“At the plant we planted a plant.”

Interpretation: At the factory we put a botanical species in the ground.

The English language is confusing, but some thoughts are not so hard to express. Such as, “fall is for planting”.   Autumn arrives this coming Wednesday September 22^nd.  We recommend that you circle the date, the second equinox of the year.

Plants know all of this.  Their calendar is set by day length and is engineered into their DNA.  Therefore, a lilac that normally flowers in May will sometimes produce flowers in late September when the day length is about the same as their spring flowering period.  Their natural system for telling time is not foolproof.

Truth is, these are the best days of year for planting, bar none.   As the days shorten and temperatures adjust downwards, the soil holds an abundance of warmth accumulated in the summer which encourage roots of winter hardy trees, shrubs, and perennials to develop even while the top portion of the plant is finished growing for this year.  The new roots support new growth come spring, which is why a fall planted tree, for example, will often outgrow a spring planted tree of the same size and species.

Coincidentally, this coming Wednesday is National Tree Day here in Canada.  Not only is it one of the best days of the year to plant, but it is also recognized through an act of federal parliament as THE day of the year when we pause and celebrate the role that trees play in our lives.

They sequester carbon and produce oxygen and they provide many more useful functions.  While we spend our days on other distractions like working for a living or playing golf, trees are filtering toxins out of rainwater, providing habitat and breeding grounds for wildlife, cooling the atmosphere, and generally making the world a better place to live.  Indeed, it is because of trees that our world is liveable at all.  

The best-selling author Peter Wohlleben in his landmark book The Hidden Life of Trees noted that trees create rain.   If we were to cut down all the trees in North American, rain would only fall in the 50 kilometres closest to oceans and large lakes, where open water helps to create clouds.  The rest of our continent would be a desert, just as the Sahara is a desert now. A long time ago, the same Sahara was a jungle in which a lot of rain once fell.  People cut down the trees to create grazing land and, well, here we are.

Planting a tree any time is a good idea, but planting a tree now is the best idea of all.  Same can be said for planting flowering shrubs and perennials.   The same principles apply.  Which is why it is also a good time of year to dig up and divide perennials.  Any perennial with a fleshy or fibrous root system that holds together when you dig it up will work.   This is the best time of year to dig up peonies, divide them with a sharp knife or spade and either move the root clumps around your yard or give them away.  Be sure to plant peonies with the top of their roots no more than 10 centimetres deep in their new soil and if the soil is heavy and clay-based plant them only 4 or 5 centimetres deep.  

Fall is a good time to transplant young shrubs, trees, and evergreens also.   Note that the more fibrous the root system, that is, the denser and hairier the root structure, the more it lends itself to moving around your garden.  A shrub like burning bush or an evergreen like boxwood can be a decade old and still transplant well.   A root of heavy wood, like that of walnut or chestnut, will not transplant well at any time.

Birch and oak trees are best to dig and replant in spring.  We have not figured out why this is so, experience just tells us that it is.

There is no substitute for experience, we have observed. It was experience down countless generations that taught plants how to deal with the marvels of autumn.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

Plant in the spring, rake leaves in the fall.  Right? 

In the oversimplified world of amateur gardening that about sums it up.  You have a life to live after all, maybe a job and responsibilities that are more important than crabgrass.

We get that.  But we have a responsibility to inform and enlighten you so that you squeeze the most out of your gardening experience and monetary investment.  After all, if a gorgeous tulip garden is in your dreams, how would you know that now is the time to plant them if we did not tell you?

Ours is a job of blank filling.  Let us fill in some blanks for you here so that you are richly rewarded next spring, horticulturally speaking.

Brilliant spring flower garden = fall bulb planting.  Here is our primer for a fabulous looking spring bulb garden.

For fragrance nothing beats hyacinths.  Each floweret is packed with a sweet scent that attracts admirers like early emerging bees.  We recommend that you plant some in planters at your front door or in the bed leading up to it.  Nothing says “home” like hyacinths in April.

For early spring colour, plant crocus and snow drops.  For best effect, plant 10 or more in a broad, shallow hole and cover with light, well drained soil.  Snow drops, as you might expect, emerge first come spring.  Notice how they illuminate a south facing wall when the yard is snow covered.  Thank you solar heat, free!

For cutting to bring indoors, resistance to vermin like rabbits, deer and squirrels, early flowering (mid-April in Toronto) and for long lasting blooms, plant narcissus and daffodils.  If you choose varieties that are sold for naturalizing, you can bank on clumps of them getting bigger and better each year almost forever.  They cost more than tulips, but their value is infinitely greater.

For reliable winter hardiness, cutting, and to brighten up the May garden before you get annual flowers planted you can’t beat tulips. 

