Time To Start Planning Those Moonlight Strolls

Fri., Jan. 10, 1997

By Susan English susane@spokesman.com

Some ancient agrarian cultures timed their planting and harvesting to coincide with the lunar calendar. Regardless if you subscribe to these agricultural traditions, it’s handy to know the dates of a full moon so you can schedule a moonlit stroll on a summer’s eve or view an all-white flower garden that’s so stunning in moonlight.

For the record, full moons this year will occur Jan. 23, Feb. 22, March 23, April 22, May 22, June 20, July 19, Aug. 18, Sept. 16, Oct. 15, Nov. 14 and Dec. 13.

A 1997 Moon Phase Wall Calendar is available in most nature stores. A 49-inch-by-10-1/2-inch version is available by mail (item G3-005) from Chiasso, (800) 654-3570. It’s $16 plus shipping.

A slice of the tropics

If you haven’t tired of poinsettias and need a breath of spring, head for the Gaiser Conservatory at Manito Park, open daily during daylight hours. The floral display includes mums as well as the Christmas flower. Admission is free.

If you’re a joiner

The Growing News, the monthly newsletter of the Inland Empire Gardeners Club, is available by subscription for $10 a year. Or, for another $15, you can join the club. For information, contact Chris Sheppard, 1722 S. Bettman Road, Spokane, WA 99212. In July, the group will host Gardeners of America national convention in Spokane.

Armchair tour of gardens

Don’t forget the Friends of Manito’s “A World of Gardens” slide lecture at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Washington State University Cooperative Extension auditorium, 222 N. Havana.

Lecturer Bill Hottell, who has traveled in 142 countries, will narrate a slide presentation featuring gardens around the world. The event is part of the Friends of Manito Sunday in the Garden Series. Admission is $5; free to members of the Friends of Manito.

Load up that mailbox

Those who don’t think they’re receiving enough garden catalogs in their mailboxes can send for more. The Garden Catalog Guide lists 100-plus catalogs. Send $2 to the Mail-order Gardening Association, PO Box 2129, Dept. DEC-PR, Columbia, MD 21045, or access the booklet on the Web at www.gardenscape.com.

Start organizing now

Even though serious digging doesn’t begin until April, gardening really is a year-round activity. For those inclined to keep a gardening journal or need help getting organized, there’s a new book available from Reader’s Digest.

Now is the time to jump in and start making entries. “The Successful Gardening Journal: A Seasonal Diary for Your Garden” ($14.95, paperback) includes planting lists and hints, lists of gardening suppliers, blank pages to make notes and monthly to-do pages. It’s this latter aspect that’s the downside for those of us who live in the north.

The full-page checklists (which actually begin the first week of December) offer room for entries on weather, soil conditions, flowers in bloom, lawn and fruits and vegetables. Those entries would look amazingly similar here for weeks to come. Still, there are apropos activities, such as sorting and disposing out-of-date pesticides. And, come April, journaling will become rich with possibilities.

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