It's May - already...and the trees are fiercely blooming! How are your patios, decks, ponds, homes, cars, and most of all, your noses? Everything is coated in that lovely yellow pollen, except our noses which are probably bright red by now! I hope your allergy season is almost over, and you will all be breathing easier soon.The home improvement stores are filled with deck and patio furniture and ideas; the garden departments are overflowing with annuals and perennials, trees and shrubs, and that related garden "stuff" that we all crave. I guess I'm just a warm weather baby because I can't get enough of spring and summer. It's all gone too quickly. I want to live somewhere where it is eternally summer, so I can enjoy the garden, and the warmth of the sun on my skin every day of the year. I feel pretty certain that many of my fellow nature lovers feel the same way, and I know you're all outdoors every chance you get, getting the soil under your fingernails and making your own little piece of paradise even more spectacular. Hope to see all of you at our next monthly meeting. Diane
Mark the DateGet to Know a Fellow Gardener, PAULINE CARLETON
Where were you born, and where have you lived?
I was born in Patchogue, lived in Patchogue all my life.
Tell us about your family?
My husband passed away a couple of years ago. My daughter, Barbara, lives in Ohio, but is in the process of moving to SC where her son lives. I have one grandson. I also have a son, Kevin, who lives in the Patchogue Area.
What gave you your first interest in gardening?
When I was a little girl I always liked to have a garden. I had the radishes and the usual. My father dug up the soil for me. I always enjoyed it. I never did great things.
Do you have a favorite gardening style?
Whatever will grow. My husband always had a good-sized vegetable garden. My son carries it on and still works with my garden. I do the herbs. The usual—oregano, basil, mints, sage, dill.
Outside of gardening, what are some of your interests?
I belong to the greater Patchogue Historical Society. I enjoy the local history. I play bridge.
A television show you like?
Anything funny. I don’t like police or hospital shows. I like "Antiques Roadshow". I enjoy musicals.
A book you’d recommend?I like historical novels. I enjoyed "Jonathan Livingston Seagull".
An accomplishment you are proud of?My husband and I built our own house. I’ve lived here 60 years now, so it’s held together pretty good. His brother helped him. I was pregnant with Barbara and I remember hammering floorboards down. I did most of the interior. My first Mother’s Day, my husband bought me an electric sander. He was a very practical man.
An interesting place you’ve traveled to or visited?
I was brought up on the bay out here. We bought a big old Matthews boat. Every weekend for 30 years we’d pack up and go on the boat. I don’t know how manytimes I painted it. It was 38 feet long—built in 1929. It didn’t go very fast, but we had a good time. We’d go
over to Fire Island on the beach. We didn’t really get off the boat. We just swam off the boat and clammed. The kids grew up. We got a sailboat, and the kids learned to sail. We’d go to Connecticut in it. In later years we drove to Florida for two weeks each year.
Your favorite dessert or food?
I love clams, mussels—seafood. I also love salads.
What would you do if you won the lottery?
As I say to the girl when I buy a ticket, I only need a million dollars. I’d probably help out people—friends, relatives. I don’t think I’d change my lifestyle. I might buy a new car.
Something you keep postponing?
I’d organize my boxes of pictures. I’ve cleaned out a total of about four or five houses and brought most of the stuff home. (One was my husband’s family homestead in Riverhead, one was an aunt in Cutchogue—etc.) I’ve reached the attitude—let them clean out my house and have the fun.
An interesting job you’ve had?
My claim to fame was that I was the first woman teller in Patchogue---Union Savings Bank in 1943—the height of World War II. I worked there seven years.
April Meeting in a Flash
Business:
• Membership voted to have the gazebo and arbors powerwashed.
• Membership voted to include Patchogue Garden Club logo on the new Patchogue Village signs.
• Scholarship recipient, Miranda Kass, will do community work in the garden as well as at the yard sale.
• Tom and Carolyn Savastano put up six birdhouses in the village garden. These were made by Dennis Sitler’s Boy Scout troop #44.
• New membership booklets are in the works.
• The Community Outreach Committee will be co-chaired by Bonnie Bossert and Jo Miller. Contact them if you’d like to work on the committee.
• Breakfast in the Garden will be held June 11th. No rain date. Bring a dish to share and a chair.
• If you’d like to host a summer meeting in your yard, contact Diane.
Speaker: Bill Paauwe—African Violets. Who knew there was so much to learn about the humble African Violet? Mr. Paauwe (President, Officer and/or member of seven African Violet Societies, and author of several articles on African Violets) dug into some of our overgrown and neglected plants, showing us how to use a wicking system, telling us that the pot should be 1/3 the size of the plant, and using his unique soil mix (including vermiculite, pearlite, diatoma-ceous earth). You must water with a fer-tilizer. While taking off older leaves and scraping the stem while repotting, he reminded us that grooming is very important. He suggested using a soft blush brush for dusting the leaves. Bill’s dry humor made his informative presentation very entertaining.
What’s in the News?
1. Find out why Bleeding Heart’s botanical name has changed:
http://www.newsday.com/lifestyle/columnists/jessicadamiano/garden-detective-botanical-name-system-1.2749883. Some of our favorite flowers have been reclassified and find themselves with different botanical names.
2. Hugh Raffles defends non-native species in this "NY Times" article. He says, “It’s true that some non-native species have brought with them expensive and well-publicized problems; zebra mussels, nutria and kudzu are prime examples. But even these notorious villains have ecological or economic benefits. Zebra mussels, for example, significantly improve water quality, which increases populations of small fish, invertebrates and seaweeds — and that, in turn, has helped expand the number of larger fish and birds.” Read more of his article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/opinion/03Raffles.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=mother%20natures%20melting%20pot&st=cse
3. In this art piece, “When New York City Bloomed,” by Mariellé Anzelone and Wendy Hollender, you can see some of the flowers found in Central Park in earlier decades. “When you stand in the middle of Times Square, it is easy to forget that the colonists settled in New York City because of its bounty of natural resources. Before there were skyscrapers and restaurants, the city’s wealth was measured in flora and fauna. Early Dutch sailors were disoriented by the scent of wildflowers wafting out to sea from Manhattan. Even today, forests, marshes and meadows cover nearly one-eighth of the city. But it is not a safe haven for flowers. Of 1,357 native plant species documented in New York City’s history, only 778 remain here. There are various reasons for their disappearance, but always the causal factor is human — a pest we accidentally introduced, a habitat we made unwelcoming or destroyed altogether. Our urban lives are impoverished in their absence. Here is a selection of plants that have vanished from the city. Some thrive elsewhere;
others are barely hanging on. And one has recently reappeared in New York City, a signal of hope in a concrete landscape.” To see some of our vanishing plants, look here:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/25/opinion/20110326-opart.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=thab1#1.
Timely Tips for the Garden in June
• Plant out pots of basil and other tender herbs.
• Keep sowing seed outside to provide continuity of supply.
• Thin seedlings that have been sown directly in the garden.
• Encourage runner beans to climb up their supports.
• Remove side shoots from your tomato plants.
• Plant out beans, pumpkins and other tender crops.
• Harvest beetroot, spring onions, radishes and salad leaves. Don’t forget to sow more for a later crop.
• Harvest asparagus until the end of the month—then allow the shoots to grow to feed the roots for next year’s crop.
• Harden off young plants that have been raised indoors,leave them in a shady place for a couple of days, then overnight for a couple more before planting.
“In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day.No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.” ~ Aldo Leopold