All flower bulbs need to be planted three times as deep as the bulb is thick, measured from tip to bottom.  The pointy end goes up.  If you plant bulbs upside down or sideways, they will still grow and bloom, but the stem may be crooked.  No need for fertilizer when planting.  The miracle of Dutch bulbs is that everything that is needed to grow and bloom is contained in the bulb.  It is a powerhouse of sugars, nutrients and best of all the embryo of next spring’s flower.   And not all bulbs are Dutch, fyi.  Most daffodil bulbs sold in Canada are grown in B.C.  where all cut daffodils sold in April, Cancer month, are also grown.

Garlic is planted in fall.  Sure, you can plant it in spring and there are garlic bulbs sold by retailers then, but not because that is the best time of year to plant them, but customers demand it.  It is a little early to plant garlic bubs now.  Mid October to mid November is ideal.  Cover with straw mulch for winter protection for best performance.  Remove and compost come spring.  We recommend the locally grown, organic stock that you find at farmer’s markets vs. the retail garlic that comes from The Netherlands.  It is tastier and a more reliable garden performer. 

Trees are best planted in fall.  Counter intuitive, after all spring is when garden retailers fill up with inventory, the widest variety of trees and shrubs is available and let’s face it, once the Maple Leafs have lost another round of play off hockey, all we want to do is escape the TV and get outside.  Planting trees in spring makes us feel better.

But all woody plants like trees and shrubs feel better being given a new home in the fall.  They do not care about hockey.  Best to plant right now, in September, when the soil is still warm (it is a good insulator) and moisture is more reliable in the months ahead than in spring.  While the top portion of trees begin to go dormant about now, the roots are seeking new sources of nutrients and moisture.  Small, fibrous roots are produced that anchor the plant in its new home and miracles begin to happen.  Like aggressive growth come spring and a much lower chance of fatality through transplant shock. 

Spring is for planting, fall for raking leaves. Right.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

Of all the families in the plant world, none produce as many blank stares as “deciduous evergreen”.  Deciduous means that a plant has leaves that are broad and fall off come autumn.  And evergreen means that the foliage stays put. 

Fact is, there are some wonderful plants in this category, which is sometimes referred to as broadleaf evergreen. There are several that we highly recommend. Here are our favourites:

• Euonymus. When a customer walks into the garden centre and asks for “anonymous” an experienced gardener knows what they really mean (much like the customer who seeks asylum each spring, who really wants to plant alyssum). Customer number one is looking for euonymus. A broadleaf evergreen that is winter hardy to zone 4, generally has a mounding habit and is available in deep green and variegated yellow or cream and green. All euonymus climb, if you provide support for them, as they grow aerial roots that stick to brick, wood or most anything that gets in their way.

Their vertical inclination is not a negative aspect of the plant as it does not grow fast, as a Boston Ivy or Virginia Creeper does.  The growth of euonymus is more purposeful, giving you the opportunity to cut it back before it takes over your castle. 

Florists use euonymus as a great addition to most flower arrangements.

Very few insect pests bother it, though insect scale can be persistent.  Mark has a Big Leaf Winter Creeper euonymus that frames the window of his kitchen that has coexisted with scale insects for 12 years.  Scale be controlled with dormant oil.

• Hardy Blue Holly. Do not confuse hardy blue with English holly, which grows like stink in B. C. and the U.K. but is not reliably hardy here.  Hardy Blue holly is a hybrid between English (Ilex aquifolium) and winter hardy ground holly (Ilex rugosa).  Introduced from the States about a generation ago, they have become mainstream landscape plants up to zone 5. 

The flowers are dioecious, which means that some plants produce male flowers while others produce female flowers.  It is best to look for a Prince and Princess when shopping for hardy blue holly.  One prince can service several princesses, but if there is no prince, there will not be any red berry clusters come Christmas.

Like a rooster in the hen house.  We are not talking about this anymore.

Hardy blue holly features blueish foliage, white flowers in spring and attractive red berry clusters late fall and winter.  Except the male plants (sorry to bring it up again).

Matures to about a metre high and enjoys afternoon shade come summer.  East or north facing gardens perform best.

• Boxwood. Another great garden performer that should not be confused with the U.K. cousin, English boxwood. Here in Canada, up to zone 4, we grow Korean boxwood hybrids. Look for Canadian introductions like Green Mound or Green Gem. They create an outstanding small hedge or as individual specimens clipped into a globe. Sometimes they are mass planted and cloud pruned into waves. Mark has over 50 in his garden. Note that boxwood tree moth has been popping up in the last couple years, starting in the west end of Toronto and spreading around the Golden Horseshoe. There are controls for it, but you must be diligent.
  
