07/2016 © Kim Willis - no
parts of this newsletter may be used without permission.
Hi Gardeners
We did not get much rain this weekend – sprinkles that’s
all. The last time we had a good rain
was almost 2 weeks ago and things are starting to brown up fast. Corn is rolling up in the fields, and that
means it’s dry and hot. I am hoping we
get some rain in the next few days. We
have slight chances every day for a while.
I bought an inexpensive hose timer. You attach a hose that’s hooked to a sprinkler
for example and set the dial to water for various time periods. No electricity or batteries required. It was $10.99 and well worth it. I do hate hooking the hose up to sprinklers
though. I wait as long as I can but if
you want to keep things blooming and green it’s sometimes necessary.
Things are maturing very fast now from the heat I
guess. Blooming in the garden are
sunflowers, oriental lilies, rose of Sharon, Joe Pye weed, morning glories,
canna, coneflowers, rudbeckia, veronica and many other things. I have been picking green peppers and cukes,
and we will probably have sweet corn before next week. I have large tomatoes ripening but the vines
are starting to get early blight. We
will be picking blackberries this week.
I’m getting a few raspberries, but like last year Japanese beetles are
damaging them.
My garden is very weedy right now. I spend so much time watering I am falling
behind in weeding. I have gourds,
tomatoes and cleome coming up from seed everywhere, even in flower pots. Don’t leave your decorative gourds in the
compost pile if you use the compost for potting plants.
I keep my bird feeders filled through summer and they
attract many kinds of birds. I put out
grape jelly, hummingbird sugar water, suet and sunflower seed. Lately, about the same time each day I see a
chipmunk visiting the bird feeder outside my home office window. He climbs right up the metal pole holding the
feeder. I should be trying to catch the
bugger, but if he stays out of the house I may let him live. He does chase birds away though.
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| Chipmunk at feeder- taken through window screen. |
The Eastern Michigan State fair is this week, through
Saturday at the Imlay City Fairgrounds, Lapeer County. It’s one of the biggest county fairs in the
state. There’s a big Master Gardener
building at this fair. This fair has
free parking and a one price for everything admission, (which varies by day),
including rides. Thursday is free for veterans. Why not take a trip to the fairgrounds this
week?
Menstrual
blood in the garden?
You may have heard of saving your urine for the garden
but the latest fad sweeping the “natural” garden set and much talked about in
social media is the use of menstrual blood to fertilize the garden.
The author of one article I read used a menstrual “cup”
to collect her blood and then mixed it with water and sprinkled it on
lettuce. Another person said she soaked cloths
used for menstruation in water and used that water on plants. Some of you are gagging right now. I don’t blame you.
There is so much wrong with this that I don’t know
where to start. And it’s not about
menstrual shaming either. But let’s start here.
Why do doctors and nurses wear gloves when they handle any body
fluids? Because body fluids can carry
disease. And doctors or nurses aren’t
even eating those body fluids.
If you are the only person eating from a garden
sprinkled with your body fluids then you probably won’t have any problems. But children, older adults and immune compromised
people should never eat anything contaminated with body fluids/feces from other
humans, and that includes menstrual blood, urine and feces (poop). And to use such fluids on things like
lettuce, things that are not cooked before consumption, is just asking for
trouble.
Yes body fluids are usually sterile when in the
body. But the minute they hit a canal
exposed to the outer world like your vagina, urethra or rectum they are
contaminated. Things that can be found
in body fluids and feces that could cause trouble are hepatitis (several kinds),
HIV, cytomegalovirus, salmonella, Giardia, Campylobacter infection, Cryptosporidium,
shigella, E. coli, and a few more exotic things.
Some disease organisms and parasites are killed with a
few minutes of exposure outside of the body, but many are quite persistent. That’s why we periodically have food borne
illness outbreaks that come from fruits and vegetables.
