LIFESTYLES 25 - Friday, January 29, 1988 - North Shore News Fervent gardeners found even in the darkest days of winter I CAN alweys pick out the home of an avid gardener at this time of year. it is easy to pick out a healthy, well-tended garden, even during the bleak winter months. The grass is cut short and the leaves raked up and placed in the compost or in neat little mulching piles around tender plants. All of the flower beds are free of weeds ‘and freshly cultivated. Trees and shrubs have either already been pruned or tidied up last fall and waiting for their winter trimming. All in’ all everything is ship- . Shape, and yet there they are, out .-every weekend puttering about. If the weather is too miserable for even these enthusiasts you can still see tkeir moony faces casting doleful glances out of the window. First with hopeful eyes to the sky . then with longing expressions back to the garden. Some will supply another signal though, the presence of plants which have something to say even though the garden around them maintains its wintry silence. "They: may” present..us with a : display ‘Of colorful berries such as the pytancanthas” or cotoreasters. It could be an interesting display - : of bare branches. ‘placed in just the " right: spot: to ‘catch: ‘your eye. Or perhaps ‘some of our. ‘evergreens, foliage like the golden junipers and cypress or the blue spruce. A real dead give away to the identification of the fervent gardener is the inclusion of winter flowering plant materials. Plants such as the winter hazels (corylop- sis), winter sweet (chimonanthus), and the Chinese witch hazels (hamamelis) could not be consid- ered common by anyone’s stan- dards, I can tell you from previous ex- perience; garden centres are not overrun with customers shopping for plants during the winter mon- ths. Therefore, most plant buyers will not see these specimens at their best; without this incentive to buy most will pass them over for the showier, ‘‘in-season’’ selections. Our garden fiend, however, can be found poking around the dismal displays of plants, straight through the winter season. He alone will . find the treasure that everyone else pushed out of the way to get at the thodos in bloom or showy spring flowering cherries. If you would like to fool your neighbors into thinking that you too have become some kind of gardening weirdo, kecp your cye out for one or two of the follow- ing: ~ The camellia sasanqua will flower from early October through ' to January in milder winters. The ’ flowers are, smaller, less formal which oan. pply Us. with: colorful . and arrive in shades of white and pink. The habit of most varieties is open and slightly leggy which makes them good candidates for espalier or training up a wall or fence. The winter sweet or chimonan- taus preecox can become an un- sightly tangle if left to grow un- checked. The compensation of- fered for the extra pruning re- quired is the incredible scent of the flowers. Prune it heavily while in bloom, which can be from choice. The cornelian cherry or cornus mas has little to do with cherrics or, from all appearances, its rela- tives in the dogwood family. Clusters of bright yellow flowers form along the bare branches in February. Once again, extensive pruning is required but worth it. Some of the heathers, in par- ticular erica carmea x derleyenis ‘Springwood Pink’ and e.c. x d. ‘Springwood white’, are common over the garden gate December to May, then bring the cultings inside and enjoy the fragrance. Winter hazels, or the corylopsis group, are found in two forms and c. psucifiorn is preferred over c. spicata. Gracefully arching, bare branches adorned with clusters of pendulous flowers from February to March make this a worthy Geoff Tobiasson but should not be ignored. ‘They are extremely valuable as ground- covers with winter color. The Chinese witch hazel or bamamelis family is one of my personal favorites. Look for h. x | intermedia ‘Jelena’ (aka. Copper Beauty) which has rich coppery flowerg or h. mollis ‘Peliida’, the award-winning yellow. They will flower from early January to late February and give the added benefit of a good display of fall color. 1 would get dozens of requests for the Christmas rose or belieborus niger during the middle of the summer. Unfortunately, it is tough to find in winter and almost impossible in summer. Another favorite of mine is jJasminzam nocdiftoram winter jasmine. The blossoms are unscented, but make up for this when its wild tangle of perennially bare branches comes to life in a riot. of yellow flowers from December through January, The name of that amazing flowering cherry tree that can be seen in bloom from November to the end, of February is prunus subbirtellz ‘Autumealis’. Its light pink blossoms have startled many North Shore residents on the milder days of mid-winter. There are several varieties of viburnam that produce a show of winter flowers. Most notable are v. x bodnatense and v. tinus. Both of these will produce nosegays of varyingly fragrant flowers from November through February. I urge you to investigate these plants further. They are worthy of research and I am sure they would make fine additions to the land- scape. Go to your public library and look up these and other plants with winter character. Utilize the functional beauty of tambours & No. ,ONE knows who first thought ., OF ‘glueing thin strips of wood to canvas to make a flexible material © for ‘special uses like roll-top desks. ‘; But the beauty and utility of the technique has made it a hallmark of :fine furniture. fer nearly 400 7 years. “Tambours, so “named. because :~ ‘the. first early canvases were stret- - ched on. frames used to make ~ drums, are enjoying a current renaissance, as interior designers ‘and ‘architects take advantage of (s Delectable Chintz: This year, thousands of do-it- yourselfers_ will also < work: with tambours for two types of home improvement projects. : ; Functional tambour’ applica- tions, like movable, sliding doors for cabinets, entertainment centres _or.toy boxes, are among the mosi popular do-it-yourself. tambour : + : Projects. This. year's hottest kitchen pro- ject. is ‘the appliance garage -—.a “storage | compartment for mixers, © “plenders’ ‘and other small ap- pliances, recessed into a wall under “NOW OPEN! . jh Quality Creative Sewing ° Not Staff... CHINTZY Prices, - You" it Love Ust io the upper cabinets. Flexible tambour doors add beauty and save countertop space in this popular kitchen addition. Fixed applications, like wallcoverings and furniture (plant pedestals, desks or table bases), il-: lustrate the other popular do-it-. - yourself uses of tambours. The linear look which tambours add to a room when used as a wall treatment is an exciting way to in- crease visual space. And the pro- cedure is almost foolproof. - Just coat the wall or. vertical surface with a construction mastic, DISCOUNT _ WALLCOVERING and FABRIC THE PHONE WAY and trowel it into a thin film. The decorative tambour is then temporarily affixed to the surface with panel nails along the top and lower edges in the centre of the tambour’s grooving (not into the tambour slats). Once the adhesive dries, the nails are removed: - WRITE DOWN: PATTERN - NUMBER AND BOOK NUMBER THEN PHONE OR COME IN.