• Mahonia, or Canadian Holly. Not real holly, but a soft, faster growing look alike. Native to the Canadian west. Mature to about 125 cm hardy to zone 5. Striking yellow flowers in spring followed by clusters of blue fruit in fall. The fruit attracts some varieties of songbirds.
  
• Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica) is a semi-evergreen which means what you think it does – usually it is evergreen, but a particularly harsh winter can burn off some of that foliage. We make exception here as it is an underappreciated native shrub which produces berries that attract robins, chickadees and warblers.

There is more to this story. There are trees and shrubs that hold their leaves over the winter and lose them when new growth pushes the old, coloured foliage off come spring. Many oak species, beech and ivies fall into this category.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

The pandemic has encouraged us to embrace change.  You may let your hair grow a little longer between cuts, make fewer trips to the grocery store and chances are that you know your neighbours a little better. 

Speaking of neighbours, this may be a good time to consider creating a healthy green or flowering hedge between your properties.  You may want the added privacy, support your local pollinating insects, a nesting place for birds or the sound barrier that, as it matures, is much more effective than a wooden fence. 

Here are our top 6 favourite hedging plants:

Cedars.  Cedars are almost permanent (they last several times longer than a wooden fence), evergreen and suit the narrow, linear space we usually allocate to a hedge.  All cedars require a minimum of 6 hours sunshine a day.  There are two popular hedging species of cedar used in Canada: native white cedars and Emerald (‘Smaragd’) cedars.

White cedars.  Often harvested from the wild, look for nursery-grown to be sure that they have not been poached from an unsuspecting landowner. Nursery-grown trees also transplant better as they are grown in pots.  Start small for best results, around a metre high, as youngsters will put down roots quickly and outgrow their more mature counter parts.  They cost less and require less TLC to get them started.  White cedars lend themselves to formal pruning. 

Emerald Cedars.  A cultivar developed in Denmark a couple of generations ago.  They feature an emerald green appearance and never need pruning, provided they have adequate space.  Start with locally grown stock as they are better suited to our climate.  Start these specimens small also. 

Bridal Wreath Spirea.  Come late May and early June, brilliant white hedges burst into bloom everywhere.  This winter hardy flowering shrub has proven itself for several generations as a disease resistant, fast growing flowering hedge that is economical (especially compared to a wooden fence) and easy to manage in the range of two to three metres high.  Prune now, mid-summer, for best results. 

Lilac.  Do not plant common lilac, which is a weed of a shrub, unless you have plenty of real estate for it to spread.  Better to stick to the easier to control dwarf Korean lilac (ultimate height two metres), French Hybrid (mature to about three to four metres and very fragrant) or Chinese lilac (three to four metres, later flowering).   All lilacs, except for the Korean cultivar, will grow at least two metres wide.  Prune now.

Hill’s Yew.  An elegant, richly textured evergreen hedge about a metre to a metre and a half high and wide.  Prune after first flush of growth in June or July.  A fabulous permanent hedge that is tolerant of moderate shade (requires a minimum of 3 hours sun to look its best) and improves in appearance for decades.  We know of some Hill’s yew hedges that Ben’s grandfather planted in the ‘60s in Toronto that still look great.

Boxwood.  A broad-leafed evergreen that creates a permanent metre-high hedge.  Boxwood lends itself to pruning in most any shape.  Rounded, squared or you can prune them into animal shapes.  Slow to start but worth the wait. 

Hedge planting.  Dig a trench about twice as wide and several centimetres deeper than the root mass of the hedging plants.  Line the bottom of the trench with quality triple mix, enough to raise the hedge above grade by 5 or 6 centimetres.  As you line the plants up, firm soil around every side of the roots with the heal of your boot and water generously.  Continue to keep wet for the first couple of weeks, gradually allowing the soil to dry about four or five centimetres below the surface.   Annual pruning keeps them in good shape. 

Of all the choices that you make regarding home improvement, we recommend hedging your bets – especially against the cost of lumber.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

by Mark & Ben Cullen
Gardening

Insects are our friends.   

Without them the web of nature collapses.  That is how important insects are to the world in which we live.

However, insect hotels aside, even we agree that there are a few insect pests that are worthy of control.

Here is a list of the most prevalent insect pests that invade our gardens this time of year and our recommended non-chemical controls:
1. Japanese beetle.  Hello climate change.  A generation ago, this common garden pest was not known in these parts, as our winters were severe enough to kill them off.  Now, Japanese beetles love to forage on lawns, linden trees, Virginia creeper vines, roses and many more.  They are voracious.  You may read elsewhere that the best control is hand picking.  We say “nonsense”.  Once you start, you might as well quit your day job as this becomes endless.  Pheromone (ie. sex) traps work best in the urban garden.  Hang them where the problem is most persistent and empty them at least once a week. 

