These weekly garden notes are written by Kim Willis,
unless another author is noted, and the opinions expressed in these notes are
her opinions and do not represent any other individual, group or organizations
opinions.
Hi Gardeners
Tuesday’s seem to be the day for rain in this area- although
it looks like there may be plenty of other rainy days this week. I have enjoyed this cooler summer weather
although people like my mother are already worrying about the winter being
earlier and hard like last year. The
Farmer’s Almanac was sure off in their weather predictions this year.
Farmers are also a bit concerned for the corn harvest. Cool, wet weather delayed planting this
spring and cooler weather has resulted in slower growth and maturity this
summer. The crop looks pretty good at
this point, if it can get to mature harvest stage before winter sets in.
The jewel weed and anise hyssop are attracting bees like
crazy right now. Hummingbirds also visit
the jewelweed although I can’t see how they get much from the tiny
flowers. But it has been a banner year
for the trumpet vine flowers and that provides the hummers with plenty of
food.
Garden phlox can sure be an invasive spreader in the garden
but it makes for nice color right now. I
am trying to unravel the mystery of a phlox plant I found in the garden- trying
to decide if I planted it or not. It’s
in an area where there was no phlox, although that’s not unusual for phlox, and
the leaves looked very yellow all summer.
It now has pink flowers. I am
trying to decide if I bought a variety with golden foliage, planted it and
forgot I did it or if it has a nutritional problem- although it grew tall and
full. Or maybe it’s a natural mutation
that came up from seed. I could have
bought a bargain plant last year I guess, and most of my plant labels
disappeared this winter. Have you ever
bought a plant and forgot about it?
Planning for fall garden color
Fall in the garden can be as lovely as spring is, full of
flowers, textures and attractive foliage, if the gardener plans for fall
color. If your garden seems a little
drab this fall it’s time to think about what you can do to make it better next
year.
Michigan usually has a few light frosts, then some milder
weather before a big killer freeze.
Don’t let your garden color disappear with those first light
frosts. Some plants will survive very
well until a hard freeze and others can be protected to prolong bloom. And there’s always the option of adding color
to the garden again with potted fall blooming plants.
Using cool season annuals
 |
| Annuals can look fantastic in fall. |
Many annuals such as calendula, snapdragons, geraniums, and
diascia are just getting full and beautiful as cool weather approaches. They will survive light frost, and actually
thrive in cooler weather. Ornamental
cabbage and kale are excellent choices as cold weather really brings out their
color. If pansies that were planted in
the spring were cut back in mid-summer they will now respond with a new flush
of bloom.
Some summer flowering bulbs like dahlias and cannas are
great for fall color. They won’t survive
frost unless you cover them, but they make great color splashes for fall
gardens. After a hard frost kills them,
dig the bulbs and save them for next year.
Using fall blooming perennials
There are many perennials that bloom late in the season and
provide that color splash you need. Many
sedums are fall blooming. Goldenrod and
perennial asters are fall stars in the garden.
Garden mums are a traditional fall favorite. Russian Sage blooms late and many of the
landscape roses continue to bloom until a hard freeze. Anemones and cyclamen are fall bloomers for
light shade. Keep the seed heads cut off
buddleia and they will bloom for a long while into fall. Kniphofia blooms late, and if dead headed
continues well into fall.
 |
| Asters make great fall blooming perennials. |
Some perennials that are sold as re-blooming such as German
iris and daylilies, struggle to re-bloom through much of Michigan. Your chances are greatest around the metro
Detroit heat sink area and southwestern coastal areas. In some falls, however these re-bloomers will
put on a show even in more northerly areas.
Don’t forget ornamental grasses for fall color. Many have beautiful fall flower spikes and by
fall they also have impressive clumps of foliage.
Foliage and fruit for color
Yes the leaves of deciduous trees and shrubs can brighten
the garden in shades of red and gold. If
fall color in a tree or shrub is important to you, shop for them in the
fall. You can then see if the color is
what you want. Dogwood, crabapples,
bittersweet, holly, viburnums, coralberry, and beautyberry are examples of
plants with fruits that can provide fall color.
Both English Ivy and Virginia Creeper are vines with brilliant red fall
color.
But some smaller plants also have lovely fall color. Amsonia has pretty blue flowers in spring and
turns into a golden flare in the fall garden.
