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September
2006 Newsletter |
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‘'‘By
all these lovely tokens September days are here,
with summer's best of weather and autumn's best of
cheer"
Helen Hunt Jackson |
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This Newsletter Sponsored by
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ICanGarden Celebrates its
10th Anniversary
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ICanGarden.com is 10 Years
Old this Year!
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My Two Cents Worth!
I
just want to say ThankYou! You have helped
ICanGarden.com break a record for the month of
June. We had over 200,000 unique visitors to the
site (average of 7,000+ per day) and I must admit I was shocked when Tom
told me that. Considering the site is the
busiest during the non gardening months, this
was spectacular news…
Are
you thinking the same thing I am “Where has the
summer gone?” – it seems to be flying by faster
and faster each year. I look out into the garden
and see the Virginia creeper turning red, I see
leaves falling in the park where I walk our dog
and smell that particular smell that only comes
in the Autumn and I know that soon the garden
will go into hibernation. I have been away a lot
this summer and it’s quite interesting to see
what happens to a garden that is a bit
neglected. The weeds don’t really seem that much
and the perennials are all healthy and pest free
– in spite of their neglect.
My
tours for this year are just about finished. The
last one is the Cote d’Azur/Tuscany tour that I
will be on when this newsletter gets to you.
It’s been a great year, seeing so many repeat
guests from past tours. I will only have two
tours next year – Chelsea in May with 8 nights
in one hotel. I have been doing the Chelsea tour
since 1998 and that show never fails to excite
and amaze. Then next September we will be
offering the Cote d’Azur/Tuscany tour again
because it was so popular this year we had to
cut off the number of registrants to it. So,
that being said, if you are interested in
getting the 2007 tour information when ready,
just drop me an email with ‘Tour Information’ in
the subject line.
www.gardeningtours.com
For
those of you who enjoy reading the recaps of the
trips and tours I take, please note that I have
not had any time to update that area but will
get to it soon. Just keep checking the home page
for the latest. I just got home from the Garden
Writers Symposium in Philadelphia which is
always a time that I enjoy – meeting new friends
and seeing new gardens.
http://www.icangarden.com/picttour.cfm
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Winners of a 4 CD set full of
music |
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Ted from North Battleford, SK.,
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Carol from
Edmonton, AB,
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Shirley from
Belleville, ON,
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Janet from
Calgary, AB
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Dawn from
Duncan, BC
were the lucky
winners of a 4 CD set full of music.
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''‘Hi Donna & Tom! Read Canadian Gardening
last night .. and was so delighted (and
proud) that you & www.icangarden.com were
recognized. Congrats. Here’s to your
continued success and growth. Thanks for
your support.’
Susan Antler, Grow a Row Canada’
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Your feedback is always
appreciated. Please send your questions and
comments to me at
donna@icangarden.com
ICanGarden.com respects your
online time and privacy. If you would prefer not
to receive future newsletters, please click here
to go to our unsubscribe page.
www.icangarden.com/unsubscribe.cfm
 ,
MG
http://www.ICanGarden.com
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*News from our
Sponsors!*
Timely information from all of them!
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Stokes Seeds - Celebrating 125 Years in 2006! Don’t
forget to sign up for their newsletter. That way you
will the new products for 2007 as soon as they are off
the press.
http://www.stokeseeds.com
* BC Greenhouse - Manufacturing quality
greenhouses and hobby greenhouse kits for over 55 years.
http://www.bcgreenhouses.com/
* Doktor Doom -
They have a brand new website! And you can order online
now, so there is no excuse for not having the best
products for your garden.
*
New Eden - Pride of Place - New Plant
Introductions! ‘Heatwave Scorcher’ soft musk pink,
‘Heatwave Blaze’ cerise pink, Lavandula ‘Salvation’™ and
Clematis ‘Fond Memories’™
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Gardenimport - You can sign up to receive their future
catalogues and If you’re looking for a gift for a
gardener, their hand-caligraphed, personalized Gift
Certificate will let them make their own choice from
their entire catalogue.
 *
Visit
the Country - Northern Alberta, specifically the capital
region area around Edmonton got together to promote all
the exciting events, horticultural locations and special
functions that need to be checked out. We are proud to
help promote all the great gardening and horticultural
happenings in our area. Download this excellent guide
for yourself from
http://www.visitthecountry.ca/guide.htm
We are proud of our sponsors and their commitment to
you, please do source them out.
