March 29,
2016, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter © Kim Willis
Hi Gardeners
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| Streptocarpus |
The sun is out and boy do we need it to dry up the
ground. We got 1½ inches of rain Sunday
night and on top of the snowmelt we just had it has caused some flooding. The ditches are full and we have water in our
basement. Our pond is quite full which
is nice but I worry a bit about the additional rain that’s supposed to come
Thursday. Today and tomorrow we will
have nice weather so get out and enjoy it.
The weekend doesn’t look so nice.
I have started to convert my chicken pen into a
greenhouse. I have the wisteria trimmed
back and the front covered. I found that
clear vinyl shower curtains make an excellent covering for a small
greenhouse. They come in 6’ by 6’ pieces
that are easy to handle and are sturdy as well as being less expensive than the
same stuff sold for greenhouses. I am
going to see how they fare this year anyway and I think they will be fine for a
couple months of use.
I hope to get the semi-hardy plants off the porch and into
the new greenhouse this week. I may wait
until next week to move some seedlings out there as its going to get quite cold
and cloudy again this weekend. We just
need more sun!
Speaking of wisteria I am a bit angry at Edison. I came home from the grocery Friday and saw
some tree trimming trucks parked on the road at the edge of our property with a
bunch of guys standing around in the road.
I didn’t see them doing anything on our property but unknown to me they
had just chopped off our huge wisteria shrubs near one of their guy wires that
ran to an electric pole. They left the
shrubs where they were- didn’t chip them for some reason so it was hard to tell
anything had happened until Gizmo and I took a walk the next day.
Now these wisteria vines were not climbing the wire- we had
been keeping them from doing that along with the trumpet vines entwined with
them. There were times in the past when
they had, but the last few years we had been diligent about keeping them off
the line. These wisterias were old, the
trunks were 6” in diameter and they had twisted and gnarled into some interesting
shapes. We had pruned them so the shape
of the trunks was visible. Now they are
chopped off at the base.
It’s useless to keep being angry but I still am a bit. We have a big mess to clean up- as if we didn’t
have enough new brush for the pile from this winter’s storms. My hummingbirds are going to miss the place
where they liked to nest, in that wisteria-trumpet vine thicket. They left one trumpet vine clump off to the
side so the hummers will have some blooms this year. We also have a lot of trumpet vine behind the
barn.
Hopefully the young wisteria I spoke about up on the new
greenhouse will bloom this year. What Edison and their tree trimmers don’t
realize is that these will probably return from the roots. But I will be without the blooms there for a
few years. I am thinking about planting
something else there, shrubs, not vines.
And I may use the gnarly, twisted trunk pieces somewhere else.
My lemon tree is blooming inside and so is the fuchsia I
overwintered. The crocus and tiny iris
survived the snow and I have some daffodils about to open. The frogs are really singing now as the days
warm up. I thought since March came in
like a lion it might go out like a lion like the rhyme says but it doesn’t look
good. But I can feel spring around the
corner.
Getting an Early Start – Cold
frames, Tunnels and Row Covers
If you are
a gardener that is anxious to get growing in the spring and don’t have a
greenhouse, you may want to take advantage of several season extenders
available to gardeners. Cold frames,
row covers, tunnels and individual plant protectors are widely available and
easy to use. These items can give you an
early gardening start and let you protect crops at the end of the season
too.
Cold
frames
Cold frames
are a box with a clear top and sometimes clear sides. Snug in their protected world plants get the
advantage of natural light without drafts and frost. Cold frames are used to start seedlings or to
harden off, (acclimate), plants that were started inside. In the fall they can also be used to grow a
crop of greens before severe weather sets in.
A gardener
can simply construct a wooden box with a Plexiglas lid or a lid covered with
heavy clear plastic film. Clear vinyl shower curtains are tough, easy to find
and relatively cheap and can be used with a frame as your top. The box is best placed on the south side of a
structure in full sun. The back should
be higher than the front so the top slopes down. This allows more sun to enter. Ideally the box should face south although
west or southwest can work.
