What's New

April 13, 2008

Geese, swans, crows, gophers, muskrats, skunks, coyotes, deer and rabbits.  These are some of the recent sightings.  Many staff members have seen bald eagles breezing by.  That is always something to see.  It is only in the last 3 years that we have been seeing the eagles.  Spring in the country is just grand!  Cheryl and Bev French on staff have seen blue birds!  We saw a meadow lark.  This is one bird that we would love to see more often because the song is so wonderful.  Apparently there was a muskrat walking down main street of Elnora that was drawing many laughs.   The geese are not nesting yet; just thinking about it.  And about the plants...  We have been looking but the crocuses are not out yet in our neck of the woods.  Of course the pussy willows have been out for quite a while.  We are typical farmers looking for moisture, eh?  We would love our dugouts full but no runoff at all!   Yet.

This winter, we have pulled together an interesting collection of courses and festivals for the summer.  There is great interest and curiosity out there!   Looking forward to it!   Make sure you come and visit!

We are preparing to ship plants.  Our new E-Newsletter should be coming out soon.   Sometimes hard to do it all at once!

Press Release:  Local Business hires!
Local business is recruiting and attracting horticulturalists to the area!  Maria and Manasso, a husband and wife team recently hired on with DNA Gardens in Elnora.  This couple immigrated from Holland in 2005 and have been working in the nursery business in the Edmonton area.  They have 20 years of horticultural experience in Holland where they ran their own landscape design business.  Maria jokes that horticulture is just built into the Dutch DNA code.  Because of their input, DNA Gardens has expanded their ornamental line of perennials, trees and shrubs.  There is a good chance that you will meet this couple of the retail lot. 

How did they get here?  On a recent holiday trip that involved a stop at DNA Gardens, they became interested in the fruit crops and unique plants that DNA Gardens specialize in.  Lab manager Teresa Long was advertising to hire in the bathroom!  Not very glamorous but obviously effective.  They are renting and looking to purchase a home.

They seem to have a love for our wide open spaces and the native prairie habitat intrigues them.  Most of us locals raised in this area do not have the appreciation that comes from living in Europe where there are so many people.  Maria said it made them nervous driving at night because there were no lights for miles!

February 2, 2008  More website changes.  Added on line orderform and a PDF of our hard catalogue.

January 24, 2008
Adding lots of photos from around the farm.  If you want to see prices for mail order, please click the link on the catalogue page and print out the Excel sheet. 

January 15, 2008
Hope everyone had a great holiday season!  We have been working hard behind the scenes to update our website and like all major upgrades, there are bugs.  We anticipate getting an improved mail order form on-line so please work with the excel file that is there for the moment.  Quite a few additions will be made in the next few weeks so check back often and please be patient while we hurry to get them done.  
The good news and the bad news: our prices have gone up.  It is just a fact of life conducting business now a days.  Costs of everything are up and to remain a viable business, we had no choice.   The good news?  We have all kinds of exciting ultra hardy, new plants to offer.   We hope you can see the vision of these plants growing and prospering in your orchard, big or small !

November 23, 2007
Website being updated.

September 29, 2007
Our retail garden center is closed for the season.  It was an exciting, fun year and we were pleased to see so many people come to the farm.  Pies, frozen fruit etc is available from the office which runs year round.  Our cherry sausages were a great hit!  We attend The Red Deer Farmer's Market and it finishes up October 6th.  So, stock up, folks.  

So what do we do now at DNA?  We are just busy cleaning up, organizing and have already started new plants in the tissue culture lab.  The fall colours are beautiful and soon we will be putting all our plants "to bed."  Plants in pots will not survive being left to freeze and thaw over the winter.  We cover them with special insulating blankets or box and freeze in our storage facility.

Interesting to observe the Saskatchewan cherry plants in the field.  Valentine drops its leaves first and is almost completely bare now.  It is taller and super loaded with winter flower buds which are very visible right now.  I can sure believe it might be the most productive.  Juliette is showing lovely red, fall colour and Cupid is hanging on.  They sure have different personalities.  

This year, it is safe to say that Cupid was the super star at DNA Gardens.  It takes many years of observation before conclusions can be reached because each year has its own unique growing conditions.   We were pleased with the size of the cherries but reading the literature, it seems that we can improve on it.  

After all these years, we are irrigating in the field now.  Unfortunately, we didn't get the irrigation operational till the drought ended this summer, but it seems that is always the way!  So, I can plainly see with extra water, our cherries will increase in size.  Wow, is all I can say because we were impressed as it was!

