Hello My Dear Gardening Friends,

“Let us be grateful for those who give us happiness they are the charming gardeners who make our souls bloom.” -Marcel Proust

I began working at Loblaws last Thursday and I was so humbled by all those who stopped by to give me a hug, to say they were pleased to see me. I know that I see you when I shop there, but the special welcome you have given me fills my heart – thank you.

For two days I wore my shorts, and then switched to long pants and winter jacket again, as the cold winds blew. Now I am sporting wind burned cheeks, but look oh so healthy!!!!! All in readiness for the sun that will surely come.

I have been selling little roses for the last few days. They are here to give Mother’s joy on her special day this coming Sunday. I thought that I would talk about roses, just briefly – my special favourites the “Old Roses” of yester year:

Centuries ago, roses gave off such ambrosial sweetness that literary luminaries such as Shakespeare and Keats exalted them as “heady harbingers of Spring”. Yet, when we try and sniff our way through most gardens today you will find that these wonderful fragrant messengers are missing. Our hybrid tea roses have been bred to last as long as possible in vases, so as a consequence their fragrance has been sacrificed - so much so that due to our demands the old roses are being revived.

In 1963, an old rose was defined by the American Rose Society (ARS) as one that was in existence prior to 1867. That was when the first hybrid tea rose ‘La France’ appeared. Today, these natural beauties are treasured not only for their fragrance but also for their diversity. Many full blown blooms have muted colours that mix well in the flower beds with your perennials. Some, such as magenta and shell pink ‘Versicolor’ sport stripes and splotches. Others like ‘Great Western’ (purplish – maroon Bourbon) can only be described as dazzling.

Old-rose plant forms vary too. Some mature into plumb shrubs. Others ramble along fences, climb banisters, trail over walls and clime up and over arbours.

In order to understand the growth habits and climate preferences of old roses, it helps to be familiar with their classifications. Some classes are re-montant (“rise up again”) meaning that they bloom several times in a season. Generally, these re-bloom 50 to 60 days after the first flush of flowers. Other classes only bloom once a year in the spring, but flowers cover the plants for more than a month. Following are the major classes of old roses – I hope that this will help you when you are deciding which roses to choose to grace your garden:

CHINA ROSES:
Re-montant colorful blooms with a fruity fragrance. Shrub forms (although there are a few climbers in this class) are long lived and stand up very well to heat and humidity.

NOISETTE ROSES:
Re-montant, fast growing, mostly climbers, with pastel cream, pink and yellow flowers with a lemony perfume. I do not recommend the yellow ones for our climate.

TEA ROSES:
Re-montant, medium to large flowers with a strong aroma reminiscent of crushed fresh tea leaves. Mostly shrub forms with a few climbers.

BOURBON ROSES:
Most are re-montant, with large, richly coloured flowers that are cupped and strongly scented. These hardy shrubs are good for pegging.

HYBRID PERPETUAL ROSES:
Re-montant, very large, full flowers on the end of each cane. Vigorous, leggy bushes are good for pegging

OLD EUROPEAN ROSES:
Spring bloomers that are cold hardy - Alba, Centifolia, Damask, Gallica and Moss. Albas are white or blush pink.; Centifolias and Mosses are pink, with numerous petals; Damask are a richer pink; and Gallicas have more red tones and set hips quite readily. All types have a strong distinctive fragrance.

SPECIES ROSES:
Wild roses that have been adapted to modern gardens. If self-pollinated, they will come true from seed (most roses are propagated by cuttings). Adaptable to any climate, these plants are either climbers or large shrubby bushes that bloom in the spring. Rosa banksias, or ‘Lady Banks’ is the best known in the class (you will often see it called just ‘Banksia’).

HYBRID PERPETUAL ROSES:
Although not true old roses, these cultivars date back to the early part of the last century and are prized for their rich, musky, lingering scent. They will even tolerate the shade, appearing in spring and fall in clusters. The flowers tend toward pastel colours.

HYBRID RUGOSA:
Also not a true old rose, this class was hybridized in the late 19th century. They too are re-montant and widely planted because of their disease resistance, with a tolerance for the cold, and the beautiful hips that form in the fall.

Through the centuries, old roses have been the favourites of heroes, royalty and the ordinary gardener. I am so pleased to see them making a “comeback” in the garden centers.