The box
should be at least eighteen inches deep at the low front side to allow plants
to grow. The walls should be thick or
well insulated. You can bank soil around the outside of the box or use bales of
straw around it. (You can even use straw
bales as the walls for your box). White
walls or walls lined with reflective material help maximize light.
You can add
a floor or simply have the box sit on the ground. If it sits on the ground add
a layer of thick cardboard, straw or other insulating material to the bottom. A
layer of black plastic over this will help absorb heat to keep the box warmer
overnight. You can purchase heat cables
or mats from garden supply stores for bottom heat if you like. Don’t use regular heating pads.
Purchased
cold frames may be made of wood or plastic.
They often have hinged lids that are connected to a device that opens
the lid when a certain temperature is reached.
They may also have heat cables and fans to circulate air. You can add a small fan if you want to circulate
the air. Point the air direction over
the tops of the plants. Solar powered
fans exist, they are sometimes sold in auto departments to ventilate cars.
Set the
cold frame up several days before you sow seeds or set plants in it. It should receive full sun all day. Some people add soil and plant directly in
the cold frame, but plants transplant better if started in pots or flats. You
may want to germinate seeds indoors, in warmer night time temps, and move the
pots or flats to the cold frame once the seedlings have their first true leaves.
Don’t start seeds or plants in a cold
frame too early. When they outgrow the
frame the weather should be ready for them to be planted in the garden. Planting in a cold frame can usually begin
six weeks before your last expected frost.
The most
important thing to remember about coldframes is that even though it is in the
upper thirties outside on a sunny day, it will be much warmer inside the box
with the lid closed. If temperatures get
too hot the plants will die just as quickly as if they got too cold. Buy an inexpensive
thermometer to put in the coldframe.
When temps reach 80 degrees the top should be raised to allow ventilation. This can happen in happen in an hour or so of
late spring sun shining on the box.
Thermostatically
controlled openers, (a device that will raise the lid when the temperature gets
to a certain point), can be bought from catalogs or some garden stores. If you don’t use one you must be diligent in
raising and lowering the lid depending on weather conditions. If you work
during the day this factor can be tricky and you will need to become a close
observer of weather forecasts. If the
day is to be sunny and above 40 degrees the top should be propped open at least
a few inches. On cloudy, cool days the box top can be left down. If the day is sunny and going to be above 60
degrees you may want to prop the lid fully open or remove the top.
Close the
box lid about an hour before sundown to help preserve heat. If extremely cold
weather threatens the whole cold frame can be covered with a blanket. Normally plants will be fine if night temps
fall to around freezing outside the box or if the box is covered with an
additional layer even down to the mid-20’s.
Tunnels
and row covers
Tunnels are
tall enough to walk under; row covers are shorter and must be removed before
caring for plants. Home gardeners are
more likely to use row covers. They are
generally made of plastic or a spun polyester-like fabric. Tunnels always have
a frame of some sort but row covers may have a frame or just be loosely laid
over plants.
Both
tunnels and row covers are used over crops planted right in the ground. They
can protect crops from frost and raise the temperature in the daytime to
promote growth. Row covers will give you
about a month’s head start over the same plants planted without them, but won’t
protect plants in a hard freeze. Wait until the chance of hard freezes- (below
30 degrees)- is over before setting up sensitive crops like tomatoes and
peppers under them. Plants like lettuce,
peas, radish, cabbage, kale and a few others will be fine through temps in the
20’s.
Another
consideration of tunnels and row covers is snow. If you get a late season snowfall that is
heavy enough to flatten the tunnels or row covers your plants can be
damaged. Remove the snow as soon as you
can and hope for the best. Inverted V shaped tunnels may work better than
rounded ones in snow country.
In cooler
areas, crops like melons and peppers benefit from draft protection and the
warmer daytime temperatures a cover provides early in the season. Row covers are great to protect crops at the
end of the season when an early frost threatens also.
