The Gardener's Corner

Reflecting on 2008 from a gardener's point of view, I'd have to say the thing that stands out the most was the amount of rain we had.

Now the snow is coming down like the rain did; often and lots of it. The word is that we've had half the normal accumulation for winter already, and the snowiest months are yet to come. The good news is that plants are well insulated with this amount of snow coverage and marginally hardy plants will survive under these conditions.

During the growing season, shrubs and trees that may have been struggling from the drought of the previous two years seemed to find new life, while others like my magnolia grew to a size never imagined. Gardeners getting together would all talk about the amount of blooms on shrubs and perennials this year, and how well all plants were doing in general.

This was the first year after planting our vegetable garden that it rarely needed supplemental watering and the farmers, I'm sure, had the same appreciation for their crops.

For a bit of trivia, this was also the United Nations International Year of the Potato. Quite an honour for a starchy tuber known as a military vegetable because of it being an integral part of the fight against world hunger and poverty, as stated by the Food and Agriculture Organization. French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte became aware of the nutritional value of potatoes and ordered that fields of them be planted in France, to feed his military, since each tuber produces more energy per unit than any other crop. In 1957, McCain Foods introduced frozen french fries and just think, today you can buy potatoes with red and gold skins as well as a purple variety that gives dishes a whole new meaning.

Photo by Judith Rogers A corn plant from 1990. An exciting surprise took place earlier in the year when a friend called me to come and see her Corn Dracaena that was flowering for the first time.

Known simply as the corn plant, the elongated leaves resemble the foliage of corn and the trunk is thick and woody. Receiving the plant in 1990 as a housewarming gift, it had grown to almost ceiling height with some lopping off of trunk canes that had grown too tall but had never flowered over the 18 years. As a matter of fact, I would imagine few people have had this plant flower before as it is generally unheard of while living as a houseplant. The whitish-pink tinged flowers were growing from an arching stem in clusters that were oozing a clear sticky liquid substance, but they were pleasantly fragrant. Within a few days of opening, my friend said you could smell the wonderful sweet scent of these flowers throughout the house.

You could say that good things do come to those who wait, and sometimes patience is the key with plants to flower.

We can be thankful that we live in Canada, where life is peaceful and food is abundant.

Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous new year, especially to those affected