Greetings from the President
Although the calendar said that spring arrived almost a month ago, the weather certainly hasn’t cooperated. I think we will have another one of those seasons where we “skip” spring and go right into summer. We still need a volunteer or two to help with the Community Summit at Patchogue- Medford HS on May 1 from 5-9 PM. If you can give just one hour, it would be much appreciated. Everyone is welcome to attend the summit starting at 6 PM. We will be opening the garden on Saturday, April 26 at 9 AM. Please bring clippers, bags, rakes, and shovels. The club will provide bagels and coffee. The rain date is Sunday, April 27. Remember the adage, “Many hands make light work”. Any time you can give will help the work go much faster. The Plant and Yard Sale will take place on May 17th. Price labels for donated yard sale items will be available at the April meeting. We will also have a limited number of pots for your plant donations. Please be sure that any items you are donating are pre-priced. Plants need to be identified by common names. We will need people to
set up and clean up as well as to sell during the day.
Carol Tvelia
President
Patchogue Garden Club
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Mark the Date
Tuesday, April 22, 2008, 7 PM, membership meeting at the Hagerman Fire Department on the corner of Dunton Avenue and Oakdale Avenue in East Patchogue. From the Village, go east on Montauk Hwy. to Dunton Ave., turn right, cross the railroad tracks, and make an immediate left. The fire house is on the right. Enter the first driveway, park in the rear of the building, and enter through the visitor’s entrance in the rear. The meeting room is on the right side of the hallway.
Saturday, April 26, 2008 (Rain date April 27), 9 AM, opening of the community garden at South Ocean Ave. and Terry St. Workers needed! Bring gloves, tools, plastic bags and energy! Reward: Coffee and bagels.
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Plant of the Month: A Shady Standout
Ten years ago few gardeners knew about Brunnera macrophylla (formerly Anchusa myosotidiflora, meaning forget-me-not flowered), commonly known as Siberian/heartleaf bugloss or perennial/false forget-me-not. Its large, heart-shaped or oval leaves and masses of pure blue spring flowers are
endearing. It is extremely hardy and adaptable, producing mounds of 6” leaves that stay handsome all summer if given half to full shade and moist, humusy soil. It makes an excellent groundcover.
As beautiful as the species is, most in demand are cultivars with various leaf variegations. ‘Jack Frost’ has striking green-veined silver leaves. ‘Variegata’ has lovely gray-green leaves with irregular creamy edges. ‘Hadspen Cream’ has broad creamy borders on dark green leaves. ‘Langtrees’, aka ‘Aluminum Spot’, has unusual silver spotting and mottling on its foliage. The newest arrival is ‘Silver Wings’, with distinctive marbling. Occasionally you might find the white-flowered ‘Alba’ whose leaves are a deep green. Available at many mail-order nurseries, e.g., White Flower Farm, if not locally.
Recipe of the Month: Pasta with Asparagus
Southern asparagus is in the markets now, and soon we’ll be seeing the local product. Now is the time to haul out all your best asparagus recipes for the season. Timely hint: Store up your stems for cream of asparagus soup and garnish with a few fresh tips. If you have overwintered leeks, make the soup with them instead of onions.
1 lb. asparagus * 6 tbsp. butter * ½ c. finely sliced ham * 1 c. finely sliced
mushrooms * 1 lb. fettucine * 2 tbsp. olive oil * 2 cloves garlic, minced * 2 c.
light cream * ¾ c. Parmesan * salt & pepper * 2 beaten egg yolks * chopped
chives
Peel and roll-cut asparagus into 1-1 ½ “ pieces. Melt 2 tbsp. butter in a saute pan and lightly saute the ham (omit for vegetarians) and mushrooms; set aside. Blanch the asparagus in a large pot of water until just cooked through; scoop out the asparagus, but save the water. Add the pasta and cook until done, then drain. In a large saute pan heat 4 tbsp. butter and the olive oil. Add garlic (you can use more if you like) and cook for a minute. Add the pasta and toss to coat with butter and oil. Stir in the cream and grated cheese and cook for 1-2 minutes until slightly thickened. If you like, lower the heat and stir in the eggs. Toss for a minute to thicken the sauce. Add the asparagus, ham, and mushrooms and cook for a minute to heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with chives and pass more grated Parmesan cheese if desired. Serves 4-6.