2. Gypsy moth.  The caterpillar of the gypsy moth arrives in such quantities that the word hordes is appropriate here.  Many municipalities have sprayed with the relatively benign bacillus thurengensis or BT when the moth is in larvae stage.  This liquid reacts with the lining of the stomach of the larvae causing them to burst at the seams.  Not nice. But neither is the defoliation of your trees when they arrive.  Or the frass, their droppings, as they fall from the trees above. The stickiest stuff in the universe must be Tanglefoot.  Squeeze a ring of this around the girth of a tree, just below the lowest branches and larvae get stuck in it.  We hear reports that supplies are limited and other reports that small birds can get stuck in it (it is THAT sticky) and can be harmed or die.   You can hand pick and drop into a pail of water with some veggie oil floating in it. Note that gypsy moth rarely kills a tree, despite the leafless condition that they leave them in.

3. Grubs.  White grubs, grey grubs, they both munch on grass roots and cause damage.  But not as much as the racoons, skunks, and possum that route through your lawn at night looking for them.  Grubs are shrimp cocktails to vermin.  Control them now with nematodes, available from garden retailers.  Mix them with water and spray the solution on your lawn and water it thoroughly.  Nematodes are naturally occurring and will not harm your plants.

4. Potato beetle.  If you grow potatoes, you have the Colorado potato beetle.  Where do they come from?  We have no idea.  At one time Colorado, but now, here, they are Ontario potato beetles.  Hand pick them or apply a dry powder of silicone dioxide or diatomaceous earth.  Packaged in a squeeze bottle and sold as an ant or crawling insect control.  This is ground-up fossilized insects, ironically, that removes the waxy protective coating on the belly of the beetle.  Reapply after a rain or watering. 

5. Cabbage moth.  The pretty white, smallish butterfly that you see flitting around your yard is laying eggs of small green caterpillars of the cabbage moth.  Unlike a Cabbage patch doll, which is fun and cuddly, the moth larvae are hungry for the leaves of any member of the cabbage family, including broccoli, brussels sprouts and of course cabbage.  Silicone dioxide works well in dry weather. A butterfly net works, but if you catch a desirable butterfly, thank it, and let it go.

Which brings us to the nut of this issue.  99% of all insects are beneficial and provide yeomen’s service in the natural cycle of eat and be eaten in the world of nature.  A nesting family of Downy woodpeckers will consume up to 14,000 caterpillars a day (busy mom), so we need them. 

There are many pest-controlling friends to the gardener.  Songbirds, and bats forage for insects this time of year with abandon.  Frogs and toads eat flying insects including mosquitoes.  Snakes, possums, skunks and even raccoons will seek out ground insects and gobble them up. 

We have friends in the pest control department. Let us not rock that boat.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

by Mark and Ben Cullen
Gardening

July 12, 1940.  This was the date that the first Canadian casualty in World War Two occurred. He was Pilot Officer Duncan Alexander Hewitt, 501 Squadron Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, a 20-year-old native of New Brunswick.

Hewitt was one of 3,050 Canadians who were lost while serving in the air force, during the war, whose bodies were never found.

There is a tree planted in his honour on the section of Highway 401, known as the Highway of Heroes. Officer Hewitt has been memorialized as a part of the HoH Tree Campaign – ­a project that was successfully launched more than 7 years ago by volunteers with an interest in honouring our war dead and giving the environment a lift at the same time.   We are active volunteer supporters of the campaign; Mark is the Chair.

We plant trees to fight climate change.  Trees are, after all, a miracle of nature that has not been matched for efficiency and economy by anything created by the hand of humankind.  Nothing we have made comes even close. 

By planting 117,000 trees on the right of way of the Highway of Heroes, one for each Canadian lost at war since 1812, and more than 1.8 million more trees just off the highway, we acknowledge and remember Canadians who volunteered for military service during times of war.  We are also combating the negative effects of human activity on our environment. 

Thanks to many generous partners and donors, we have exceeded our initial goal to raise $10 million to pay for the tree planting.  By Remembrance Day, November 11, 2022, we anticipate that all two million trees will be in the ground.  We will commemorate this day by planting the last tree, while remaining committed to their stewardship.

As we near the completion of this campaign, and celebrate its success and especially its supporters, we look to the future.  We will take what we have learned from the Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign, add the experience of our partner organization GrandTrees, and plant native trees and shrubs, many more of them, across the country where Canadians live, work and play. We can do this.  We can use trees to make a greener, healthier Canada for us and for our children.