Many types
of tunnels and row covers are sold, and there are a variety of fabrics or clear
plastics to cover frames you build yourself. Gardeners can fashion a hoop frame with wire
fencing or PVC pipe and cover it. You
will need some sort of pegs or weights to keep covers from being blown off.
There are
some lightweight spun fabrics that will not harm plants if it touches them and
lets air and water pass through. It can be laid loosely on the plants and will
lift as they grow. Plastic needs a frame
as it should not touch plants and must be removed before watering.
Care must
be taken to lift the row covers on a sunny day, especially plastic ones. Ventilated plastic may be fine when
temperatures are below 50 degrees but keep a close check on plant
conditions. Thin spun fabric covers let
some air through but even those can become too hot. When temperatures regularly rise above 70
degrees all covers need to be removed for the season.
Individual
plant protection
There are
plant protectors that fit over individual plants. Some are filled with water to hold heat at
night. You can buy these or devise your own. For example, plant your tomato plants, add a
tomato cage and then cover the cage with spun row cover fabric, or slide a
clear plastic trash bag over it. A few
plastic drink bottles filled with water can be placed inside to collect heat. Small plants can be protected by 2 liter drink
bottles or gallon containers with the bottom cut off. Set it over plants and leave the bottle caps
off for ventilation.
Remember
that if you use plastic or glass the protection will need to be removed on
sunny days. If you forget your plants
may be cooked. These kinds of covers are
generally used for 2-3 weeks before the last frost. You may only need them if temps are forecast
to go below 36 degrees at night.
Small
portable greenhouses
These have
become extremely popular and they do have uses but also some limitations. They are usually a 3-4 shelf unit about 3 feet
wide with a clear vinyl cover. You can
use them inside to increase humidity and warmth for seedlings or outside in a
protected area. If you use them outside
try to place them against the south side of a building. You must be able to anchor them so they won’t
blow over in the wind. Either wire them
to an existing wall, post or rail or put posts in the ground to tie them down. They need to be anchored near the top as well
as the bottom.
Be careful
of the amount of weight you place on the shelves of these units. Some of the least expensive ones don’t have
very sturdy shelves. And just as with
other types of season extenders they need to be opened in sunny warm
weather. Usually these have a zippered
opening on one side. If it gets above 70
degrees this opening may not be sufficient to ventilate the unit enough and you
may need to remove the whole cover.
Marsh Marigolds
Marsh
marigolds, Calthra palustris, sometimes called Cowslips, are the spring
wildflower equivalent to the daffodils around our homes. Bright, cheery yellow flowers lent a vibrant
cast to Michigan wetlands in early spring.
Marsh marigolds belong to the buttercup family and are poisonous to
consume, although deer and elk can eat them without harm.
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| Marsh marigolds |
Marsh marigolds
have large, glossy, dark green leaves, which are heart shaped or round and
about 7 inches across. Most of the leaves grow at the base of the plant. Leaf stems are hollow. Plants grow to 24 inches high in top
conditions but generally range from 8 inches to about 15 inches.
Marsh
marigold plants put up stalks to lift the bright yellow flowers just above the
foliage. Each glistening yellow flower
has 5 petals and a ring of darker golden stamens in the center. The flowers turn into short, flat seed pods.
Marsh
marigolds are perennial plants that can be found in roadside ditches, in swamps
and marshes and at the edges of damp woodlands.
They grow in sun or partial shade.
Marsh marigolds generally form slowly spreading colonies.
Don’t be
tempted to pick the cheerful flowers because the sap of the plants is a skin
irritant and may cause a painful rash.
Marsh marigolds should be removed from livestock and pet areas because
ingestion can cause mouth sores and severe bloody vomiting and diarrhea. They are being sold as pond plants for small
garden ponds, so caution is advised.
Designing a moon garden
Do you ever
go out when the moon is full and walk in its pale lovely light? Perhaps you strolled to your garden, only to
find it closed up and hiding in the darkness.
You can however design a garden that will welcome your nocturnal
wandering, or resting.