You may think you are perfectly healthy and your body
fluids and feces are harmless. But many
people are unaware of illnesses and parasites they may be carrying. And all people carry such things as E. coli,
many strains are harmless but people carrying a harmful strain may not have any
symptoms. When someone with a compromised immune system becomes infected after
consuming contaminated products, the results can be serious illness or death.
Your body fluids and feces may also contain medications
you take and things like heavy metals you are exposed to. Adding these to the garden where they are
exposed to other things, and can breakdown and combine with other products is
also unwise. And to me that certainly
doesn’t sound like organic gardening, where chemicals are not wanted.
It’s always recommended to keep pet feces and urine out
of gardens because some diseases and parasites can be transmitted from them to
you. And even livestock manure should be composted first or put on the garden
in the fall, after harvest is complete.
We know that gardeners can’t keep every bird or stray animal
out of the garden. But we should do
everything we can to minimize exposure to disease and parasites and that means
keeping human body fluids and feces out of the food garden at the least. If you want to sprinkle menstrual blood on
your roses fine, but remember someone handling those roses and then eating
without washing their hands could have a problem.
People argue that using menstrual blood is no different
than using blood meal. But blood meal you
purchase at a store is usually dried at high heat to minimize pathogens. So are commercial fertilizers made from sewage.
Saying people used to do it, or that other countries do
it isn’t a valid argument either. People
died from diseases caused by poor sanitation- which includes using body waste
on food crops- in great numbers in the “good old days”. People in poor countries still die from poor
sanitation like this.
Recycling is a fine idea. Add your menstrual blood/ urine/feces to a
compost pile that heats up and let them sit for several months if you must
recycle your own waste. But be aware
there may be laws against using human waste in home composting.
Commercial fruit and vegetable growers who want to sell
to large stores must get “certified” as to safe food handling/growing
practices. They are require to have
porta potties and hand washing facilities in fields for workers and if an
inspector finds “evidence” or sees someone using the field as a toilet they won’t
be certified. I’d like to think that small
growers and home gardeners take at least the same care as the large growers.
I wash all produce and fruit from my own garden or that
I buy before eating it and I suggest you do too. Washing properly removes most contamination. But
even washed produce has been known to transmit diseases. Organic produce is just as liable, if not
more so, to transmit disease as conventionally grown produce. Thinking about a person offering lettuce for
sale at a farmers market that they fertilized with their menstrual blood makes
me feel ill.
Personally I don’t want to eat from anyone’s garden
that uses their own waste on food crops. And you can be assured that if I offer you
tomatoes from my garden they haven’t been sprinkled with menstrual blood.
Cannas-
Bold and Beautiful
If you crave bold accents and lush tropical foliage in
your northern garden then cannas are the plants for you. These bold beauties have made a big come back
and canna rhizomes of choice varieties regularly sell out in stores and
catalogs. Cannas are easy to grow,
relatively inexpensive, and dramatic additions to tired old flowerbeds. With a huge selection of flower and leaf
colors, there is sure to be a canna that will add pizzazz to your garden.
Tall cannas are accent plants in garden borders, the center
of island beds or back of other beds. There are cannas for large spaces and
tiny cannas just right for containers.
While the flowers of some varieties of cannas are the show, in others
it’s the huge, tropical appearing foliage.
The foliage is often more dramatic than the flowers. Some new varieties have wonderful foliage
and beautiful flowers.
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| Canna flower |
Tall cannas can also be used as a screen, or flowering
hedge. Smaller cannas can be used
anywhere in beds to give late summer color, for foliage color and texture, and
are excellent for containers. Cannas can
also be used as accent plants in water or bog gardens.
Canna
culture
Cannas will grow almost anywhere, in Michigan they are
a summer flowering plant whose rhizomes can be easily lifted and stored in the
winter. Occasionally in a sheltered spot
cannas will even over winter in the ground.
And cannas are indeed tropical plants, flourishing in heat and humidity.
Canna leaves are usually large and broad, with a heavy
rib down the center. They can be various
shades of green, burgundy and red often with splashes of white or yellow or
stripes of color following the leaf veins.