The initiative, called Trees For Life, is the umbrella organization for these two projects – a national charity committed to mobilizing, empowering, and inspiring urban tree-planting across Canada. 

We are working with municipalities, conservation authorities, citizen groups, and many others who want to harness the power of trees to address the climate crisis, clean our air, shade our streets and homes and playgrounds, give habitat to our wildlife. And in the beautiful new tradition of HoH Tree Campaign, we will also create permanent, living acknowledgements of the great work and sacrifice made by Canadian heroes, including our military, and our front-line workers since the pandemic started in March of last year. What if we planted a tree for every doctor, nurse, personal care worker, ambulance driver and, well, you could complete the list. What a tribute we can create.

Through the Federal Ministry of Natural Resources and the government’s 2 Billion Tree program we have a running start to our campaign: 2 million dollars is committed by Ottawa to get our national tree planting efforts off the ground.   In addition, private donors have pledged several more hundreds of thousands of dollars and several industry professionals are willing to share costs and provide in-kind support to maximize our impact.  If we raise $1 million in private donations, we will be able to triple this impact through various matching opportunities.  But we need your help to do this. 

We hope you agree, this is a compelling case for support for any Canadian who understands the environmental value of trees.  If that is you, we urge you to visit www.treesforlife.ca to donate.  Soon, when we can physically connect, and our partner tree-planting organizations will be holding public tree planting events that you can join.

The Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign, a concept inspired by Canadian service and sacrifice, was introduced in this newspaper, the Toronto Star, over 7 years ago. Today we proudly celebrate the success of that Campaign, and hope that you will help us continue the legacy with Trees for Life, and the millions of trees we intend to plant with partner organizations, including in tribute to heroes all across our country. Join us! Trees For Life, Trees For Heroes. www.treesforlife.ca

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

by Mark and Ben Cullen

Sometimes you can have it both ways.

You can have a weed-free garden without the use of herbicides.   

First, chemical-free weed control is possible if you relax your standards somewhat.

Secondly, there are tactics to a relatively weed free and chemical-free garden.  Here are our favourites:

1. Crop rotations minimize weed pressure in the veggie garden before it even happens. If you have been growing tomatoes on the same patch of bare soil for many years, a bank of weed seeds will have accumulated over time which can compete easily with your tomatoes. Try sowing a cover crop in that section, such as an alfalfa or clover mix, which will out compete the weeds for a season while building up the soil again by fixing nitrogen out of the atmosphere.
   
2. Competition. Plant higher densities of the plants you want, and it will be harder for weeds to take over.
   
3. Mulch. Proven to reduce weed pressure by up to 90% and reduce watering by up to 70%. Mark prefers 2 to 3 inches of shredded bark mulch whereas Ben prefers straw, whatever your preference it will minimize weeds.
   
4. Solarizing. Where you have a stubborn patch of weeds, like twitch grass or Canada thistle, you can literally bake them out of existence. This takes patience. The trick is having full sunlight, as you are harnessing the suns rays to burn them off. Use a sheet of clear greenhouse plastic at least 3 mm thick and secure it down over the area for 8 to 12 weeks during the hottest part of the summer – July is a great time for the job. Temperatures can exceed 49^oC which will also wipe out soil-borne diseases and pests.
   
5. Burning weeds, it is easy to overkill. Weed torches have been around a long time and many people have had mixed success – often because they want to scorch the plants to the ground. Not necessary. Simply pass over the green weeds slowly, enough to burst the leaf cell walls. They will wilt in a few days. Repeat this process a few times until the plant has run out of energy. Tip: Mark uses a two wheeled cart to mount the propane cylinder on.
   
6. Electronic weed zappers follow a similar premise to the propane-powered weed torches but run on a high-voltage electric current, where an electronic wick drives a current through the plant, bursting cell walls. While the consumer-friendly zappers we have seen look sketchy to outright dangerous, this is a somewhat common practice in organic farming where implements can run off the power of a tractor. As one of Cullen’s Foods organic bean growers put it, “smells like a vegan barbeque!”. Delicious.
   
7. Chemical-free herbicides such as horticultural vinegar (contains acetic acid) can show some immediate effect but in our experience are not effective long-term and requires regular re-application. As these things go, “the dose is the poison” and it begs the question- is such a high volume of vinegar good for your soil? We do not have a scientifically proven answer, but we would rather not have it.
   
8. Hoeing – you have one in their tool shed but avoid using it. Here is the rub: the earlier you remove weeds with a sharp hoe, the less work you will have pulling them later. The secret to successful weeding is to sharpen your hoe and use it while weeds are young. This time of year, the weed seedlings that are sprouting in your garden will die when you cut them down and leave them exposed to the sun to bake for a few hours.