A proper
moon garden delights all the senses and makes the night and the garden a
magical place. Moon gardens aren’t hard
to do and even a novice gardener can accomplish the task. Properly done a moon garden is as easy to
maintain as any garden and can look great in the daylight also.
Moon
gardens use light colored plants that float in the darkness, fragrance that
wafts on the evening breeze, and the sounds of tinkling wind chimes or bubbling
water to delight all the senses. A place to sit or lie in this dreamy spot is
also necessary.
Locating the Moon
Garden
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| Hydrangea, a good white flower. |
You won’t
need a rocket to find a place for your moon garden, just a patch of soil here
on earth. A good location for a moon
garden is close to the house, but slightly secluded, so you can enjoy it in
privacy. Perhaps a little used deck or
patio can become the center stage. It is
to be enjoyed by dim light - the moon, or softly lit by strategically placed
low voltage lights. The new solar lights can provide a twinkle at night with no
electric bill. Avoid areas where street
lights or harsh overhead light intrudes. Moon gardens need to be at least
partially enclosed for best effect. This
can be by a hedge, dark wall or fence. This will make you more comfortable when
the air is brisk, insure your privacy and show your plants to their best
advantage.
You will
probably want most of the moon garden open to the sky. Moon gardens can be in
the shade but the range of plants you can use is much greater if they have the
advantage of sun in the daytime. And at
night the twinkling stars and graceful curve of the moon overhead will make the
moon garden more enchanting.
What to grow in a Moon
Garden
Moon
gardens need plants with white, pastel or silver foliage or flowers. The flowers should remain open at night. These plants can be perennials for your area
or you can use annuals, potted tropicals, or a combination. The goal is to have something of interest
through at least 3 seasons, so a combination of plants is generally used. Fragrance is highly desirable, but it should
be a fragrance you adore.
Some
suggestions for moon garden plants will be listed next. Remember that the plants must be hardy for
your zone, treated as annuals, or brought inside when frost threatens. They must be watered and fertilized according
to their needs. You should have low,
medium and tall plants to give depth to the design. Darker plants between the light colors are
needed to enhance the backdrop. Vines,
shrubs and trees should be incorporated in larger moon gardens. Using plants with blues and reds in the
foliage or flowers along with the whites and pastels will keep your garden
looking nice in the daylight and provide the dark contrast at night.
For spring
color choose white tulips, (they fold at night but still look good), hyacinths,
iris cristata ‘Tennessee White’, and
sweet smelling white narcissus. White
lilacs will add fragrance and late spring color for larger gardens. Nothing beats a white crabapple or flowering
cherry for a cloud of white on spring evenings. Many white flowered dogwoods are on the
market, one called ‘Elegantissima’ has
white flowers in spring and the leaves are edged in white for even more interest. White flowered magnolias and viburnums are
other choices for larger gardens.
For early
summer; white roses, such as ‘Iceburg’, shasta daisies, and white petunias,
peonies, stocks, cleome, evening primrose, four o’clocks, coreopsis ‘Snowberry’, white salvia and white bearded
iris are good choices. For midsummer you
can add nocturnal daylilies like Hemerocallis
citrina, which is fragrant and has pale yellow flowers, white Asiatic lilies,
white coneflowers, such as ‘Fragrant Angel‘,
white phlox,-‘David’ night flowering
Jessamine or jasmine, and hydrangeas.
For
shimmering silver in the moonlight add; artemesia, Lamb’s Ears, mugwort,
wormswood or silver thyme. Thyme ‘ Silver Posie’ is low growing with each leaf edged in silver
and is fragrant when you step on it.
 |
| Sweet Autumn clematis is a good, fragrant moon garden plant |
For late
summer try; white asters, anemones, chrysanthemums, and oriental and hybrid
lilies which come in many wonderful white and pastel colors and are highly
fragrant. A favorite oriental lily is ‘Casa Blanca’, which is outstanding for a
moon garden. Ornamental grasses with
white plumes such as Cortaderia ‘Sunningdale Silver’ are also good for late
fall color.