Depending on variety, cannas grow from 16 inches to 10 foot in height. The rhizomes increase horizontally
underground, throwing up new shoots until the plant becomes a huge clump.
The flowers of cannas come near the end of summer, on
long stalks at the top of the plant.
They are often described as orchid like- or gladiolus like. They can be large and striking in modern varieties
but may be smaller and less glamorous in some older cannas. Canna flowers come in all colors and color
combinations except blue, purple or true white.
Canna seed is a hard, round, black ball which gives cannas the common
name of Indian Shot.
Cannas are usually purchased as bare rhizomes in the
north, or as potted plants. Look for
rhizomes that are large and firm with two or more buds on them. Start rhizomes indoors about 6 weeks before
your last frost in pots of good, rich potting soil. The pots should be in a warm, sunny area and
kept well-watered. The rhizomes may
also be planted directly in the ground after the last frost when the ground is
warm, but they may be slow to start growth and late to bloom.
Cannas may survive zone 5 winters in a protected area,
although they are so slow to start growing in the spring that they seldom have
time to bloom before fall. It is better
to dig up the rhizomes and store them over winter.
Cannas give a lot to the garden but they are greedy
guests needing lots of sun, lots of moisture, lots of heat, lots of fertilizer
and organic matter. Rich, moist soil in
full sunlight is ideal for cannas.
Cannas will even do well in pots sitting in water if there is some soil
above the water line. Fertilize cannas
once a month with a fertilizer formulated for flowers and water frequently for
spectacular results.
In zones 6 and lower, when a frost has killed the canna
foliage, carefully dig up the rhizomes.
You will probably find a few more than you planted. Shake off the dirt and allow the rhizomes to
dry in the sun a few days. Don’t allow
them to get frosted or frozen while drying.
Then store the rhizomes in a cool, but frost-free place in sand, peat or
vermiculite. Before planting you can
divide large rhizomes as long as each piece has at least one bud, preferably
two, to a section. You can trade or give
away the excess if you have more than you care to plant.
Some
varieties
There are so many wonderful cannas on the market now
that you will be tempted to become a collector.
Small canna varieties include, ‘Dwarf
Wyoming’- gold flowers and dark maroon veined foliage, ‘Pink Surprise’- hot pink flowers edged with yellow, green foliage, ‘Bankok’- bright yellow flowers and
green foliage striped with white, and ‘Lucifer’-one of the smallest, scarlet
red flowers touched with gold and green foliage.
Large canna plants include; ‘Australia’- almost black foliage and hot red flowers, ‘Tropical Sunrise‘- a blend of peach,
pink and yellow flowers with green foliage, ‘Cleopatra’-
an always changing mosaic of red and yellow flowers and green leaves marked
with purple in various patterns, ‘Constitution’
has narrower leaves than other cannas in an odd gray- purple shade and pastel
pink flowers, “Ermine’ has very pale,
almost white flowers. green leaves, ‘Tropicana’-
leaves boldly striped in yellow and red on a purple background and screaming
orange flowers, ‘Stuttgart’- lovely
green foliage variegated with white, peach colored flowers, and the classic ‘King Humbert’- golden yellow flowers
with red spots and green leaves.
Some extreme cannas grown for their foliage are ‘Musafolia’- up to 10 foot high with
huge broad leaves that are green edged with red, and ‘Intrique’- a canna with unusual narrow, gray green leaves that
grows up to 7 foot tall.
Lemon
Balm- Light and Lively
Lemon Balm is another herb that anyone can grow in the
garden. With its lovely lemony flavor it
complements many dishes. It has many
medicinal uses and is currently being studied for use in suppressing tumors,
and in HIV, Herpes, and Alzheimer’s treatment.
Lemon Balm is so easy to grow that many people consider it invasive.
Lemon Balm, Melissa
officinalis, is a member of the mint family. Several species are native to
Europe. It will happily grow anywhere in
zone 3-9. It is commercially grown in
many areas.