Our project for the last few years has been to greatly improve the water quality on the farm.  We have been most successful.  In fact, we are surprised to see changes in water quality happening so quickly.  Due to some of the cultural changes we have implemented on the farm, we can observe the plant life changing in a good way.  Foxtail barley is evolving out and being replaced by timothy and crested wheat grass.  We now have cattails starting to grow in some of our ponds which to me is a real good indicator of good riparian health.  We see muskrats back!

We harvested our hazelnuts last week.  Two years in a row we have had good fruit.  
August  27, 2007
Wow, has it been busy!  We have temporarily closed our mail order office till we get our inventory finished.  Please be patient!  In the meantime, our retail garden center is open.  We had a nice crop of saskatchewan cherries this summer.  Lots more coming next year.  We can see lots of flower buds set.  Saskatoon crop is finished and in the freezer.  Fruit, frozen is for sale.  Also, frozen pitted cherry.  Chokecherries are wonderful.  Gooseberries are on.  Cherry plums ripening quickly.  Pies are always ready.  Jams for sale on the farm now.

June 11, 2007  We have been very busy propagating new plants! We hope to be finished our shipping this week.  The fruit in the orchards appear to have gotten through the frost stages and everything looks like a bumper crop coming!  Flower buds on everything and no winter injury on anything.  Very exciting!  

March 1, 2007  I added some pictures of apples today.  Also added some new fruits in the catalog.  New yield results on the University of Saskatchewan raspberries have been posted in the catalogue section and soon I will post the whole report in the articles section.

February 26, 2007  Please check out the testimonials just added.  Many thank yous for the kind words.  I have added an article on the Saskatchewan Cherries I wrote last year for the Calgary Horticulture Society.  You will find it in the article section or click this link.  Life on the Prairies is a Bowl of Cherries.

February 23, 2007
Check out this new article I wrote that is appearing in the Calgary Gardening Magazine published by the Calgary Horticulture Society.  Honeyberries are storming the Prairies  Also posted a lovely article about a new apple we are starting to grow.  Article written by Robert Davidson.  We are interested in this apple because it came out of southern Alberta where it is often harder to grow things than farther north.  Robert came to the farm and "sold" us on the apple.  M-360

February 22, 2007
Have added some pages for ultra, cold hardy pears and apples.  As we collect photos, we will add more.  Our printed catalogue is very slow coming out but will be worth the wait.  Thank you for your patience.  We are receiving many, many calls from the U.S. due to an article in Mother Earth magazine that cited DNA Gardens as a source for the University Cherries.  We are finalizing agreements with several U.S. nurseries so that American homeowners also have access to these wonderful plants.  We will post links in the near future.  One evening, we spoke to Alaska and 15 minutes later, we were speaking to Maine.  
Since I missed Valentine's Day, I thought I would wish you a happy St. Patty' Day!  

October 14, 2006
New website for you to check out!  www.haskap.ca.  You'll now find it included on our links page.
Tremendous interest being expressed in the Honeyberries!  It seems I must get with the momentum being created by the University of Saskatchewan and join the name change.  I will follow up with an article that will explain the history of both names.  Long story I can't relay quickly!  The name Honeyberry was trademarked by nurseryman Jim Gilbert, of Oregon and DNA Gardens has legal permission to use the name.  However, we will officially start calling Honeyberries Haskap berries.  Our new catalog will call them this way.  Please look us up for a more detailed article coming.  
Coming Event - October 23, 2006 - The Haskap Producers Association is holding an initial organizing meeting on October 23rd. in Saskatoon Saskatchewan. Anyone interested in attending the meeting should send an email to the organizing committee.
Coming Event - January 8 to 13, 2007 Crop Production Week 2007 Monday, January 8 to Saturday, January 13, 2007, Heritage Inn in Saskatoon.  Segments sponsored by the Saskatchewan Fruit Growers Association.

September 14th, 2006
Just finished our fall shipment of actively growing plant material.  Now waiting for the leaves to drop enabling us to acquire hard inventory numbers.  Cherry plums are awesome this fall. Cheri, on staff here made some wonderful cherry plum jam that her daughter, Alyssa (12 years old) just loves.  She is going to make some more jam but try it with Stevia.  Once preserved with no sugar, it will be excellent for jam but also a very healthy, tasty yogurt addition.  We have in stock, the coolest apple peelers.  We are having a blast doing apples.  Order yours today.  Teresa, on staff had a great afternoon testing the new apple peelers with her triplets aged 9. It was a great year for apples.  New this year, our cherry pies are available at the Red Deer Farmers Market as well as the nursery.  The last day for the RD market this year is October 9th.  After October 9th, available at the farm.  Get your pies while you can.  These cherry pies are all made with SK Carmine Jewel and they have the full approval of everyone on staff.

