Ashburton Courier: November 05, 2020

FEATURE
22 Ashburton Courier, November 5, 2020
www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz
Voting open for
bird of the year
People can nowvote for their favourite top five
incredible andunique nativebirds in the Forest
and Bird’s annual Bird of the Year competition.
Choose aflightless wonder, along­distance
traveller, orafavourite from your own backyard.
Many of NewZealand's native birds are in
trouble andneed help with around 75 percent of
land birds and 90 percent of seabirdseither
threatenedoratrisk of extinction. Bird of the
Year 2020isawaytoget to know our amazing
native birds and show them somesupport. Cast
yourvote andmakeadonation to givenature a
voice. Voting hasopened at www.birdoftheyear.
org.nz andruns until November15at5pm.
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David Ford admires one of the peony plants in his Tinwald garden.
Blooming floral tribute on show
David Ford’s garden has a
dozentree andherbaceous
peonies in impressivebloom
andhe’s keen for othersto
enjoy the floral spectacle while
its still around. He opened up
his Tinwald garden to visitors
lastyear and passed on
donationstothe Mid
Canterbury Cancer Society.
He’s doingthesamethis year.
Anew sign at theletterbox
welcomespeople to 8Rowan
Place andthe memorial garden
to his late wife Jeanette.
Jeanette died nearlyfour
years ago,was akeen gardener
andlover of peonies, said
David.
He now lovingly maintained
the garden, butat88, gotinthe
young guns to mow the lawns.
Thegarden has some wellestablishedpeoniesand
new
ones he had put in earlierinthe
year, he said. Thedouble pinks
were usually the first to flower
in early October.
Others followed, but the
peony spectacle was usually all
over by the end of November.
Shrubs and flowers in his
gardenthisyearhad grown
higher than usual. He had not
beenimpressed with afrost a
few weeks ago and saida
number of his flowers, like the
peony,were susceptible to the
wind.
Thegarden also includes a
puya, blue poppies, yellow and
pink magnolias, awisteria arch
and many other shrubs and
smalltrees.
For aguided tour contact David on 307 6274.
Care needed using potting mix
Spring is the perfect time to be out in
the garden. It’s also the perfect time
for enthusiastic gardeners to risk
unwittingly releasingLegionnaires’
disease fromthe depthsoftheir
potting mixand compost.
There havebeen at least 23 cases of
the disease alreadyconfirmed in
Canterbury this year and gardeners
are being urged to takecarewith
potting mixand compost;therewere
39 hospitalisations last year.
Canterbury DistrictHealthBoard
medical officer of health Dr Ramon
Pink said Legionnaires’ disease was a
form of pneumonia.
“It’s caused by the Legionella
bacteria that live in moist organic
material andpeoplecan catch the
disease by inhaling airborne droplets
or particles containingthe bacteria.’’
Symptoms include dry coughing,
high fever,chills, shortness of breath,
muscle aches,headaches and
diarrhoea.Ifyou have these
symptoms,you should contact yourGP
practice team rightawayfor advice
and let them know you if havebeen
handling potting mixorcompost.
“Gardeners are at particularly high
risk of catching Legionnaires' disease
as the bacteria thrivein bags of
potting mix and compost,” he said.
In Canterbury there was typically a
spike in cases in early Novemberthat
couldbeattributed to increased
gardeningactivity and now was the
time for people to take thenecessary
steps to avoid catching the disease.
Dr Pink said there were five simple
actions gardeners should take to
avoid getting legionnaires’: ­Wear a
well­fitting disposableface maskand
gloves before youbegin gardening.
­Open potting mixorcompostbags
carefully by using scissors to cut off
the top.
­Reduce dustbyspraying some
water into the bag.
­Workwith potting mix or compost
in awell­ventilated outdoor area.
­Wash your handsthoroughly after
handling pottingmix or compost and
before touching your face or removing
the mask.
“Legionnaires’ is avery serious
illness andfollowing these simple
steps can be lifesaving,” Dr Pink said.
The illness may be mild but can
sometimes be fatal.
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