The plant has square stems like most mints; the leaves
are dark green, broadly oval with toothed edges. Lemon balm grows to about 2 foot tall when it
is in a spot it likes. In midsummer
Lemon Balm begins blooming, with small spikes of pale yellow flowers arising
from where the leaf joins the stem. The
flowers are tiny but are loved by bees which flock to the plants.
The Lemon Balm plant is not very attractive as garden
plants go, but it does have that delightful aroma of lemon when the leaves are
handled. It spreads quickly through the
garden by seed and by runners and you will soon have many plants to share with
friends.
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| Lemon Balm |
Growing
and Harvesting Lemon Balm
Most gardeners will start with Lemon Balm plants;
anyone who has the plant should be able to give you a seedling in the
spring. They are perennial, dying back
to the ground each winter. Large clumps
of Lemon Balm can also be divided.
Lemon Balm prefers full sun although it will tolerate partial
shade. It will grow in almost any
soil. For the best plants a well
draining, moderately rich soil in full sun, and watering when conditions are
very dry is preferred. After frost has
killed the foliage cut off the stems to the ground.
The leaves of Lemon Balm can be harvested at any
time. Most of the active ingredients
are found in the leaves, although flowers are also good as a dried herb. The flowers are edible. Simply remove the leaves needed from the
plant or if you have an abundance of plants you can pull whole plants. Leaves
and flowers can be used fresh or dried.
Using
Lemon Balm
The active ingredients in Lemon Balm include terpenes,
tannins and eugenol. In traditional
herbal medicine Lemon Balm was usually a complementary addition to other
herbs. The lemony flavor helped make
other herbal medications easy to take.
Lemon Balm is mildly sedative and helps decrease anxiety and aid sleep. It is used to aid in gas and colic
relief. Lemon Balm leaves were also
crushed and warmed to use as a poultice on wounds.
A current popular use is a lotion or cream containing
Lemon Balm that is used on cold sores and other Herpes sores. Cooled Lemon Balm tea can also be used on
sores. It does not control pain but
speeds healing. Much research is being
focused on the anti-viral properties of Lemon Balm in Herpes and HIV treatment.
Other research is focusing on Lemon Balms ability to
aid memory and restore some cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients. Some research suggests that Lemon Balm may
destroy certain tumors.
Lemon Balm is a
mosquito repellant when rubbed on the skin.
Lemon Balm is also used in potpourri.
Lemon Balm has many culinary uses, wherever lemon
flavor is required in cooking it can be substituted for lemon. The essential oils from the plant are used in
a wide variety of things from perfume and cosmetics to furniture polish.
To make a tea with Lemon Balm use about a cup of fresh,
crushed leaves to a pint of boiling water and steep. Use about a teaspoon of dried herb to a cup
of boiling water. Strain and sweeten if
desired. Adult dosage of tea should be
limited to about 4 cups per day, children about a cup. Lemon Balm is available
in the market place as dried herb, extract, essential oil, capsules and lotions. Follow dosage directions on the labels.
An old recipe for using Lemon Balm as a cooling drink
includes a bottle of claret wine, a couple cups of crushed lemon balm leaves, a
sliced orange, a half of a sliced, peeled
cucumber, and a half cup of sugar.
All ingredients are mixed together and allowed to steep for a day in a
cool place, then the liquid is strained and poured over ice.
Cautions
Before using Lemon Balm preparations on the skin test a
small area of skin for allergies. Pregnant
and nursing women should consult with a doctor before using Lemon Balm.
Some medications may interact with Lemon Balm, in
particular thyroid medications, and if you are on medications you should
consult with your doctor before using Lemon Balm.
The
Bindweeds
Bindweed is a common name and it can cover several
species of plants. Your bindweed may not
be my bindweed. What these plants have
in common is an amazing tenacity in smothering our garden plants and resisting
eradication. Some bindweeds have pretty
flowers and some people consider them to be wildflowers.
