I hope that by now, you have reserved your spot on the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society's one day trip to the International Peace Gardens this Saturday. I'm not sure if any seats are left, but you can find out for sure by calling Liz at 782-2830.
Let's go over our gardening list: the Garden of the Week contest is now underway. Be sure to enter your name in the contest at City Hall; don't be shy! The winner will be drawn from the entries, this is not a judged contest. And on Thursday, July 29, it's the Yorkton in Bloom bus tour, where you can get a chance to see some beautiful gardens, right here at home! To find out the details of that tour, call Glen at 783-7040.
It won't be long until the 1st Annual Saskatchewan Horticultural Association Provincial Flower and Vegetable Display/Exhibit on August 9 and 10 at St. Gerard's Parish Complex. Besides the beautiful displays that are open to the public, there will also be interesting speakers; I'll tell you more as the dates get closer.
There! We've filled our calendars with all kinds of great events, so now get a cup of tea and sit down for a minute and I'll tell you about something fascinating that I learned! One day, a friend asked me if I had ever heard of a "corpse flower". With a name like that, it's not something you'd forget! It was new to me, so he gave me some information about it, and I'll share it with you.
Even as we speak, this amazing plant is probably blooming in Houston, Texas. This particular specimen lives at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. In the wild, this plant is native to the rainforests in Sumatra. It is actually called Amorphophallus Titanum, and is a distant relative to jack-in-the-pulpit. But this is a mega-plant, growing from corms that can weigh up to 200 pounds! When it blooms, it must be an amazing sight: the bloom can measure up to ten feet tall, and five feet across. The picture I saw featured a ruffled petal in a deep maroon color, surrounding a giant bud-shape in the middle, that points straight up. In the picture, a man was standing next to the flower, and he looked dwarfed!
How did it get that strange name, corpse flower? Easy: it smells like rotting flesh, which helps to attract carrion beetles, which help it to pollinate.
I read that only 100 of the endangered corpse flowers have ever bloomed "in captivity", and only 28 have bloomed in the United States. No wonder there's so much excitement about the impending bloom in Texas! An interesting little factoid: the plant in Texas is named Lois. I guess when you have such a mammoth plant in your care, it deserves a name!
There are so many things to learn in the gardening world, aren't there! In our house, there's always a gardening book or garden catalogue close at hand, fun to just scan over in a free minute. We got the new Vesey's catalogue the other day, full of beautiful bulbs for fall! We don't want to think about that yet, do we. Let's enjoy summer first!
Have a good week, be sure to wear a hat, and protect yourself from mosquitoes!