How to make Real Rose-Water:

Gracious ladies along the bayous of Louisiana and Mississippi know the secrets of making perfumy rose water from old roses. The following recipe, provided by the New Orleans Old garden Rose society, has been handed down through generations of families, who use the “brew” as a facial astringent to cure pink eye, cast spells, scent sheets and towels.

‘Maggie’, for intense fragrance; ‘Miranda’ for its lemony scent; ‘Oklahoma’ which has an intense Damask aroma; ‘Paul Neyron’, ‘Mme. Isaac Pereire’ and ‘Champney’s Pink Cluster’.

Pick a fragrant rose that has not been sprayed with pesticides or fed systemic poisons (these are no longer available in Ontario, but I know that some of you still have some tucked away). Submerge the flower in a six ounce glass of rainwater; you can substitute this with distilled water. Make sure that the petals are totally covered; oil glands near the base of the petals will release their fragrance into the water. Place the glass outside in the dew overnight. Remove the flower and use the water.

I have had requests to repeat the tips about “getting your lawn off drugs”. I am “stealing” ideas from the Green-Up article that appeared in the insert of the Peterborough Examiner. For those that did not get it – I think that there are still some copies available at Peterborough Green – Up.

1) Keep your soil healthy: Healthy soil promotes strong growth, enabling the lawn to fight off disease and insects. Lawns ideally need 10 to 15 cm (4” to 6”) of good soil to provide sufficient nutrients for growing grass. A top dressing (1/2 cm or ¼ inch) of compost attracts earth worms (natural aerators), loosens the soil, improves water retention and provides natural nutrients for your lawn. This organic conditioner is gentle to soil organisms and releases nutrients slowly. You can purchase compost in large quantities (a huge truck load – bearing 7 yards) from the City of Peterborough or Peterborough’s Green-Up at the Ecology Park. For smaller portions you can buy the bucket full for only $1.

2) Water Properly: Water less frequently, but more deeply. Frequent light watering encourages shallow rooting and leaves the grass vulnerable to drought, insects and disease. Fescues and perennial ryegrass need about an inch of water a week from either watering or rainfall to stay green. Allowing your grass to grow longer means that less water is required. The plants grow deeper roots and the blades of grass shade the soil and reduce evaporation.

3) Test your soil: A soil test will reveal your soil’s pH and nutrient levels. Basic test kits are available at garden centers. Some garden care companies will do it for you.

4) Don’t over fertilize: Fertilize once a year in the fall. Fertilizing may not be necessary at all if the soil is receiving a regular top dressing of compost. If you decide that your lawn needs a boost, organic fertilizers are gentle to the soil organisms and provide a steady diet of nutrients to your lawn (Loblaws have a very good selection – come and see me). Too much fertilizer not only can attract pests and disease, but can contaminate our waterways, especially if you are gardening on a lake as I am.

5) Control pests naturally: Practicing natural lawn care will increase a healthy lawn that is less attractive to pests. Encourage earthworms and micro-organisms which help to keep your lawn healthy. Welcome birds and beneficial insects such as ladybugs, spiders and dragonflies. Above and below the soil these are the keys to unlocking your soil’s potential.

6) Tolerate some weeds: Synthetic herbicides such as those in ‘weed and feed’ lawn products are not allowed in Peterborough under the new by-law. Dig out large weeds by hand but tolerate some of the low growing plants, and allow beneficial plants such as clover to exist in your lawn for its ability to fix nitrogen in the soil.

7) Mow at proper height: Keep grass at 2.5’ to 3’ high. Never cut off more than one-third of its height at a time and always mow when the grass is dry. Taller grasses will crowd out weeds, grow longer roots and shade the soil. Keep your mower blades sharp so that you do not damage the grass that you are cutting. Avoid using the “whipper-snipper” as this does not provide a clean cut and allows low growing weeds to move in.

8) Leave grass cuttings on the lawn: Don’t rake up the clippings as long as they aren’t too long or lying in clumps - good excuse to use the rake here. Grass clippings begin to decompose almost immediately and can provide about one third of the nitrogen that your grass needs. They provide a mild fertilizer at a formulation that is ideal for lawns.