The
morning glory family
True morning glories are in the Ipomoea family. They include the morning glories we grow in
our gardens as ornamentals and that have large flowers in a variety of
colors. As any gardener knows who has
planted morning glories they have a tendency to re-seed and come back in abundance,
sometimes to the point of nuisance. After a few years of coming back from seed
morning glories tend to revert back to the smaller, purple flowered, wild
version. However pink and other colors may linger for many years.
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| Morning Glory |
Morning glories can become a weed, if you mean they are
unwanted where they are. They can
smother plants every bit as easily as the other bindweeds. All parts of the morning glory are poisonous and the seeds can
cause hallucinations.
Morning glories are annual plants that reproduce by
seed. The leaves of common morning glory,
Ipomoea purpurea are heart
shaped. The flowers of various colors
are trumpet shaped and in wild types about 1 ½ inches across. Cultivated types have larger flowers. Morning glory flowers open in the morning and
close by mid-afternoon except in the cool shorter days of early autumn when
they may remain open most of the day.
One other morning glory family member is sometimes
found in the north east, Ivyleaf morning glory.
The flowers are similar to common morning glory but they are blue when
they first open and change to a rose purple.
The leaves have 3 lobes, similar to ivy and are covered with fine hairs.
The tenacious vines of morning glory can climb 10 feet
or more. They will also sprawl along the
ground. They will cover other plants and
stunt their growth and sometimes even kill them.
Control of morning glories is to try and prevent them
from going to seed by plucking off spent flowers or cutting the plants down
before they go to seed. You must be vigilant
in pulling seedlings as soon as they emerge and they will continue to sprout
long into summer. Once the plants twine
about other plants they are difficult to remove without damaging the plant and
you cannot use weed killers if there are plants you want present.
Hedge
and field bindweed
These plants belong to the Calystegia or Convolvulus family. The flowers are very similar to morning glory
flowers but smaller and they are often called wild morning glories. They are also called Devil’s vine for good
reason.
Hedge bindweed, Calystegia
sepium, has small ½ inch trumpet shaped white or pink flowers. The leaves are arrow shaped, with a pointed
front and the two lobes of the back are squared with points on each side. Hedge bindweed has leaf bracts which cover
the base of the flower and its sepals.
 |
| Hedge bindweed |
Field bindweed,
Convolvulus arvensis has even
smaller, usually white, flowers and smaller leaves. The leaves have a rounded point in the front
and the 2 lobes in back also come to a point.
Hedge bindweed is often seen
climbing high into plants or on fences.
Field bindweed does climb plants but also makes mats along the ground.
Both field and hedge bindweed are perennials and they
spread by both seeds and rhizomes. Any
tiny piece of the roots (rhizomes) left in the ground will start a new
plant. And the plants return each year
if not totally removed. While the
tendency to smother and overpower other plants is less than that of morning
glories the name bindweed describes what the plants do. They keep flowers from opening and bind
plants into a messy thicket, preventing good air flow. Removing the twining
stems can damage the plants they are climbing on.
The
buckwheat family
Wild buckwheat, Polygonum
convolvulus, is also frequently called bindweed. It is not related to cultivated buckwheat, a
grain crop. There are other plants
called wild buckwheat to add to the confusion, but those are not generally
found in Michigan.
Farmers and gardeners greatly dislike wild buckwheat as
it climbs desirable plants, strangling and shading them and it interferes with
mechanical harvesting of crops. It occurs throughout the entire United States. Wild buckwheat grows in any kind of soil,
prefers sun but will survive shade, and may be found anywhere from gardens to
crops to roadsides.
 |
| Buckwheat bindweed |
The flowers of this bindweed (wild buckwheat) distinguish
it from other bindweeds. They are small,
flattened and greenish white knobs, inconspicuous clusters which arise out of
leaf joints near the top of the plant.
They are not showy and you will rarely notice them.
The wild buckwheat flowers turn into small hard, 3
sided dark brown to black seeds. Each is
enclosed in a papery pale green cover until it falls from the plant. The seeds can survive in the ground for many
years until a favorable time for germination.
