Big Blue Mystery Contest
About a year ago, one of our colleagues, Laurie Fagan, found some hosta seeds in her garden. She was delighted at this crop of seeds. Normally, we add hostas to our garden by splitting them or buying the plants. Growing them from seed is a mystery because the new plants don't look like the parent, or their brothers and sisters. So Ontario Today began a contest last year called the Big Blue Mystery. The winners received a package of seeds collected from the hostas in Laurie's garden. Mary Sheremeto (Cher-ah-ME-toe) from Elmvale, took up the challenge and raised 75 seedlings this summer. Now the seedlings are ready to go into the ground. Here's what they look like. Click here for the image..
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Potato Box
We learn how to grow a whole pile of potatoes in a surprisingly small space. From a box no bigger than your lawnchair, you could be eating poutine and roast potatoes 'til Christmas. Click here for more details..
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Biography:
Ed Lawrence is the elder statesman of environmentally-responsible gardening in Canada. He is the author of the best-selling book "Gardening Grief and Glory" and former Chief Horticultural Specialist to six Governors General. Ed’s career at Rideau Hall spanned a period from Jules Leger in the 1970s to Adrienne Clarkson in 2005. As head gardener, his responsibilities included oversight of the 85 acre historic grounds and greenhouses of Rideau Hall, the homes of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and the four other official residences under the authority of the National Capital Commission. Among his many accomplishments during that period was his success in reducing and eventually eliminating the use of cosmetic pesticides on these official premises and the entrenchment of more environmentally-responsible horticultural practices at Rideau Hall. Since 1981, Ed has been heard every Monday on CBC Radio’s noon-show gardening phone-in, making it one of the longest-running and most successful segments in Canadian broadcast history. Ed has received Landscape Ontario's Garden Communicators' Award for his broadcast work and the Ontario Horticultural Association’s prestigious Award of Merit. He is Toronto-born, Humber College educated and resides today in the Almonte region, near Ottawa.

For more information or to book an interview with Ed Lawrence, please contact Tatlock Woods Publishing at 819-459-1888.

As head gardener, his responsibilities included oversight of the 85 acre historic grounds and greenhouses of Rideau Hall, the homes of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and the four other official residences under the authority of the National Capital Commission.

Among his many accomplishments during that period was his success in reducing and eventually eliminating the use of cosmetic pesticides on these official premises and the entrenchment of more environmentally-responsible horticultural practices at Rideau Hall.

Since 1981, Ed has been heard every Monday on CBC Radio’s noon-show gardening phone-in, making it one of the longest-running and most successful segments in Canadian broadcast history. Ed has received Landscape Ontario's Garden Communicators' Award for his broadcast work and the Ontario Horticultural Association’s prestigious Award of Merit.

He is Toronto-born, Humber College educated and resides today in the Almonte region, near Ottawa.
Horticultural Specialist, Ontario Today's resident Green Thumb and Guru fields questions from listeners on the Ontario Today phone-in every Monday.

For more information or to book an interview with Ed Lawrence, please contact Tatlock Woods Publishing at 819-459-1888.