great trait and gardeners have it in spades.
Admittedly, we may have spent a few moments ranting about the vulgarities to our gardening endeavours over this last growing season. Myself, I was quite annoyed some of the garlic harvest was damaged by botrytis. On the upside, we planted a large number of cloves back in October 2015, so the ratio of botrytis-damaged bulbs to number of healthy ones was actually quite low.
Optimism, like I said.
Of course, our upbeat outlook is often helped along by timely announcements which catch our eye through publications, social media, or in this particular case, my inbox.
I received an announcement the display garden creators have been selected for the 2017 Northwest Flower and Garden Show. (For those who do not know, this show is the second largest flower and garden event in the U.S. It spans five days, with 23 display gardens, 350 vendors, and 110 free seminars.) The design theme for the 2017 show is “Taste of Spring”.
Mmm. That sure gets me revved up - thinking of new ideas to add to the garden next year. I can get some help from another contributor to my inbox; a seed company who is celebrating their abundant seed harvest by offering a sale now. Great opportunity to get a jump on next season.
Always looking to the future: the eternal optimism of the gardener.
Another item in my inbox; a newsletter with an article on climate change. Stating a warming trend of 0.18 degrees Celsius per decade over the last 45 years, the scientists who collaborated on this paper avow we need massive carbon dioxide extraction in order to meet targets set at the Paris climate accord. Overall, the article was loaded with enough doom and gloom to squash most spirits, earthly and otherwise.
But not gardeners. This announcement is an excellent excuse for us to cram even more plants into our landscape in order to do what we can for the planet. It may seem like pretty small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but we are doing our bit. And we are ever optimistic!
Leslie Cox co-owns Growing Concern Cottage Garden in Black Creek. Her website is at www.duchessofdirt.ca and her column appears every second Thursday in The Record.