For moon gardens which are in the shade during
the day try; white astilbe, white impatiens, white tuberous begonias, foam
flower, hosta with white variegations, Goatsbeard, Cardiocrinum giganteum and Clethra.
The silver Japanese ferns such as ‘Ghost’
and ‘Silver Falls’ are stunning in
the moonlight.
No moon
garden is complete without two plants, the moonflower vine and woodland
nicotiana or ‘Only the Lonely’. The moonflower vine has huge heart shaped
leaves and equally huge and fragrant white flowers like a morning glory flower,
which open at night. It will need to be started inside in the north because it
takes a long time to begin blooming.
Woodland nicotiana is a close cousin to smoking tobacco and the huge
leaves on this plant make it best in the back of the border. It sends up tall stalks of white, dangling,
trumpet shaped flowers with a delicious fragrance. Both of these plants attract
sphinx moths to the garden.
Don’t
forget to add the finishing touches, a bubbling water feature or a melodious
but gentle wind chime. Sound carries
further on a still evening and you want subtle noise that won’t drown out the
tree frogs and the wind in the trees.
Add the clink of ice in your favorite beverage and you are ready to
enjoy your moon garden.
Today’s frugal gardening tip- a seed
spacer
I get these
garden supply catalogs and I can’t believe what they charge for some simple
tools people can make at home. A seed
spacer helps you correctly space seeds in the garden or in a flat and saves you
money on seed and work thinning seedlings.
But if you make your own instead of paying $10 you’ll save some more
money.
You need a
piece of C or V shaped molding. Plastic
ones are cheap and a single 8’ piece could make several seed spacers. Cut the molding into the lengths you think
you’ll like to use in planting. For
flats maybe 18 inches long, for outside rows I’d go with pieces about 4 foot
long for ease of use but you could leave the piece its full 8 feet. Measure and
mark the molding at ½ inch intervals for flat seeding or 1” spacing for outside rows. Now drill or melt holes in the molding piece
where you marked it. You can use a
skewer heated in a flame, the tip of a hot glue gun, or soldering iron to melt
holes.
Make the
holes just big enough to let your largest type of seed pass through. This would probably be a bean or maybe
pumpkin seed. To use lay the seed spacer
on a prepared seed bed in a nice straight line and press gently into the
soil. Put a seed in each hole – or skip
a hole if that’s what seed spacing is called for. Gently pour some fine soil, sand, vermiculite or
other seed covering in the seed spacer channel and lift the seed spacer. Your seeds are now properly spaced and
covered.
If you want
less stooping and bending use a piece of tubing cut to a comfortable length for
you. Put one end over the hole in the
seed spacer, drop a seed in, follow with soil or other covering – you may need
a funnel at the top to make that easier -and you are planting without stooping.
You can use your tube to press on one end of the seed spacer, popping the other
end up so you can grab it without stooping when you need to move it.
If you are
a person who plants in square foot increments or round hills or so on, you may
want to make a seed spacer by putting holes in a square or round plastic plate
or other container. Make seed spacers
that fit your needs.
Once you
get the motions down you can quickly and accurately plant large amounts of seed
with a seed spacer. If you do a lot of gardening you may want several sized
pieces of seed spacer and ones with different sized or spaced holes.
Two species you know well may be
destined to be lost
Two somber
research articles were posted this month on the fate of two species of life,
the monarch butterfly and the ash tree.
Both it seems may soon vanish forever.
A review of
ash trees and their many problems by tree expert Dr. Peter Thomas was recently
published in the Journal of Ecology, (March 2016 DOI: 10.1111.1365-2745.12566). While Dr. Thomas is studying ash in Europe he
feels the problems are world-wide for this tree and it’s just a matter of time
before they are lost. The first problem
is a fungal disease called ash die back (Hymenoscyphus
fraxineus). It’s projected to kill 95%
of the ash trees in Europe in the next decade.
