The Science of Scented Plants: More complicated than you might think

After discovering Richter's Herbs yesterday I did some web searching and found a wealth of material on-line from Conrad Richter, president of Richter's Herbs. His article, The Many-Splendored Scents of Herbs (say that 3 times real fast if you dare) discusses the scientific aspects of the many highly scented herbs that Richter's grows. He really knows what he's talking about. It's a fascinating and complicated science. Some excerpts from his article:

I am often asked how is it possible that herbs come in so many disorienting scents and flavours such as basils in unlikely lime, lemon and camphor versions, geraniums in orange, rose and coconut, and mints overstepping boundaries in lemon, ginger and banana varieties. Did somebody take genes from a banana and combine them with a mint plant? With these and many other scented oddities it is easy to see why people might think that something is amiss in the herb patch, whispers even of herbal GMOs foisted on the gardening public!

Let me reassure you that none of these herbs are GMOs, or genetically modified organisms. They truly are Mother Nature's gifts and we humans only need to find them and grow them.....It helps to understand a little about the olfactory phenomenon at work that gives rise to the sensation of scents. Scented plants are rich in essential oils. When the leaves of these plants are rubbed or when a flower opens, these oils are released to the air.....

He writes that essential oils are not a single component, but rather combinations of component chemicals. It's these mixtures that give us the familiar scents of "orange", or "banana".

Let's look at one of the imposter lemon herbs, lemon verbena. Anyone who has had the pleasure of taking in the intoxicating scent of fresh lemon verbena leaves knows that it has the unmistakable character of lemon, but it is definitely not the same as lemon. I regard the scent and flavour of lemon verbena as a major refinement on the best that the lemon tree can produce. It's a sort of olfactory one-upmanship that makes the herbal world so endearing to many of us. To my nose, there is a regal exuberance in lemon verbena that is missing in lemon oil, as if Mother Nature decided to fill in the gaps after its first try at creating the lemon scent.

Read Conrad Richter's article, The Many Splendored Scents of Herbs, here.

Winter Escapes: A Trip to Richter's Nursery in Goodwood

It being Reading Week I was hoping for a getaway. In the weeks coming up to this one I indulged in a little fantasy web browsing, looking at south sea island destinations. Pure fantasy this year, but I started thinking about other destinations closer to home that would give me that sunny, summery "growing things" feeling.

I remembered Richter's Nursery in Goodwood, a little north of Toronto. Funnily enough, I went to high school with the Richter kids, and a friend of mine worked their nursery one summer. A Lantana that she brought home for me from their greenhouse was really my first "official" houseplant. The first plant I'd ever had success with and one that got me going on my life-long gardening bug. So I have a lot to thank the family-run Richter's for. Oddly, I'd never actually been to their greenhouses myself.

As I'd never been, and always meant to go, I scheduled a trip yesterday with a friend who also had a free day mid-week. Hurrah!

Drove north of the city in somewhat blizzardy conditions: the famous "scattered flurries" they talk about. First treat on the snowy drive is actually getting past the city limits. Wonderful to see the snow on the masses of white spruce on the drive north. It's a quick journey on the 404 to Bloomington sideroad, then 18 kms further east to Goodwood.

On arrival at Richters, there was disappointment at first, as it seemed closed up. The website says open all year round, but as they are undergoing renovations at the moment, things look a bit shuttered and the big greenhouse door sticks a bit and didn't allow an easy entry. After running around the back, the kind Richter's lady came to the front to open the door for us.

We were then met with a warm, scented oasis of green things, a free herbal tea dispensing area, and herbal beauty in pots all around in their retail area. We poured ourselves each a cup of herbal tea and spent the next hour pottering over their growing benches, in their wonderful, immaculate greenhouse. We basked in the warmth and read the helpful signposts explaining the highlights of all the herbs they have on offer. This is a "greenhouse effect" we can believe in!

On the way out, I noticed a huuuuge scented "Mother"geranium perched on top of a cupboard, which was spilling regally over with immense leaves and stunning pink blooms. I asked the friendly Richters lady which geranium it was, as I definitely wanted one of those. She said, it's no longer available, and didn't know the name, then said, to my delight, "Would you like a cutting?" Would I???? Yes, please! She snipped off two generous pieces for me and for my friend, and off we went happily with our freebies and our herb purchases. For me, a small tray of lavender, rosemary, lemon verbena, and some other delights. Thank you, Richter's lady. Couldn't have asked for a better bonus to our visit!

Another highlight of a trip to Goodwood is the wonderful coffee shop and bakery on the highway just to the west of Richters called Annina's Bakeshop. When you go to Richters, you absolutely must stop there for a coffee, snack and some of their delightful baked goods. I got a beautiful foccaccia bread that I had today for lunch, grilled with some old cheddar. Mmmm.

A Shot of Colour: A Single Geranium on a Windowsill

A geranium in a 4 inch pot has popped out one bloom in these lengthening days in late February. I love the way overwintering geraniums come back to life around this time of year, usually with a sudden single bloom bursting forth. This one is particularly nice in a lime green pot - one I picked up at Loblaws a couple of weeks ago with a hyacinth bulb in it. The hyacinth has bloomed itself out, and now the lime green is a great foil for the scarlet blast of this geranium.

By the way, a note on terminology. I'm using the common name "geranium" for this pot plant. What we usually term geraniums are technically "Pelargoniums", and true geraniums are really the ground cover-like perennials of the permanent garden. Purists may raise eyebrows, but I've never gotten used to calling my geraniums "pelargoniums". Geranium in a pot it is, and it's a a simple delight for me this time of year.

When the world hands you rain, make lemonade

It's good to get out with a camera, even on a record-setting rainy day in February. Even under the raindrops, it's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood.



I think this is bridalwreath spirea making with the pearldrops.

Definitely privet berries. People don't think of privet as ornamental, but they can be in a sunny location. The privet flowers smell pretty, too. That looks like bamboo in the background.

Ornamental grass. Grasses are a big gap in my plant knowledge. But these ones in G's garden at the end of our street have an all-season grandeur.

Gardening on the bookshelves

It seems we'll get a brief reprieve from winter over the next two days. Mind you, we'll have to put up with a lake of freezing rain in the meantime. A perfect time to stay indoors with a good book.

I've spoken briefly before about my book addiction. Two books, however, I can proudly tout because I bought them second hand – and, therefore, am both reading and recycling. These are books to keep your eyes sharp for on the shelves of your local Village des Valeurs or Goodwill (where I got mine).

The first can't truthfully be called a book: The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening. It's thirteen volumes (fourteen, with index). I picked it up for $1 a volume a few years ago at a thrift shop. They've wised up since then. A little later, I spotted another set and bought it for my sister. The price had risen by 50% to $1.50 per.

This is a very comprehensive reference of over 2,000 pages with articles on all areas of gardening, indoors and out. Canadian input means that it's not only about gardening in Zone 7. Snap it up if you ever come across it at a yard sale – which was the advice Keith Squires once gave in a gardening class I took. And did.

The other book is a handy, one-volume reference: Taylor's Encyclopedia of Gardening. I assume this by the same name behind the contemporary Taylor's Guides on individual subjects such as Roses. It seems to be. But the Taylor in question is not a publishing house, but Norman Taylor, a botanist famous in the early part of the past century.

My Taylor's is a 1948 second edition of the 1936 book, written in the days when fairly natural gardening techniques were generally the rule. I love it, not the least reason of which is for its charming illustrations, one of which heads this column.

Another neat feature is its plant lists, such as those for an all-blue garden, for instance. That's a case of the February blues I wouldn't mind having. I'm sure you wouldn't mind having it, too.