What a great edition Garden's West magazine just put on the stands.  They had a very interesting article about bonsai.  Many plants are excellent bonsai candidates.  Gooseberries are a good example.  Contrary to popular believe, gooseberries can taste great.  The varieties we offer are very sweet and tasty.  Please check back for the coolest gooseberry bonsai photos.  I just have to get permission to post them on the website.  In the meantime, check out the award winning Evans Cherry bonsai photo under the article page.  Does anyone know the name of the owner of this bonsai?  I would like to give them proper credits.  I believe this fellow may live in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Now is a great time to plant Martagon lilies.  Dakota Pinnacle Birch sales are going very well. This plant is causing great excitement.  Call the farm today.

August 26, 2006
Price change effective August 1, 2006.  Please call the nursery for updates.  

Martagon bulbs for fall sales are ready!  Not all varieties are available.  Again, please call the farm to check and see what we have.  Fall is an excellent time to plant.

Please be patient while we fix some of our broken links on line.

August 23, 2006
What a wonderful saskatoon crop we have just harvested.  We put extra in the freezer at the end of the season but the good news / bad news is that it is all sold out and gone now.   Call us earlier next year or call us now and we will put your name on our fruit list.  Our saskatoons pies are getting rave reviews.  So if you missed the fruit, try the pies. We are offering saskatoon with sugar and saskatoon stevia pies.

We also harvested a small chokecherry crop of 13,000 pounds which was bought right off the combine.  

It seems the market place for fruit buyers is heating up.  It is very exciting times right now with three of four large processors putting plays together.  We hope they are successful but it certainly be a race to buy up existing berries.

The first cherry plants we have sold into the industry are doing phenomenally well.  We have been able to slip away and visit a few orchards.  The Carmine Jewels are reported to be averaging 30 pounds per plant.  Many reports are coming of 34 pounds and 54 pounds!  Growers are so in love with Carmine that they are saying prove to me another cherry could be better.  Folks, some of the University cherries are indeed sweeter and larger size but it seems that for commercial production, they can't be beat.  Stay tuned.  The next few years will tell the story as the other cherries start to fruit.

Wow!  How about the honeyberries!  They are just more impressive all the time.  The tiniest little plants bare fruit and at such a young age.  Very preliminary food science research is suggesting honeyberries are 2 to 3 times higher in anthocyanins than saskatoons and black currants.  That is incredible because these other two fruits are very high.  There is no doubt that honeyberries must be netted.  Because they fruit so early in the season, the birds don't have much else of interest and the birds are all over them.  Pay attention because you may think your plants are not fruiting.  

We took a large contingent of DNA staff to the Bruno Cherry Festival.  As always, it was a great experience.  We ate cherry sausage and cherry elephant ears for two days.  Yum is all I can say.  The cooking sessions were great and hopefully we will be able to get some of the recipes on our website for you.

At the request of the nursery industry, we initiated Dakota Pinnacle Birch.  The tissue culture lab  was riotously successful.  Just like tissue culture is suppose to be!   Check the catalogue section on line for photos and detailed descriptions.  This birch performs well in Calgary which can be  a tough place to grow things.  We have initiated a few other "gems" so keep posted.  You never know what we will be brewing up next.

We keep hearing on the garden talk shows in Calgary that there are no Swedish Aspens to be purchased.  Yikes, we have lovely one gallon pots that are 5 to 6 feet tall and liners that are 6 to 12 inches tall.  

Nasty, nasty hail in the Red Deer, Alberta area.  It hit much of the black currant crops.  There is large acreage planted and unfortunately much was lost.  Good yields of currants were harvested where the hail missed.  At DNA Gardens, we had our saskatoon and chokecherry crops harvested.  We only received two shots of pea size hail.

June 22, 2006
We are enjoying the Red Deer farmer's Market.  Tamara covers our bases here.  Please stop in and say hello.  At the last moment, we were able to attend the Calgary Farmers Market.  We are so pleased to announce that our daughter Davida is looking after this market.   

We have been very fortunate to have several mentions in Garden's West Magazine.  Davida took a stunning photo in an earlier edition all about currants.  Please see July / August edition about Martagon lilies.  We were happy to supply photos. 
 
And how about those honeyberries!  Wow!  What hardy little plants.  I am always so amazed that they fruit at such young ages.  The fruits are yummy, sweet and tart and very flavorful.  Everyone needs two!  (Must have two for pollination!)

