Hello members and welcome to March,
I think it's safe to say that we all have our outdoors back at this point. The snowdrops are blooming, the daffodils and tulips are starting to poke their heads through the matted winter soil, and the "swallows" are coming back from Capistrano. Much to my surprise, the pumps and filters in the ponds fared well through this oh-so-cold winter, and the fish seem to be happy to see some sunlight that isn't being filtered through ice. I recently returned from a short excursion this past weekend to the Philadelphia Convention Center for the annual flower show. This year’s theme was “Paris In Springtime,” and it certainly was! So majestically beautiful..everything in bloom!! That's when I realized what was wrong with this picture. We don't ever get to see everything in bloom at the same time in our own backyards, so it did look a bit unnatural, but gorgeous just the same. My favorite part of the show? If it's possible to choose, I'd have to say the orchids were spectacular!!! If anyone got the chance to visit the exhibit, I'm sure you thoroughly enjoyed yourself, as did I. See you at this month's general meeting, Diane
Mark the Date
Tuesday, March 22, 2011--Monthly Meeting, 7:00 PM at the American Legion Hall
Sunday, March 27, 2011--St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Check with Arlene Lamberti if you’d like to participate.
Thursday, March 31, 2011—Eighth Annual “Think Spring” Luncheon at the Mediterranean Manor, 303 East Main Street, Patchogue. Tickets are $35. You can make a reservation with a check or cash at the meeting. (All checks are due by March 28th.)
The Luncheon Committee has been off and running since late August, putting together a Vintage Hat Exhibit and small scented straw hat magnets for each person attending. Our guest speaker, Marianne Annunziato Fulfaro, will present us with her Vintage Hat Collection, topic, "Hats Through the Ages." So, catch our spirit and join us with a friend. We encourage you to come and wear your favorite hat. Below, some of the committee members meeting at Georgia's.
Despite the gardener's best intentions, Nature will improvise.
~Michael P. Garafalo, gardendigest.com
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JANET, FRANK, AND DON!
[Here's a new feature, "Get to Know a Fellow Gardener". I’m placing all members’names in a hat (really...I’m going to use a hat!) and choosing one each month. If you don’t want to participate, feel free to decline. Thanks to Diane who starts us off in this issue. mma]
Get to Know a Fellow Gardener
Diane Riviello Voland
Where were you born, and where have you lived?
Brooklyn, New York, and lived for 10 years west of Pittsburgh PA......
lots of dairy farms and corn fields....very peaceful, and for me, just a little too small (the town)
Have you had a job you really enjoyed?
About 35 years ago, I worked as a title examiner at the county center in Riverhead. That had to be, by far the most interesting and fun job I ever had. It was like being a detective and I got to look at county record books that dated back to when the pilgrims came over, examine peoples' last wills and testaments, and check in the courthouse records for tax liens and judgments or law suits against the purchasers and sellers, and create a chain of title to suit the individual township’s needs.
What is your family like?
I have one sister 7 1/2 years my junior...but one look, and a stranger can tell we're sisters...other than that a very small family that is scattered across the US.
What gave you your first interest in gardening?
I've always loved flowers and plants and knew from a young age that I wanted to live someplace where I could have a little piece of my own great outdoors.
Outside of gardening, what are some of your interests?
At about 36 years old I got my degree in interior decorating, something I always had a passion for. I enjoy crafting and sewing or any activity that is creative in any way.
A television show you like?
You'll usually find me watching 'Criminal Minds' after 8 PM, and a personal favorite has always been, and will always be, 'I Love Lucy'.
An accomplishment you are proud of?
I would have to say that my greatest accomplishment,the one I am most proud of, is my son.
An interesting place you’ve traveled to or visited?
Of all the places I've traveled to by plane car or boat, I would have to say that Washington DC was the most interesting and inspiring. What a beautiful city, filled with history and fabulous museums.
Favorite sport (to play or watch?
A sport??? I am guilty of not being an avid participant in any sportslike activity, but I love to watch ice dancing.