Repeat the treatment every two or three weeks to keep weeds under control and you will never have to hurt your back yanking on a deeply rooted burdock again. 

Fact is, many gardeners have learned to enjoy the quiet contemplation that is part of the weeding experience which is why early in the morning or late in the evening when the birds are singing is the best time to weed with a hoe – and appreciate your garden, imperfections in all.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

by Mark and Ben Cullen

Summer arrived the other day.  Did you notice?  Your plants did.  The days shorten and generally temperatures rise, while less rain falls.

This is a cue to gardeners to turn attention to certain time-honoured tasks that maximize flowering and harvest potential. Here is our list for end-of-June gardening chores:

1. Stake and tie. Tomatoes, climbing roses, clematis, anything that grows up but needs support, needs it now. Mark uses a metal spiral stake to support his tomato plants as they do not require anything to make them grow upright. Just twist the main stem of the plant around the spiral. Prune out the suckers on tomatoes for best fruit production.

2. Prune.  The first flush of new growth on evergreens and shrubs has produced a lot of lanky looking plants.  They look a bit like us right now, in need of a haircut.  If your winter hardy plants have finished flowering this is the perfect time to prune a cedar hedge, lilac, forsythia, juniper, Japanese maple: virtually all evergreens and shrubs.

3. Fertilize.  Hungry plants tell us when they need nutrients with yellowing leaves or stunted growth.  Now is the best time of year to add a season-long fertilizer to the surface of the soil or spread a five-to-seven-centimeter layer of finished compost over the root zone.  Containerized plants need additional nutrients this time of year.  Look for a slow-release fertilizer product that delivers a mild solution to the root zone with every watering.

4. Japanese beetles.  The scourge of many gardens in July is the Japanese beetle.  One of our most asked questions early in summer is how to control them.  There is no easy way.  But the most effective method is to hang a pheromone trap, in a tree or on a fence.  Beetles are attracted to it and fall into the trap.  It is like Fatal Attraction, the movie, without the Hollywood hype.  Be sure to empty it out at least every couple of weeks to avoid a bad smell. 

5. Control insects and disease on fruit trees.  We use a combination of End All and garden sulphur for an environmentally responsible combo that slows most problems of this nature to an acceptable level.  Non-chemical pest and disease control is not a panacea.  Slightly blemished fruit is perfectly palatable and tasty. 

6. Deadhead spent flowers.  The flowers on your veronica may have come and gone but the potential to flower again is there if you deadhead them: remove the spent flower before it goes to seed.  The energy that the plant would use to produce seed is channelled into producing more flowers, later in the season.  This is the result of a desire on the part of the plant to reproduce.  Flowers were created by nature to attract pollinators which enable the plant to produce seed and make more plants.  It is a primal thing.  Many perennials and annuals produce flowers in response to deadheading this time of year, including Shasta daisy, columbine, foxglove, petunias, geraniums, and marigolds.

 7.  Sow and plant for kids.  Fast-growing bush beans, radishes, carrots, and beets are sown by seed now for a harvest in a few weeks.  A fast-growing flower or food-producing plant gives kids a lift, catches their attention and teaches them a thing or two about the natural world. 

This is also a good time of year to do less. 

Cut your lawn at least 7 to 10 cm high and less frequently as temperatures rise and rain falls less frequently.  Do not fertilize it during a drought or prolonged period of heat.

Water only the parts of your garden that demand it and water less frequently but deeply.  Watering once a week for a couple of hours is plenty for most flowering plants.  Allowing the soil to dry about 6 cm deep between applications encourages deeper roots and more drought-resistant plants.

A little effort now equals bounty later this summer.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.

by Mark & Ben Cullen

“Can you recommend a plant that I can grow in a cemetery?” is a question almost as old as time.

Soon, we will officially say “hello summer!” For many plants, this is a good thing. Our long, warm days are more conducive to plant growth than any other time of year. That is, providing said plant is in the right place. Many readers have a sunny yard that heats up this time of year and there are many plants that will thrive there. However, if you plant a thirsty or shade loving plant in direct sun you might be creating a graveyard for plants.

Here are our top eight picks for planting in hot spots, including near a head stone:

1. Stonecrop. Sedum is almost indestructible in a bright sunny location. It is the camel of all plants. Their bright colours and mid to late summer flowering period are long and eye catching. Their fleshy stems and leaves are engineered to hold moisture and release it as needed by the plant. Choose from many varieties including low ground huggers up to Sedum spectabile which matures to about 30 or 40 cm (18 to 24 inches).