Protect yourself this summer with our new product called Nature's Defense, an outdoor spray with catnip and emu oil.  This bug spray has NO DEET and it works.  We can ship and it is available at the markets and the farm.

We always get questions about how to protect your crops without chemicals.  We have tried Neem Oil and think it is fantastic.  Neem oil is a broad spectrum botanical insecticide, miticide and fungicide treatment derived from the seeds of the Neem tree.  We can ship and it is available at the market and on farm.  Purchase some today.

Both the saskatoon crop and the chokecherries look awesome.  We do UPIK and also sell picked berries.  Call us if you would like to be put on our call list.  

We have developed a saskatoon stevia pie which is getting great reviews.   The pies are the best.  They are available at the farm or at the Red Deer Farmers Market.

We now have liquid stevia as well as powdered.  I just made rhubarb compote for yogurt and used zero sugar. 

August 12 and 13th we will be at the Bruno Cherry Festival.  Hope to see you there.  It is such a lovely event.

July 15th, the farm is participating in the Country Drive 06.  Come on out.  

Come have a piece of pie with us and check out our LadyBug Trail. 

April 19th, 2006
Coming soon!  Look for our Berry Smart tm juices.  We have started our dormant shipping.  As always, we are planting and will continue to plant till mid- June.  We are so excited about our new Lady Bug Trail.  For our May 1st retail opening, we will have maps our our fields with educational tips and comments.  

March 25, 2006
Coming soon!  Look for our Berry Smart tm juices.  Gophers, geese and crows have been seen.  The days are getting longer.  We seem very short on sun especially when you are growing in the greenhouse!  We have very good snow cover which we are hopeful will fill the sloughs and ponds with good, fresh water.  Yes, I think spring is on its way! 

March 10, 2006       
Many of you are probably not aware that back in October of 2005, the FDA (American Food and Drug Administration) sent out a warning letter to 29 companies that market Tart Cherry products.    They were told to remove all claims, scientific studies, health news and testimonials about cherries.  Interesting since most of this work is funded and supported by another American agency - USDA and most of it is University level research.   It seems that the cherry marketing institute and the cherry growers have not taken this sitting down.  Now, a ruling of the Supreme Court of the U.S. has rebuked the FDA.  The searing verdict: "Bans against truthful, non-misleading commercial speech...usually rest solely on the offensive assumption that the public will respond irrationally to the truth.  The First Amendment directs us to be especially skeptical of regulations that seek to keep people in the dark for what the government perceives to be their own good.  The court further admonished the agency to quit trying to protect favored markets by suppressing information."  

If I read in between the lines, it seems that pharmaceutical companies are registering far more toxic products through the FDA.  Here is another interesting quote, "The recent explosion of FDA - approved killer drugs suggests that the agency's overzealous approach to cherry products might be better directed at pharmaceutical manufacturers whose products are one of the leading causes of death in America.  Adverse drug reactions cause more than 100,000 fatalities each year and send a million and a half people to the hospital annually.  Those are the documented cases; the actual number of people who become sick, hospitalized, or die from drugs is unknown.

Visit: www.lef.org/magazine/mag2006/mar2006_cover_cherries_01.htm to read the amazing story of the Tart Cherry / FDA debate, as well as Life Extension’s editorial

http://%20http//www.lef.org/magazine/mag2006/mar2006_awsi_01.htm 

This is powerful material!

There is a new website www.fruitinstitute.org that provides scientific studies, health news and testimonials. I would suggest that you visit this site for more information.

I think this cherry "notoriety" will create awareness and appreciation for the health benefits of cherries.  This press may in the end be a wonderful thing.  You might call it reverse advertising.  

                                                               ***************
The Fruit Grower's Society of Alberta / Alberta Farm Fresh Producer's Association put on an excellent school in Red Deer, Alberta, March 3d and 4th.  Headliners included:  Dr. Bob Bors (University of Saskatchewan) speaking on his latest plant breeding projects.  Dr. Bob estimates there is immediate room for 750 acres of Honeyberries for Japanese markets!  Apparently they have industrial buildings on the locations where they use to grow Honeyberries.  They are left with the imprint of flavor profiles but not enough fruit to fill their needs,   Dr. Ken Fry (Olds College) entomologist, Chocolate Orchard from Creston B.C., Sandra Purdy of Prairie Berry Processors, Innovative Food Concepts from Medicine Hat, Lloyd Hausher (Alberta Agriculture), Dr. Ieaun Evans Plant Pathologist speaking about pruning, Dr. Quinn Holtslagg speaking about his entomosporium prevention model, Liz Pallas and Arnie and Susan Meyer grower profiles.  This berry school attempted to match growers with processors and the outcome created a lot of enthusiasm.  Let's turn it into sales, folks.

