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"!

Roses are amazing.  I bought this American rose at Menard's in Ohio for $4.99.  

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:

Visit the Plantsmen Nursery for wonderful stone benches and a wide selection of native perennials:

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!

Vegetables and Fruits Harvest Calendar

Growing and Tending Roses in western New York

On Saturday, May 14th, Lockwood's Nursery will host Caring for Roses with David Clark.  Registration information can be found on Lockwood's website.  

Check out this rose video for a sneak preview.

You may also be interested in the Living Social Deal at Lockwood's.  Hurry before they're all gone!

Second Annual Plant Exchange at the University at Buffalo, SUNY

You have two more weeks to sign up for the Plant Exchange at UB.  The event, sponsored by Professional Senate Staff, will be held on June 6th in 210 Student Union.  Email me at dbanach@buffalo.edu or tweet me @whitecatgarden if you would like a registration form or more information.

Here is a photo of the free magazines and a CD given to those that register.  The gifts were graciously donated by the publishers of the magazines.

Math made easy: How much soil, mulch or grass seed do you need?

Before your head out to your local garden center to buy soil or soil amendments, type in your garden measurements and find out how much you'll need to buy.  


The lawn seed wizard will help you determine how much lawn seed to buy and which type of grasses to use. 


Another good website will help you determine the amount of mulch to buy . Perhaps it may be best to a quarter of a cubic yard rather than multiple bags.  Remember the money you save you can use to buy more plants!  


How many plants to buy?  Depends on the area, size of the plant, etc.  Try the plant calculator or landscape calculator. Math isn't so bad after all.


Happy gardening!
Donna