While hosta are browning and dying in cool fall weather the many foliage
colors of heuchera are still lush and pretty.
Wintergreen is a groundcover that turns a pretty burgundy-purple and has
bright red berries also.
 |
| Sedums in fall garden |
Using frost protection
The less hardy annuals and tender perennials putting on such
a glorious show at the end of the season can continue to bloom if you remember
to cover them when frost threatens. These include zinnias, nasturtiums,
impatiens, begonias, coleus, petunias and marigolds. Save old thin sheets for this or buy floating
row cover at the garden store. Newspaper
is also a fair choice, although hard to keep in place. Avoid using plastic as it often causes
damage to leaves that it touches.
Remember to cover hanging baskets, containers and window boxes too if
you want to prolong their bloom.
Plants will need to be covered whenever temperatures are
expected to be below 40 º F and the sky is clear, and winds calm. Usually Michigan falls have a few nights of
this weather then recover a bit for several weeks. If you protected your
annuals they will be blooming through the better weather. On rainy nights, even very cool ones the
plants are safe. However, if
temperatures drop below 32ºF for more than an hour or so even your covers won’t
help some of the plants.
Cheating
If you didn’t plan for fall color and suddenly find you need
it, there are always those potted mums and icicle pansies that are available in
pots in garden stores. Simply tuck the
pots in wherever color is needed. If you
want the icicle pansies to return and bloom in early spring it is better to
plant them directly into the ground.
Potted mums rarely survive winter even if the label says they are
hardy. If you want to try to save them,
plant them into the ground as soon as you get them, keep them watered until the
ground freezes and don’t remove the dead stems until late spring when new
growth has started.
Another good use for Cannabis
Hemp, (Cannabis without the high) is a big crop in many
countries and is slowly being allowed as a cash crop in some areas of the US. I
predict it will become legal to grow hemp, everywhere in the US within 5 years
and that it will become a major cash crop here.
Hemp is used for fiber production to make rope and textiles, as a bio-fuel
crop and as an oil seed crop to make cooking oil.
But now a very important new use for hemp has been
developed. It seems a waste product from
hemp fiber production can be turned into very efficient supercapacitors. Supercapacitors are used in electronic items
as electrodes that store and release power.
Currently most supercapacitors are made from graphene, which is made of
layers of carbon.
David Mitlin, Ph.D., University of
Alberta, Canada already has a company producing electrodes from bast, a waste
product of hemp fiber production. The
bast electrodes are 2-3 times more powerful and efficient than graphene
electrodes, cheaper to manufacture and relatively easy to make from a renewable
resource. The research and product was presented
at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society
(ACS) in San Francisco last week.
Bamboo beer?
Bamboo is another crop with many, many uses that is quick to
grow in warmer climates. It’s used to
produce building materials, paper, charcoal, vinegar and many other
products. Now Mauricio Mora Tello, a
Mexican entrepreneur has turned bamboo into beer.
Mora Tello had several bamboo plantations in Mexico and was
exploring a market for bamboo products in that country. However bamboo production never really caught
on there and Mora Tello decided to find another use for the plant. He developed a micro – brewery that uses
bamboo to make a spicy, rich, brown beer with a thick foam that has proven to
be quite popular. The beer is brewed
used the bamboo foliage and two types of hops.
His company Bambusa, located in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico has had to
double the production of the beer this year.
Is your make-up making you sick?
It’s a big waste of time and money but make-up and associated products like moisturizing
creams and perfume may also be making you sick.
Research done at Uppsala University and published in the journal
Diabetes Care links the phthalates in cosmetics, fragrances and other personal
care products to a higher rate of diabetes.
As noted in other research phthalates disrupt hormones in
the body and in this case the phthalates disrupt insulin and how it regulates
blood sugar. People with high levels of phthalates
in their blood are more likely to have diabetes or develop it than people
without high levels of phthalates even when factors such as heredity and
obesity were factored in.
Phthalates also disrupt growth and reproductive hormones,
resulting in a variety of problems. Some
research suggests they may be responsible for earlier puberty seen in girls in
the last couple decades and increased infertility in men. Phthalates have also been linked to higher
incidences of obesity, cancer, ADHD, liver and kidney disease, birth defects and
Alzheimer’s disease. Interestingly the
rising rate of phthalate use corresponds to rising rates of these diseases and
conditions.
