EVERGREEN Nature Study Club is a local non-profit organization geared, through nature tours, to educate and re-educate persons on environmental literacy. Founded and led by Fitz Ogle, a former Curator of the Botanical Gardens, Evergreen Nature Study Club has celebrated its 15th anniversary of existence this week with the launch of a 94-page publication titled: ‘Uses of medicinal plants in Guyana and other remedies’.

The following tips on gardening are recommended by the Club, and readers are reminded that it offers nature-based goods and services, including technical advice.

Its website is www.evergreenstudy.org.

Gardening
Gardening is the growing and caring for plants, as an enjoyable leisure activity, to produce food; or to create beautiful landscapes with artfully arranged flowers, shrubs, and trees.

For some, gardening is a form of exercise, a way to save money on food, or a way to ensure that fruits and vegetables are free from pesticides or other chemicals. For others, gardening is a profession: landscape gardeners design, install and maintain gardens for a living.

Unlike farmers, who typically produce large quantities of crops using complex equipment, gardeners usually produce plants in smaller quantities, relying on manual tools such as spades, rakes, and hoes, and small power tools, such as mowers and tillers.

All over the world today, gardening is practised using a little soil, some seeds, and a few basic tools; and even inexperienced gardeners can enjoy the rewards of creating a garden and watching it grow. Gardeners with more experience and time can delve more deeply into the science/art, carrying out research to select appropriate plants, and learning about the particular requirements for each type of plant.

The more gardeners apply what they learn, the more their gardens thrive and grow.

Selecting plants
Plants differ in their tolerance for heat, cold, and moisture, so when selecting plants, gardeners must take into account the climate of their region. Gardeners also evaluate the soil type, and how much sunlight falls on the proposed site, factors that affect the types of plants that can be grown in a particular area.

They consider, too, the plant’s life cycle — how long it takes a plant to grow, flower, produce fruits or seeds, and die. Annuals, such as marigold, bloom and produce seed the same year they are planted, then die within the same year. Biennials — pigeon pea, for example — live for about two years. In the second year, they produce flowers, and die when the weather turns cold. Perennials, which include shrubs and trees as well as flowers, are plants that live for three years or more.
From the plants adapted to a particular climate, soil, and light, gardeners can choose plants for their characteristic appeal. Some popular traits include easy care and attractiveness to butterflies, birds, and other wildlife.
A gardener can experiment with a stunning diversity of interesting garden styles and types. Herb gardens may feature culinary herbs, medicinal herbs, and fragrant herbs. Flower gardens may combine a variety of flowering plants, or focus on just one type, such as roses, white-flowered plants, or flowers that bloom only at night. Specialized gardens include rock or alpine gardens, which display plants native to mountains; and water gardens, which host plants adapted to wet conditions.

Botanical gardens are designed to display plants for scientific and educational purposes, and in those gardens, the plants are often labelled with their names and their optimal growing conditions. (Courtesy of Erin Hynes of the Evergreen Nature Study Club)
To be continued…