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Plant a Row for the Hungry |
 From
your garden, to those in need…
http://www.icangarden.com/document.cfm?task=viewdetail&itemid=5811
 Susan
Antler sent these recipes along for us to enjoy. Susan is
one incredible lady, a lady with a heart to making sure that
all people have access to fresh produce. This is the time of
year when PAR/GAR could really use that extra row you have,
so visit
http://www.growarow.org/ and if you cannot find a local
place to take your extra produce, then email them. Also
visit
http://www.compost.org where you will find that Susan is
also involved as the Executive Director.
http://www.growarow.org/
‘Your 'two cents worth' in the newsletter this month
was very touching and obviously from the heart. I have
been writing for the site for about three years now and
always get a thrill when I see my article up for all to
read. Thank-you for giving us the opportunity to do this
and as I know I've told you before, I claim Master
Gardener volunteer hours from my pieces on
icangarden.com
All the best for 2006 and may it be an exceptional
gardening year for you too!
With warm regards ..."
Judith Rogers |
Tomato Salsa that is Out of This World!
From Dr. Roberta Bondar
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Chilling Time: 2 hours
Makes 4 cups (1L)
4 Tomatoes, peeled and chopped
½ Cucumber, chopped
2 Green onions, chopped
1 Green or red pepper, chopped
1 clove Garlic, crushed
2 tbsp (30 ml) Vegetable oil
1 tbsp (15 ml) Red wine vinegar
1 tbsp (15 ml) Lemon juice
1 tsp (5 ml) Salt
¼ tsp (1 ml) Pepper
2 drops Hot pepper sauce
¼ cup (50 ml) Chopped fresh parsley
In medium-sized bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber,
onions, green or red pepper and garlic. Whisk together
oil, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, pepper and hot pepper
sauce. Pour over vegetable mixture and combine gently.
At serving time, add parsley. Can be stored in
refrigerator for up to four days.
Sarah McLachlan’s Zucchini Orange Bread
This recipe makes 2 loaves
BREAD
4 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup oil
2/3 cup orange juice
2 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
3 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
½ cup chopped nuts, if desired
GLAZE
1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 teaspoons orange juice
Heat oven to 350 °F. Grease and flour bottoms only of
two 8x4 or two 9x5-inch loaf pans. In large bowl, beat
eggs until thick and lemon colored; gradually beat in
sugar. Stir in oil, 2/3 cup of orange juice and
zucchini. Stir in remaining bread ingredients: mix well.
Pour batter into greased and floured pans.
Bake at 350 °F for 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick
inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes;
remove from pans. Cool slightly.
In small bowl, blend glaze ingredients, adding enough
orange juice for desired spreading consistency. Spread
over warm loaves. Cool completely. Wrap tightly and
store in refrigerator.
Yield: 2 (16-slice) loaves.
HIGH ALTITUDE:
Above 3500 feet: Increase flour too 3 ¼ cups plus 3
tablespoons. Bake at 350 °F for 45 to 50 minutes.
Nutrition per serving:
Calories: 170; Protein 2g; Carbohydrate 24g; Fat 7g;
Sodium 140 mg.
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Another FREE e-Book for You |
Last
issue I included links from my good buddy Doug Green for two
free ebooks and he was thrilled at how many took him up on
his offer – who can not take a free book! This issue I am
pleased to say he has given us another one. Doug and Pat
Stone have put together a little book on the human side of
gardening. Enjoy!
http://www.douggreensebooks.com/douggreen/petsplants/
and just in case you missed out on the two previous free
ebooks, I am including them again for you.
One is by Doug Green on ‘Secrets of Successful Organic
Gardening’
http://www.douggreensebooks.com/icangarden/secretsorganic/
and the other by Betty Mackey on ‘Gardening In Small Spaces’
http://www.douggreensebooks.com/bbmackey/smallspaces/
Did
you know we had one each Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. We do, and we
have Art Drysdale there to answer your garden questions.