Phthalates can be ingested as when you drink from plastic
containers where phthalates in the plastic leached into the drink, or they can
be absorbed through the skin as when you apply foundation, eye liner, lipstick,
sunblock or facial creams. Soaps, body
washes, shampoos and other hair products also contain phthalates. They can be breathed in when people are
exposed to hair spray, spray perfumes and room sprays. The presence of phthalates in food and drink
containers is rapidly being phased out but their presence in other products
continues to expand.
Phthalates exist not only in plastic containers but in the
products themselves, as carriers of fragrance, emulsifiers, thickeners,
scrubbing beads, eye lash enhancement fibers, and in many other applications
and they have a variety of chemical names such as Mono-methyl phthalate (MMP),
Mono-ethyl phthalate (MEP) and mono-isobutyl phthalate (MiBP) dimethylphthalate
(DMP), Diethyl phthalate (DEP) and Di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP). Unfortunately the producers of cosmetics
aren’t required to list all ingredients in a product, they may simply list
“fragrance” or “softening agents” or other vague terms on labels.
Here’s what the CDC says about phthalates:
CDC researchers found measurable levels of many phthalate
metabolites in the general population. This finding indicates that phthalate
exposure is widespread in the U.S. population.
Research has found that adult women have higher levels of urinary
metabolites than men for those phthalates that are used in soaps, body washes,
shampoos, cosmetics, and similar personal care products.
It may be time to toss that make-up in the trash and save
your money, time, and your health.
Clean your bird feeder and save birds eyes
As early as 1994 it was noted by bird researchers that house
finches were getting swollen infected eyes that often led to blindness. The
problem was caused by a bacterial poultry parasite, Mycoplasma gallisepticum. It was thought until recently that house
finches were the only wild bird species commonly affected. However researchers at the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology recently captured and tested a variety of bird species for the
bacteria and were surprised at what they found.
Most backyard feeder birds such as Chick a Dee’s, Tufted Titmice,
and American Goldfinches as well as birds not associated with feeders such as
wood thrushes, tested positive for the bacteria. In fact 27 common species were found to carry
the bacteria although most did not show symptoms. Researchers warn that Mycoplasma
gallisepticum has mutated several times in house finches and became more
virulent over the years. They fear it’s
only a matter of time before other species of birds become ill from the
bacteria.
You can help control the spread of this bacterial disease by
periodically taking down your feeder and scrubbing it in hot soapy water. You may also soak feeders in vinegar and
water or a small amount of chlorine bleach mixed with water. While this disease is not known to affect
humans it’s a good idea to wash your hands thoroughly after handling bird
feeders.
This week’s weed- common cattail
The common cattail is found throughout North America,
wherever there is a wet spot. Most
people have learned to identify this plant by its “fruit” the firm brown cylindrical mass on a tall
stem, that when broken open yields massive amounts of white fluff. Cattails can be a nuisance when they choke
ponds and ditches and hard to destroy.
Yet they are used in floral arrangements and people actually purchase
plants to place in ornamental ponds.
 |
| Common cattails. |
Cattails grow in full sun in areas where there is standing
water or very wet soil. They can grow up
to 10 foot tall to get their flowering parts out of the water, but if the water
is much deeper than 6-7 feet they generally don’t colonize that area. They are capable of surviving even if all the
standing water around them dries up for several months.
Common cattails, (Typha latifolia), are perennial plants
that develop large root systems, but die to the ground each winter. The leaves are long and narrow and begin at
the base of the plant, growing to 6 foot or longer. The plants spread by the root system to make
huge stands of cattails and also reproduce from seeds.
The Cattail plant develops a two tiered flower in late
spring; the familiar brown, rounded cylinder that persists into fall is a
compacted group of the female flowers.
On top of that is a similar looking yellowish cylinder of male flowers
in early summer that produces abundant pollen.
It, however, dries up to a “ stick” at the top of the plump brown
cattail ‘wand” that develops. The “wand”
is a compacted mass of tiny seeds, each connected to a bit of fluff. Late in the fall and winter the weather will
break up the mass, dispersing the seeds on their bit of fluff in the wind.
