EVENT: Field Trip to Calgary (coordinated by LDHS)

Lethbridge and District Horticultural Society (LDHS)

 Presents

Road Trip to Tour Calgary Gardens

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Costs:      $40.00 for LDHS members

                      $45.00 for non-members

Inquiries and tickets contact: 

Penny Dodd @

• Phone:  403-380-3809    
• Cell: 403-308-1217   
• Email:  p.dodd@telus.net

Deadline for ticket purchase:  June 3

Seats are limited to 56

Logistics:

         

Our assembly point is the Lethbridge Public Library.  (It is Sunday, so free ample street parking is available.  Please do not use library parking lot.)  Arrive between 7:30 and 7:45 as participants will be asked to sign a Waiver and Release Form before we depart.  We will leave at 8:00 a.m.

There will be a cooler available for any water/drink bottles you bring.  We recommend that you bring a bag lunch as the restaurants in the vicinity of the gardens are small and always very busy.  You should also have sun screen, insect repellent, walking shoes, and clothing to deal with our changeable weather.

Tour Agenda:

Garden One:  Reader Rock Garden at 25 Ave & McLeod Trail SW.  This garden is ranked by Tripadvisor as #71 of 205 attractions in Calgary. An historic garden established on a slope, with stone stairs—not very steep—leading through it, there are benches, a stream and many heritage plants. The restaurant is often closed on summer weekends as it is usually booked for a wedding.

Website:  http://readerrock.com  

Garden Two:  Centennial Memorial Park at 12 Ave & 4 St SW.  The site of Calgary’s Memorial Park Library and a memorial statue.  There are a number of tables and chairs in this garden.  It is a good place to enjoy our lunch.  The park is two blocks long, and there are no stairs in it.  There is a small restaurant in the park, but it will probably be very busy.

Website for Memorial Park:

http://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/Parks/Pages/Locations/Downtown-parks/Central-Memorial-Park.aspx

Garden Three:  Lougheed House at 13 Ave & 6 St SW.  This 2.8 acre terraced property was named “Beaulieu” (meaning Beautiful Place) when it was established in 1891.  It was originally a formal Edwardian garden, and today is a more informal mixture of perennials with annual beds created with a different theme every year.  There is also a small vegetable and cutting garden with plants used in the house and restaurant.  The house is open for tours (at a cost of $8.50 for adults, and $6.50 for seniors.)

Website:  www.lougheedhouse.com/

Garden Four:  Rundle Wood Garden at 46Ave &16 St SW.    This garden and nursery is in the large lot (about ¼ acre) of a private home.  The gardeners trial many varieties and new species every year.  You will see plants no other nurseries carry.  There are plants for sale (cash or cheque, only.)  We will have some boxes in the luggage department of the coach for any plant purchases we can’t resist.

Website:  www.rundlewoodgardens.ab.ca

Leave Calgary for Lethbridge at 4:00 p.m. at the latest.

Late Blight - Current advice on destroying infected plants

The Potato Growers of Alberta (who obviously have very real concerns about Late Blight!) have a very good (in this author's opinion) handout (PDF) on identification and handling of plants infected with Late Blight, including picture of diseased plant parts.  Of particular note is their advice on removing infected plants reproduced below for even easier reference (emphasis added).

The advice to bake infected plant parts using black plastic and the heat of the sun is reported to be very effective.  Key, though, is to dispose of the baked plant parts in the garbage to be buried in the landfill; DO NOT COMPOST them or put them in the City's Green Waste system.

As for protecting yourself against Late Blight, there is advice in our posting on the topic from a couple of years ago.

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How to properly destroy infected plants

Potato and tomato plants with Late Blight on them should be promptly, carefully, and completely destroyed to avoid sending the disease on to other gardens or farms! 

DO NOT pull affected plant because this process can dislodge spores into the air where they can be wind-borne to neighboring plantings. 

To destroy individual plants 
* Pull a large dark plastic bag over the plant first. 
* Cut the plant off at ground level and tie the bag. 
* Put the bag in full sunlight so that the contents  will be killed by the heat from the sun. 
* Once the plant is dead, the fungus is also destroyed and the bag can be discarded with regular garbage. 

To destroy several adjacent plants 
* Cut the plant stems near ground level. 
* Promote destruction of the plants by placing a dark plastic cover over them so that heat from the sun will kill the tissue. 

Once affected vines and leaves have been destroyed, the potatoes can be dug and eaten, but better to eat them soon, as they will not store. 

DO NOT put affected potatoes in the compost pile because if they survive the winter, new sprouts from these potatoes could be the source of inoculum next season.

Source:  http://www.albertapotatoes.ca/files/LateBlightBrochureGardeners.pdf (Accessed 2014-05-13)

WARNING: Alberta Agriculture advises that Late Blight continues to be a risk for Tomato and Potato plants

Alberta Agriculture is alerting everyone to the continued risk of Late Blight.  This is a fungal infection that attacks tomatoes and potatoes primarily although it apparently can infect peppers, eggplants, and (surprise!) petunias.  

The disease is carried on live plant materials; we are advised to watch plants raised from potatoes seed and transplants purchased at garden centres, both of which could be carrying the fungus into Alberta from another location.  

A couple of years ago, Leona wrote a posting on the CampusRoots blog about Late Blight that included advice on what to look for as well as tips to practice good plant hygiene if you find it.   If you are further interested, you might want to check out the anxiety level about Late Blight on the Alberta Agriculture website (sorted by most recent postings first).   

On a personal note, a gardening buddy gave me some tomato seedlings last year that were healthy to the end of the season.  However, when she forwarded this alert to me a few days ago, she noted that she lost all her tomatoes last year to Late Blight; it must have come into her garden through some other vector.  

So the advice is to watch your plants and deal with the situation accordingly.