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Helen Chesnut: ‘Arp’ rosemary best bet for an aromatic hedge

Dear Helen: What variety of rosemary would you recommend for a short but substantial divider hedge? The site I have in mind is sunny. F.C. Your best choice is probably ‘Arp.
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Arp rosemary is a good choice for a hedge that blooms over a long period and attracts bees.

Dear Helen: What variety of rosemary would you recommend for a short but substantial divider hedge? The site I have in mind is sunny.

F.C.

Your best choice is probably ‘Arp.’ It’s a tough, imposing rosemary that I chose to plant for a line of aromatic evergreen, minimal-maintenance plants in a sunny, hot and dryish location. The planting has been very successful. It seems almost always to be flowering and full of bees.

A new rosemary this year in the Richters herb catalogue, called ‘Hill Hardy,’ sounds promising, too. I’ll be trying this new one and will report on it later. Meanwhile, I’d stick to the proven Arp.

 

Dear Helen: A hand-crafted birthday card I received recently had a photo of a large, mutated foxglove flower attached to the front. Can you explain this oddity? The flower was at the top of the spike.

T.J.

These large, anomalous blooms are fairly rare. They are peloric flowers, from the Greek peloros, meaning huge or monstrous. In foxgloves, peloric flowers develop at the tip of the spike, from the bud that blooms last.

The cause is a recessive gene that is sometimes triggered by injury to the developing terminal bud. Breeders have tried to develop lines of foxgloves with a high frequency of peloria, but even with these, only a chance combination of environmental factors will cause peloric flowers to emerge.

Several peloric foxglove blooms made an appearance in my garden one year, with fewer the following year. It was a notable showing, likely triggered partly by the particular weather pattern in the first year.

 

Dear Helen: Last summer, some of my kale and zucchini (the fruits) were eaten by something. I’ve observed no rabbits, but there are quite a few rats around. Do they ever eat vegetables?

E.W.

I’ve not had rats gnawing on my vegetables, but I have a friend in Vancouver with a community garden plot where rats have been a major pest. She tells me there are no bunnies around and deer are fenced out, but rats abound. Her beans (leaves and pods), zucchini and cucumber (fruit only), and kale have all been eaten.

Her plan to help remedy the situation this year is to cover young plants with floating row cover or wire mesh caging and to grow only climbing beans and zucchini (Tromboncino, West Coast Seeds). She’ll also train cucumber vines up vertical supports.

 

GARDEN EVENTS

Native plant meeting. The Native Plant Study Group meets Thursday at 7 p.m. in Room D116 of UVic’s MacLaurin Building. Colleen O’Brien will explore the topic Restoration of Playfair Park’s Garry Oak Meadow: A work in progress. Since 2010, Colleen has led Playfair Park’s volunteer efforts to liberate native plants from the clutches of alien grasses. Visitor drop-in fee is $5. Parking cost is $2.50. NPSG.ca.

 

Mill Bay plant sale. The annual Mill Bay Plantaholics Plant Sale will present its usual great selection of healthy plants to the public on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2836 Oceanside Lane in Mill Bay. Turn east off the highway at Kilmalu. Master gardeners will be on hand to answer questions. Proceeds will be used to support a young woman student in Malawi, and Somenos Transition House, run by the Cowichan Women Against Violence Society.

 

Spring plant sale. The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich, is hosting its annual spring plant sale on Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Look for interesting and unusual varieties, and plants propagated from the HCP gardens. Admission is free. Everyone is welcome. hcp.ca

 

HCP courses. The following courses are offered at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific. See the website for details. Register at 250-479-6162.

 

• Growing Medicinal Mushrooms, Wednesday, April 27, 6 to 8:30 p.m. Cost to HCP members $50, others $60.

 

• Foraging Workshop with Lunch by Local Chef, Saturday, April 30 at 10 a.m. and Saturday, May 7, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Learn about gathering local wild edibles. Feast on a three-course meal with foraged foods. Cost: $99 per participant.

 

Old time parlour show. As part of its 70th anniversary year, the Nanaimo Horticultural Society is hosting an old-fashioned Parlour Show, open to public participation and judged by people’s choice only, on Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Nanaimo North Town Centre (Rutherford Mall). Master gardeners will be on hand to answer questions. More information at nanaimohort.org.