Tues June 7, 2011

We started Tuesday with a visit to an innovative Italian nursery. Again a multi generation family firm, Groupa Zelari, have grown a farm nursery company to become a group of three companies offering total plant production, landscape design and construction of innovative and ecologically sound landscape projects. As Italy is a little behind Canada in ecological awareness in the landscape world, Groupa Zelari are leading the field in Italy with large national and international projects.

Our lunch was at a spectacular location on the peak on Monsummano Alto, the remains of a medieval village. It is home now to a modern restaurant and B&B, a few crumbling cottages and one elderly lady. Our lunch was wonderful with Tuscan cured meats, cheeses and fresh pasta. Following lunch Pauline, one of our tour members, broke the language barrier with the sometimes garrulous elderly lady and shared our admiration of her garden (and cats). As we came out from lunch many smiles were shared and photos taken. As she blew kisses to our parting bus, we knew that these few spontaneous moments would be one of the highlights.

For the afternoon we visited Pescia where a nursery of ornamental (and sometimes edible) citrus trees welcomes us. The sizes, shapes, colours and tastes of a wide variety of lemons far exceed the single variety we see in the store.

Our last stop was the village of Collodi, birthplace of Carlo Lorenzini Italian author best known for his wood to flesh creation, Pinocchio. First we toured the somewhat sad and decaying gardens of Villa Garzoni. We can picture the once grand spectacular of the sculptures, water features and plants of this garden now in need of much love and restoration. Nearby is the private villa visited once or twice a year by its wealthy owners.

pictures to follow

Just above the villa is the jewel of Collodi, in my mind, the village itself. We had only a short time to visit a few of the narrow picturesque streets tumbled one on top of each other as the narrow pedestrian lanes are more staircases climbing the steep hill connecting house upon house built up the hillside in a steep narrow reach.

Monday June 6 Pistoia:Roses and Religion

We are off on our first day of touring to nearby Pistoia. The area in the fertile plain surrounded by hills is full of plant nurseries. Our first stop is the fifth generation of rose growers, the Vivaio Barni rose nursery. Roses are serious business here as we see the intense work and research involved in bringing new colours and scents of roses to our gardens.
One to the historic centre of Pistoria we meet our local tour guide for a walk around the town square

Visiting the cathedral in the Piazza del Duomo, we are amazed by the detailed silver alter, hand decorated with detailed images of the life of Christ. Following that the sixteenth century tapestry, Arazzo del 1000 Fiori. As the name suggests a tour full of gardeners were in awe of the many flowers, birds and animals so vividly portrayed on what once would have been used as a rug.
following lunch in Pistoia, we visited a topiary nursery and then back to our hotel in Montecatini Terme. Dinner was up the funicular at a restaurant in the piazza. coming back down at night the lights below were beautiul.

Tuscany Vacation

We have been in Italy just over 24 hours and are getting settled.
After landing Sunday at 2pm we were picked up by an expensive driver to get to our hotel about a half hour drive away in Montecatini Terme. Once checked in, we went walking downtown for the rest of the day. We made it home to the hotel before the thunderstorm hit.
Sunday morning dawned sunny and I headed out at 6:30 am for a walk. This is the view out our window.
I came back for 7:30 with coffee from the dining room. After Kathy started with her coffee in bed, we went down to buffet breakfast before heading out for the day.
We walked through the park to the funicular for a vintage cable car train ride up the hill to the town on the hill, Montecatini Alta. Many pictures and walking later we had a picnic lunch on a bench overlooking the valley. We walked down the hiking trail which was better than walking up.
About 45 minutes later we were back at the hotel for a swim and nap poolside.
Sunday afternoon and evening two more thunderstorms rolled through.
Our tour starts tomorrow.
Arrivederci

Boulevard Garden

In May 2010, I enlisted some digging help and removed sod from 15 feet or so of grass boulevard and extended the garden there. Working by splitting some hosta and asters as the center backbone of the new garden, I was left with either side to grow as well.



I had a few bags of those wildflower garden mix which promise a full and colourful garden. I used two different packs and waited. For the first month it was hard to see much of anything and I couldn't tell which tiny green plant was future flower or weed. Looking for more and faster growth I added more seeds, some zinnia and something else that I forget.