We just installed a state of the art computer system in the greenhouses here at DNA Gardens.  Only two individuals at DNA Gardens can run it.  Lisa was sick and so I needed to look after the greenhouses.  We did send two excellent staffers who came home quite animated and full of Berry School reports.  Generally speaking the mood was very positive with the market for fruit looking good.  Conferences are very motivational and a great way to network with others in the industry.  

Alberta validated the Tri-provincial initiative so that means all 3 provinces agree on the necessity of working collectively for the development of the industry.  Alberta wishes to see the initiative involved in promotion; not buying and selling of fruit.  Collaboration of research work was sited as good and desirable.  Improved communication between all players was another desired outcome.  Both processors and growers are needed to be at the table.  It remains to be seen whether the model to be followed will be similar to the Pulse group in Manitoba or WABANA (Wild Blue Berry Association of North America)  Another issue addressed at the Alberta meeting was their wish to encompass prairie fruits but target saskatoons initially since saskatoons have the greatest acreage and most interest internationally.  

March 1, 2006
Finally, finally we have posted the article from PFRA about their newest, near thornless Sea Buckthorn plants.  You will find this file in the article section and there is also a link from the catalogue section in the Sea Buckthorn section.  We are scanning and then making  PDF files.  Beats the heck out of typing a 25 page article!

February 27, 2006
Very serious horticulturalists, apple orchardists and nursery people may want to read about  Vee 3 apple root stock.  We just scanned and pdf formatted 5 articles and placed them in the  article section.

February 26, 2006
We have added several new products - peas and stevia.   We really believe in Stevia from a health perspective.  I am just not convinced that aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are the safest.  
Check out the powdered stevia in the catalogue section.  We will gradually add some stevia recipes as time permits.  I often make a cup of cocoa for Dave and I in the evening.  I microwave a small amount of milk and add about a teaspoon of cocoa and a pinch of stevia powder.  Dissolve with the heat and stir vigorously.  Top up cup with remaining milk and microwave till hot.  No calories!  Can't beat it.

Stevia is a very popular sweetener in Japan where it is used for over 30 years in many foods such as candy and soft drinks.   Aspartame has been banned in Japan.   The health conscious Japanese used the equivalent of 700 metric tones of Stevia leaves in 1987.   I think the health conscious Japanese are on to something and perhaps we should sit up and pay attention.  With the rampant weight problems and associated health issues in our modern society, now is the time to make some serious life choices.

The peas originate with Dr. Evans.  He bred the purple podded ones.  It is funny how we all are planting dwarf peas without knowing it.  Really, with the space constraints that most people live with, it is a natural to go up!  These peas are 8 feet tall and who doesn't love fresh peas?

February 24, 2006
Thank you to Jim Luco of Lethbridge, Alberta for calling in and reporting a broken apricot link.  Check it out, Jim, I think it is fixed now!
I want to thank Thean Pheh of Alberta Food and Rural Development for the descriptions of apricots that I have posted in the article section.  I have had many inquiries and I hope this will answer some of your questions!  I also have put in several links to descriptions of raspberries under the article section.  These originate from the University of Saskatchewan.

February 8, 2006
Had a nice visit with a fellow interested in growing black currants in New York state, today.  He was kind enough to share some wonderful information about Black Currants, their antioxidants and how they help with Alzheimer.  Please check the article section or click this link.

What's happening?
- Direct Farm Market Conference, February 24, 25, Royal Oak Inn, Brandon, Mb
- Interactive Prairie Fruit Industry Round Table, Feb 24 in Brandon discussing an           Interprovincial group similar to WBANA (Wild Blue Berry Association of North America)
- Joint AFFPA and FGSA (Alberta Farm Fresh Producers Association) and Fruit Growers Society of Alberta Berry School, March 3,4  at the Black Knight Inn in Red Deer, AB

February 7, 2006
Just added a pdf copy of the 2006 catalogue and order form.   We are having an exceptionally warm and dry winter in Alberta.  Let's hope that March and February brings us some snow!  

January 27, 2006
Attended an awesome Saskatchewan Fruit Grower Berry School in Saskatoon.  The information was great and always good to meet up with old friends.  There is a strong desire to form a tri-provincial umbrella group to help market saskatoons.  The present market seems very strong with interest coming from Germany and England.  There is tremendous interest in the new Romance series of cherries just named by the University of Saskatchewan.  

