Thursday, Jun. 21 is the longest day of the year for 2018. What do you have planned? Perhaps you will have a summer solstice barbeque, or maybe a marathon gardening session!
What is the summer solstice? It is when the sun passes its highest point as it journeys across the sky, and the earth鈥檚 tilt towards the sun is at its maximum. It鈥檚 a terrific day of the most sunlight we will have all year. Enjoy it!
Just a note: have you planted any flowers for the bees? It鈥檚 still not too late to add a few plants here or there in your garden, or add a container of bright blooms for the bees to enjoy.
If you want some wonderful viewing about bees, head over to the Yorkton Film Festival office (located on the ground floor of the Godfrey Dean building on Smith Street) and borrow the film about Howland鈥檚 Honey. This was a great film (and an award winner!) at this year鈥檚 Yorkton Film Festival, and is so informative about the bees and the painstaking and loving work that goes into beekeeping. Please do take time to see this film, it鈥檚 just great!
While you鈥檙e there, ask the staff about other horticulture-related films that you can borrow, just like library books, and view them in the comfort of home when you come in and finally sit down after a full gardening day. They鈥檙e on DVD; you just watch them and return them! If you want to call ahead and find out more, the number is (306) 782-7077.
Isn鈥檛 this a glorious time of year? Every day there is something new coming up or blooming. Try to keep a gardening journal; it doesn鈥檛 have to contain long entries, but just nuggets of information like 鈥渇irst iris bloomed today鈥� or a list of the birds you noticed in your yard on a certain day. It makes interesting reading later in the year on a cold winter day, and it鈥檚 interesting to compare garden progress from year to year.
As we were talking about bees, a shrub that looks beautiful and is bee-friendly is the mock orange. We are coming up to the time when this amazing shrub will be in bloom, covered in delicate white blooms. The plants are quite carefree: they like full sun but can stand a bit of shade, and like well-drained soil. There don鈥檛 seem to be any particular pests that favor the mock orange. If you want to give them a treat, you can give them a dose of fertilizer.
If you鈥檙e thinking of adding a mock orange to your yard, it would be a beautiful, long-lasting addition. The shrubs can range in size from three feet to ten feet or more.
At our last horticultural meeting, there was a question about mock orange shrubs that are not blooming and why, and when should they be trimmed. The answer to both questions comes in one answer: proper pruning. Mock oranges should be trimmed right after blooming because they set their buds in the fall for the following year. If you wait until fall to trim them, you will likely be snipping away the flowers that have been already set.
Whatever shrub or tree you choose, do your homework and always ask for the expert advice at the greenhouse on what shrubs or trees are best suited to the size and layout of your yard. Some new yards are quite small and can鈥檛 really handle a large tree. Even shrubs can quickly grow from cute little round mounds to competing shrubs vying for space against your house or in an island. We probably have all made the mistake of planting something that gets too big for the space, and after that gardening lesson, it is easy to see the mistake happening in other yards. So please plant, but plant with thought, care and information!
Visit the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society at www.yorktonhort.ca and see what鈥檚 new! Have a great week, and be sure to wear a hat!