9) Mulch fall leaves: Chop fallen leaves with your mower and leave ½ to l cm (¼” to ½”) on the grass as mulch. Leaving mulch on the grass returns nutrients and organic matter to the soil. Put the remainder of the hopped leaves into the compost pile.

10) Minimize salt damage: Use kitty litter or sand next winter instead of salt, this will reduce damage to your grass next spring. Crabgrass and other weeds move into areas high in salt and compaction. I use my ‘used’ kitty litter, removing the feces first of course, and spread it where I know that it will become very muddy in the spring. Seems to work well but it will smell for about half a day – the freezing cold takes care of that!!!!!

11) Overseed: Overseeding - spreading new seed over existing or new lawn stimulates rich, dense grass which helps crowd out weeds. Choose grass varieties with deep rooting systems such as perennial rye grass and fine fescues. In addition to prevent chinch bug damage, use grasses containing endophytes. Endophytes are a type of fungus that taste bad to the chinch bug. Most important is to plant a mixture rather than a single variety. Diseases can be quite selective. A mixture of grasses will prevent complete destruction of your lawn. Remember to re-seed bare spots quickly before weeds fill them in. A good healthy soil base is essential to get the new grass off to a good start so apply compost when seeding.

12) Aerate and de-thatch: It may be necessary to aerate compacted soil in high traffic areas to allow water, air and nutrients to penetrate the soil and reach plant roots. An aerator is a piece of equipment that may be rented or some lawn care companies will aerate for you. Rent one for a day and share the cost with a neighbour (a good, strong, healthy neighbour). Earthworms are terrific aerators – you can buy some at the bait store if you are in short supply!!! Lots of holes in the lawn or those little pile of worm castings means that the job is being done for you.

13) Remove thatch, the matted layer of stems, shoots and roots (not clippings) on top of the soil if it is more than ½ an inch thick. Thatch chokes out grass, prevents water, air nutrients from reaching the soil, and promotes almost every possible lawn problems. Aeration and a brisk raking should remove much of the thatch top dressing with compost and raking it in well will the thatch to decompose. Plus you will save the time and money lifting weights at the gym!!

14) Bumps in the lawn may be an indication of compaction. Using a roller may temporarily fix the problem but only makes the compaction worse. Instead aerate in the fall to prevent heaving next spring.

April and early May:

• Avoid working on a soggy lawn (this applies after a large rainstorm too).
• Gently rake your lawn to remove dead grass and winter debris.
• Top dress with compost, overseed areas suffering from winterkill.
• Sharpen lawn mower blades and keep doing this throughout the summer.
• Raise those blades to the height of 3 inches.
• Take soil samples to be tested, or purchase a soil test kit.
• If necessary top dress with corn gluten meal to suppress weed seed germination. Be careful do not do this if you spread grass seed late last fall, or if your lawn is thin. Spread grass seed instead. (Corn Gluten Meal will suppress any seeds from germinating – so be very careful where you use it.)

May and June:

• Aerate your lawn if necessary.
• Top dress with compost and overseed with perennial rye grass, fescues and Dutch white clover (If you should have applied Corn gluten meal, wait at least four to six weeks to overseed.
• Don’t fertilize - this causes quick unhealthy growth and feeds the weeds.
• Check for signs of insect problems.
• Apply nematodes to prevent white grubs once soil temperatures reach 16oC (60F).
• Check for chinch bug damage.

If there is ever a time to go running around like a chicken with its head cut off May is it!!!! You have more things to do out in the garden than you imagined possible - even in your memory of every other May you have ever experienced for as long as you have been gardening!!! It is a good idea to strip all the beds in your house of their sheets and blankets, to have on hand when that irksome last frost catches you with your tender annual pants down.

Make your summer supply of manure “tea” by suspending a burlap bag full of fresh manure in a barrel of rainwater by the patio door until the stench is so overpowering that certain anatomical threats are made against your person and you can safely dump the ‘tea” out all over yourself some breezy evening just before dinner.