We are busily preparing for the new planting season and Teresa, our lab manager is creating very fine plants in the lab as we speak!  We are improving our transplanting capabilities and also installing new equipment in our fog houses. Thank you for your patience.  Our new catalogue is coming out next week.  We are a bit behind with the catalogue because Dave and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with a 2 week holiday in Costa Rica.  

Meanwhile, we are back in the saddle.  We just can't help ourselves!  We are always busy locating and trialing new and exciting plants.  Sometimes it takes years to bring new items to market.  Keep posted!  

April 9, 2005
Please check the recipe section.  I just added 3 recipes developed by Shona Pearson.  Shona presented at the Bruno Cherry Festival last year.  It was most enjoyable and tasty. 

DNA Gardens attended Garden Scape in Saskatoon April 1st, 2nd and 3d.   This is billed as one of Canada's largest garden shows.   25,000 people attended and 330 exhibitors showed.  There is lots to take in and see.  Thank you to those that stopped at our booth and said hello.  I met a lot of interesting people.  Some traveled 17 hours from Thunderbay, Ontario to take in the show!  June Flanagan spoke about native plants and her newly published book, "Native Plants for Prairie Gardens," was available to purchase.  Donna Balzer of Calgary spoke on various subjects ranging from "Gardening 101 for Beginners" to "Fine Tuning Your Almost Perfect Garden," to "Landscape Basics".  Dr. Bob Bors and Linda Mathews each had many sessions speaking to the new University Cherries.  There were more excellent speakers on pruning, composting to floral arranging - something for everyone!  

Our raffle winner from GardenScape is:  Lorie Powell of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  We will be shipping to Lorie a free University of Saskatchewan Dwarf Sour Cherry Package.  Thanks to all that entered.  470 names in the raffle box.  I had to count them!

We are getting prepared to go to Spring Time Serenade in Calgary so come on out to the booth and say hello. I am anticipating having another draw box there as well. 

We are getting excited about the joint DNA Gardens / Fruit Grower's Society of Alberta Berry Festival held this summer, August 7th. Put it on your calendar and come on out and help make it a great day!  Click here for a preview.   

It is a busy time of the year for the nursery.  Orders are coming in steady and we will begin shipping next week.  The lab is busy cutting potatoes - about 65,000.  We have a terrific crop coming out.  We have never had such nice lab plants as this year.  The efficiencies we are gaining is wonderful.   Congratulations must go to Theresa Bellerive, a local mother of three that runs the lab for us.  She has found her calling! We have just finished one big plant in the greenhouse and have several more coming.  We have some newly initiated material in the lab coming along nicely and we are excited about the prospects.  
March 23/05
A group of USDA scientists have stated that black currant, chokeberry and elderberry have 50 percent higher antioxidants than some of the more common berry varieties (even higher than blueberries and cranberries) and have the potential to provide more health benefits, such as protection against cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's.  We just love the whole, frozen black currant fruit in smoothies.  The black currants have such a great flavour. fruit.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/12/041220012512.htm.  

March 11/05
I added a photo of Dave and Arden on the bottom of the home page.  Faye Bayko took the photo for an article she was writing about DNA Gardens for the Red Deer County news.  Thank you Faye.
I just added an article on the FGSA Berry School held at Nisku March 4th and 5th.  It was a great berry school.

DNA Gardens Hours     Regular season:  Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.  To accommodate our customers in the shipping / pick up  season, we are extending our hours of operation.
Effective April 15 to June 15th Mon, Tues, Wed    8:00 to 4:30
Thurs, Fri                8:00 to 8:00
Saturday                 8:00 to 1:00
Please call for an appointment if you can't fit into these hours.

February 16/05
Just spoke with Dean Kreutzer in Regina who has been buying and planting University Cherries from us.  Look at the innovation and getty up and go here!  Check the links page to visit his new website featuring his Carmine Jewel cherry chocolates.

February 6/05
I have added a lot of pictures in the catalogue section.  Please let me know if this slows down the site too much. mailto:office@dnagardens.com I have a lot more pictures I can add but I think I will wait till I get some feed back.  Too late.  I'm adding.  Check out the picture gallery and also 2 new articles about the Bruno Cherry Festival and the DNA Gardens/FGSA berry festival.

I have heard the Fruit Estate Winery is passed in Alberta, now.  

Dave and I got engaged February 14th, 30 years ago.  Yikes!  Time flies when you are having fun.  I want to wish Dave another happy 30.  "Happy Valentine's Day to my Valentine!"

January 31/05
Please call us if you have any chokecherry fruit for sale.  I have a very interested person making some interesting product.  We can't believe how much frozen chokecherry fruit we have sold ourselves.  Needless to say, we are all sold out.  

