Female flowers have a little swelling at their base. That swelling will develop into a fruit if the flower is fertilized by pollen from a male flower.
Dear Helen:The male and female kiwi vines (the fuzzy fruit kind) have flowered this year, and the vines’ prolific growth have caused the two plants to intermingle —- which has led to points of curiosity for us: Why did our vines bloom so late? Is there a way of telling which flowers are male and which are female?
S.G.
It is normal for kiwi vines to bloom late, in June. The female flowers have a little swelling (the flower’s ovary) at their base. That swelling will develop into a fruit if the flower has been successfully fertilized by pollen from a male flower. The male flowers have pollen-bearing stamens.
If you grow zucchini, you’ll see something similar: Female flowers have a small swelling at the bloom’s base. If successfully fertilized by pollen from a male flower, the swelling will develop into a zucchini. Male zucchini flowers have longer stems and no little swelling.
The difference between the two plant types: Zucchinis bear both male and female flowers on the same plant. The term for this botanical domestic arrangement is “moneocious” – meaning “one house.”
Kiwis bear male and female flowers on separate plants. The term for this is “dioecious” meaning “two households.”
Dear Helen:I have a young Garry oak tree in an area of my garden where I would like to grow, under and around the tree, small plants that are compatible with Garry oak meadow conditions. Can you point me to my best plant choices and sources for them?
N.L.
A perfect information source is the website of theGarry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team. From the line of choices along the top of the page, click on “for gardeners and restorations practitioners.” There you will find listed various categories of plants (trees shrubs, grasses, ferns) that you can click on for full plant descriptions and colour photos.
For small flowering plants, click on “forbs.” These include camas lilies, nodding onion, shootingstar, fawn lilies and many more. A small, creeping plant among the shrubs is kinnikinnick.
For a substantial list of Victoria area, Up-Island and Gulf Island plant sources, click on “Buying Native plants.”
Dear Helen:I have an ongoing problem with rats tunneling in my compost heap. I have tried traps, but ants eat the bait while leaving the trap unsprung. Do you know of any baits that will attract rats and not ants — or anything else I could to keep rats out of the compost?
G.E.
I live in a neighbourhood where rats have been a major issue in properties close to mine. Only once did I find a rat in a corner of one compost heap. It was at a time when a series of eye surgeries had left me in too much discomfort to dispose of kitchen vegetable and fruit trimmings in my usual, rat-proof way.
I have a longtime habit of digging kitchen organic waste into deep holes in the garden where extra moisture retention would be helpful. The materials decompose quickly, “on-site.”
Because post-surgery discomfort made it impossible for me, for a time, to dig those holes, I put the kitchen waste on a heap, covering it lightly with some of the compost. The next time I approached that heap, a rat scurried out of it.
I realize that not every garden setup allows for disposing of kitchen peelings and other compostable food waste items using my burying method. Other measures include using purchased rat-proof composters or enclosures made of solid wood or/and wire mesh.
Certain scents are natural rat repellents. Coffee grounds have the reputation of being repellent to rats and are fine for adding, in moderation, to compost heaps — in scant layers or distributed around the sides of a heap.
I use mint to keep rats and mice out of my garden shed. When I have an abundance of mint in the garden I place entire stems around the inner perimeter of the shed. In winter I use cotton balls infused with mint in essential oil form or in a less expensive, strongly mint-scented mouth wash.
Eucalyptus and citronella are more essential oils whose pungent odours tend to deter rats.
Garden advice.The Victoria Master Gardener Association offers a free Ask a Master Gardener service featuring a team of master gardeners who will respond with well-researched answers to questions from the public that are submitted via email to[email protected].
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