2. Achillea. Yarrow is almost as indestructible as sedum, when grown in the sun. Only it looks feathery and delicate. It is the lightweight kickboxing champion of the plant world. Try to ignore it or push it around by starving it and it will simply multiply and bloom while thumbing its nose at you. Stunning colours in a wide variety including the hot reds, orange, and yellows. Native species are available. Will grow up to 70 cm tall, depending on the variety.

3. Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) need higher moisture to germinate, but once they are growing, they are very tolerant of drought and almost any soil condition. Once considered an actual weed, public opinion has swung wildly into favour as milkweeds are the exclusive larval host for monarch butterflies. Also attracts milkweed tussock moth, milkweed leaf beetle, queen butterfly and a host of native bees. All good.

4. “Goldenrod (solidago) is the new milkweed”, is what all the cool nature kids are saying. Public opinion is changing around goldenrod as it has for milkweed, owing to its superpowers supporting bees and butterflies. Stiff goldenrod is a drought tolerant variety that will put on a show with its yellow flowers. It is a common misconception that goldenrod aggravates hay fever when ragweed is to blame.

5. Blazing star (Liatris). Who would not want to be remembered as a “blazing star”? There are many varieties of this plant also known as liatris or gayfeather. It is a native plant with round flowers that will attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees to beat the band. The purple flowers look at home in a meadow planting, surrounded by native grasses.

6. Lamium. Mark planted this in his pollinator garden 15 years ago and he works hard to retain it. It is a great groundcover where nothing else will grow. Grows to 30 cm or 12 inches. Attractive variegated foliage of silver or gold. Take that to the bank. We guarantee that your deposit will grow.

7. Hosta. Quick to establish itself in most any garden, the broad-leafed Hosta thrives in dry shade and the solid green varieties grow well in the sun, though mid day direct sun can scorch even these. Variegated types will bleach out in direct sun. Hosta add texture and the flowers attract hummingbirds and other pollinators mid summer. Available from short 20 cm varieties to giants that spread over a meter wide.

8. Daylily (Hemerocallis) There are many daylilies in bloom right now. They love the sun and thrive through a drought as their bulbous, fleshy roots store water underground for long periods of time. You know that a plant has few demands when municipalities use it extensively to line boulevards. Choose from a wide variety of hot colours like orange, yellow and rose/red. Varieties grow from 60 cm to over a metre high.

In addition to our list of favourites, we add echinacea (Purple Cone Flower), Shasta daisy, rudbeckia and any ornamental grass, of which there are several thousand to choose from.

Happy gardening in the sun.

By Mark and Ben Cullen

If you live in an urban environment you are surrounded by cars, roads, high-rises, concrete and sometimes, with a bit of luck, some green space.

If this describes your community, we invite you to rethink it.  To imagine the perfect city or suburb.

The pandemic has prompted a reimagining of urban space that may change the way we live.  Some of us are implementing our dreams of greener, cleaner, and healthier workplaces even as we approach what we hope will be the tail end of a difficult time.

Shiri Rosenberg is one such dreamer.  She is the Director of Asset Strategy at Colliers Real Estate Management Services in Toronto.  Rosenberg is passionate about re-imagining the way we think about commercial spaces in our urban landscape.  She invites us all to look at these areas with a new lens. “Why do outdoor commercial spaces need to be associated with grass or decorative landscaping? We have an opportunity to activate these spaces and introduce uses that are more dynamic and productive” she shares.

Not only would this benefit owners of the real estate and building tenants, but it would also have a compelling social benefit for communities and the City. We could begin to elevate our urban landscape. One way she is helping to lead the charge is with the Colliers Edible and Pollinator Garden program.   

Through the initiative, Colliers activates sites, engages occupants and the community, promotes wellness, grows food for those that need it (including the bees), supports urban biodiversity, and helps owners achieve building sustainability certifications such as LEED, BOMA Best and GRESB.

Last year, together with Desjardins, and the on-site Colliers property management team, Rosenberg, and urban growers/consultants Hoffmann Hayes, created the first garden of its kind in the Colliers network, converting the land in front of the Desjardins office building at 95 St. Clair Ave. W., in Toronto, into an urban farm. 

Rosenberg reflects, “We were not sure whether food would grow on the busy St. Clair thoroughfare (surrounded by condos and strong winds). Our clients, Brian Spratley, Regional Vice-President at Desjardins and Frank Sinclair Asset Manager at Desjardins, said to us: ‘Let’s just view this as an experiment,’ and they said it with a light heart and a smile.”

“It was a real gesture of trust and teamwork. As well as a willingness to even fail in the context of possibly succeeding.”