On some plants the brown mass of seeds will look more
rounded that cylindrical. A less common
cattail found in the eastern side of the United States, the Narrow Leaved
Cattail, has very small, pencil sized seed wands,( as well as narrow leaves),
favored in floral arrangements. If you
want the “wands” for dried arrangements pick them in early fall and spray them
with clear craft sealer or even hairspray.
This prevents them from breaking up into a fluffy mess.
For Native Americans and early pioneers the cattail was a
source of food, fiber and “down”. The
shoots of cattail leaves can be eaten like asparagus, the pollen is used like
flour, the roots can be peeled and eaten like potatoes, and the immature
“wands” can be boiled like corn and eaten.
The leaves of cattails were woven into roofs, mats and baskets and the
mature fluff was stuffed into shoes and clothing for insulation. Native women were said to stuff it into
babies “ diapers”.
Muskrats and other aquatic animals feed on cattails and
birds use the fluff in nests. Fish, frogs, aquatic insects and other small pond
critters use cattails for hiding places and homes. Cattails also filter out excess nutrients and
pollution from water. If they impede
access to the water or drainage they can be cut down or you can consult with
your County Extension office for chemical treatments.
Canning and Freezing peaches
As promised here are some tips on freezing and canning
peaches, which should now be available at farm markets.
Peaches can be frozen sliced, frozen in syrup or sugar,
frozen as a puree or nectar. Peaches
darken after slicing and ascorbic acid, found with canning supplies, should be
used if you want nice golden peaches when they thaw. Follow package directions. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is a natural
product. Lemon juice can be used in
place of ascorbic acid - 1/2 cup of lemon juice to a 1/2 gallon of water-
although it will add its own flavor.
To easily peel peaches dip them into boiling water in a
metal strainer for one minute, then plunge your strainer into ice water. The peels will slip right off. Peaches can also be peeled with a paring
knife although that is much more tedious.
After peeling peaches slice them into either ascorbic acid
solution or lemon juice solution to prevent darkening or if the label directs
you some ascorbic acid products are sprinkled on dry. After a few minutes drain the slices, arrange
them on a cookie sheet and put into the freezer until frozen. Then pack slices into containers to label and
put back in the freezer. Frozen peaches will be soft when defrosted.
To sugar pack peaches for freezing toss peach slices with a
1/2 cup of sugar for every 2 cups of sliced peaches. Allow them to sit for 15 minutes and then
freeze.
To syrup pack peaches for freezing, peel as above slice into
ascorbic acid or lemon as above then put peaches into freezer containers. Bring a solution of 2-3/4 cups of sugar and 1
quart of water to boil and pour over the peaches. Let cool to room temperature
and freeze.
Any recipe you made with peaches such as pie filling or
pureed peaches can be frozen in freezer safe containers.
Canning peaches
Peel peaches as described in freezing. You can cut them in slices or use
halves. Most people can peaches in quart
sized containers. For the canning fluid you can use a syrup- 2-3/4 cups of
sugar to a quart of water, brought to a boil, boiling water or boiling apple
juice.
Pack sliced or halved peaches into clean, hot jars. If you use halves place the cut side
down. Pour your boiling fluid of choice
over the peaches to within 1/2 from the jar rim. Use a stick or spatula to
gently run around the jar sides, to release trapped bubbles. If needed add more fluid. Fluid should cover the peach pieces totally
but the peaches and fluid must be a 1/2 inch from the rim. Wipe the rim, add your lid and screw band.
Process quart jars of peaches in a water bath canner for 30
minutes. A pint jar would take 25
minutes. Although it’s not necessary
peaches can be canned in a pressure canner.
Set the pressure at 6 pounds for Michigan and process for 10 minutes,
either pints or quarts.
Make sure to label all your canned or frozen peaches with
the date you preserved them. Also
indicate on the container that its peaches inside.
With a little time preserving them at harvest time Michigan
peaches could be on your menu all year round.
It’s time to dance
in the rain- don’t worry; everyone will be looking at their phone anyway.