Grab a cup of coffee and then come join us. Art has been
writing an article unique for our site each and almost every
week for just about as long as we have had the website…
http://www.icangarden.com/chat/
I
hope you have been checking that out for the latest. I also
hope that if you have garden related events happening, that
you will go there and enter the information.
http://www.icangarden.com/event.cfm
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*Timely
Information from our
Writers*
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Garden Blogs – they are growing! The latest is from
one of our writers, Jodi DeLong. I have to admit I have
heard a lot of not so nice things about blogs cluttering
up the internet world, but taking a read through hers is
a wonderful experience. Please visit hers and see how
they should be ... positive, green and growing
http://bloomingwriter.blogspot.com/
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Marilyn Light, our Orchid expert writer on the site
is the only Canadian contributor to the newest book out
on orchids ‘Flora's Orchids’, and only one of 12
international contributors.
http://www.orchidsbooks.com/book.asp?id=852
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Donna Balzer has been very heavily involved in the
rehabilitation of the Reader Rock Garden - Calgary's
most botanically interesting cultural landscape - This
garden was built from 1912-1943 by William R. Reader and
after his death it became a public park before it fell
into disrepair. It reopens this spring after 18 months
of rehabilitation (an official cultural landscape term
meaning we replanted it to original species). The
original Reader house has been rebuilt and will open as
a restaurant/tearoom in May 2006. Reader kept detailed
diaries and writings and a plant list containing over
4000 perennials, trees and shrubs. This list includes
plants that are ironically still little known to most
Alberta gardeners and the list will become a valuable
research tool for horticulturists and garden historians.
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Myrna Pearman, the best source of information on the
Ellis Bird Farm is now writing a regular column for
Alberta Gardener Magazine. All you need to know about
NatureScaping will be learned by reading her articles.
http://www.ellisbirdfarm.ab.ca/
*
Janet Davis has been writing a weekly gardening
column for the National Post and also a quarterly column
for Sears New Outlook Magazine.
www.beautifulbotany.com
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Recreating Eden on Vision TV
Premiere |
To plant a garden is to change the
world. Even the humblest flowerbed adds to the physical
beauty and spiritual health of this planet. Through the
effort to create a small piece of paradise on earth, a
gardener transforms the natural world - and is transformed
by it.
That's the simple philosophy at the heart of VisionTV's
Recreating Eden, a Gemini Award-winning series featuring
intimate portraits of gardeners from Canada and around the
world.
VisionTV presents the long-awaited third season of
Recreating Eden on Wednesdays, starting Sept. 6 at 8 p.m.
ET. It repeats on Saturdays, starting Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. ET.
The 13 brand new episodes profile the men and women behind
some of the world's most extraordinary gardens. The featured
gardeners in season three include: painter and naturalist
Robert Bateman, whose garden on Salt Spring Island, B.C.,
mingles the works of man and nature; Iranian-born Canadian
architect Fariborz Sahba, the creator of spectacular gardens
of worship for Baha'i holy places in Israel and India; and
Mike Moody, the creator of rooftop gardens in the heart of
downtown Toronto.
http://www.recreatingeden.com
Recreating Eden is produced for VisionTV by Merit Motion
Pictures of Winnipeg. A fourth season is now in production,
and will premiere on VisionTV in 2006-2007.
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Our Pick of Websites This Issue |
United Plant Savers
http://www.unitedplantsavers.org/
United Plant Savers' mission is to protect native medicinal
plants of the United States and Canada and their native
habitat while ensuring an abundant renewable supply of
medicinal plants for generations to come.
Spindle Tree Gardens
http://www.spindletree.ca/
Susan Meisner and Tom Brown invite you to tour their
gardens, a five-acre haven of beauty and tranquility in
eastern Ontario.
Famous PEOPLE Players, the Black Light Dinner Theatre.
http://www.fpp.org/
“I have been a volunteer at the theatre for 17 years and
know that this Dinner Theatre crosses all ages and is truly
inspirational. When a group comes here you can be sure they
will be guaranteed, 3 hours of enchantment. I have even
witnessed inner city school groups, where teachers were
worried the students would have behavioral issues; only to
watch them, dig into their pockets at the end of the show to
give a donation. I have talked to seniors who are ecstatic
over the hot dinner served at the table, with Coffee and
“Dufflets” fabulous desserts and totally mesmerized by a
show that takes them back to their childhood.’ Annie
Campbell
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