Hello my dear gardening friends,

Thank you for your wonderful comments about last week’s column, it really makes all the work worthwhile. We are almost finished with January, what a strange month it has been – I have only been out when my dear friends “pick me up” and take me shopping. I have spent this time I have been housebound quite usefully – I have been cleaning out and throwing away “stuff”.
I love a small book called Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui – by Karen Kingston - The Oxford English Dictionary describes clutter as “ a crowded and untidy collection of things” There are four categories of clutter :- 1) things that you do not use or love. 2) Things that are untidy or disorganised 3) Too many things in small space and 4) anything unfinished.
We all have some of the above – I cannot tell you how much better I am feeling by cleaning out some the stuff – but I still have a long way to go – before spring and nature calls us outside !!!!

When Winter Eyes Grow Tired

When winter eyes are tired, of viewing violets in a pot,
We wish for summer flowers attired, And the garden plot.
There with dibble and spade in the soil, Our passions are released.
We sow and plant in pleasant toil, Around the flower bed priest
On padded knees we reverently search for emerging green
While slanting sun rays through budding trees create a changing scene
Perennials are showing signs of life, the ones we moved last fall.
Forgotten now long winter’s strife when we hear the red breast call
While softly drips the rain – drip drip from the rose bush in leaf again
The dead wood from the base we’ll clip and new canes to trellis train
Each year we hope for these things to come to please the senses eye and ear
In the garden which beautifies our home The place we hold most dear

By Maurice Clarke May 2000

I love and grow many lilies, but the one that has defeated me over the years, and I persist in buying is the Gloriosa Lily. Known as the flame lily, glory lily and climbing lily. It is spectacular member of the Liliaceae family and is actually from South Africa, and is incidentally the national flower of Zimbabwe.

In less tropical areas it is grown as a house plant – ah clue number one . It is an exotic lily to say the least, with slender trailing stems that can grow up to 8 feet long. The leaves are glossy, whorled with sessile leaves tipped with tiny tendrils that wrap themselves around anything that is supporting them . It is wonderful when grown with another leafy plant that it can twine around, and have its blooms just peeking through the foliage.

It has strange 4” to 5” lily-like flowers the buds, with their pale green petals, facing downwards, As they mature the petals arch backwards with long and prominent curving stamens. The fabulous blooms go from yellowish-green to a vivid flaming red with the wavy petal edges bordered in yellow . It will flower from June ( another clue) to September with multiple flowers on each plant . These blooms last up to about 8 days – if you dare to cut it the buds will open in any arrangement that it is placed in.

Unlike most lilies, the Gloriosa Lily does not have a bulb but a tuber with eyes, rather like a sweet potato.

These tubers can be divided approximately every third year, ensuring that each division has an eye for propagating purposes.. The best time to do this is in the winter before the new growth begins. Clean the tubers, be very careful for they are quite brittle, dust with sulphur to help prevent any disease. Plant the tubers in a 6 inch pot ( clue number 3) place them 2” to 4” deep in a moist well drained soil. Place at an angle with the growing tip pointed upwards. Water sparingly until the shoots appear then water in the usual way. Keep the pot in indirect sunlight until the plant begins to grow, then move into full sun (clue number 4) They require temperatures at 18 to 24 degrees C, keep the humidity high and feed every 3 to 4 weeks with a liquid fertiliser.

It is the dormant period from October to January that is the most critical time in helping the plant to flower. A small amount of ground limestone added to the soil helps enormously in producing blooms.

Once they have finished blooming, reduce the watering until the leaves have died back. Keep the tubers dry until around the end of January/February, when you can re-pot them again. The big problem with this beautiful plant is that it is highly toxic, especially the tubers, I suggest that you wear gloves when handling the tubers, for they can cause skin irritations.

The tubers are available at the better greenhouse and nurseries that carry orchids. The Gloriosa is similar to an orchid in growing difficulty but if you treat them like royalty, giving them the light and nutrients that they demand, they are worth all the trouble – Now I have been planting them in a pot, outside in full sun, in around June and leaving them to look after themselves- I will try them once again this year. I promise to do better by them. I will go to Jordon at Rural Routes, and purchase a couple more – they are not inexpensive – but I am sure that they are worth it.

I loved this story: “Some ladies asked me why their plant had died. They had got it from the very best place, and they were sure they had done their very best for it…….They had made a nice hole with their new trowel, and for its sole benefit they had bought a tin of Concentrated Fertiliser. This they had emptied into the hole, put in the plant, covered it up and given it lots of water, and it had died. These were the best and kindest of women, who would never have dreamed of feeding a new-born infant steak and raw brandy!!!" -Gertrude Jekyll 1843-1932 from Wood and Garden- Do you know why the plant died???

Do you remember how I kept preaching “get your tools serviced, off season” I am sure that a lot of you did not, sooooooo I am going to tell you how to do some simple tasks yourself.