What would you do if you won the lottery?
If I won the lottery big time?? I guess, like everyone else I would pay all that I owe to anyone, then move someplace warm and tropical— and I don't mean Florida.
February Meeting in a Flash
• Mary Ann Tchinnis stepped down as Parliamentarian, and Carla Buchanan-Steward accepted the position.
• In a general consensus, club members agreed that community service should be a part of the club scholarship. This service should take place at local gardens in the community and schools.
• Rolling Rock will continue doing maintenance on the garden.
• It was decided, with majority vote, that $2000 would be donated to a project for Patchogue Village's Veterans Memorial Park.
• The Garden Club will participate in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Patchogue.
Opportunities for Gardeners and Wannabes
1. The 29th Annual Spring Gardening School of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County will be held at The Academy of St. Joseph in Brentwood on April 2, 2011, Bellport High School on April 19, 2011, and Riverhead Middle School on April 16 from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. This day includes your choice of classes from four different sessions, with information for every level of gardener from beginner to advanced. Topics include:
· Fundamentals of gardening
· Pruning
· Floral design
· Home Composting
· Water-wise gardening
· Rain Gardens
· Growing your own food
· Houseplants, roses, hydrangeas, bulbs, figs, and more!
All classes are taught by Master Gardeners and Extension Educators. Included in your fee are free soil pH testing, plant diagnostic clinic, plant sale from some of the finest nurseries, continental breakfast, delicious boxed lunch, and door prizes. The fee is $55 per person, early bird registration is $50 before March 4, 2011. The registration form with a full schedule of classes and their descriptions is available for download at www.ccesuffolk.org or contact Caroline Kiang at 631-727-7850, ext. 337 or 345.
2. Check out the Bayport Flower House online news to see if you are interested in
taking any of their classes. http://www.bayportflower.com/newsletterhol04.pdf
Make Your Own Peat Pots
You can save money by recycling newspapers into seed-starting pots. It’s easy, it’s free, and planting the entire bio-degradable pot will virtually eliminate chances of transplant shock. (Newsprint ink is generally nontoxic.) Here’s how:
1. Fold a newspaper sheet in half lengthwise. Fold it again.
2. Place a tomato paste can along one edge of the newspaper, a couple of inches from the bottom. Roll the newspaper tightly around the can. I put a piece of tape here and take it off before planting.
3. Fold the excess newspaper at the bottom of
the can to the center. Turn can onto newspaper,
and push down, shaping the bottom.
4. Put a piece of tape across the bottom, and
carefully remove can.
You can make about one every two minutes—thirty during an hour-long TV program. A week before transplanting into the garden, begin to “harden
off” plants by placing them outdoors each day. Pick a shady spot, protected from wind, and
start with a half-hour, adding an hour of exposure each day until they’re getting eight
hours of outdoor exposure daily. Continue watering. Margaret
What’s in the News?
1. Here’s an article on winter gardening with Dutch landscape artist, Piet Oudolf
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/garden/10garden.html?scp=2&sq=gardening&st=cse
Mr. Oudolf’ believes that a garden should be designed to have a life throughout the year, not just in the spring and summer. “The garden in winter is an emotional experience,” he said. “You think in terms of decay and disappearing and coming back. You feel the life cycle of nature. A lot of gardening is focused on flowers. People don’t realize plants can be beautiful after flowering, and they cut them down before they can even see it. I look outside now and see the clematis that flowered in the summer but is more interesting now that it is showing seed heads. If you make a four-season garden you have to learn to accept decay and see the beauty of it. It’s about the texture and shape, the seed heads and the skeletons. So instead of using the scissors you use your eyes.”