But if that doesn’t get them Emerald Ash Borer will- as this nasty
beetle is now munching its way from Russia to Britain.
U.S. ash
trees were feeling the ravages of ash die back before they started succumbing
to Emerald Ash Borer too. Ash trees are
gone across wide expanses of this country and the beetle continues to spread. Just as elm trees were lost across the U.S.
and Europe 50 years ago to Dutch Elm disease carried by beetles so goes the ash
tree. The probability that ash trees
will cease to exist, at least European ash and North American ash species, is
good.
Another
much beloved life form, the Monarch butterfly, is continuing its downward
population slide and things look grim for the species. Research from the University of Guelph, published
in the Journal of Animal Ecology, found that there is a good chance of
extinction or near extinction of the Monarch in the next twenty years.
 |
| Monarch butterfly |
This new
research said that while habitat loss in the wintering area has some effect,
its habitat loss and change in the breeding range of the monarch in the U.S.
that has the most effect. Milkweed, the
only larval food of the monarch, is being lost across the United States in
large numbers. That combined with
erratic weather patterns and pesticides is taking its toll. Even though a big increase in Monarch numbers
was reported in the wintering grounds this year, a late storm in the south has
already cut that population increase.
People are
trying to help by planting more milkweed but sometimes things are just not
meant to be. We lost the passenger pigeon, a bird that numbered in the hundreds
of millions in just a few decades. Even 5 years ago I saw many monarchs each
summer, I never thought of them being particularly endangered. But even though milkweed is abundant here, I
saw only 1 monarch last summer and only a couple the year before. That’s how fast things can change.
Or the
monarchs just may get a reprieve of some sort from nature too. Maybe planting
milkweed will help. We aren’t ever able
to predict these things with 100% accuracy. But change and extinctions in
nature are not rarities, they are continuously happening. While man plays a part in some extinctions, they
happened before man existed, and before man had much influence on the planet
too. Other butterflies may become more numerous in the Monarchs absence. One
day man will cease to exist on this planet too, nothing lasts forever.
Enjoy any
monarchs that you see this summer and take pictures, because they may not be
here for future generations.
Get outside and enjoy the sun
Kim Willis
“He who has a garden and a library wants for
nothing” ― Cicero
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.
Do you have plants or seeds you would like to swap or share? Post them here by emailing me. You can also
ask me to post garden related events. Kimwillis151@gmail.com
An
interesting Plant Id page you can join on Facebook
Here’s a
seed/plant sharing group you can join on Facebook
Invitation
If you are a gardener
in Michigan close to Lapeer we invite you to join the Lapeer Area Horticultural
Society. The club meets once a month, 6:30 pm, on the third Monday at various
places for a short educational talk, snacks and socializing with fellow
gardeners. No educational or volunteer requirements for membership, all are
welcome. Membership dues are $20 per year. Come and visit us, sit in on a
meeting for free. Contact Julie Schröder, LAHS Secretary, 810-728-2269 - Julie.Schroder@brose.com
New- A
new way of looking at “invasive plants”. I will be speaking at the Lapeer Horticulture Society
meeting April 18, 6:30 pm, Mayfield Township Hall, Lapeer. I’ll be exploring some of the new research
that suggests we are not thinking about non-native plants correctly. Most non-native
plants are not our enemies or the ecological problem we think they are. Come and listen. If you need directions call the number above
for the Lapeer LAHS secretary.
New-“Companion
Planting” Tue,
April 19, 6:30-7:30pm, MSUE Assembly Room, 21885 Dunham Rd # 12, Clinton
Township, MI
Mary
Gerstenberger will discuss friend & enemy plants. Sponsored by Macomb
County Master Gardener Association MCMGA meeting to follow- $5.