I saw an interesting quote in the paper I would like to share with you -
"Why not go out on a limb?  Isn't that where the fruit is?"  Frank Scully

We really appreciate the interest we are presently receiving from our American friends.  Due to the amount of paperwork we are only able to ship orders State side that are greater than $500.00  Hope this doesn't create too much inconvenience.
January /05
Order form has been fixed.  Please print it out and phone or fax your order to us.  Thank you for your patience.  Catalogues have been mailed out and the phone is ringing.  
December 2004.
Dave and Arden plus the staff of DNA Gardens would like to extend warmest wishes for everyone to have a safe and happy holiday season.
November 28th, 2004
So much for winter being our slow time...

Arden attended the Saskatchewan Fruit Growers Association conference, "We Grew It, Now what?" in Regina, November 13, 2004.  As always, a great conference full of enthusiastic individuals.  The key note speakers such as Bob Creasy from The Stonemill Bakehouse Ltd of Ontario, Paul Martin representing the Regina Regional Ecomomic Development Authority Board, Sandra Purdy of Prairie Berry wearing her SAFRR hat, Bruce Hobin along with Bob Bors covered off the successful Bruno Cherry Festival and of course, Clarence Peters of SAFRR addressing the culture of saskatoons and cherries.  All did an excellent job!  Folks, you really need to attend these conferences!  Also heard the jingle commissioned by SFGA by Doug Campbell of Saskatoon.  He came in live to sing and strum his guitar.  We have to get on that one.  What a great concept!

Attended Horticultural Congress in Edmonton, Alberta.  As always, this is an event to take in.  There are always informative sessions and the opportunity to network with other likeminded growers is valuable.  

Arrived home to the fantastic news that Dr. Bob Bors (professor and fruit researcher at the University of Saskatchewan) will be receiving tenure and therefore will be staying in Saskatoon.  A big thank-you to everyone who wrote letters on his behalf.  It is so important for the prairie fruit industry to have quality research and improved varieties.  Plus the co-operators program and the amount of extension work Bob does is invaluable.  

Unofficially, we have heard that the Alberta Estate Winery has been supported by the Alberta Liquor Control Board and that it needs to be ratified by government.  Then it will be sent back to the FGSA for a final proof.  The details remain to be announced but it sounds like estate wineries will have to produce 75% of their own fruit. 

The 2005 catalogue is hot off the presses and will be mailed to all of our customers and associations very soon.  If you would like a copy of our free mail order catalogue.  Give us a call toll free 1-866-687-5268.  

There has been a ban on Saskatoon berries sold in Europe stemming from a ruling by the British Food Standards Agency earlier this year.  This agency classified saskatoon berry as novel food.  This novel classification applies to any food not substantially consumed in Europe before 1997.   Effectively, saskatoon berries have been blocked from European shelves.  Arne Strom, president of the SFGA is quoted in the article as saying that saskatoons are not a novel food.  To help the saskatoon berry cause, the SFGA agreed to split the legal bill of $3900.00 to hire a lawyer in Germany.   Arne claims they have been accepted under regular food regulations now.  Arne says they were accepted in Germany and if Germany is open, then Europe is open.   A Moose Jaw company - Prairie Berries headed up by Sandra Purdy has an export deal with a German company.  Sandra Purdy expects to fill the first order of 20,400 kilograms of frozen saskatoons early next year. There are 16 growers contributing to the container-load of frozen fruit.

Since the article appeared in the Regina Leader Post, we have heard conflicting reports about the status of saskatoons in Europe.  Speaking to growers involved in the industry, we hear that nothing has changed.  Not sure what to believe.  One thing is for sure, it certainly is in the news in Canada and in Europe and even notoriety is advertising and increasing consumer awareness.  We hope the issue is cleared up as soon as possible.

November 4th, 2004
The nursery is busy packing and grading all our plants for dormant spring shipments.  Soon the plants will be safe in the confines of our new cold storage facility.  Fall came a little bit early with 4-5 inches of snow in mid October.  Still we will manage to get all the fall work done.  Just in the final stages of producing our 2005 mail order catalogue.  Looking forward to Hort Congress in Edmonton Alberta, always a good opportunity to learn new things and catch up with old friends. 

August 2004

Hosted our 2nd annual berry festival in conjunction with the FGSA.  It was billed as a Fruit Sunday and Field Day.  Approximately 250 people were in attendance.  The most popular activity was the guided tour/hay ride.  Guest also enjoyed speakers, a marketplace, pancake breakfast, wine tasting, and live fiddle music.  The weather threatened to rain but it held off.  Please plan to join us Sunday August 7th 2005, for more fun for the whole family.

