Welcome

If you love gardening - or want to learn more about Canada's top hobby - join us at the Nobleton & King City Horticultural Society.

Monthly meetings are held on the fourth Monday of the month at 8 pm. at the Nobleton Community Hall (9 Old King Road, just opposite the Feed Store). They feature informative speakers, beautiful flower shows and plenty of friendly conversation. Guests are always welcome

Annual membership, which includes meetings and a show book, is $15.00 for individuals or $20.00 for two members in the same family. There is a $3.00 fee for non-members at the monthly meetings.

For information contact Marilyn Clarke or Barb Downey

In The News

"Angel, angel, angel"

There seemed nothing angelic about the eight-foot plant with large, deeplyindented leaves growing up its sturdy thick square greenish stalk, topped by large clusters of tiny yellow (almost green) flowers that a passerby spotted recently growing in the northwest corner of the about to be renovated monastery garden at the back of St. Alban’s Anglican Church on Highway 27. In fact, to this person, its sinister devilish look suggested it was the dreaded giant hog weed, a dangerous, though attractive, plant native to the Caucasus region of southern Russia that in the past two or three years has begun to invade King. Township authorities were called and someone came out to investigate. Fortunately, it proved to be a false alarm, as the plant in question is angelica, a huge herb once widely used for medicinal purposes and a staple of mediaeval monastery gardens. But with the giant hog weed now in our area, thankfully there are alert citizens in King who notice and report suspicious plants.

"You are a special angel sent from heaven up above. The Lord smiled down on us and sent an angel to love."

An ancient myth tells that the Archangel Raphael appeared to a mediaeval monk and gave him an a plant that could be used to treat plague victims. The monk named it angelica, and later it was given the Latin botanical name Angelica officinalis, which designated the herb as a plant to be grown in the monastery garden. It is more commonly known now as Angelica archangelica.

"You are a special angel and through all eternity, We’ll have that special angel to watch over me."

Angelica may not have been around for an eternity, but it certainly predates the Christian era. Botanists believe it originated in Syria thousands of years ago, gradually spread into other parts of the Middle East as well as into Europe. European settlers brought it to the Americas, Australia and New Zealand. Today, there are some 50 species of this plant found worldwide. Ancient herbalists and doctors gradually became aware of this tall stately plant’s medicinal and culinary uses, something our prehistoric hunter-gatherer ancestors had long known.

In her book The Illustrated Herb Encyclopedia, American botanist and author Kathi Keville wrote that in Chinese medicine, angelica sinensis (from the Greek for "from China"), is used to treat people with impaired liver function caused by chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis and for building up the blood, while in the U.S.A. it is used to treat women with menstrual irregularities. She noted too that, from its tiny flowers to its long hard tap root, all parts of this member of the parsley family (umbelliferae, most members have umbrella shaped clusters of flowers) are used for medicinal or culinary purposes.

Angelica was sometimes cooked with rhubarb as a sweetening agent. In the ancient and mediaeval Middle East and Europe the stalk was cut into small pieces and soaked honey to make candy and in later times these became the original green candied fruit in fruit cake. Benedictine monks in the Middle Ages used the root in their winemaking and in fact it is still an ingredient in vermouth and gin. At La Grande Chartreuse near Grenoble in France, it was used in the making of the now world famous liqueur that bears the monastery’s name. Viking raiders introduced angelica to Scandinavia and Iceland, where it is still used as a vegetable. Laplanders used the broad leaves, which contain antibacterial properties to wrap fish in to take on long journeys, and in Norway the powdered root is used to flavour bread. Viking traders introduced this herb into Poland and Russia. In 1974 French newspapers carried the story of Annibal Camoux of Marseilles, who at 120 years of age credited chewing a piece of angelica root daily for her longevity.

This striking, sun-loving (although it will take some light shade) plant is an easy to grow, easy care biennial or short lived perennial that will grow in a variety of soils but prefers damp soil (not soggy or heavy wet ground) makes a dramatic presence in the garden, but has two drawbacks, in that it attracts fruit flies and ,thus should not be planted near the patio or deck;; and it seeds prolifically as it has done all along the top of the ravine at the back of my Tottenham area home where by the by the one at St. Alban's originated.

"You are that special angel right from paradise. We see you in summer sunshine or gentle rain, And we're in heaven again."
(Apologies to Jimmy Duncan, singer, song writer, composer and arranger, best known for his song You Are My Special Angel

Raspberry Wrap Up

Originally published in the King Township Sentinel on August 18, 2010
by John Arnott