Greetings from the President
Dear Garden Club Members,
I hope your gardens survived last week’s terrible weather; I lost several large black walnut tree branches, but luckily they avoided the house. It will soon be time to plant bulbs for spring color. Mine arrived yesterday, so I will be busy this weekend.
This month’s meeting will be a “roundtable” discussion led by all the members. As discussed at the July meeting, we will share our gardening tips, questions, and stories at this month’s meeting. Bring your questions and your best ideas on the topic of “Putting the garden to bed” or any other question you may have. Who knows Mary Ann, you may finally find out how to prune your hydrangeas! We will sit in a circle, or several, if we have a large turnout, and share the combined wisdom and knowledge of the club. Jo Miller will be the facilitator.
We have been invited to attend the Bellport Garden Club’s meeting on October 14 at 7:30pm at the Bellport Library. The speaker will be Karl Auwaerter from Bayport Flower Houses. He will be speaking on “New Trends in Container Gardening”.
There is also a members’ photography exhibit. Congratulations to Carolyn Savastano, who won two tickets to the Patchogue Theater’s Chamber Concert this Sunday. Thanks to all who entered.
- Carol
Mark the Date
Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 6 PM, at the Hagerman Fire Department, located on the corner of Dunton Avenue and Oakdale Avenue in East Patchogue approximately five traffic lights past the intersection of South Country Road and Montauk Hwy. Directions 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.
Tuesday, October 14, 7:30 PM, at the Bellport Library, a special invitation to the Bellport Garden Club’s meeting. The library is located on Station Road in Bellport Village, just north of the intersection of Station Road and South Country Road. It shares the site with the HSBC Bank and the Bellport Post Office
Plant of the Month: Asters
Asters are not immune from taxonimists’ who love to split genera, seeing every difference as an imperative to create a new genus. The “splitters” are relocating practically every species of Aster into unpronounceables like Symphorotrichum, Doellingeria, Ionactis, Oreostemma, and others. This will not diminish our love for asters, a mainstay of the late summer and fall garden.
The numerous cultivars of New York aster, A. Novi-belgii, and New England aster, A. Novi-angliae, include dwarf to 8’ speciments with single to double flowers in red, pink, and white as well as the blue-lavender-purple range.
Uncommon native asters are also available. The prairie aster, A. turbinellis, is a 3’ plant with large violet flowers. The climbing aster, A. carolinianus, sports pinky-lavender flowers with gold centers on 10-12’ stems. The wood aster, A. divaricatus, is a great choice for a shady spot, growing to 18” with star-like white flowers with a gold center that are very attractive to butterflies. One of the latest flowering, hardiest, choicest asters is A. oblongifolia, 2-4’ depending on the cultivar with blue to purple gold-centered flowers. A. ericoides, the heath aster, has small, narrow light green leaves with white or blue flowers depending on the cultivar. A. laevis ‘Bluebird’ presents blue-green foliage and violet-blue flowers on 3’ plants. All of these are hardy here.
Cornell Cure for Mildew
Many rose growers are using a formula developed by Cornell University to control powdery mildew and blackspot. The formula is also effective for a strain of mildew fungus that attacks crape myrtles; it is so effective that it not only kills the mildew outright, it never comes back in the same season. Chances are, this formula would be effective for any plant with powdery mildew, but, as always with an unproven formula, test a small portion of plant before committing to the whole specimen. Here’s the formula:
In one gallon of water, mix 2 tablespoons of light horticultural oil (such as Sunspray), 1 tablespoon of a mild liquid dishwashing detergent (such as Palmolive), 1 heaping tablespoon of baking soda. Mix well and spray with a pump sprayer late in the evening when the sun is not on the foliage. Spray both sides of the leaves and all the wood to the point of runoff.
Warning on Glyphosate Use
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in herbicides such as RoundUp, is often combined with surfactants (wetting agents) that can increase injury to trees and shrubs. The main damage is bark splitting, which is usually blamed on cold weather. Research shows this kind of injury occurs on black gum, crabapple, dogwood, hawthorn maple, mountain ash, magnolia, and numerous speciis of Prunus and Pyrus. Other injuries include stunting, dead branches, witch’s brooms, and chlorisis. It is advisable to leave a 30’ buffer between the weeds you are spraying and woody plants and not to spray too frequently.
Serious Dirt from Richard Waldman
BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing planted more than 40 million potted flowers around Olympic venues and city streets, including special “heat-resistant” strains capable of withstanding the Chinese capital’s baking summer temperatures.
The flowers also graced hotels and the Olympic Village and decorated the vast concrete expanse of Tiananmen Square in the heart of the city, Xinhua news agency said, citing Beijing forestry officials.
“July and August are usually a hard time for flowers,” the agency quoted Wang Sumei, vice-director of the Beijing Landscape Forestation Bureau, as saying. “We picked up over 20 kinds of heat-resistant flowers from more than 500 species of seasonable flowers to decorate the city, including chrysanthemum and salvia,” Mr. Wang said.
Beijing planted millions of plants and rosebushes to cover some 21,943 acres since 2000, as part of its commitment to hold a “green Olympics,” Xinhua said. In the past seven years, Beijing planted 22.7 million trees, 46.5 million square meters of lawn, and expanded the city’s green spaces from 36 percent to 43 percent, Wang said.
While welcomed by residents, Beijing’s planting of thousands of acres of lawn and trees has been criticized by some environmentalists who say the city of more than 16 million people can ill afford to divert scarce water reserves for their upkeep. A report by Canada-based conservation group Probe International warned that Beijing’s Olympic beautification was depleting already strained underground water supplies.
Timely Tips for October
Set out strawberries during fall rains for fruit next June. If planted in spring, plants won't bear well until the following year.
Refrigerate, can, or freeze ripe tomatoes. Wrap green tomatoes or hang the entire plants (with unpicked fruit) upside down. Alternatively these can be stored in a brown paper bag in a cool dark area. By mid-October, or if frost is predicted, pick all tomatoes whether they are ripe or not. Process basil with olive oil and freeze for winter use; freeze in ziplock bags and break off what you need.
October is the best month to transplant perennials. Enrich beds with organic soil amendment.
Be ready to plant when those spring bulbs arrive!
