The Gardener with Dorothy Dobbie / Issues in the News

Kevin Twomey returns home from an eco-conference in the United States. He is filled with wonder and excitement over what he learned, and he shares his excitement with Dorothy. To read more, click here .

Dorothy and Shea discuss how to keep your favourite houseplants alive and healthy. They talk about why poinsettias lose their leaves when you bring them home from the shop and how to prevent this. To read more, click here.

When was the last time you went to the International Peace Garden or even thought about the fact that this one-of-a-kind garden straddles the border between Canada and the United States near Boissevain? Today, current chair of the board, Dorothy Dobbie, and former Chair (and awardee of a Manitoba 150 medal) Charlie Thomsen, take you on a journey of discovery into how the garden came to be and how...

Our company, Pegasus Publications Inc., is a family affair. Shauna Dobbie, who is not the editor of Canada’s Local Gardener is company founder Dorothy’s daughter. Ian Leatt, now the president of the company, is Dorothy’s “adopted” son and Shauna’s “adopted” brother. Together, the three of them love to garden and in this episode, they look back at what worked, what didn’t, and why in the summer of...

Dorothy Dobbie talks about the Year of Garden 2022 with Michel Gauthier and Rebecca Sokol of Communities in Bloom To read more, click here .

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. T...

Kevin Twomey, the former owner of T & T Seeds, returns to talk about what to do in fall. Click here to read all about it.

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. For more info, click here.

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. For more info, click here.

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. For more info, click here.

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. To read more, click here.

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 courtya...

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 Plant...

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 i...

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.

Guest Sherrie Versluis, the bird lady of Winnipeg and owner of the Preferred Perch, talks about all the bird varieties we are seeing this spring and tells why they seem to be so prominent. One of the highlights we have encountered is an indigo bunting, a dark blue bird that is not often seen here. For more info, click here.

This week, we take a walk through the garden of Shannon Gage, well, at least through the garden in her mind’s eye as we are locked down once again. Shannon has been gardening since she was a girl. And for her post secondary school, she studied landscape design at Olds College in Alberta. Since then, she has created a jewel of a garden in her backyard in River Heights, and she shares some of the le...

We visit the International Peace Garden with CEO, Tim Chapman. The International Peace Garden straddles the border between North Dakota and Manitoba, just about 20 minutes south of Boissevain, Manitoba. It was the dream of Dr. Henry Moore of Islington, Ontario who belonged to an international horticulture association. Dr. Moor realised the idea and a meeting in New York in 1928 and the following y...

Get ready, get set . . .garden Host Dorothy Dobbie interviews T&T Seeds owner Kevin Twomey about getting ready to garden in early May. Manitobans find it hard to believe that gardeners from coast to coast to coast wait until the May 24th long weekend to start their gardens in earnest. Beginning earlier for many plants, both flowers and vegetables, can result in failure or at least stunted plan...

What’s coming up for summer Shea Doherty of Our Farm Greenhouses in Portage La Prairie is the inaugural guest of the first episode of The Gardener on Lifestyles 55 Digital Radio. Shea is a nature savant. He is totally in tune with the world around him and can even hear plants grow on still nights. He shares a few of his discoveries with our listeners. For example, did you know that when a spruce t...