Insects that survive freezing

While we haul out the parkas and dig the ice scraper out of the trunk, the insects in our gardens are making far more dramatic preparations. Some will spend the winter as little blocks of ice. Others will spend it refusing, with great determination, to freeze at all. Canadian researchers have been really good at […]

Fall Weeds

How many weeds can you see? By mid-October most of us have closed the garden for the season, at least mentally. The tomatoes are compost, the beans are a memory and the perennials are dried. It feels like everything has gone to sleep. Everything except the weeds, which apparently never got the memo. Some are […]

Squirrels

Red squirrel, Tamarasciurus hudsonicus Grey squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis Squirrels are the most familiar wild mammals in many Canadian yards, and among the least appreciated. Behind the tulip thievery is an animal with a remarkable memory, a sophisticated approach to food storage and a few habits that still puzzle the scientists who study them. But first… […]

Chrysanthemums

Every grocery store, garden centre and front step seems to acquire potted mums for the fall. They are a kind of autumn decor, like pumpkins that happen to bloom. Chrysanthemums have a surprisingly distinguished scientific career. They helped botanists work out how plants tell the season, they carry a genome that took decades to untangle, […]

Contaminated soil

Food grown in an ordinary home garden is generally safe to eat. Soil naturally contains tiny amounts of metals and other substances, but their presence does not mean they enter vegetables at dangerous levels. Plants absorb relatively little of the contaminants most commonly found in urban soil. Unless a property has an unusual history, such […]

Apple Varieties

Apples have been rescued from discard piles, discovered among kitchen scraps and engineered not to turn brown. Some are incapable of pollinating another tree, while others can get through winter with remarkably little cold. A variety name can conceal a clone, a scientific experiment or an extremely fortunate accident. 1. Every McIntosh traces back to […]

Wasp Years

Some summers you hardly notice wasps. Other years, eating outdoors in August feels like opening a restaurant for them. The difference is real, but much of a wasp year is determined months before the wasps start circling your hamburger.   Click on any point to find out more. 1. The wasps most likely to sting […]

Growing Saffron

Saffron comes from certain crocuses. Saffron seems like a crop designed for hot dry countries. It is grown mainly in places such as Iran, India, Spain and Greece, and for years it was commonly treated as a plant suitable for roughly Zones 6 through 8. Research from Université Laval has shown that its Canadian possibilities […]

Hay Fever

Late summer is a fine time to be outdoors, unless your immune system has mistaken a few grains of plant pollen for an invading army. Then the garden becomes a place of itchy eyes, repeated sneezing and the peculiar challenge of trying to weed while breathing through your mouth. Seasonal allergies are often treated as […]

What Gardening Does for You

What are the benefits of gardening? It’s exercise, it’s fresh air, it gets us away from screens and gives us something think about (like, I wonder if that echinacea is really gone or if it will be back next year?). But is it more than “just a hobby”? Researchers have looked at gardening to determine […]