For a girl growing up on a homestead in northern Alberta, the weekly trip to collect the mail was a big event.
The 13-kilometre trek might be made on horseback, with a team of horses pulling a sleigh or wagon or occasionally in a spluttering vehicle.
The mail might include blue airmail letters from overseas or perhaps a parcel from the T. Eaton Company but the one thing you could rely on was the weekly edition of The Western Producer. I would tremble with excitement checking the Young Co-operators page to see if the editors had chosen my “Lollipop Lorna” submissions.
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My earliest horticultural memories include transplanting a row of Pineapple weed, Matricaria matricarioides, outside our front door. Fortunately, my long-suffering mother did not scold me but instead steered me toward the large vegetable garden and even gave me my own plot for flowers.
As a lifelong gardener and learner, I gardened my way through a life that included a family, teaching career, certified horticultural judging, a 30-year association with the Alberta Horticultural Association, 12 years as a provincial, national and international judge for Communities in Bloom and the completion of the Prairie Horticulture Certificate program.
Now let’s look ahead to new beginnings, publications and developments. As the prairie crocus, Pulsatilla patens, emerged from the lifeless prairie this spring, so did Lyndon Penner’s new book, Native Plants for the Short Season Yard.
With his usual conversational, no-nonsense approach, he lists the best picks of native plants for Canadian prairie gardens.
My 2016 issue of The Prairie Garden is well thumbed and highly recommended.
Published in Winnipeg, this year’s 77th annual edition is perhaps the best one yet. The theme is fruit and berries and authors from the Prairies provide an abundance of information.
Spring arrived early this year. With temperatures exceeding 20 C some days, our trees leafed out and the vegetable garden planted. I have good success with early planting and have never had to replant seeds like beans requiring warm soil.
This year, I have high hopes for my new Millennium broccoli, Jumpstart peas and Vulture cylindrical beets.
My first flower garden contained Cosmos and I have been a fan of this reliable annual ever since, planting and enjoying the new cultivars as they become available.
This year, I will try the new yellow Xanthos cosmos. My relationship with zinnias is not as long but I will be trying the new Zahara singles that promise enticing colours.
A more recent infatuation is with the Cool Wave pansy that thrives even in hot weather. I will be flaunting both Lemon Surprise and Blue skies Cool Wave varieties.
Another initiative this year will cater to bee and butterfly populations by planting flowers, providing water and building insect houses. I’ll discuss this more in an upcoming column.
