Gardening in Neepawa
Photo: Glenda MacPhee | Gardening in Neepawa
By Glenda MacPhee, Master Gardener
It has been a very busy gardening year in more ways than one in Neepawa. Our local horticultural group, Beautiful Plains Horticultural Society, planned a Gardening Saturday of workshops to take place in April. We were pleased with attendance and benefited from a variety of topics such as hydroponic growing, yard regeneration, perennials, and new plant material. All our speakers were local community members. At the same time, one of our most knowledgeable and hard-working members passed away quite suddenly. Brent Hunter was our horticultural leader for many years. He was one of the founders of the Lily Festival and on the board of the Manitoba Horticultural Association for more years than we could figure out. He was our community go-to plant guy and, for a number of years, our local florist. He has been greatly missed this summer. He may not have had Master Gardener credentials, but we shared our gardening passion, and I learned so much from him. He knew where some plants were in my garden that I had forgotten about.
Photo: Glenda MacPhee
Last year, Brent and I decided to try to resurrect one of the Lily Parks that hadn’t been maintained for a few years. Our plan was to get individuals to adopt sections to care for. We carried out this plan in his absence. We haven’t had as much interest in this adoption project as we had hoped but will continue to seek support next year. Quack grass had moved into the beds and many of the lilies had succumbed to the red lily beetle. So, this spring we renamed the park in Brent’s name and, once the grass has been dealt with, we plan to move some of the plants from his own garden that he had established during the last two years. We’ve been documenting the beautiful irises, peonies, and other perennials that he had collected.
In addition to Brent’s Memorial Park, our garden club also looks after a couple of other garden beds around town. We have been trying to work towards lower maintenance perennial beds and increasing our use of mulch. Our town does have a compost site, so we have access to unlimited arborist chips and the town is willing to deliver these to our sites when requested. We don’t really have access to water at two of these locations so mulching is vital to keeping our plants healthy. We also planted almost 40 large town planters along Highway #16 and Main Street.
Our club also hosted a plant sale on our farm which was well attended and generated over $1500. That took place the morning after receiving six inches of May snow. The fact that so many came out to purchase plants in their winter boots and hats attests to the fact that we have a tough group of gardeners in our community.
Our club has worked hard to promote gardening by hosting monthly meetings. We alternated educational sessions with garden crafts throughout the year and were able to more than double our membership to well over 20 members. Only two of us are Master Gardeners but the rest bring a lot of knowledge to share.
Another area where I am able to share my gardening knowledge is through a program called Field to Table through our local arts center. The group of volunteers has been enthusiastic about planting and trying new foods. We netted a raised bed of kale, cabbage, and kohlrabi in early May. I must say I have not seen such brassicas perform so well. We were able to taste kale chips and raw kohlrabi very early in the season…once we knocked off the snow in late May.
Photo: Glenda MacPhee
Our nine acres, Gardenview Farm, allows me to live my dream. My own garden consists of several hundred feet of perennial beds and many mature well treed areas on Lake Irwin. During the 20 years we have lived here, I have developed many garden rooms. This year’s new room has been the start of a meadow. This includes some native plant material such as prairie coneflower (Ratibida columnifera), purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea), pink and white swamp milkweed (Asclepius incarnata), and Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea), as well as other self-seeding plants such as poppies (Papaver somniferum) and larkspur (Consolida ajacis) that just no longer have space in the rest of my garden. While I have always had a lot of birds and insects in our garden, I hope this area will attract even more beneficial insects to deal with less desirable insects.
Photo: Glenda MacPhee
I have gradually been adding more hydrangea and daylily (Hemerocallis) varieties to my perennial beds in an attempt to reduce the maintenance in these areas…and because I love them so. I have almost 20 hydrangea varieties, 20 hardy rose varieties, and at least 20 different daylilies
In 2020, I retired from a 30-year teaching career and started flower farming. This meant moving to planting more annual flowers. Growing a dozen lisianthus (Eustoma) varieties from seed which I start in December has been a lesson in patience but delivering two dozen bouquets of flowers around town every week is good for the soul and gives me motivation to continue.
Despite the lily beetle, I have continued to grow hundreds of lilies which I use for my cut flowers. This year was particularly challenging in that regard. They seemed to be few at the start of the season but have ramped up during the last month when I have found little time to monitor. I very seldom use pesticides in my pest management, preferring to alter my growing through crop rotation or simply choosing not to grow some plants, picking lily beetle and Colorado potato beetle pests or allowing natural predators to feast. Thrips are pests that threaten my bouquet flowers, particularly the dahlias, so I have reduced the number of dahlias I plant and use a castile soap-based insecticidal soap to discourage their presence. I use mesh covers to keep flea beetles off stock (Mattholia incana) and kale (Brassica oleracea, Acephala Group) plants until they get established.
Our yard is often used for photos, beginning with grad photos in June. It was a venue for a “Shakespeare in the Ruins” high school performance several years ago, and we have hosted several wedding ceremonies in the hot sun as well as one in the cathedral-like shade of our magnificent American elm canopy. Our yard is always open for garden tours for groups or individuals. This gives me the opportunity to share my knowledge and gardening practices. One of our favourite returning groups is seniors from the care home. We roll their wheelchairs or walkers across the grass to sit in the shade which overlooks the cutting garden with the lake in the background. It is a wonderful opportunity for those guests to reminisce about their gardening experiences, listen to the birds, and smell a few flowers.
Photo: Glenda MacPhee