New-Heritage
Peonies: Beautiful Then, Glorious Now
Fri, April 22, 9:15am, Meadow Brook
Hall, 480 South Adams Road, Rochester MI
A talk
about heritage peonies and how to grow them, featuring guest speaker Dr. David
C. Michener. Sponsored by Meadow Brook Garden Club $5. 248‑364‑6210.
New- 2016
Educational Gardening Conference,
Sat, April 23, 8 am – 4:15 pm, Oakland Schools Conference Center, 2111 Pontiac
Lake Rd, Waterford Twp, MI
Keynote
Speakers: Karen Bussolini,(Jazzing Up the Garden), Ellen Ecker Ogden, (The Art of Growing Food), Barry
Glick (Woodland Wonders from the Wild). Garden marketplace, entertainment and
more.
Sponsored by
Master Gardener Society of Oakland County, Inc. $80. No registration at the door. Registration brochure at http://www.mgsoc.org/2016_ConferenceRegistrationColor.pdf
The Heartbeat of the Garden, Mon, April 4, 7pm, Congregational
Church of Birmingham, 1000 Cranbrook Rd, Bloomfield Hills, MI
What makes one
garden unique & different from another? If gardeners use the same basic
principles of landscape design, why don’t they look the same? The answer lies
in the heartbeat. The speaker is Sandy Wilkins.
Sponsored
by the Hardy Plant Society, Great Lakes Chapter. For more info: www.hardyplantsociety-greatlakes.org.
Attracting Bees & Maintaining
Beehives, Thu,
April 14, 1pm, Burgess-Shadbush Nature Center Utica, Mi.
The Shelby Garden Club presents bee keepers
Mary Jo Showalter & Joanne Gartner for a quick session on attracting bees
and beginning beekeeping. FREE For more
info call - 586-873-3782..
African Violet Display & Sale
Sat, April 2,
10am-4pm Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 1800 N Dixboro Rd, Ann Arbor, MI
Sponsored
by MSU AV Society at Matthaei Gardens. There will be a FREE workshop at 10:30
am on growing violets, streptocarpus & other gesneriads. For more info LynnAllen0413@comcast.net.
MSU Horticulture Gardens’ Spring
Program: The Garden Professors
April 9, 2016, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Plant and Soil Sciences Building, 1066 Bogue
Street East Lansing, MI
Looking to
bust through gardening myths and dig down to the truth? Join the creators of
The Garden Professors, a blog where expert professors from around the country
use science-based information to provide you with the facts about gardening
from every aspect. We will host two of these professors and they will be joined
by organic farming expert, Adam Montri. Attendees will have the opportunity to
submit questions in advance, many of which will be answered by these experts
during a final Q & A session! Early registration (on or before March 31)
for MSU Horticulture Garden Member $70, Early registration (on or before March
31) for non-MSU Horticulture Garden Member $80 Registrations received after
March 31 $90
Contact:
Jennifer Sweet at 517-353-0443 or hgardens@msu.edu
Here’s a facebook page link for
gardeners in the Lapeer area. This link
has a lot of events listed on it.
Here’s a
link to all the nature programs being offered at Seven Ponds Nature center in
Dryden, Michigan. http://www.sevenponds.org/
Here’s a
link to classes being offered at Campbell’s Greenhouse, 4077 Burnside Road,
North Branch.
Here’s a
link to classes and events at Nichols Arboretum, Ann Arbor
Here’s a
link to programs being offered at English Gardens, several locations in
Michigan.
Here’s a
link to classes at Telly’s Greenhouse in Troy and Shelby Twsp. MI, and now
combined with Goldner Walsh in Pontiac MI.
Here’s a
link to classes and events at Bordines, Rochester Hills, Grand Blanc, Clarkston
and Brighton locations
Here’s a
link to events at the Leslie Science and Nature Center, 1831 Traver Road Ann
Arbor, Michigan | Phone 734-997-1553 |
http://www.lesliesnc.org/
Here’s a link to events at Hidden Lake Gardens, 6214
Monroe Rd, Tipton, MI
Here’s a
link to events and classes at Fredrick Meijer Gardens, Grand Rapids Mi
http://www.meijergardens.org/learn/ (888) 957-1580, (616) 957-1580
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.
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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