The leaves of wild buckwheat are arrowhead shaped, with
a sharp tip and 2 points at the back which curve slightly toward each
other. The color is blue-green to green,
and young leaves may be slightly reddish on the back.
Wild buckwheat is a sprawling vine. In favorable conditions each plant can cover
6 feet or more of space. It is an annual
plant, appearing when the weather warms in May from seeds that over
winter. It prefers to climb on other
plants, wrapping its slender stems around them tightly, but it will scramble
good distances along the ground if there are no plants to climb.
Controlling
bindweeds
Don’t you hate it when someone says you can’t get rid
of it? All of the bindweeds are hard to
eradicate and most gardeners have to settle with just controlling them. As the weather turns hot we are less likely
to be out weeding and this is when bindweed populations grow quickly
You must be alert to the beginning growth of the plants
in late spring and keep pulling or cutting them. If the bindweeds get into the garden plants
you may want to trace the vines down to ground level and cut them off there
rather than trying to pull them off the plants.
After they have been cut and they dry for a few days they are easier to
remove. Pulling them off while green and
growing can damage your plants.
It’s extremely hard to pull up all of the bindweed
roots and treating with weed killers is difficult if they are among other,
wanted, plants. Mulch rarely controls them. Some people have dug up whole beds of perennials,
washed the roots, sifted the soil looking for bindweed pieces and still had
bindweed appear. That’s because it also
spreads by seed and it’s easy to miss minute root pieces.
Monitoring and cutting it off at ground level is your
best bet for control. The more you can
prevent it from going to seed and the more you can pull out of the ground the
less likely it is to increase its population.
But because it probably in the lawn or unused areas around the garden, total
eradication of any of the bindweeds is unlikely.
Rain
dancers needed, start immediately
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
susanmklaffer@yahoo.com Phone
810-664-8912
For Sale: I have baby parakeets for sale, hatched this
spring $10 each. They are not hand
fed. Beautiful colors, lutino, (yellow)
and shades of pale green, olive green, and sea green. Some I can sex now, others are a guess. You’ll need to bring your own cage. Parakeets are active birds that are a lot of
fun to watch. Call at 989-761-7609.
Also for sale Muscovy
ducklings, black laced, about a month old, fine to be without mom but you must
buy at least 2. Two for $20, each
additional $8. Can’t be sexed yet. Call the number above. Muscovy are flying ducks, large sized and
make good meat ducks. They do not quack-
and are very quiet.
Summer is
here! Our days are longer and there is more hours of light to enjoy being
outdoors. We welcome you to join us: experience nature and be inspired! Back
Track To Nature will offer programs on two of Lapeer Land Conservancy
properties. As well as at Three Roods Farm and the Tibbits Nature Sanctuary
both located in Columbiaville, MI.
We offer
environmental education programs for scouts, seniors, homeschoolers, garden
clubs, youth groups, retreats, special interest groups and we will tailor
programming to fit your specific needs.
A Council
of All Beings 10:30am - 4:30pm,Saturday, August 6, 2016 Three Roods Farm
A Great
Hundred Acre Wood Adventure ( Kids
program) 2pm - 3pm Sunday, August
14,2016 Tibbits Nature Sanctuary
Aldo
Leopold Bench Building Workshop 1:30pm
- 4:30pm, Saturday, August 27, 2016
Tibbits Nature Sanctuary
Reservations
are needed for all programs listed. Please call or email Karen at 810-969-1023 and
pagekp@gmail.com Directions to the
Tibbits Nature Sanctuary and Riseman Refuge will be given at the time of
registration. Thank you!
MSU Garden Day Sat, August 6, 8am-4:15 pm, MSU
Horticulture Gardens, 1066 Bogue St, East Lansing, MI
At this
conference you will be able to select your favorite garden-themed workshops and
enjoy two keynote presentations by David Culp. Pre- registration is $86 until
7/25 Go to http://www.hrt.msu.edu. To see the class selections and
register.
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 email address to me. KimWillis151@gmail.com
