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Barrie’s Garden Club
http://www.barriegardenclub.com
February 2013
Floral Symbols Trivia
Open Meeting Tuesday, Feb 05/13 7:15pm
If you ever thought your garden needed just a bit
more ‘WOW’ factor & that a water feature was the
ticket to achieving that, then this month’s speaker is a
must for you to hear. Sheila Allin will tell us all about
‘Water Features – Grand & Small’
Canada Blooms Bus Trip – Save the Date
The Club is again chartering a bus to Canada Blooms.
The date is Friday, 15 March 2013 (My apologies for
giving an incorrect date in the last issue – re-adjust
your calendars).
Bus departs at 8:30 am from the parking lot behind
the Metro Grocery store at the Kozlov Centre.
The $45.00 includes entry into both shows.
Sign up sheets available at this month’s meeting.
Cash or cheque (made out the Barrie Garden Club)
required upon sign-up to guarantee seat.
Use the link provided to check out this year’s program.
http://www.canadablooms.com/html/whatsnew.html
Daisy Committee Members
If you are a Daisy Committee member & plan to remain
so for the upcoming season, please return just the
packages to Clarinda at one of the next couple of Open
Meetings.
If, however, you are not wishing to continue on the
Daisy Committee, please return BOTH the daisy signs
& the packages to Clarinda at one of the next couple of
meetings. Thank you.
Since February tends to be all about flowers, here
is more theme related nonsense you can pass along
to family & friends. Answers are ‘true’ or ‘false’
1.
Shakespeare’s plays & poems are full of
reference s to flowers. False. Considering
the great volume of work attributed to him,
there are only a few famous quotes, notably
from ‘Romeo & Juliet’ & ‘Hamlet’.
2.
Sending your love a yellow rose means you
wish to ‘take things to the next level’. False.
Yellow roses symbolize a decrease in love.
3.
Carnations symbolize purity. False. Generally
these flowers are a symbol of betrothal, but
They are also considered an aphrodisiac.
4.
Honeysuckle symbolizes devoted love. True.
This vine in particular signifies loving embrace.
Its heady scent is reputed to induce dreams of
love & passion.
5.
A daylily symbolizes passing fancy. False.
This flower is associated with coquetry. The
coquetry will soon pass, lasting as long as a cut
daylily bloom brought indoors.
6.
Flowering almond is a symbol of hope, while
a walnut is a symbol of intellect. True.
Beyond Water Lilies (Nymphaea spp & cvs)
Expanding on our speaker’s topic for this month, here
is a timely article on pond plants & their usefulness.
The plant information is divided by function:

Oxygenators

Floaters

Wet border plants
Every healthy water garden should include oxygenating
plants. These plants grow beneath the water’s surface,
much like seaweed. Oxygenators perform photosynthesis, liberating oxygen into the water during
daylight hours, thereby improving water quality. These
plants are a boon to fish by providing spawning areas &
shelter for hatchlings. Consider these oxygenators:

Ceratophyllum demersum - Hornwort

Elodea canadensis

Hippuris vulgaris – Mare’s Tail

Myriophyllum aquaticum – Parrot’s Feather

Vallisneria americana – Vallisneria
Floaters are the second group of plants to include in
any pond. Their purpose is to shade the water surface
with floating leaves to help decrease algae growth.
Algae need light to grow, so depriving them of light
reduces their growth. In full sun, a pond should have
at least 40% of its surface covered. This surface
coverage also helps protect the pond against large
temperature fluctuations. Like oxygenators, floaters
provide fish with hiding places from predators.
Floating plants also act a nutrient vacuums, soaking up
fish waste & decomposing organic waste as food
sources. This filtering activity improves water clarity
as well as denies these nutrients to algae, thereby
inhibiting its growth. Here are some common floaters:
 Azolla caroliniana – Fairy moss (perennial)
 Eichhornia crassipes – Water hyacinth
 Hygroryza aristata – Floating bamboo
 Hydrocharis morsus-ranae – Frogbit
 Lemna minor – Duckweed (perennial)
 Lindernia grandiflora – Blue moneywort
 Pistia stratiotes – Water lettuce
 Salvinia natana – Floating fern
Lastly, but surely not least, are all the wonderful plants
that can be grown in boggy or consistently moist soil.
Many of these plants have enormous leaves, so impact
can often be achieved with a single specimen plant. Try
some of the tried & true pond plants, or branch out into
something exotic looking:

Acorus calamus ‘Variegatus’ – Variegated
Sweet Flag

Alocasia - African Mask

Carex elata ‘Aurea’

Caltha palustris – Marsh marigold

Colocasia esculenta ‘Black Magic’ – Taro

Cyperus papyrus ‘King Tut’ – King Tut papyrus

Darmera peltata

Gunnera manicata

Iris pseudacorus, I. sibirica, I. versicolor –
Yellow Flag iris, Blue water iris, Siberian iris

Isolepis cernua – Fiber Optic grass

Lobelia cardinalis

Osmunda regalis – Royal fern

Rodgersia pinnata

Petasites japonicus var. Giganteus
For further information on pond related projects &
plants, check out your local library for inspiration.
What better way to while away a cold winter’s day
than by making plans for the summer!!
A Penny for Your Thoughts
In case it slipped your notice, the Federal Gov’t will
start removing the penny from circulation on Monday,
04 February. As it costs 1.6 cents to mint a penny, the
2012 budget axed its continued production. This move
is estimated to save $11 million per year. No small
change. After Feb 04, cash payments will be rounded
to the nearest 5 cent increment. Payments by
cheques, debit/credit cards will not be rounded.
It is estimated each Canadian household has
approximately 600 pennies squirreled away somewhere.
What’s a person to do? Well, you can redeem them at
any bank branch. Donate them to charity – Habitat for
Humanity is accepting the copper coins at any of their
69 regional offices. Or, make 600 wishes at any local
fountain.
The phrase ‘a penny for your thoughts’ was probably
familiar to people in the mid 1500’s. However, it was
first chronicled by author John Heywood in 1546, but
the actual origin of the phrase is unknown.
Another phrase similar to ‘a penny for your thoughts’ is
submitting ‘your two cents’ - offering your opinion
after someone’s statement. Somehow, ‘my five cents’
doesn’t have quite the same ring!!
Ten Cent Word
Sesquipedalian (ses-kwuh-puh-dayl-yuhn)
Definition: characterized by the use of long words,
long & ponderous, having many syllables.
Example: Politicians who speak in a sesquipedalian
manner are often assumed to be arrogant.
The Last Word
‘Of all human activities, apart from the procreation of
children, gardening is the most optimistic & hopeful.
The gardener is by definition one who plans for &
believes & trusts in a future, whether in the short or
the longer term.’
Susan Hill