Rosemary

Rosemary is a relative to the mint family and the name is derived from its Latin origin to mean “dew of the sea.” Rosemary is very common in Mediterranean cuisine and has somewhat of a bitter astringent taste to it. While that is true it compliments oily foods very nicely. A tisane can be made from the Rosemary leaves and that is also very popular when cooking.

First it is burned and then added to a BBQ to flavor various foods. Sage, unlike many other herbs has a high nutritional value to it and is rich in iron, calcium, and vitamin B-6 and is more nutritional in its dried form rather than fresh. Rosemary should be harvested just as you are going to use it because it truly loses its flavor once dried. Gardner’s swear that if you plant some Rosemary plants in and around your garden, the Rosemary will fend off moths, beetles, and carrot flies.

Older Europeans loved Rosemary and believed that it improved memory and also used it as a symbol of remembrance and was often tossed into fresh graves before they were buried over. Traditionally it has been said that Rosemary, left untrimmed, would grow for thirty three years where it will reach the height of Christ when he was crucified. Many would also place sprigs of Rosemary underneath their pillows to ward of evil and nightmares. Often the wood that comes from the stems of the Rosemary plant was used to make musical instruments. Remember that people back then liked to utilize every piece of something as not to waste. Today, many wreaths are made from Rosemary as a symbol of remembrance.

Today, Rosemary is still used for many things besides cooking as it is in potpourris, air fresheners, shampoos, and cosmetics. There has also been scientific evidence that Rosemary works very well as a memory stimulant. Rosemary has also shown some cancer prevention properties in animals. But further Rosemary has shown a strong relationship in relaxing muscles, and to soothe stomach upset as well as menstrual cramps. The main thing to remember when using Rosemary for this purpose is that if you use too much it can actually cause a counter effect.

When made into a tea it is ingested for calming nerves and anxiety and as an antiseptic. Rosemary when used as a tea many people find to taste very good. Making the tea from Rosemary is quite simple actually, just pour boiling water over the leaves and steep for 10-15 minutes. A little sugar can be added by you should not add any cream. A few sprigs can be added to oils and vinegars to flavor the products which add a nice taste for cooking.

When used cosmetically it can lighten and tone human hair and when mixed with equal parts of shampoo it has been known to strengthen hair too. It also makes for a nice additive in hot bath water. Rosemary is still used quite commonly today however more so for cooking than anything else.

information

NSALG

The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners home page. NSALG has long been recognised as the national representative for allotment gardeners

South Western Allotments Association

The new voice of the allotment movement. Advice on all types of allotment issues. Start your own association, insurance, help if your site is under threat. On a waiting list? We can help you get a new site up and running

Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society

SAGS works for allotment sites and plot holders throughout Scotland to protect sites from developers, preserve skills in gardening and design and promote the value of allotments.

FEDAGA

The Federation of Edinburgh and District Allotments and Gardens Associations. FEDAGA is the representative body for allotments sites in Edinburgh and district. Our aim is to work towards a situation where allotments in Edinburgh are fully utilised.

Living Collections

The University of British Columbia Botanical Garden collections include those of the Main Garden, the Botanical Garden Nursery and Nitobe Memorial Garden. Nitobe Memorial Garden is an authentic Japanese tea and stroll garden, but is also a documented collection of Japanese and British Columbia native plants. Collections policy at UBC Botanical Garden follows a number of important criteria. These include providing plants and plant materials for academic study and research (based primarily on germplasm of documented wild origin), using plants to create attractive public displays, and providing the public with new plants through partnerships with local horticulture industry.

University of British Columbia Botanical Garden houses a number of significant plant group collections, these include: Acer, Clematis, Cornus, Epimedium, hardy Eucalyptus, Hebe, Lardizabalaceae, Lindera, Magnolia, Rhododendron, Sorbus, Styracaceae, BC native flora, alpines and Chinese flora.

Landscape gardening

Garden design can be a very specialist subject and landscaping can be very daunting for the beginner. What grows in shade and what in sun? How far will it spread and how quickly? All part of the garden designer's skills.

Applegate Gardens

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Garden Elegance

Professional Garden Design company offering a quality & flexible service from consultations to completed construction. Postal Garden Design service available.

Sheila Hassock Garden Design

Garden design in London, Kent and the South East. From a border to a complete garden design. Consultation, design plans and project management.

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e-gardendesign.com

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Samantha McKay Garden Design

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The Garden Planning Company

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David Keegan Garden Design

Award winning garden designers and landscape consultants specialise in larger projects, roof gardens, green roofs, landscape planning applications and appeals

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Your Garden

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Gardner's Gardens, Design & Landscaping

Garden design and landscaping based in Cambridgeshire

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Crowe garden design provides bespoke contemporary garden design; creative, beautiful, practical and simple. It's actually quite interesting as well.

Plant Conservation

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Conserving plants internationally and nationally through partnerships and research

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Research and Conservation

University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research has a dual role in conservation. First, it contributes to the knowledge underpinning biodiversity science and ecosystem conservation. Phylogenetic studies of biodiversity and studies of the variation patterns of rare and endangered taxa are part of that process. Secondly, for Plant Research contributes to conservation by maintaining ex situ living material of wild-sourced material of rare plants.

