Did you know?
by Leslie Cox; Monday; March 31, 2025
Did you know…
…slugs are active whenever the spring temperatures are above 5 °C.
I am finding quite a few baby slugs as I clean up the garden beds. Most of them have been in the leaf mulch I am raking off the plants. But John is being plagued by a slug or two who appear to have a gastronomic taste for his pretty red-flowered, Primula vulgaris ssp. rubra. And it is the flowers they are eating down to the stem, not the leaves!
Quote of the Week
by Leslie Cox; Sunday; March 30, 2025
We’re constantly being bombarded by problems that we face
And sometimes we can get completely overwhelmed.
But we should always feel like a hummingbird.
I may feel insignificant, but I don’t want to be like
the other animals watching the planet go down the drain.
I’ll be a hummingbird. I’ll do the best I can.
~ Wangari Maathai
Word of the Week
by Leslie Cox; Monday; March 24, 2025
Phytophthora
(pronounced fy-TOFF-thor-ah)
The word Phytophthora is blended from two Greek words – phyton meaning “plant” and phthora meaning “destruction”. Pretty apt because this is one group of microorganisms which are really deadly to plants.
Resembling fungi, which they are not, Phytophthora are closely related to aquatic organisms like algae so they are more often labeled as water molds even though they can exist on land. However, they do need water to complete their life cycle.
Within the Phytophthora genus are species which are specifically deadly to the trees in our forests, fruit and nut trees, as well as vegetable and nursery crops. In fact, Phytophthora is the number one disease of nursery crops across the country. The most notorious diseases are potato late blight, rhododendron root rot and sudden oak death.
To appreciate the full scope of potential damage to crops, nurseries and forests…there have been almost 240 different species of Phytophthora identified. So far. But, like many microorganisms with their ability to mutate and adjust to variances in their environment, scientists are regularly discovering new Phytophthora species to add to that list.
The best defense we have at our disposal to thwart potential harm to our plants from this deadly pathogen species is to ensure good drainage, provide the nutrients they need and maintain cleanliness in the garden by removing any diseased, dead and decaying plant material immediately.
Photo credit Pacific Northwest Handbooks on plant diseases
Photo shows dead plant from rhododendron root rot on left and a diseased plant on right.
Plant in centre not showing any signs yet but highly likely to be infected due to proximity to diseased plants.
Quote of the Week
by Leslie Cox; Sunday; March 23, 2025
Your heart is full of fertile seeds, waiting to sprout.
~ Morihei Ueshiba
Did you know?
by Leslie Cox; March 17, 2025
Did you know…
…St. Patrick was not of Irish descent and his name was not Patrick?
He was born around 390 A.D. in Romanized England. (Some claim somewhere in what is now known as Scotland.) His name was Maewyn Succat and he was kidnapped by the Irish when in his late teens and taken to Ireland.
He later escaped and made his way to Gaul (now France) where he converted to Christianity, became a priest and eventually a bishop. And he changed his name to Patrick.
He returned to Ireland and played a substantial role as a missionary in converting the Irish to Christianity. After his death on March 17, 461 A.D., he was made a patron saint of Ireland.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
