As a kid, I was fascinated and terrified by the idea of carnivorous plants. Growing up in suburban New Jersey, my only exposure to this particular subset of the plant kingdom was the ravenous, larger-than-life Venus fly trap in Little Shop of Horrors.
If I stumbled upon a carnivorous plant in real life, I wondered, would it have teeth? If I ventured too close, would it grab on to my finger and never let go? » Continue Reading.
The Warren County Master Gardener Training Program has announced they are now accepting applications for 2020 training. The program is open to anyone who has an interest in expanding their gardening experience and knowledge.
The Master Gardener Training Program provides attendees the opportunity to learn how to improve their gardens and landscapes by sharing information with fellow-Master Gardeners during the training, and following the training, by participating in community-based horticultural programs, educational projects and helping people in the community with their gardening questions. » Continue Reading.
Champlain Area Trails (CATS) is set to host a hike led by Audrey Hyson, Saturday, August 17, on the Flying Squirrel Trail, between Westport and Essex.
Hyson writes the “Everyday Naturalist” column for Adirondac magazine and is an experienced naturalist. » Continue Reading.
Cornell Cooperative Extension has announced a class on managing Fruit Trees has been set for Thursday, August 22nd, from 4 to 6 pm.
Market growers as well as the general public are invited. The class will be led by Michael Basedow, Cornell Cooperative Extension Tree Fruit Specialist with the Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program. » Continue Reading.
The lily, native around the world in the temperate parts of the northern hemisphere, has been an important cultural icon for millennia. Depending where you stand on the globe, it can represent humility, purity, unbridled sexuality, the Province of Québec, wealth, or a thriving garden, to name but a few possibilities.
The flower is mentioned in The New Testament, such as in Matthew 6:26: “Behold the lilies of the field: They toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” The message, as I understand it, is that one should not waste energy worrying how to clothe oneself, because even wild lilies are garbed well. » Continue Reading.
Applications are now available for a raised bed plot in the Warrensburgh Community Garden. The garden is the first element of the Paper Mill Park to be completed this year by the Town Parks & Recreation Department on the Schroon River. » Continue Reading.
If your community was recently treated to a bit of Adirondack snow, planning your summer garden is just the thing to get the focus back on spring. It’s interesting to hear the “ole timers” refer to late seasonal snow as “poor man’s fertilizer.”
Even if that spring snow helps add nutrients to my garden soil, I want all my seasons to have an end. So while I wait, I plan my garden. » Continue Reading.
Warrensburgh Beautification is set to host its Annual Spring Membership Meeting & Presentation on Wednesday evening, May 1 at Glen Lodge Bed & Breakfast in Warrensburg. » Continue Reading.
It is snowing at my house and making it a bit challenging to get into my springtime mindset. The skiing is still fantastic, but I look at my seedlings and plant cuttings and wonder when I’ll be able to finally put them in the ground.
Spring fever is running rampant and one way to cure those blues is to look for spring in other corners of the Adirondacks. » Continue Reading.
Whether you own acres of land or have a small flower garden, you have an important role to play in creating spaces that support wildlife. As our forests become more fragmented, its critical to start looking toward our front and back yards, and even our patios, to consider managing these spaces for biodiversity. » Continue Reading.
Typically the Warren County Soil & Water Conservation District’s annual seedling sale has a few trees and shrubs leftover. In order to preserve these specimens the District had started a small arboretum and garden on the grounds to grow the specimens for use on one of the many erosion control projects we work on each year or they are donated for community plantings.
In 2018, after staff hand tilled a 400 sq. ft. field plot and planted these homeless bare root specimens, employees came into work on the following Monday with the intent of watering the plants. Instead they found nearly fifteen one-foot-diameter soil craters with broken and torn sapling roots, revealing they had been stripped from the ground. » Continue Reading.
Every winter brings its annual a-salt on roads and walkways. In icy conditions, salt may be necessary for safety, but too much of it is worse than a bad pun. Cars, equipment, and concrete suffer in obvious ways, but damage to trees and other woody plants is less visible. Salt injures trees and shrubs by several means.
When road-salt spray hits twigs, buds and, in the case of evergreens, foliage, such direct contact causes yellowing of needles, and subsequent death of evergreen twigs and limbs. It also leads to stunted or deformed growth, such as witches’ brooms, on hardwoods. Severe or repeated direct exposure, especially for sensitive species like white pine or cedar, can kill the whole tree. » Continue Reading.
Poinsettias are among the most popular potted flowering or foliage plants of the Christmas Season. They have been for decades. According to the most recent United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics available, the wholesale value of U.S. grown poinsettias was roughly $140 million in 2015; $143.7 million in 2014. (By comparison, the 2015 wholesale value of orchids was about $288.3 million; chrysanthemums, $16.7 million; Easter lilies, $24.3 million.)
Long-recognized as the largest and most successful poinsettia breeder in the world, Paul Ecke Ranch in Encinitas, California was founded in 1924, by German immigrant entrepreneurs who moved to the US in 1902. For three generations, the Ecke family grew and sold poinsettias; first as field-grown landscape and mother plants and as cut flowers and, eventually, as greenhouse-grown stock plants. They moved their stock production facility to Guatemala during the 1990s and, in 2012, sold the business and the name. The leadership team stayed on. » Continue Reading.
In winter, when we spend most of our time indoors, houseplants can add beauty, color, warmth, and contrast to living spaces. Several scientific studies indicate that they improve indoor air quality, too.
Successful houseplant horticulture doesn’t have to be difficult. You need to start with plants that are healthy and free of pests. And you need to understand how indoor environments affect plant growth. Even healthy plants may not survive (and certainly won’t thrive), unless they’re given the amounts of humidity, light, water, and fertilizer that they require. » Continue Reading.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced a final Order on Consent, including a $2,500 penalty, with Tennessee Wholesale Nursery, LLC, Dennis Sons, and Tammy Sons for violating New York’s invasive species regulations.
The Tennessee nursery transported eastern hemlock seedlings infested with hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), a prohibited invasive species, to Oswego and Schenectady counties. Under the terms of the order, the nursery is required to provide DEC with monthly nursery stock orders for New York State through 2020 in order to continue doing business in New York State. » Continue Reading.
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