Kim Willis
“He who has a garden and
a library wants for nothing” ― Cicero
More
Information
Fall webworm
By Kim Willis- First published 9/2009 Detroit Gardening Examiner
If you are noticing those huge webs of wiggling worms on the
tips of branches on trees in your area, don’t be alarmed. The fall webworm is a native seasonal pest
that doesn’t significantly harm trees even though they look pretty ugly. In Michigan we begin seeing the “tents” of
fall webworm in late August. Even after
a hard freeze kills the worms inside, or they have become pupae, the nests may
hang in the trees until winter winds dislodge them.
 |
| Fall webworm web nest on walnut tree. |
Fall webworms are often confused with their spring cousins,
the Eastern Tent Caterpillar. Fall
webworms enclose leaves at the end of a branch with their white, web like
tent. They feed inside the tent and
enlarge it when all the leaves inside are eaten. Eastern tent caterpillars make their tents in
the crotches of branches and they leave the tent to feed on leaves, returning
to the tent for protection from weather.
Eastern tent caterpillars appear in late spring and early summer, fall
webworms late in the summer.
The nests of fall webworms are usually on the outside
branches of a tree, where the branch extends over an open sunny area such as a
road or lawn. This makes them very
visible to concerned gardeners. Each
nest contains a colony of small caterpillars, busily feeding on tree leaves. The caterpillars are either red headed or
black headed. Black headed webworms are
greenish, with two rows of black bumps on the sides. Red headed webworms are tan with orange or
red bumps. Both are covered in long
white hairs.
The adult fall webworm is a small white moth, occasionally
marked with a few black spots. She lays
her eggs on the underside of leaves, where they hatch and begin feeding. The young feed for about 6 weeks then drop to
the ground to pupate and over-winter.
Occasionally in Michigan’s southern counties there is enough warm
weather in fall for the first generation to turn into moths and create a second
generation. Levels of the pest are
higher in some years too, with heavier populations every 5-7 years.
Fall webworms prefer to feed on trees such as wild cherry,
walnut, hickories and fruit trees but can feed on almost any tree. They seldom feed on willows and
cottonwoods. When a tent or web is
disturbed all the little caterpillars move in a peculiar synchronized jiggling
movement. This may be their attempt to
make a predator think something much larger is lurking within.
Controlling fall webworm
Since trees are near the end of their active cycle the loss
of leaves from Fall Webworms doesn’t harm them much. If the nests offend you, you can use your
garden hose to spray them out of the tree or use a stick to knock them down,
and then smash the worms. Worms won’t
crawl back up the tree when knocked to the ground. You can trim the tents out of the tree if
doing so doesn’t harm the looks of the tree.
Valuable ornamental trees can be treated with systemic pesticides early
in summer. These go through the tree and
kill the worms as they start to feed on leaves later in the year.
Pesticide sprays are not recommended as the collateral
damage to the environment isn’t worth it, as trees are barely affected by the
feeding of the Fall Webworm. Most
pesticides do not effectively penetrate the webs; they would have to be torn
open. Spraying foliage around the nests
may kill the caterpillars when they enclose more leaves into the web. And burning the tents with a blowtorch is far
more dangerous to the tree and to you than the worms.
Fall webworms have several natural enemies in Michigan
including yellow jackets and paper wasps.
If you tolerate these insects on your property then you may have fewer
fall webworms. Birds also like to eat
the worms, especially if you tear the web for them.
Events, classes and
other offerings
Please let me know if there is any event or class that
you would like to share with other gardeners.
These events are primarily in Michigan but if you are a reader from
outside of Michigan and want to post an event I’ll be glad to do it.
Master Gardeners if you belong to an association that
approves your hours please check with that association before assuming a class
or work day will count as credit.
Do you have plants or seeds you would like to swap or
share? Post them here by emailing me.
New- Grow
it! Cook it! Eat it! Workshop Sept. 2, Oct. 1 or Nov. 12. MSU Extension Ingham County Lansing
Office and MSU Extension – Livingston County
Learn
how to grow, store and prepare a variety of fresh vegetables by attending one
or all of these mid-Michigan workshops.
Posted
on August 12, 2014 by Diane Brown, Michigan State University Extension
Home vegetable gardening is once again popular. In
addition to vegetables you grow yourself, a bounty of beautiful produce awaits
at farmer’s markets and from community supported agriculture (CSAs). But do you
know the best varieties to select for your home garden? Do you know how to tell
when a vegetable is ready to harvest, or what to look for at the market? How to
store them? How to cook them? Get answers to these questions and more during a
series of three Grow it! Cook it! Eat it! workshops from Michigan State
University Extension designed to help you make the most of fresh garden
vegetables. Cost: $20 for one session/$50 for all three.