2. Do you have a hankering for one of those tasty apples you had as a kid and can’t find any more? Well, here’s a fellow who’s keeping them alive:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/garden/03garden.html?ref=inthegarden. [Note: A revolutionary war era ancestor of mine in New Canaan NY developed the Hawley apple, also known as the Douse or Dowse and harvests in September. It is large and has a smooth, yet waxy skin. It is greenish yellow with a brown blush. Plenty of russet dots all over. Read about it in the 1856 'Magazine of Horticulture' at http://books.google.com/books?id=I2EDAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA39&lpg=RA1-PA39&dq=%22Hawley+apple%22&source=bl&ots=TvYd4OKfGe&sig=6XJ2j0aeSOkqV6Ltlw36sv49-vs&hl=en&ei=0q6ETYS0JMiRgQf7uqG9CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=%22Hawley%20apple%22&f=false. Karen]
3. Have you ever wondered what
you could grow from your own
kitchen cabinets? Here’s an interesting
article from someone who has experimented.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/garden/24seed.html?
scp=4&sq=gardening&st=cse
4. Have you heard about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault?
http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/lmd/campain/svalbard-global-seed-vault.html The Svalbard Global Seed
Vault, which is established in the permafrost in the mountains of
Svalbard, is designed to store duplicates of seeds from seed collections
around the globe. Many of these collections are in developing
countries. If seeds are lost, e.g. as a result of natural disasters,
war or simply a lack of resources, the seed collections may be
reestablished using seeds from Svalbard.
Here’s more information about the Svalbard Vault, from Seed Savers in Iowa:
http://www.seedsavers.org/Content.aspx?src=w hatsnew.htm#svalbard3
“Even though Seed Savers' share represents only a small portion of the total deposits at Svalbard, the organization's contribution is unique because the heirloom varieties are mostly seeds conserved by home gardeners. Here is a small sampling of the varieties in the most recent deposit: Bean-Blue Boy, Cucumber-Spring of Water, Cowpea-Tight Red, Ground Cherry-New Hanover, Melon-Plum Granny, Pepper-Jimmy's Little White Hots, Pumpkin-Algonquian, Tomato-German Pink, and Watermelon-Arikara.”
Each Svalbardshipment/storage box contains the list of accessions with minimum germplasm data (Institute code, Accessions number, Scientific and common name, Number of seeds per pack, Year of regeneration, Country of origin).
All-America Selections 2011
submitted by Karen Ferb
First prize went to Rudbeckia ‘Denver Daisy’, with 4-6” gold flowers sporting maroon and chocolate centers. The second prize went to Echinacea ‘Prairie Splendor’ with amethyst flowers. Coming in third was the 12” ornamental pepper ‘Purple Flash’, with purple leaves and black fruits. Noteworthy introductions among perennials included Shasta daisy ‘Amelia’, a single white 5” flower with gold center. Anemone ‘Margarete’ produces abundant, large, glowing rose flowers with orange centers on 24” stems. I personally hope to find the ‘Red Racer’ hellebore from the ‘Winter Thriller’ series, said to produce up to 75 3 ½” deep velvet red flowers on one plant! Also look for Bergenia ‘Lunar Glow’ with its deep pink flowers and creamy yellow foliage in spring, finishing brilliant scarlet in the fall.
New Baptisias of the ‘Prairieblues’ series are 3-5’ tall with yellow-orange (‘Solar Flare’), soft blue (‘Starlite’), and deep purple (‘Twilite’) flowers. Praiseworthy annual introductions: Celosia ‘Cramer’s Burgundy’ and ‘Ruby Parfait’ are drama queens with huge, elegant flowers and unusual forms. Look at the size! These plants are grown for the cut flower trade with stems up to 30” tall and long-lasting flowers cut flowers also suitable for drying.
Timely Tips for April
• Prepare the soil in the vegetable garden and annual beds
• Sow seeds of garden peas, sweet peas and radishes.
• Fertilize fruit trees
• Examine houseplants-trim to reshape and repot as necessary.
• Prune early-flowering shrubs immediately after flowering.
• Control lawn weeds now through late May before temperatures get
too high.
• Continue planting herbaceous perennials until May and divide established
ones before growth is too far advanced
• Sow hardy annual seeds outdoors—cornflowers, larkspur, annual
poppies, etc.
• Plant new roses. Remove what is remaining of earth mounds and
prune established roses.
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens
