These morning glory cousins are vines, with a trailing growing habit, but the leaves are smaller than morning glory plants. The dichondra likes full sun, (but can take light shade, too) and wants good drainage. It is also moderately drought tolerant.
Dichondra can be used as a trailing vine, or planted for a groundcover. I did a little homework and read that the plant will root at the leaf nodes, which makes it a prolific plant. I also read that fifty or sixty years ago, a variety of dichondra was even used as a substitute for lawn grass in California. Imagine that!
This maintenance-free plant is delicate looking but hardy, beautiful and exotic, has striking foliage that will match any color scheme, and to me it ticks all the boxes of the kind of plant we’d like to try in our planters! I can’t wait to give it a try!
Now some housekeeping: thank you to all he horticultural society members who attend the meetings, you keep the group vibrant and active! But thank you as well to the interested guests who join our meetings. It’s great to have your company! Remember, you don’t have to be a member to come to the meetings; if one of our speaker topics interests you, you are more than welcome to attend. And if you decide you’d like to join the group, that’s wonderful! New members are always welcome.
Now that spring is around the corner, there are many things coming up. If you’re going to be in Saskatoon on March 27, 28 or 29, you don’t want to miss Gardenscape, an astonishing show of all kinds of garden and landscape ideas and products. Closer to home, the next meeting of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be on Wednesday, April 15 at 7:00 p.m. And it won’t be long till our Spring Plant and Bulb Sale on Friday, May 29.
I’m looking way ahead on the calendar and I hope you will mark off Tuesday, August 11: that’s the day of our Annual Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Show.
That’s the way with gardeners, isn’t it! Always eagerly looking ahead! Have a great week!