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Global and National Outlook

Although the Research has an international (particularly Asian) remit, it is also active in national conservation efforts. This national initiative is a cooperative effort among Canada's major research-oriented botanical gardens to identify, study, preserve and restore Canadian rare plants. The consortium also fosters sustainable management of Canadian plant biodiversity.

Currently, the national seed bank project will aid Canadian conservation efforts by helping to preserve the genetic diversity of Canadian plants, through storing a documented collection of plant germplasm.

Winter Damage To Date

took some Friends of the Garden (FOGs) around the garden early this morning to examine a bit of the winter damage caused by the cold and heavy snowfall of the preceding few weeks. Many thanks to the horticulturists who suggested highlights to visit. Also, a thank you to the FOG "tour volunteers" for recording notes, typing them, and seeking feedback / suggestions for future tours.

For this week, I was both the tour guide and videographer, so the video isn't as dynamic as I hope it will be in future postings. Anyway, here's the video snippet of some of the tour:

Here are a few notes (as compiled by one of the tour attendees) from this first FOGs Walk n' Learn.

Location 1: Courtyard & Fence just east of the shop plant centre -- off the main walkway

• Modest snow damage to the Arbutus which had been winter pruned and new shoot growth allowed. There is also some frost damage.
• There is vole damage throughout the beds and the sub-shrubs and perennials will require spring pruning.
• The Nandina is totally brown and will need to be cut right back and allowed to regrow.
• Holboellia vine on the fence is very robust and together with the weight of the snow has brought down the fence
• Some lost branches from the hemlock

Location 2: Moon Gate

• The load of the snow on the Sinocalycanthus pressed it down and revealed a young Schefflera alpina planted by Peter Wharton and apparently totally healthy
• Distylum racemosum has again suffered major damage due to its dense foliage and requires a lot of maintenance. This shrub is due for removal

Location 3: Food Garden

• Broccoli was removed from the Food Garden due to its very strong smell as it rotted under the snow
• Cauliflower was also rotten - unable to withstand the freezing temperatures.

Location 4: Physic Garden

• The yew hedge was almost pushed to the ground by the weight of snow, but rebounded "like a Russian gymnast"!

Location 5: Alpine Garden

• Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa' has lost several large branches and will be removed.
• Pinus thunbergii also lost large branches and will probably also be removed.
• Genista tenera was so badly damaged with frost at the centre it has to be removed and will be a great loss to the landscape at that point in the Garden.
• Araucaria angustifolia was planted last year and is still only about a meter high with little root growth - it is completely brown.
• Hebes are not looking very good but will probably survive.
• Leptospermum rupestre has lost several branches and been quite severely pruned
• Eucalyptus coccifera has seemingly responded to the cold weather using its fire response to produce many tiny branches from the main trunks (from cold winters in previous years)
• Grevillea victoriae has been damaged but will survive.

The scent of, possibly, the Azara was very pleasant and strong and the Anna's male hummingbird and his friends were very much in evidence around their favourite grevillea.

Winter Buds

Here are some photographs taken by Randal Mindell during a Friends of the Garden Walk n' Learn on Wednesday morning, January 28. I invited Randal along since he needed to become familiar with the new camera as part of his main job.

Although it was a cold morning, we had a look at the following buds: Ruscus hypoglossum, brussel sprouts, Petasites albus (just emerging from the ground!), Cladrastis kentukea, Quercus macrocarpa, Sorbus decora, Aesculus octandra, Quercus garryana, Acer pensylvanicum, Fraxinus americana 'Royal Purple', Rhus typhina and Cornus kousa.

Acer pensylvanicum: note the stalked buds, typical of the snakebark maples.

Aesculus octandra: just plain cool.

Cornus kousa: these buds are described as turbinate -- wonder why?

Fraxinus americana 'Royal Purple': in the second photograph, note how the branches flatten at the buds.

Rhus typhina:

Catkin Walk

The February 11, 2009 Walk and Learn for the Friends of the Garden was on the topic of catkins. These are some of the plants we encountered and ideas we discussed:

Food Garden

• Corylus avellana (common hazelnut or common filbert) -- long pendulous pale yellow male catkins and shorter female catkins with small red nodule on the stem above the catkin. Shed pollen in December and January in Vancouver. Protective measure ensures complete pollen distribution by gradual catkin development on each tree. Wind pollinated.

Native Garden

• Alnus rubra (red alder) -- Catkins develop on bare branches in late winter. Male catkins elongate to about 5 to 10 cm and become dull yellow as they shed pollen in March. Small female catkins are in clusters of 3 to 5 become hard and woody resembling a small conifer cone. Wind pollinated.
• Myrica californica (California wax myrtle) -- Evergreen leaves have black dots. No catkins at this date.
• Myrica gale (sweet gale) -- Deciduous leaves have yellow dots. This is an important nitrogen fixing species.
• Betula papyrifera (white birch, canoe birch) -- Male and female flowers in separate catkins 2 to 4 cm long. Flower at same time before leaves emerge.

Alpine Garden

• Salix gracilistyla 'Melanostachys' (black pussy willow) -- Deciduous. Black catkins with red anthers in early spring before leaves. Dioecious. Insect pollinated.
• Nothofagus antarctica (Antarctic beech) -- no catkins at this date.
• Garrya elliptica (or similar) (silk tassel bush) -- long gray-green male catkins

Discussion on convergent evolution: the process whereby organisms that are not closely related, evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments. A good example of this is the catkin and the cone.