We sent a small crew to attend the Bruno Cherry Festival August 14th to take in the event and man a booth in the trade show.  1700 people attended a great event.  Talk about a concept!  Education, fun, great people and good food.  Mark your calendars for August 13-14th 2005!  Watch for an article to follow.  We have great pictures of Dr. Bob Bors in the cherry pit spitting contest!  It is so hard to be dignified!  He does terrific horticultural extension and breeding work however!

June 4th, 2004
June is one of the busiest months here at DNA Gardens.  We are in the midst of planting Black Currants for Prairie Natural Processing.  Transplanting new nursery stock.  Getting ready to propagate a crop of 140,000 softwood cuttings from the stooling beds in from the field.  Spring in general was cool and dry.  We are still waiting for more moisture to fall from the sky.  Spring shipping will conclude next week (June 18th).  We will continue to take orders all summer long and will start Fall shipping mid August.  Honeyberries and Saskatchewan cherries were our best sellers this spring, so get your orders in soon.  Sunday August 8th, DNA Gardens will be hosting FGSA's Alberta Fruit Festival, please plan to join us for a fun filled day of food, demos and tours.

Please look at the summer issue of "Gardener for the Prairies" for an excellent update on Cherries written by Bob Bors.

March 13,  2004
The lab is just a humming away full of plants.  It is a great time of year for tissue culture because there are not a lot of contaminants in the air and our climate is naturally very dry.  (Unlike tropical climes that are teeming with spores, fungi bacteria, Margaritas and humidity!)  We are always initiating new things into the lab.  Courtesy of Dr. Evans we have many Martagon lilies we are having success with.  You might say it is a break from our cherry extravaganzas.  These beautiful, extremely hard to find  lilies can take 5 to 7 years to bloom by conventional propagation.  We are excited to think we will be able to short circuit this process.  We are still in the trial stages with many years to go, but it is an example of the interesting items we experiment with.
Interesting tidbits we picked up from the various seminars we have attended:  Ben Lomond is fondly called Typhoid Mary by Dr. Evans.  It seems Ben Lomond has a great knack for becoming infected with powdery mildew.  That is why originally we did not get on the band wagon with Ben Lommond as years back Ontario was reporting they were having problems of this nature.  In fact, Dr. Evans suggest it be removed so it doesn't break the resistance of other Ben's.  We are also finding Titania black currant to be very susceptible to spider mites.  
We believe we are seeing the benefits of cross pollination on our black currant orchards.

Many thanks to the Canadian Gardening Magazine for their article by Suzanne Zwarun on pg 129 entitled "Sweet on Sour Cherries"

February 28th, 2004
Staff attending Fruit Growers Society of Alberta  meeting in Nisku.  Winter has been kind with not a lot of minus 40 degrees and a bonus...we have snow cover!  Grateful for that.  Getting excited about spring coming and all the potential moisture from the snow.  We have tested plants coming out of our new over wintering underground storage and all samples are leaved out nicely.  Huge sigh of relief there!  Lovely one year old dormant plants of SK Carmine Jewel available for spring planting.  Great for UPIK and mechanical harvest.  Reserve yours today.

December 4th, 2003
Returned from a very successful Hort Congress in Edmonton, visited with many old acquaintances.  All and all a great networking opportunity.  There are so many information sessions it is hard to take it all in.  Many of you have just received our 2004 catalogues and we have been inundated with calls and orders as people begin dreaming of next season during these short cold winter days.  May all of customers have a safe and happy Christmas season. 

September 22nd, 2003
Had a very successful field day for the Fruit Growers Society of Alberta www.albertafruit.com , August 14th, with over 100 people in attendance.  Busy with fall orders and our thoughts are turning towards winter.  We have not had a killing frost as of yet.  Please visit our catalogue section for an updated version including the U of S cherries.  For our friends and customers in Quebec, please take the time to read the french translation of Dr. Bob Bors article on Dwarf Sour Cherries, see link above "En Français - Growing U of S Cherries". 

July 28th, 2003
In the process of adding pictures and descriptions of the new U of S cherries.  Please be patient.  Check out the saskatoon nutritional recently completed by the Saskatchewan Fruit Growers Association www.saskfruit.com .  These fruits are super charged with Iron and Calcium.

DNA Gardens
Toll free phone:  1-866-NUPLANT   1-866-687-5268
Telephone: 403 773-2489
Fax: 403 773-2400
Email: office@dnagardens.com