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Serious Dirt from Richard Waldman
Thomas Dolliver Church (1902 - 1978)
In the United States, modern residential landscape design began with a small group of influential designers, with Thomas Church, affectionately known as Tommy, being considered the founding father. He was born in Boston, but grew up in the Ojai Valley north of Los Angeles, and received his MA from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in city planning and landscape architecture in 1923. When he was 30 years old he opened an office and continued his practice from the same location until his retirement in 1977. The modern landscape design movement came to be known as 'California Style'. In his book, “Gardens are For People” (available through the Suffolk County Library system and in bookstores), he illustrates his four guiding principles for garden design. Unity (taking into account the scheme as a whole rather than disjointed parcels), function, simplicity and scale. Having designed over 2,000 private gardens and master plans for college campuses and commercial sites, Church did away with an emphasis on using a formal central axis and stated that gardens ‘should be pleasing when seen from any angle, not only from the house.’ In addition to his books that are still in print, he was also a longtime contributor to the magazines House Beautiful and Sunset. See Stanford Magazine’s article for more detail at http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2003/janfeb/features/church.html
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Arbor Day
Arbor Day, a Nebraska holiday since 1872, came from an idea of J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska. A pioneer from Detroit, he noticed that his new state lacked the green growth he was accustomed to. As a journalist he wrote of the importance trees have as windbreaks, for building materials and for shade. In numerous editorials he persuaded other civic organizations to jump on the band wagon. The first official national Arbor Day was celebrated in 1885 with great fanfare. In the following years, states passed Arbor Day legislation, typically observed on the national date of the last Friday in April, though that varies from state to state. In New York State, 379,036 trees were planted by 47,300 Arbor Day Foundation members in 2005 alone. See www.Arborday.org.
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Henry Moore Sculptures Arrive Fresh from England’s Kew Gardens!
A garden consists of more than just trees, shrubs, perennials and lawn. Some gardens include water features such as fountains or ponds, and in others you can find sculpture placed in strategic locations. From May 24th through November 2nd the New York Botanical Garden will be hosting an exhibit throughout their 250 acres of 20 major Henry Moore sculptures. Moore had taken inspiration for many of these pieces from his love of nature. With the monumental size of these works of art, the outdoors turns out to be one of the best places to be able to view them from all angles, in different light conditions and with the gardens as a backdrop. The Henry Moore Foundation, along with the New York Botanical Gardens, will be placing these sculptures for visitors to get close enough to touch them too. For more information go to www.nybg.org. For more on Moore, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Moore
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Around Town
More News on Arbor Day
The Village of Patchogue’s Tree Committee, headed up by Trustee Lori Devlin, is planning an Arbor Day celebration to be held in the municipal parking lot behind the Patchogue Theatre in the vicinity of the new American Elms. They will install the plaque that was awarded from Liberty Elm (the group that raises these Dutch Elm disease-resistant trees, http://www.libertyelm.com/) and John Cino will read from Seuss’ "The Lorax". If you have any ideas for additional content for this ceremony, please let Lori know at ldevlin@patchoguevillage.org . The date for the ceremony is April 29th at 10 AM. Children from Bay Avenue Elementary School’s Green Thumb Club will be there. Village of Patchogue Beautification Committee Fundraiser
The Greater Patchogue Foundation Beautification Committee, headed up by our own Paula Murphy, will host its Annual Eloise Staudinger Fundraiser on April 26th at the Pine Grove Inn at 1 Chapel Avenue in East Patchogue. This is the committee’s only fundraiser, so if the daffodils they planted blooming all over Patchogue make you smile—with tulips and flowering trees soon to follow—please make every effort to attend. Lunch, 11:30–3:00, Dinner, two seatings, 5:00–7:30 and 7:30–10:00. Call the office, 207-1000, for reservations. Lunch: $22, Dinner: $35. Prizes will be raffled off.
