Show from June 25, 2006

Yew

Good morning Gardeners. What a beautiful morning. It's summer! The solstice arrived last Wednesday, the longest day of the year. Today, the sun rose at 5:21 A.M. and will set tonight at 9:39, but daylight lasts much longer, and the sky was still light as we drove home last night at 10:30.

I love these long, long days and so do my plants. Everyday brings something new and wonderful into bloom.

And what a good time to buy plants. Many of them are on sale. Noll's Greenhouse out on Roblin is selling everything off at half price and her plants are in really good shape. Kanahda Garden Centre over on Main Street has a wonderful selection of small shrubs, including barberries and Morden yew, at really good prices.

Yew or taxus, as is its Latin name, is a fascinating plant that grows throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The new Morden variety is a small shrub about two feet by two feet. All the yews have soft flat evergreen needles of a lovely blue-green. It bears small red berries.

In Britain, yew is a huge tree that grows slowly and produces iron-like wood. Some ancient yews are as old as 4,000 years. Yew was important in ancient times as a wood for bow making because of its strength.

In recent years, taxol, a chemical found in yew bark, has been observed to inhibit cell growth. Taxol has been used as an anti-cancer drug since 1989 and its use has since been extended to treat other medical conditions. The problem is that only small quantities of taxol is found in yew bark so whole stands of the tree have been harvested in the quest fo the drug.

The Pacific yew, a shrubby trees that grow between 15 and 45 feet tall, is the most abundant in this chemical, but even then only minute quantities are found in any tree. Because the tree grows so slowly and is found in a limited area, it is in danger of being wiped out. The government is looking at ways to regenerate the population and work is being conducted to find a substitute source for taxol. Synthetics are being explored and some methods to obtain the chemical using just the branches and needles og agriculturally grown yew are being carried out.

So now I have a relative of this interesting tree in my backyard – well two of them!

Yew likes a moist woodland habitat with good drainage and part shade. I have just the place.

I also bought two more little Aurea nana barberries. These tiny mounded shrubs grow only about 9 inches tall, but are a brilliant yellow-lime green. They glow in the garden. I now have a collection of three of them and they make me smile every time I see them.

Something else that makes me smile is Larry McIntosh of Peak of the market. And the reason I'm smiling is that Larry has issued a challenge to all business owners. We have taken up the challenge at Manitoba Gardener.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

By the way folks. If you're at home during the day, tune into CTV at noon on Thursdays to get the latest gardening tips. Again this year, Karen Mitchell and I will be talking about gardening and showing you what you can do to make your garden grow better. That's Thursdays at noon on CTV.

Deer Lodge Hospital

Mark your calendars now to attend the Deer Lodge Hospital Garden tour that will take place August 12. This is a great way to learn how to have a great garden in late summer. There will be 10 to 12 gardens and the cost is $20. Tickets will be available soon at garden centres around town.