1) Remove that accumulated grunge, clippings and dirt from around the blade housing of a rotary mower, be very sure that the power supply is disconnected. Use an abrasive paper and clean the metal blades.
2) Wipe the blade with an oily rag, or spray with an anti-rust aerosol. If the blade is in poor condition, replace it with a new one. On appropriate models you may consider replacing it with a plastic blade for safety.
3) If you have a petrol (gasoline) mower check that you have drained the fuel and oil
4) remove the spark plug, clean it and reset the gap if necessary. If the plug is in poor condition replace it with a new one.
5) Pour a tablespoonful of oil into the cylinder and pull the starter to turn the engine over half a dozen times before you return the spark plug thus coating the engine.
6) Brush or wipe away accumulated clippings from a cylinder mower. If the mower is electric, disconnect the power supply before you start.
7) Wipe the mower with an oily rag, or spray with an anti-rust aerosol if you didn’t do so before you put it away.
8) Oil the chain if your mower is fitted with one. You may have to remove the chain guard to reach it.

Check Bulbs and Corms in Storage:

Don’t wait until it is time to plant your tender over wintering bulbs before you check them for rot. Storage rots are common, and easily spread from affected bulbs and corms to your healthy ones.
Bulbs, corms and tubers being over-wintered in a frost free place should be checked once a month, by removing any diseased or soft ones, you will prevent the rot from spreading to the other bulbs and corms.
If you do discover soft and/or diseased bulbs in storage, dust with a fungicide. Always read the label to make sure that it is suitable for that purpose. Be very careful not to inhale the dust.
This is a good time to take root cuttings, make sure that your cold frames have extra protection against all this cold weather – if you have pots of bulbs inside.

We have read about Rene Caisse’s Cancer Formula - She was born in Bracebridge, Ontario in 1888. She was nursing an aged patient with a scarred breast in an Ontario hospital in 1922. The woman told Rene, that many years before she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was due to have a mastectomy. A Chippawa Indian neighbour offered her a herbal tea, this she drank often and over time the tea eliminated the cancer completely . Rene received the formula for this tea, which she strengthened. Later using her own formula she cured her aunt of cancer of the stomach.

The ingredients are :-

61/2 cups burdock root, cut
16 ounces sheep sorrel herb, powdered
1 ounce turkey rhubarb root, powdered
4 ounces slippery elm bark, powdered
2 gallons sodium free distilled water.

-Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly (put them in a plastic bag and shake well)
-Bring water to a rolling boil in a 4 gallon pot with lid. (approx 30 minutes)
-Stir in one cup of the dry ingredients (store the rest in a cool dark place, they are light sensitive) replace lid and boil for 10 minutes more
-Turn of stove and scrape down the herbs from the sides of the pot and stir well
-Let stand for about 12 hours, heat pot to almost boiling, about 20 minutes, do not let mixture boil
-Strain into a 3 gallon pot, clean the 4 gallon pot and strainer. Strain back into 4 gallon pot
-Using a funnel pour hot liquid into sterilised bottles, place on caps – let cool then tighten caps.
-Place in the refrigerator
-Shake the bottle Take 4 tablespoons at bedtime on an empty stomach

For Cancer and Aids patients: Take 4 tablespoons in the morning. You may eat 5 minutes after taking the formula . Take 4 tablespoons at bedtime, 2 hours after eating . If you have stomach cancer – you must dilute the formula with distilled water.

I hope that this will help the people who have asked me about this formula – I do not know if it works, but I beg you to continue with all the other instructions from your doctor.

Teas come into this area. The recorded history of teas date back to over 5,000 years ago , It all began in 2337 B.C. in China when a sudden wind accidentally blew some tender tea leaves into Shen-Nung’s pot of boiling water. There is no way that Shen-Nung could have known all the uses for tea that have developed over the years – in England when you return from a wedding or funeral, in good times and bad, hot and cold weather – The first thing that you do is “put on the kettle” and make a comforting cup of tea. Thank you Shen-Nung.

In fine weather the old gentleman is almost constantly in the garden; when it is too wet to go into it, he will look out of the window at it by the hour together. He has always something to do there, you will see him digging and sweeping and cutting and planting with manifest delight …., and in the evening when the sun has gone down, the perseverance with which he lugs a great watering pot is perfectly astonishing
-Charles Dickens 1812-1870 from Sketches by Boz. Obviously Charles Dickens was not a gardener – we are all standing at the window watching the snow continue to fall on our

flowers beds. The Parkland, Pavement and Explorer roses are sufficiently hardy for the prairie regions, requiring only snow cover for winter protection. So they will do very well here. Remember snow is an excellent insulator and may be piled on exposed plants for added moisture as well as protection. A covering of dry material such as wood chips, placed at the base of the plant, will provide extra insurance in the absence of snow – so be grateful that we do have this wonderful covering – I know it is getting tiresome to keep shovelling –“ Oh to be in Canada now that winter is here”

It will soon be February and the worst of the winter is done at least in months, for although March is blustery – the days are getting longer and we will even find the odd brave snowdrop – on the 2nd Groundhog Willy will check his shadow – and on the 9th yet another birthday rolls around and 10 years since my beloved Jack went to garden with the angels – it has all gone so quickly.

Good gardening – good snow shovelling – be careful, take rests, do not over exert yourselves, by June it will have all melted any way ?? hats, warm boots, scarves, sunscreen, hats, gloves and keep smiling

Lovingly Beryl