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June 29, 2008
Walter Braun, My Green Dad
Master Gardener Column 6/28/08
When I was a teenager, my dad retired and moved our family of six from Maryland to Donation, Pennsylvania, a rural burg of three churches, two cemeteries, a couple dozen houses, a grange, and lots and lots of cows. Shortly upon settling in, the farmer from up the way brought over a load of cow manure to secure my dad's vote to change an almost century-old law against selling alcohol in Oneida Township. My dad wasn't enticed so much with the purchase of alcohol as the free manure that would be delivered annually to his small plot of land for the next 25 years.
As a teenager, I was baffled and perplexed by this move to nowhere. I couldn't figure out what my dad would do with himself in rural Pennsylvania, much less myself. Now, I'm beginning to understand how this urbanite, a native of New York City, with a career as a ballistics engineer with the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground, wanted to simplify his life, get back to the earth, tend his garden, grow lots of vegetables, and live at peace with the rhythms of nature. He had been "there and done that." Remembering that Braun is the German word for brown, in a way, he went from being Walter Braun to Walter Grün, becoming a master gardener without ever taking a class. Many of his gardening practices stemmed from his engineer's desire to figure things out, as well as concerns on how to send four teenagers off to college on a government pension.
One of his first projects was to build a little greenhouse, a lean-to affair attached to the house, made from discarded windows. Benches were simple, cinderblocks and boards. Plastic gallon milk jugs filled with water were stacked against the back wall for heat storage.
In this space, he started many vegetable and flower seedlings for the garden, and grew cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes for almost year- round harvest, the only slow time being in the dead of winter when day light was too short to produce much of a crop.
Every container that came into the house was potentially a pot for plants: plastic beer cups, the cut-off bottoms of milk contains, Styrofoam cups, egg cartons, yogurt containers, juice cartons, and used paper cups. With a nail he punched a hole in the bottom for drainage. He then filled these with his own home-made potting soil which was a mix of compost, garden soil, and sand. It was heavy but served its purpose.
Rather than buying flats of flowers, he potted a couple of geraniums in the fall, kept them in the greenhouse in the winter, and took cuttings in the spring. Every Memorial Day for over 25 years, geraniums graced the graves of my mom's relatives in the Boalsburg Cemetery, widely recognized as the birthplace of Memorial Day, the first celebration being held in 1864. Grave decorations were a big deal.
My dad was a devout composter, well aware that compost was the means to a healthy garden. Besides cow manure, vegetable scraps, lawn clippings, leaves, and coffee grounds were all heaped in a pile and eventually returned to the garden.
Even in rainy Pennsylvania, my dad had a rain barrel under every down spout for collecting run-off. He fashioned them from 55 gallon drums. During dry spells, he hand watered his garden by dipping water from the barrels.
Fancy garden gadgets were rarely purchased when cast off items would make do. To protect his newly planted tomatoes, squash and cucumbers from frost, he fashioned little hoop houses using old snow fencing. Plastic milk jugs filled with water were set near young transplants to trap heat. Bamboo, grown in an out-of-the-way spot, was cut for use as stakes, old panty hose for tying up tomatoes and cucumbers, and newspaper for mulch.
I'll never know if all of this were due to frugality, an ethic of not letting anything go to waste, or just plain old common sense. Whatever it was, Walter definitely had a green thumb and was living Grün long before anyone had ever heard of "reducing your carbon footprint."
Hattie Braun is the Master Gardener Coordinator for Coconino County Cooperative Extension. Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener volunteer, is coordinating editor for the Master Gardener Column. He can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For gardening questions, call the Master Gardener Hotline, 774-1868, x19, or visit MG Web site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.
Posted by maxmaddy at 7:53 PM
June 26, 2008
Olivia White Hospice Garden Project
We had a large crew this week in the garden and we focused on cleaning up the south Inferno Strip and surrounding beds. Vicki Goodwin, Linda Guarino, Marcia Lamkin, David Hockman, Karen Kent and myself remove bindweed, clover, dalamation toadflax and a variety of other weeds. We also moved some plants and added a few replacements for plants torn out by winter plows and perennials that have passed their prime. The drip was checked and seems to be working efficiently now - soil moist when digging for new plants. Elsie Ellis came and cleaned birdbaths while watering the east gardens. Joe Harte placed a new birdfood hook and continued to prune the trees. Zane and David brought out several visitors from the house.
