A very kind friend brought me a beautiful flower arrangement the other day; it breathed "spring", with airy baby's breath and bright lime green mums, and a beautiful little accent flower that was a mystery to me. It was a very deep burgundy flower, with blooms in a shape similar to a caragana bloom. What was it?
Our gardening books yielded the information I wanted: I think the mystery plant was a crocosmia. These lovely perennials are rated zone 5 - 9. They have a tall growing habit, with striking dark green, sword shaped foliage. They grow from corms, and my research told me that the crocosmia is actually part of the gladiola family. The flower reminded me of freesias, but in a miniature form.
More research yielded this: the crocosmia is native to South Africa. Their corms should be divided every three or so years. In the US, they are called "falling stars", and in Britain they are called "montbretia". Crocosmias grow worldwide, so if you are one of those adventurous gardeners who defies what the gardening books say about zones and forge ahead with new plants anyway, you could probably lift the corms in the fall, plant them in pots and bring them in to your basement in the fall. Be fearless, give them a try if you see them in a gardening catalogue.
I want to share another interesting little story with you: the other day at work, a package arrived with three bundles of very frozen, unopened daffodils inside. Honestly, the stems were like lime-green popsicles, but there was nothing to lose, so I put them in a vase of water and hoped for the best.
Lo and behold, when I got to work the next morning, almost half the daffodils were opened. And as the day wore on, most of the rest of the daffodils opened into a breathtaking bouquet that looked like spring, a welcome respite from the minus 41 temperatures outside. I couldn't believe my eyes, and I was amazed at the resiliency of the daffodils. To me, it seemed like a sign that yes, maybe spring would actually come this year!
The next meeting of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be on Wednesday, March 16 at 7 p.m. in the Sunshine Room at the SIGN building on North Street. Our special guest will be Tyler Kaban from the U of S Fruit Program, speaking on growing grapes on the Prairies, along with comments about kiwis. I know there are some gardeners in our group that have had great success with both grapes and kiwis, so I know it will be a very interesting talk.
Members, please check your calendars and see if you are able to go on the bus tour to Regina on April 30. The tour will go to Dutch Growers, and to the Regina Floral Conservatory. Hort club members get first chance for seats on the bus, but if there are still vacancies, then the public will be invited along. So check your calendars!
Once again, I will mention this to all of you: you don't have to be members of the horticultural society to come to the meetings. We have such interesting speakers, and if you would like to come and hear them, please join us! And once you get to the meeting, and you see what a fun bunch of gardeners we are, if you want to join the group, that's great! But even if you don't, you are still welcome. Have a great week!
