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Articles from: 2014

Milkweed – Good news for Monarchs!

Milkweed is to be removed from the Ontario Noxious Weed List

London Free Press March 11, 2014

Go ahead: plant a milkweed, save a monarch.

The milkweed plant soon will be yanked from the province’s “noxious weed” list that would ordinarily require it be destroyed on crop-land.

Taking its place on the bad-plant list will be the quirkily named dog-strangling vine.

That’s a double score for butterfly lovers, who say the mandatory destruction of milkweed and the invasion of dog-strangling vine have contributed to an alarming population drop the queen of the butterflies.

Milkweed “is very, very important to monarchs. Their caterpillars eat only milkweed,” says Ann White of London, who is the butterfly count co-ordinator for Nature London.

But the plant has been vanishing from farm fields, field fringes and pastures, assisted by a provincial weed law that encourages herbicide treatment to prevent its spread.

White and other vocal lepidopterists have been lobbying the Ontario Agriculture Ministry for the changes.

Ministry spokesperson Mark Cripps said the proposed move is also an effort to improve the Ontario’s biodiversity.

Farmers so far haven’t objected, although the province is still receiving public comments to its environmental registry until April 14.

The invasive dog-strangling vine – a perennial that can grow as high as two metres but, despite its name, poses no threat to dogs – crowds out other plant life and is a menace in its own right.

Monarchs often lay eggs on its leaves but their larvae can’t survive on the plant, Cripps said. “It interrupts the monarch life cycle,” Cripps said.

Monarchs breed in Canada and the U.S. but migrate to a small forest in a mountainous area of Mexico, where they over-winter. There, their habitat is also being destroyed and the over-wintering population last year was calculated as the smallest in 20 years.

Noxious weeds:

Defined as plants harmful to living things (crops, livestock) and injurious to health.

  • 23 plants in Ontario on the list. Milkweed has been included because it can reduce crop yield and can be poisonous to livestock. Usually controlled by herbicides.
  • On current list are: common barberry, European buckthorn, bull thistle, Canada thistle, wild carrot, Colt’s foot dodder, goat’s beard, Johnson grass, knapweed, milkweed, nodding thistle, poison hemlock, poison ivy, proso millet, ragweed, yellow rocket, Russian thistle, Scotch thistle, sow thistle, cypress spurge, leafy spurge, tuberous vetchling, giant hogweed.
  • Everyone who owns crop land must destroy noxious weeds on it.
  • Everyone who has land near enough to farmland that noxious weeds could affect crops must also rid the property of those weeds.

Garden Tour 2014

The Lambeth Horticultural Society have their
Garden Tour every other year.This year will be our 14th tour!
SUNDAY JULY 13, 2014, 1-5 pm
Join us for a relaxing afternoon visiting the lovely gardens.
You will also have the opportunity to exchange tips and ideas.
Look for the OPEN GARDEN sign in the front yard on the day of the tour.
Flyers will be available at the Lambeth Public Library, 7112 Beattie St. July 3 to 12

The Tour is F R E E! of charge and held Rain or Shine

Get map here
or pick up a map on July 13 at 2335 Main St. from 12:45 to 4 pm

383 Wharncliffe Road North – Map Number 6
A very large back yard filled with a large variety of plants and ornamental features. There is a pond, a stream, and sitting area’s to relax in.

383 Wharncliffe Rd.N_A
383 Wharncliffe Rd.N_B

60 Foster AvenueMap Number 5
A front yard packed with beautiful lilies greets you, and a visit to the backyard will take you to “hosta heaven”.

60 Foster AveB
60 Foser Ave

4 Novelle CourtMap Number 4
Snapdragons abound in this garden. You will love the imaginative whimsical vignettes throughout the garden.  Take a peek in the shed that does double duty as an art studio for the grandchildren.

4 Novelle Court_B
4 Novelle Court_A

520 Huntington PlaceMap Number 3
Between the beautiful roses and perennials, this garden contains a very large variety of edible plants and trees to admire, heal and nurture. Ask Sophia and she will teach you all about them

520 Huntington Pl_A
520 Huntington Pl_B

3117 Morgan AvenueMap Number 2
It is hard to believe that this garden is only 2 years old with such a large variety of perennial plant material, all carefully chosen and placed.

3117 Morgan Ave_B
3117 Morgan Ave_A

5 Woods Edge CloseMap Number 1
Descend into this back yard and you will enter a dream world of shade loving plants and trees. Take the bridge over the dry river bed and meander through swaths of carefully placed plants and flowers adorned with many interesting sculptures and artifacts.

5 Woods Edge Close_A
5 Woods Edge Close_B

 

Rose and Flower Show 2014 – Awards list

Rose &  Flower Show “Downton Abbey Traditions”

June 18, 2014   Awards List

Award Winner
1. Best Rose in the show The Maud Hill Silver Bowl Sarah Kelly
2. Best Large Flowered Rose Red Rose Tea Trophy  (Sec. A) Michael Coleby
3. Best Clustered Flowered Rose The Margaret and Cecil Wright Trophy (Sec. B) Maureen Coleby
4. Best Climbing Rose The Charlotte & Harold DeLagran Award (Sec.C) John Obeda
5. Best Miniature Rose The Bob Whitlock Award (Sec D &E) Sarah Kelly
6. Best Antique Rose The Harry McGee Award (Sec.F) John Obeda
7. Best Shrub Rose The Evelyn & Melvin Jenkinson Award (Sec. H) Sarah Kelly
8. Best Overall in Design Classes The Reg & Ruth Dodson Award (Sec.L) Irina Code
9. Highest Points in Design Classes The Joyce McGee Award (Sec.L) Crystal Trojec
10. Highest Points in Cut Flowers The Mary Galloway Award (Sec.K) Veronica Richards
11. Highest Points in the Show The Lambeth Horticultural Society Award Sarah Kelly
12. Highest Points for Roses entered by a Novice The Wm. Saunders Rose Society Award Marg Holmes

 

Poster R&F show 2014

DOWNLOAD THE SCHEDULE HERE:  R&FshowSchedule2014

Pesticide allert

 

ATTENTION ALL GARDENERS!
Pollinators are the animals that pollinate over 90% of all flowering plants, and primarily include bees, flies, buterlfies, moths, and other insects.  “These beneficial insects are under pressure from loss of habitat, loss of food sources, disease, and pesticides” Pollination Guelph
According to a recent study by the Friends of the Earth, most of the plants sold at garden centres are contaminated by pesticides called NEONICOTINOIDS.  Neonicotinoids are poisons that impair the nervous system of insects and are linked to the decline of pollinators.  Neonicotinoids permeate all parts of a plant including the nectar and pollen.  Unfortunately, pollinators collect this poisoned nectar and pollen to bring back to others in their hives and dwellings.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
Grow bee-friendly plants, preferably native species, in your gardens.
Ask garden centres to sell neonicotinoid-free vegetable and bedding plants. Let the nursery know you will not buy plants grown with these pesticides.
More information at the Ontario Beekeepers Association.
Purchase organic vegetable and bedding plants or grow your plants from untreated seeds for your vegetable and flower gardens.
Buy organic food whenever possible.  Organic growing methods are much less harmful to pollinators.
A.C.E. (Advisory committee to the environment) has approached the City of London on providing more forage and habitat areas in park lands and the creation of habitat corridors between forage areas.