The weekend we've all been waiting for is finally here! Garden Walk Buffalo will take place Saturday, July 30th and Sunday, July 31st from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Garden Walk Buffalo is a free, self-guided tour of more than 350 Buffalo gardens. The map can be downloaded here.
Treat yourself to the largest garden tour in America this weekend. Enjoy!
Insects in the garden
I’ve been hearing many new gardeners complain of insects in their gardens. Please, BEFORE you consider killing insects, FIRST identify them. Many insects are beneficial to the natural ecosystem. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a most effective way of managing your gardens. Please contact your local extension office for details.
I have been battling with Japanese beetles for two years, “controlling” them with pick and drown method. This is very time consuming and does not solve the problem. I see front yards with decimated trees and "Bag-a-Bug" dangling from the tree! Please don’t use these bags as they ATTRACT more beetles. After consulting with Linda Garwola, Master Gardener, I will be buying beneficial Nematodes.
Recently, I spotted this Tiger Swallowtail feasting on my Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea (Asteraceae). Nature is fascinating!
You Know You Are Addicted To Gardening When . . .
· Your neighbors recognize you in your pajamas, rubber clogs and a cup of
coffee.
· You drive around the neighborhood hoping to score “trash” to reuse in your garden.
· Your preferred winter reading material is seed catalogs.
· You grab other people's banana peels, coffee grinds, apple cores, etc. for
your compost pile.
· You have to wash your hair to get your fingernails clean.
· All your neighbors come and ask you questions.
· You know the temperature of your compost every day.
· You buy a bigger truck so that you can haul more trees, shrubs and mulch.
· You enjoy swatting Japanese beetles into soapy water and watching them drown.
· Your boss makes "taking care of the office plants" an official part of your
job description.
· Your non-gardening spouse becomes familiar in botanical names.
· You find yourself deadheading flowers wherever you
go.
· You dumpster-dive for discarded bulbs after commercial landscapers remove
them to plant annuals.
· You plan vacation trips around the locations of flower shows, botanical gardens, arboreta,
historic gardens, etc.
· You sneak home a 7 foot Japanese Maple and wonder if your spouse will
notice.
· When considering your budget, plants are more important than groceries.
· You always carry a shovel, bottled water and a plastic bag in your trunk as
emergency tools.
· You appreciate your Master Gardener/Certified Nursery Landscape Professional badge more than your jewelry.
· You spend more time chopping your kitchen greens for the compost pile than
for cooking.
· You like the smell of horse manure better than Estee Lauder.
· You rejoice in rain...even after 10 straight days of it.
· You have a compost container on your kitchen counter.
· Soil test results actually mean something.
· You'd rather go to a nursery to shop than a clothes store.
· You know that Seven is not a number.
· You take every single person who enters your house on a "garden tour."
Happy Gardening!
Summertime in the garden
It's officially summer, yeah! If your garden is like mine in zone 5, you'll see a bolt of new growth after the rains and warmer temperatures. The foxgloves are a "buzz"!
My newest addition from Turnbull's is a Esaplier Apple tree. Espalier refers to the way fruit trees are trained to grow against a wall. It makes the tree easier to prune and the fruit easier to pick. This decorative method was often used as a walled kitchen gardens and is perfectly suited to growing fruit in the smaller garden. An espalier tree has branches trained horizontally on either side of the stem to make a compact, but productive tree. My 4 foot tree has two tiers of branches with FOUR different varieties of apples.
I hope the critters don't make a pig out of themselves and save a few apples for me!
Odyssey to Ithaca
Join the Upstate Gardener's Journal on a bus trip to Ithaca on Saturday, June 4th. Highlights include visits to Cornell Plantations, Bakers' Acres, The Plantsmen Nursery and Bedlam Gardens.
I had the opportunity to go to Ithaca last week and visited Bakers' Acres and The Plantsmen Nursery. Fabulous places! Bakers' Acres had acres of perennials. Here are a few photos:
Did you ever hear of a swamp azalea? I bought one at the Plantsmen.
If you can't get on the bus, on June 11th go to the Garden Conservancy's Open Day Program in Tompkins County. Enjoy!
I had the opportunity to go to Ithaca last week and visited Bakers' Acres and The Plantsmen Nursery. Fabulous places! Bakers' Acres had acres of perennials. Here are a few photos:
Visit the Plantsmen Nursery for wonderful stone benches and a wide selection of native perennials:
If you can't get on the bus, on June 11th go to the Garden Conservancy's Open Day Program in Tompkins County. Enjoy!
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