The Gardener with Dorothy Dobbie / Issues in the News

Shea Doherty gives us a sneak preview into what to expect on his greenhouse shelves in the coming season. There are several promising new petunias: Crazytunia Firecracker, Merlot Star and Big Deal Chocolate Cheery to name a few. He introduces us to Petchoa, a cross between a petunia and a calibrachoa. He says the blossoms are medium in size but very prolific on a semi-trailing to trailing plant. They keep their colour well and have vigorous and sturdy foliage.

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Kevin Twomey, the former owner of T & T Seeds, returns to talk about what to do in fall.

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Mr. Tomato, the creator of the gardeners’ aids, Sea Magic and Kosy Coats, shares his thoughts on the upcoming Prairie Garden 2022 edition which he guest edited. Your host, Dorothy Dobbie is the 2022 editor.

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Dorothy learns how to grow giant pumpkins with Milan Lukes

When Milan Lukes was 11, he became fascinated with giant pumpkins and started on his own journey to a Manitoba championship.

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Kevin Twomey, the long-time owner of T & T Seeds who has just sold T & T Seeds and is now retired with his brother Brian, is still eager to stay involved in some way. He has an amazing compendium of gardening experience to share. He has grown everything from trees to flowers to his favourite, vegetables.

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In this episode, Shauna and Dorothy head out to Saskatchewan looking for gardens for Canada’s Local Gardener magazine, stopping first at Virden where Manitoba MLA and Deputy Speaker Doyle Piwniuk has a garden that focusses on amazing tree combinations. One of those trees is a ginkgo, the dinosaur tree, that grow happily in his sheltered garden. He has also built an incredible Mediterranean courtyard, surrounded by trees in his backyard.

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As the publishers of Canada’s Local Gardener magazine (previously Manitoba Gardener, Alberta Gardener and Ontario Gardener), my daughter Shauna Dobbie and I head west to explore the gardens of B.C and Alberta.

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Trees, trees, trees! Our Pet, Matt Vinet, of Green Drop Trees talks trees for the next hour. 

If you have been wondering how the Million Tree Challenge is coming, Matt has the answer. A long-time member of the Trees Winnipeg board, he is up to date on all the details. Trees Winnipeg will double its Releaf program this fall. Matt says that the spring edition sold out in five days. Releaf Tree Planting program is where Trees Winnipeg offers a variety of trees very well-suited to Winnipeg at amazing prices to the public. And they teach you how to plant the tree you buy!
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Dorothy Dobbie talks with Michel Gauthier of the Canadian Garden Council in Ottawa https://gardenscanada.ca/canadian-garden-council/  about Canada’s annual Garden Days. This national celebration runs from June 12 to June 20, 2021. Garden Days is a chance to commemorate your garden by posting photos on Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #Garden Days or #It’s time to garden. ScottsMiracle-Gro is offering a beautiful garden basket to the best photo this year, so be sure to enter. It all culminates in National Garden Day on June 19, right before Father’s Day.
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Flower fairyland is another good name for Our Farm Greenhouse of Portage la Prairie. It is a bucket-list trip for Winnipeggers every spring. Shea Doherty has one of the largest collections of hard-to-find petunias, and just about everything else you can imagine.
For more info, click here.