On our monthly Saturday workday Cynthia Katte organized a small crew (Gloria Bradshaw and her husband and a new master gardener) to clean the shed & garage, watered the east gardens and continued to weed. I arrived late after the "Run for Life" and worked on getting rid of flea beetles on the cleome (Neem oil).
On Sunday, Laura Davis was in town from Tucson. We spent the morning touring Red Rock Lavender Farms in Concho, AZ. For the next couple of weeks they are doing tours and allowing cutting before closing to harvest their crops for products. Check out their web site at www.redrockfarms.com.
New plants:
Sweet potato vine, red salvia, lemon lily and cutleaf coneflower and hanging lobelia
New blooms:
Many new roses, native geraniums, cat and coyote mint
Yellow flowers on the tomatoes
Dalhia's and gladiolas beginning to pop up
Thank you:
Mike Neubauer for wildlife photography for the Garden Party
Cynthia Katte for getting things started for our Saturday workday
Events:
July 1, 2008
Exhibit at the Artist's Gallery for the month of raffle/auction items for the Garden Party
July 4, 2008 6pm-900pm
Raffle and Garden Party ticket sales at First Friday Artwalk
July 15, 2008 9am-1030am
Garden Party Planning Meeting
Late for the Train - highway 180
August 2, 2008 8am-500pm
10% Day for Northland Hospice at Warner's Nursery
August 17, 2008 230pm-500pm
Garden Party at Olivia White Hospice Home
Raffle/auction, hat contest, music, food, garden tours
Come join us this week on Thursday any time betwee 7am-11am. It is so warm that we will quit early. We also have our scheduled June Saturday workday from 9am-12pm. Come for any or all of that time. Our plans include continuing to work on drip lines to make sure they are on plants ( Inferno Strips), weeding (Norm's beds across from the south Inferno Strip), watering east gardens, cleaning bird baths and feeders, cleaning and moving some plants in the south Inferno Bed and cleaning the shed and greenhouse. Park in the 1st Congregational Church lot on Turquoise just past Switzer Canyon Drive. Bring a hat, gloves and any tools you prefer (we do have both) and sun screen (it should be hot). We will provide water and snacks.
Thanks,
Loni Shap
Posted by maxmaddy at 8:22 PM
June 24, 2008
Women's Shelter Workday and Planning Meeting
Linda Chan reports that five volunteers worked hard this past Saturday and accomplished a lot in the way of cleanup at the Women's Shelter.
We will scheduled another workday to finish what we started and we have schedule a planning meeting.
Women's Shelter Workday
Saturday, June 28
9:00 am
2100 Walgreen's
Please bring plenty of water!! It is hot out there!
Women's Shelter Planning Meeting
Tuesday, July 1
5:00 pm
Linda Chan's office - 3500 N. Fanning
For more information, call Linda Chan at is 380-2612 and email her at Linda Chan.
Posted by hbraun at 11:04 AM
June 23, 2008
Olivia White Hospice Garden Project
On Thursday 6/19 we were able to complete many tasks with a large crew. Gus Delgadillo came and cleaned birdbaths/filled feeders. He also helped Vicki Goodwin weed a large area, put down weed cloth and covered it with mulch.
One less area to weed regularly.
David Hockman did his usual hole digging and planted some new drought tolerant plants in the Inferno Strip (Russian Sage, Galliardia, Coreopsis and Globe Mallow). Sara Clancy continued to help with annual plantings by the Gazebo, our succulent strawberry pot and a large pot on the back patio. She also found time to deadhead the many iris in the garden. Linda Guarino and Nancy Palmer worked on improving the drip emitters in the Faerie Garden.
Sara and Vicki also fed most of the roses in the gazebo gardens. I spent most of my time finding work for everyone to do and watering new plantings. Resolution for next year: wait to plant annuals until the monsoons arrive.