Sept. 2, 2014-6-8 p.m. Go for the Greens – beet greens,
bok choi, cabbage, collards, kale, napa, spinach, swiss chard, turnip greens
Location: MSU Extension Ingham County Lansing
Office,5303 S. Cedar St. Lansing, MI 48911
Oct. 1, 2014, 6-8 p.m.
Root for the Root Vegetables – beets, carrots, kohlrabi, parsnips,
potatoes, rutabaga, sweet potatoes, turnips
Location: MSU Extension – Livingston County, 2300 East
Grand River,Howell, MI 48843
Nov. 12, 2014, 6-8 p.m.Pumpkins and Their Kin – winter
squash and pumpkins Location: MSU Extension Ingham County Lansing Office, 5303
S. Cedar St., Lansing, MI 48911
Register online for these exciting workshops, and save
$10 over individual workshop pricing when you register early for all three
events. Contact the Ingham County MSU Extension office at 517-676-7207 for more
information.
Annual
Herb & Gourd Fest, September 20, 2014, 10 am - 5 pm and September
21, 2014 -11am - 5 pm at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, 1000
East Beltline Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI 4952 (888) 957-1580.
There is not a more enjoyable weekend anywhere that you
can attend where you can share your gourd art and meet guests from all over the
world in this magnificent setting.
Throughout the two days we will have members demonstrating and showing
some of the different techniques that they use on their gourds. We show examples of painting, pyrography,
chip carving, filigree work, coiling, weaving just to name a few, and as in
past years, we have vendors selling their creations of bowls, vases, sculptures
and gourd jewelry. $12 adult admission
to the park.
Kim’s note: The
Michigan Gourd Festival at Imlay City Fairgrounds will not be held this year.
Ann Arbor Bonsai
Show-Sat. & Sun. Aug. 23 & 24, 10
am-4:30 pm Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 1800 N. Dixboro Rd. Ann Arbor, MI.
Presented by Ann Arbor Bonsai Society
Share the tradition of the practice and art of bonsai at the Ann Arbor Bonsai
Society annual show at Matthaei Botanical Gardens. Bonsai display, vendors,
expert advice, and demonstrations. Admission: $3 per adult; under 12 free.
Prairie Fire Tales and Walk Sunday, August 31, 2:00 pm at Seven Ponds Nature Center 3854
Crawford Road, Dryden, MI
Fires were
commonplace on the prairies. Come hear some tales and learn how fires helped
and hindered. 810-796-3200. Unless otherwise noted, the fee for programs is the
regular admission, $3.00 adults, members and children 12 and under free. For
the most-up-to date information, visit our website at www.sevenponds.org.
Advance Garden 4-5-6 September 13,
2014 - September 27, 2014 9:00am-1:00pm Oakland County Executive Office
Conference Center, 2100 Pontiac Lake Road, 41W, Waterford, MI
This workshop is
$125. The fee includes light morning refreshments each day and instructional
handouts. There will be a wide variety of design exercises and a recommended
garden design book list and web site used in formal and informal gardens.
During this workshop, participants will develop skills in the layout of garden
beds and small landscape areas using the principles of floral harmony, balance
and color. The workshop takes the participants through a successive series of
training stages, from simple to advanced garden design planning techniques.
This is a comprehensive training class for advanced level gardeners who are
interested in learning to expand their garden design skills. It is recommended
that you have taken Garden Design 1-2-3 or have other garden design class
experience and understand of design concepts of plant layering, spatial balance
and axial symmetry. Master Gardeners will receive credit for twelve education
hours for attending this 3 day workshop. Contact Linda Smith at 248-858-0887
Art In The Garden Sat, August 23, 10am-5pm - The
Display Gardens on Suncrest 1455 Suncrest Dr., Lapeer, MI.
Watch and talk to
artists in the garden. Master Gardeners
will be on hand to talk about gardening techniques. The gardens are behind the Lapeer County
Medical Care facility. FREE.
248-693-1195, www.lc-mga.org.