At Last, Copper Beech Village Sports a Real Copper Beech On Friday, April 11, around noon, a magnificent Copper Beech, Fagus sylvatica ‘Purpurea’, was planted on the grounds of Copper Beech Village at the corner of Railroad Avenue and Gerard Street, thanks to Pulte Homes. We will look forward to seeing this beautiful specimen take off.
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Members Page
New! Please Contribute Your Ideas, Suggestions, and Special Information. Name may be held by request.
Learning Experience
Put down your trowel, hang up your rake and find your way to Farmingdale State College on May 31st and June 1st from 10 AM to 5 PM for the 2008 Garden Festival. Take a free tour of their teaching gardens where students from the Department of Ornamental Horticulture have been working the gardens into themed rooms since the 1930's.
You can shop their plant sale with assistance to help you locate the right plant for your garden and your own specific needs. There will be workshops, and Cornell Cooperative Extension will offer an analysis and diagnosis on soil samples brought from your garden. For more information: www.farmingdale.edu/horticulture or call 631-420-2075/2113. Thanks, Richard.
Pitch In!
Join good people doing great things: The Great Brookhaven Cleanup is April 5 to May 31. On May 10 there is a Shredding Event. Residents can bring old files, sensitive papers, etc., for free secure shredding and recycling (small businesses must register in advance) at the Town’s Materials Recycling Facility. The Great Brookhaven Plant-In will be held on May 17. Register online at www.Brookhaven.org or via Brookhaven’s Green Gazette, mail or fax. For information call 451-TOWN. Thank you Barbara Aragon!
John and Pepe Maynard’s Bedford NY Garden: A Very Special Road Trip
Pepe Maynard, a landscape designer, was a co-founder of the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program and a principal in the restoration of New York City’s Central Park Conservatory Garden. Paula and Karen recently attended a program sponsored by Wave Hill at the New York School of Interior Design at which Pepe spoke about how her upbringing on a 2,000 acre farm in Kenya just south of Mt. Kilimanjaro and the natural African landscape informed her approach to landscape design. At the talk, Pepe invited people to stop by on June 1 to see their garden, which they have nurtured for 30 years—it’s now or never. Soon they will be retiring to their Maine home.
See http://gardening.lohudblogs.com/2008/01/24/pepe-maynards-garden-in-winter/ for photos and a link to news.
Let’s have a caravan; organize your carpool. Directions on request. Biochar? What’s the Buzz?
Biochar is a charcoal produced from biomass (secondary forest and crop residues). In some cases, the term is used specifically to mean biomass charcoal produced via pyrolysis (slash and char rather than slash and burn). Biochar is employed commonly as a soil amendment. There is evidence that low-temperature biochar produces robust growth in plants when compared to high-temperature biochar. It is speculated that it retains organic matter desirable to beneficial microbes resulting in higher nutrient availability to plants. Biochar is the main ingredient in the formation of terra preta, or Amazonian dark earth. Efforts to create these soils are being undertaken by companies, and research efforts are underway at Cornell, among other universities. One focus of this research is the prospect that if biochar becomes widely used for soil improvement, it will involve globally significant amounts of carbon sequestration, remediating global warming. Biochar has potential as an amendment for aquatic habitats, being able to absorb nitrate and phosphate which run off the land and into waterways. Also, rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are thought to be leading to increasing ocean acidity and potential harm to some forms of marine life. Biochar is able to absorb and neutralize
acids and toxins in the water which would lead to an increased ocean pH. For more details and scientific explanations, see http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/biochar/Biochar_home.htm and http://www.biocharinternational.org/aboutbiochar.html. Thanks to Barbara Aragon.
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Timely Tips
Treat yourself to at least 1 great new plant before the best selection is gone.
Deadhead spring blooming bulbs, but let the foliage grow until it yellows
Start digging that pond you’ve been talking about.
Keep an eye out for pests & fungal diseases. Control them before it’s too late.
Keep harvesting cool season crops like asparagus, peas, and spring lettuce.
If you’re not picking asparagus, get some planted for next year
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"The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of
March."
- Robert Frost