In July the hosta are stated to fade with the heat but there are some small colourful flowers filling in as well as the zinnias that I sowed later. Progress continues and we will see if my wildflower seed mixes perform any better. So far I am not too impressed.

Dandy Lion Weeder

Life would be a lot simpler if we learned to love the humble dandelion. To those garden scholars its fancy name is Taraxacum, a large genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae. For the rest of us it is that pesky yellow weed that grows everywhere.

As the cost of fresh vegetables rise for the gasoline used to fuel the delivery trucks, we should be considering the many uses for this handy little plant. The leaves are chock full of vitamins and can be used in a salad. Try some hard boiled eggs as an accompaniment.

You have your own free trade coffee when you dry the roots for some home brew. If you need something with a little more fortitude, then try gathering the yellow flowers and become a dandy vintner of dandelion wine.

In spite of all its virtues the majority of gardeners are still opposed to dandelions of their back yard. We all have spent time on our hands and knees with some kind of pointed digger, doing more damage to our backs then the dandelion population.

Over the past few years we have used a Fiskars weeder that keeps the gardener standing up. Each time we have loaned them out, the neighbours try them once and go buy their own. The concept is simple. On the ground end of a three foot handle is a four tine dandelion grabber. Perpendicular to that is a small foot lever. Place the tines over the dandelion and push down. Step on the foot lever and pull the handle towards you. The level action closes the sharp tines and pulls out the dandelion with a good chunk of root. Best used after a rain when the ground is soft, the more root removed the better.

My neighbours think that this is the best invention since sliced bread. What is interesting to note is that this tool concept dates to 1913. Manufactured for a few decades, production was ceased during World War Two when metal foundries converted to making items for the war effort.

Fiskars has made a few versions, each one better than the previous, but all do a great job.

Gardeners of a century ago were just as obsessed with weeds as we are. The text, Agriculture for Beginners, published in 1914, admonished the home agriculturist to nip weeds in the bud as “the best time to kill any weed is when it is very small.” In Muskoka that means that we should try and kill our garden weeds at the beginning of garden season. The trick is to get it done before the black flies and mosquitoes kill us.

One street over is a home with a great lawn. Each spring the owner walks along with his stand up weeder and pulls out the little yellow flower. In addition to removing the weed, the lawn is aerated with the little holes made by the weed puller. Now as the years go on and your dandelion population decreases, you may need to find another way to aerate your lawn, but that would still be a good indication in your success in the dandelion wars.

There are a myriad of hand weeders that dig deep and cut the tap root of the offending Taraxacum. If you like spending hours time your hands and knees getting the close up view of your lawn then by all means give them a try. My neighbours will have some that they will likely be happy to give away now that they do their weeding standing up.
















With the weeder in position, this dandelion’s time has come.






This dandelion is plucked and ready for the garbage bin.

Garden Bloggers Tour Buffalo

Having just returned from a great weekend tour of Gardens in Buffalo sponsored by garden bloggers it seemed appropriate that I should get motivated and post a new blog.

Kathy and I had a great weekend in spite of a little rain. We have lots of raindrop enhanced flower pictures to show for it.

The group of people included a handful of friends from Garden Writers group who also blog, as well as many new wonderful people to met.

The gardens were varied from one street of tiny homes originally built for the workers of Buffalo's construction boom to another of stately three story homes. As both were built in the Victorian era we could enjoy both architecture and horticulture at the same time.

One friend we were able to meet again was Anneliese Valdes from Cobra Head tools. Her family run business makes a great weeding/cultivating tool called The Cobra Head. In addition to making a great tool the family are wonderful people, like so many we meet in the gardening world. They have donated Cobra head weeders in the past to us for our project in Kenya and the farmers in Wongonyi village love them (www.easysite.com/theronniefund)

I was fortunate enough to win their new long handled Cobra Head in the door prize draw. Here are the three of us posing for posterity on Friday night in Buffalo. Anneliese is wearign a necklace that we purchased in Nairobi, Kenya in March. We wanted to offer her a token of our aprreciation for Cobra Head's assistance in our work in Kenya