Lyndon Penner kept the audience at the Medicine Hat Public Library theatre enraptured during his talk on Monday evening.--NEWS PHOTO SAMANTHA JOHNSON
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
Lyndon Penner has a reputation of being an engaging and dynamic speaker and he didn’t disappoint on Monday evening. Speaking at the Medicine Hat Public Library theatre to a nearly full house of horticultural enthusiasts, Penner was secretive about his topic prior to the event.
“I discovered, sort of inadvertently one day, a teeny tiny, small plant family,” said Penner. “The family is Nyctaginaceae, which is why I didn’t tell you the name of the presentation because everybody would have said, ‘What in the unholy hell is that?’ and they wouldn’t come tonight, so I had to be a little bit mysterious about it.”
Penner, an author, naturalist and a radio personality, was a guest speaker Tuesday evening at the Medicine Hat and District Horticultural Society’s AGM.
Nyctaginaceae is a weird, small family of plants, Penner says, with a bit of everything in it, such as feeding pollinators, adding more fragrance, or providing a tropical flair to a garden. It has fewer than 35 genera and about 300 species – compared to thousands in the orchid or daisy family – with only a handful in cultivation.
“There are three different groups in this family that are really fascinating that have applications for here,” explained Penner. Something very common to the family is they have large pollen grains but are often self-fertile and will not require pollen from another blossom.
Sand verbena, bougainvillea and four o’clocks were the three groups Penner discussed. There are about 20 species of sand verbenas, many of which are critically endangered. Sand verbenas secrete a sticky solution so sand will stick to them and prevent herbivores from eating them, and they like to grow in hot, dry, windy locations where there are herbivores.
Sand verbenas are not well studied but there are three native to Canada with one from southern Alberta.
“There are so many things in the plant kingdom that the answer to the question is we don’t know,” Penner said. “There is so much potential here for a PhD student who is working in their dissertation to look into the pollination of sand verbenas. Why wouldn’t you want to know that?”
He also gave a shout-out to moths, as Penner feels they don’t get the love, attention and respect they deserve.
“People love butterflies, people go out of their way to support butterflies. Tell people you enjoy a really good moth and they look at you like you’re a weirdo. Moths are as diverse as the butterflies and lots of them serve very specific purposes. Yes, some are agricultural pests, that’s true, but you can say that about cabbage butterflies, too.”
Bougainvillea are more well-known with unique qualities and an unknown number of species. They like fertile soil that is dry with good drainage, which is an odd thing for a plant to ask for. Bougainvillea grows well in Medicine Hat and is readily available commercially.
There is no limit to the colour of the plants, “this is a ruse, all this colour, these are not really petals at all,” explained Penner. “I would say most of us do not like it when our plants deceive us, and bougainvillea is telling you a falsehood. It is saying, ‘Look at me I’m full of flowers.’ No, you are not, you are full of bracts. A bract is a modified leaf that serves the same purpose as a petal.”
Four o’clocks are easy to grow, fragrant, long lasting, readily available commercially, and can be found for a few dollars on a McKenzie seed rack. The flower is often described as being deer resistant, and Penner is convinced herbivores will avoid them since they aren’t expensive. He quipped the entire bed of four o’clocks will be left alone while a nearby $35 hydrangea or $25 hostas are eaten to the ground.
“If you need to make your budget go further, four o’clocks will add a taste of the tropics to your garden,” said Penner. “These are big, burly, lush plants … give them lots of room and they will form a very big, woody, thick stem.”
Penner encouraged the audience to become members of botanical gardens as they often have seed swaps for plants not available horticulturally. He is also creating courses with the University of Saskatchewan, which can be taken online for $20 each and Penner teaches on Thursday nights.
“The whole purpose is for the gardening public to take classes if they want to learn about roses, lilies, or alliums. Do you want to learn about pruning, vegetable gardening or fruit growing? They are two hours in length each class, and there is a whole bunch through November to February.”
