Poinsettias in Niagara

Today's pictures traverse the landscape of the Poinsettia.  I went to Sunshine Express yesterday, and the sky was perfect with filtered overcast light so that the saturation was at an all-time high.  It seemed almost blinding to be in the greenhouse with the endless sea of reds, whites, and pinks, and even the orange ones.  These leaves show the lines and textures - puckered and billowy with wonderful colours. There appear to be no Poinsettia jokes for Christmas - I guess we take our plants seriously or not at all.  Here's the start of the Christmas humour:   Entering Heaven Three men died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly gates. "In honor of this holy season," Saint Peter said, "You must each possess something that symbolizes  Christmas to get into heaven." The first man fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on. "It represents a candle," he said. "You may pass through the pearly gates," Saint Peter said. The second man reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He shook them and said, "They're bells." Saint Peter said, "You may pass through the pearly gates." The third man started searching desperately through his pockets and finally pulled out a pair of women's glasses. St. Peter looked at the man with a raised eyebrow and asked, "And just what do those symbolize?" The man replied, "They're Carol's."

Exam Question: Calculate Easter

Perhaps Spring is early this year because Easter is early - on March 27th in just over a week.  The garden centres in Niagara sell a lot of potted flowers for Easter.  Sunshine Nurseries on Carlton Street on the NOTL side of the canal is full of blooms.  Pot plants, perennials, and annuals are on show.  You see the 'sea' of flowers in the top picture and an interpretation of the pretty flower Ranunculus in the bottom picture. There was a question the other day on how do we calculate Easter.  I gather from a search that there are dozens of ways of calculating Easter. This link to  the U.K. Independent Newspaper article describes the Easter calculation.  Here are two of the key calculations. "For most of its history Christians have calculated Easter independently of the Jewish calendar. In principle, Easter falls on the Sunday following the full moon that follows the northern spring equinox (the paschal full moon). However, the vernal equinox and the full moon are not determined by astronomical observation." "In 325CE the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox. From that point forward, the Easter date depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox."

Poinsettia Madness

A visit to Sunshine Nurseries last week was a feast of poinsettias.  As far as you can see are stripes of red, white, pink - all the colours and varieties of poinsettias imaginable. There are three locations for poinsettia trials in North America - Florida, South Carolina and Niagara.  This year it is taking place at Linwell Gardens, one of the growers.  Last year it took place at Vineland Research Station and there was a great public showing and voting. There are over 160 varieties on trial this year, and I hope to see them on Monday afternoon when I interview Wayne Brown, the chair of the activity.

My Garden Centres - Sunshine Express

I remember when Sunshine Express started about 20 + years ago.  There was an rv trailer in the lot for the summer.  You can see from these photos that it has progressed over the years to include these impressive and expansive pergola structures.  


Sunshine is located on Carlton Street, St. Catharines.  It's formally in Niagara-On-The-Lake (N-O-T-L) as it's on the other side of the Welland Canal.  Sunshine's plant stock is larger, lusher, and more robust than any other nursery I go to.  Most of all, I love their Christmas display of poinsettias that they grow themselves.  It's a sea of red, pink, white and green.