Herbal Summer Faire, August 23,& 24 Sat, 10am-5pm & Sun, 11am-5pm Heavenly
Scent Herb Farm, 3730 White Lake Rd, Fenton, MI
148 Different Artisans~
Culinary delights, weaving-fiber art, honey, woodcraft, embellished clothing,
pillows, painted slate and windows, hand-made bath products, perfume oil &
incense, candles, blown glass, garden art, wildlife drawings, pressed flowers,
quilts, silhouettes, wire art, beaded jewelry, natural cosmetics, greeting
cards, paper crafted items, beaded amulet bags, architectural people and
sterling silver necklace ladies, stain glass, Santa boxes, hand-painted items,
vintage chenille garments, fused jewelry, recycled art, mixed media art,
Hypertufa gardenware and hand-molded, pottery
Admission $2. Master
Gardeners on hand, free children’s activities, delectable lunches & more. www.heavenlyscentherbfarm.com.
Tomato Festival -Sat, August 23, Ray Hunter Florist,
16153 Eureka Road, Southgate, MI
Downriver Tomato
Festival: Join us at our Southgate location for our first annual Tomato
Festival! Festivities will include tomato tastings and recipes, vegetable
gardening tips, demonstrations and samples, prizes for the “Largest Tomato” and
“Best Tasting Tomato,” plus a Kids’ Coloring Contest! Please register for the
contests by 11:30 a.m. Judging begins at Noon. FREE. 734-284-2500.
UP Smart Gardening Conference, Oct. 4
Learn to create
edible landscapes, Ramada Inn, 412 W. Washington St., Marquette, MI
Gardening
enthusiasts and those interested in learning more about this type of gardening
should consider attending this year’s UP Smart Gardening Conference – Edible
Landscaping with Smart Gardening on Oct. 4. This is a one-day conference full
of great speakers, a garden marketplace, door prizes and lunch. The early bird
registration fee is good until Aug. 30. Plan now to attend and avoid a fee
increase. Register online for the early bird reduced fee. http://events.anr.msu.edu/event.cfm?folder=UPSmartGardeningConference
Cost: Early
registration fee of $60.00 per participant by August 29th Late registration
fee of $70.00 from Aug. 30th to Oct. 2nd . Walk in registration fee
of $80.00 (Includes lunch, refreshments, door prizes, handouts)
Kent/MSU Extension Grand Ideas Garden
10th anniversary celebration Saturday, October 4at 5:00pm
775 Ball Ave NE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503
WOW!! Ten Years
Old!! Join the merriment and celebration of the tenth anniversary of the MSU
Extension Grand Ideas Garden at our annual fund raising auction! Open to everyone-bring your friends. Auction
items include new plants, garden tools and gadgets, beautiful local art,
pottery, services and so much more.
This event is sure
to please with great food, live music and “competitively fun” bidding. Get
involved in the bidding excitement as we raise money to support the ongoing
mission of the Grand Ideas Garden—one of Kent County’s hidden treasures!
The Lapeer area Horticulture Society
is looking for new members. There are no
education or experience requirements to join; only a love of gardening is
needed. The Horticulture Society meets
the third Monday of each month for socializing, networking and a brief
educational presentation. August meeting
is at Mayfield Township Hall. Everyone
is invited to join. Dues are only $15 a
year. For more information on joining or
meeting locations contact Bev Kobylas at bkobylas@yahoo.com
Newsletter
information
If you would
like to pass along a notice about an educational event or a volunteer
opportunity please send me an email before Tuesday of each week and I will
print it. Also if you have a comment or opinion you’d like to share, send it to
me. Please state that you want to have the item published in my weekly notes.
You must give your full name and what you say must be polite and not attack any
individual. I am very open to ideas and opinions that don’t match mine but I do
reserve the right to publish what I want.
Once again the
opinions in this newsletter are mine and I do not represent any organization or
business. I do not make any income from this newsletter. I write this because I
love to share with other gardeners some of the things I come across in my
research each week. It keeps me engaged with local people and horticulture.
It’s a hobby, basically. I hope you enjoy it. If at any time you don’t wish to
receive these emails just let me know. If you know anyone who would like to
receive these emails have them send their email address to me. KimWillis151@gmail.com
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