Now you are planting, planting, planting (scratching from the black fly bites) and it is too bad that you have misplaced your carefully drawn garden map – the one that you worked on all winter. This year you had resolved to be more orderly and not just jam every kind of new flower in existence into every border, row and space. While you’re at it, you might try to find the labels and garden pens that you ordered from “Gardens Alive” in January, or even just finding the names of the plants that you are cramming into the garden. And suddenly your lawn is growing by leaps and bounds and swoops and moops and the mowing season has begun!!! Remember to adjust your mower blades so that the first cut is at 2 and five-sixteenths of an inch, and then re-adjust every time you mow thereafter so that you alternate between cuts of 2 and one ninth and a fifth and one and five twelfs and a half. This is what the lawn experts say you should do, and since they all live in New Mexico they should know.

But the lawn experts, who have obviously been out in the hot sun too long, also recommend that you bathe your grass in a mixture of dishwater, chewing tobacco juice, and mouthwash to discourage insects and disease. The question of how to coax your lawn into the bathtub, is in this gardener’s opinion, far outweighed by the spectre of all those lawn experts spitting tobacco juice into the dishwater. Perhaps insect pests and grass diseases aren’t as hard to put with as you thought.

Some more chores for you:

• Put in your dahlias and gladiolus toes.
• Drive support stakes in next to them now, for “As a twig is bent; you’d better not tweak the tree” as the old saying goes.
• You can probably throw the house plants out on the deck.
• Hang baskets of annuals and fill window boxes with something, anything.
• Mow the lawn again.
• Turn the compost pile.
• Plant marigold next to your tomatoes to repel hornworms and attract killer bees.
• Attempt to fix whatever has broken on your lawn mower by using a combination of old-fashioned ingenuity and your old fashioned grandfather’s sledgehammer.
• Get out the loafing chairs and wash off the spiders – after all that pour yourself either a large cold beer or a big gin and tonic and do not forget the lemon!!!

Some Common Lawn Weeds are Crabgrass, Quackgrass, Dandelions, and Ground Ivy, all will grow in compacted, salt laden soil where turf grass will not. To make conditions more favourable for desirable grasses aerate to reduce compaction, build up the soil with compost and over seed with a more suitable grass mix. Use sand or kitty litter instead of salt in the winter. If you have used salt in the past, water very heavily in the spring to wash it out along the edges of walks and driveways. Spreading corn gluten meal in the spring will help to prevent seed germination.

Moss in Your Lawn: The best way to tackle moss is to correct the root cause. You can try to remove moss by hand but, unless the underlying conditions are altered, your solution will likely be only temporary. Mosses like moist, shaded spots. Conditions that can bring on moss include: poor drainage, too much shade, not enough air circulation, low soil fertility, compacted soil, and acidic soil. Thinning out tree branches or removing lower limbs will allow more sunshine to reach the lawn, drying out the grass and improving air circulation. Aerating the soil will allow turf roots to penetrate and may improve drainage. Improving the soil with compost will make conditions more favourable for turf grasses. City compost is slightly alkaline which may help to deter moss. Mosses prefer soils that are more acidic (lower pH) than what is recommended for grass. Testing the soil pH may show that your lawn needs lime, or city compost, to raise the pH.

Choose your grass seed wisely:

Tall Fescues:
-Good wear tolerance, often used for sports fields
-Prefers sun
-Good drought tolerance due to its deep roots
-May need occasionally overseed because of winterkill
-Doesn’t form thatch

Fine Fescues:
-Includes creeping red chewings and hard/sheep fescues
-Best for shady and dry areas

Perennial Ryegrass:
-Good if you tend to have insect problems; look for endophyte- enhanced cultivars
-Germinated quickly, 4 to 5 days so it shades the soil as other seeds germinate

Kentucky Bluegrass:
-Choose a mix with as little of this as possible
-Commonly grown for sod
-Needs lots of water and fertilizer
-Goes dormant quickly in hot dry summers
-Preferred by grubs due to its shallow root system

Dutch White Clover:
-Historically, lawns contained Dutch white clover
-Seed is purchased and spread separately from grass seed
-Stays green in droughts and does well in sun and shade
-Is very hardy tolerating foot traffic
-Adds nitrogen to your lawn and competes against weeds

Good gardening – remember your hats cause that sun is very hot; and something for your allergy’s they are very bad this season. I heard a doctor talking on the radio today – saying that they have had more people visiting their hospitals this year than any for a long time, all due to the fact that all the trees seem to be shedding pollen at the same time this year. The cold held the early ones back and now the later ones are “blooming” because of the sudden warm temperatures!!!!

Lovingly, Beryl