The outcomes of the project were outstanding.   Eyes popped as pedestrians passed by the building. The Yonge and St. Clair BIA began posting photos of the garden on social media as a new community destination.  The garden helped engage occupants and the community by providing a place where owners, tenants and locals could connect through a common purpose.   

What was once traditional office landscaping was converted into a food garden that grew over 400 pounds of kale, plus onions and herbs that were donated to The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto.  Not to mention that dozens of native pollinator plants were added to the site.  In large part due to the various innovative initiatives being introduced at the Desjardins building, in 2020, the location won the prestigious international Outstanding Building of the Year Award (BOMA International TOBY Award). For the edible garden program, Rosenberg was also presented with a Corporate Social Responsibility Leadership Award from CoreNet Global, the Global Association for Corporate Real Estate, through its annual REMMY Awards program. 

Was food poaching a problem?  “We have signage in the garden that indicates that the food grown will be donated.  This has deterred people from taking it,” Rosenberg said.   

The idea of growing food on otherwise underused commercial and industrial land leads to another natural extension: pollinator gardens.  “Our thinking is this: Instead of only concrete, mowed grass, or decorative landscaping, why not add an area of native plants that support the environment. Not only is it better for the planet, but it’s also better for the bottom line,” Shiri adds.

“Native plants are just as nice and are perennial, they grow back yearly. Its about making thoughtful choices. Commercial spaces account for a meaningful amount of land in our City.  As managers of real estate, we have an opportunity to manage these spaces in ways that enhance the real estate, benefit our communities, and support the environment. We can make choices that do all three,” Rosenberg points out.

Colliers manages over 64 million square feet of commercial real estate in Canada.  “I would love to see our competitors and others in the real estate industry do this, too.  It’s a win-win for everyone: our business, communities, our cities and most importantly our planet.”

The David Suzuki Foundation further supported the drive by acknowledging the Colliers Edible and Pollinator Gardens as contributors to the City’s Butterfly Way Network.  The foundation’s goals are to plant 54,000 butterfly plants in the ground this year and create over 1,000 “pollinator patches” across the country.   With Colliers help they just might meet their ambitions.  https://davidsuzuki.org/take-action/act-locally/butterflyway/

As edible and pollinator gardens become established on Colliers’ properties across Canada the sites will most certainly become community hubs.  Places of social activity where none existed before.  This will further support the differentiation of participating buildings, making them trendier and more attractive to work at or live nearby.

The site at 95 St. Clair Ave. W. confirmed that people love to be near plants.  There was no shortage of volunteers to help tend the soil, sow seeds, plant, weed, water, and harvest last year.  “This is very much a team effort.  We would not have been able to execute the project at this site or any of the sites being rolled out without the dedication of our on-site property management team, our incredible vendors Hoffmann Hayes, and the shared enthusiasm and support from our clients and local community.  Our success in scaling the initiative is also in large part due to Lisa Blacklock, Market Lead and SVP of Eastern Canada – who has the operational leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and good will to encourage our teams to try new things and to act.”

And how does Colliers determine whether they will plant and grow a food or a pollinator garden?

“The edible garden does not work on every site.  It needs space, sunlight, and stakeholder interest.  The pollinator garden program is flexible, can be created on a site that is office/ retail or even industrial, and is easy to implement,” said Rosenberg.   

In a recent news release, the Colliers team noted that “sites more socially and environmentally minded are also more leasable and resilient.”   Apparently bringing people together to grow food and nurture native plants to contribute to existing urban pollinator corridors is a good thing financially, too. 

As for the future of the program, Rosenberg is excited to dream a little.  “Imagine if we could have gardens connecting the various sites we manage across the country. Imagine if we then inspire other Colliers’ offices in other countries to do the same with the real estate they manage. We could connect our sites globally.

“Imagine, if we inspired our competitors and others in the real estate sector.  We could start changing urban environments. I know I’m dreaming, but hey, I’m a dreamer,” she said.   This year, Colliers will be introducing 67 pollinator gardens to the sites it manages, as well as landscaped edible gardens to a number of sites in B.C., Alberta and Ontario.   

For those of us with concerns about the future of our world, especially as it relates to food security and the environment, including the wildlife that we share the planet with, like butterflies, hummingbirds and bugs, the new scenario for commercial and industrial properties provides some hope and perhaps also inspiration. 

We are hopeful that condo owners with a balcony and homeowners with some real estate will be inspired by the Colliers Edible and Pollinator Garden Program.  That they will pick up the trowel and get their knees dirty at home.  After all, if the largest real estate management company in Canada can get their act together, why not the rest of us?

Suddenly it is easier to imagine living and working in the perfect urban environment. 

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and Member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.