The Rural Voice, 1993-06, Page 34/ANDMARK
BUILDERS
AGRICULTURAL COMMERCIAL RESIDENTIAL
• Innovative design & construction
• Renovations & repairs to suit your needs
Our Foundations Are Satisfied Customers
HANOVER ONT. 364-3609
S11ZA?rORD AGRICILTZLRAt SOCIETY
Fairgrounds Complex
20 Glastonbury Dr.
Stratford, Ontario
N5A 6T1
(519) 271-5130
(519) 271-5832
We are pleased to once again be hosting
the 1993 Ontario Pork Congress.
We extend a warm welcome to all
exhibitors & visitors.
Brian Gropp, Manager
30 THE RURAL VOICE
Gardening
Preparing for
another
spring
by Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
The tulips we enjoy in our
gardens have a long and exotic
history. Anthropologists have
discovered their designs in ancient
Assyrian art and painted on a
Cretan vase estimated to be 3,500
to 4,000 years old.
Credit for this lovely bulb is
given to the Turks whose sultans
doted upon the flowers. They grew
new varieties and organized the
first tulip festivals. Tulips were
introduced into Europe by 1554 by
an Austrian diplomat who brought
back some seeds or bulbs. They
became a sensation. A Dutch
professor of botany, Clusius, did
some serious work with tulips but
charged outrageous prices for his
bulbs. Thieves finally ruined his
garden. By the time of his death in
1609 tulips were firmly established
in Holland. The many forms of
tulips which grace our gardens
today are a product of Dutch
patience and know-how in growing
and hybridizing.
By June most of our tulips are
beginning to fade. For many of us
the first splashes of colour in the
garden were a welcome sight but
now we have to practice patience to
make for healthy blossoms next
spring. You can start preparing for
next year's blossoms the moment
you pick this year's beauty. Leave
at least two sets of leaves on the
stem when cutting blooms. Work a
bit of bonemeal and a handful of
bloodmeal into the ground around
the bulbs while they are blooming
to help feed the bulb. Last, but not
least, let the leaves feed the bulb
and die at their leisure, ensuring a
well stocked bulb for next year.
Last spring I found I was losing
a wonderful bed of bulbs to an
overbearing Chinese Elder. The