New plants:
Russian sage, coreopsis, galliardia, globe mallow, tufted evening primrose,
Cukes, zucchini, summer & winter squash, armenian cuke, crookneck squash
Color pots for the bakers rack in the tea garden
Cleome
Succulents for the strawberry pot
New blooms:
Almost too numerous to mention - many roses, centaura, Maltese cross, fireweed, ox-eyed daisy, sulfer buckwheat
Thank you:
Tickets for the Grand Canyon Railway for the Garden Party
The Arboretum at Flagstaff for putting up our Art display in June for the Garden Party
Bobby Craven and Hattie Braun for help with the Garden Party mailings
Ellie Foster for selling raffle tickets for the Garden Party at 1st Friday art walk
Nancy Swann for donating a giclee print for the Garden Party
Events:
July 4, 2008 6pm-900pm
Raffle and Garden Party ticket sales at First Friday Artwalk
August 2, 2008 8am-500pm
10% Day for Northland Hospice at Warner's Nursery
August 17, 2008 230pm-500pm
Garden Party at Olivia White Hospice Home
Raffle/auction, hat contest, music, food, garden tours
Come join us this week on Thursday any time betwee 7am-11am. It is so warm that we will quit early. We also have our scheduled June Saturday workday from 9am-12pm. Come for any or all of that time. Our plans include continuing to work on drip lines to make sure they are on plants ( Inferno Strips), weeding (Norm's beds across from the south Inferno Strip), watering east gardens, cleaning bird baths and feeders, cleaning and moving some plants in the south Inferno Bed and cleaning the shed and greenhouse. Park in the 1st Congregational Church lot on Turquoise just past Switzer Canyon Drive. Bring a hat, gloves and any tools you prefer (we do have both) and sun screen (it should be hot). We will provide water and snacks.
Thanks,
Loni Shapiro
Posted by maxmaddy at 8:08 PM
June 22, 2008
Our Dog, Roxie, The Existentialist
Master Gardener Column 6/21/08
Our dog, Roxie, the existentialist, is neither a theoretician nor an historian. She doesn't deal with first principles or precedents, instead she lives in the moment. As I scratch her ruff, run my hands through the soft hair around her neck, and cradle her head, her pink nose glows with a moist luminescence, twitching in the breeze. As she and I luxuriate in the moment, we talk "of many things: of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings." She's our therapy dog.
She has a few bad memories, the Dalmatian that attacked her after we adopted her and before that the car that struck her, depriving her of a front leg. Now and then, she whimpers in her dreams, but also in those same dreams she runs through the fields on all four legs. Other than that, her world is now which is also one of the blessings of gardening, gardeners being existentialists, too.
A dog's low forehead is a dead giveaway. They don't have much of a cerebral cortex. A consequence of our massive cerebral cortices is that we worry. We stew about our yesterdays and fret about our tomorrows. We worry so much that we forget to enjoy the now, walking by a bouquet of roses without stopping to smell them.
As with Roxie, gardening is therapeutic. It brings us back to the present away from our indignations, worries, and ideologies. Getting down and dirty is not only good for the body, but the soul as well.
While Roxie isn't a powerhouse cognitively, she has a lot more emotional intelligence than most cognitive powerhouses I know. She senses people up fast, sniffs out fraud, and listens for tone rather than content, knowing the real message is in how it's said not in what's said.
Physiologically, we return to sanity by activating our neurons as we dig in the dirt, and with that we increase our serotonin which brings us a feeling of well-being and a shot for the immune system. Not bad for a little work with a spade.
It all starts with dirt, like sticking a spade in it and turning it. Then it goes on to the pleasures of physical sensations, like taste, smell, sound, touch, and sight. It's downright impossible to walk by a Galina tomato vine, a Siberian, dripping with golden cherry tomatoes without popping a few in the mouth. Once the molars squish that orb and juice squirts onto every taste bud in the mouth, the saliva begins to flow, carrying with it a tingling taste of acidity along the sides of the tongue and a soothing touch of sweetness on the tip, then one has had an existential moment.
Those existential moments are also therapeutic moments when feeling with our senses, we are drawn out of our private caverns of regret and indignation. The "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" always draw us back into those dismal recesses where we survive as the victims of our phantoms and shadows. The sensory delights and physical pleasures of gardening in the sunlight beckon us out of those Platonic caves, affording us the possibility of prevailing over the past to become pilgrims with a future rather than prisoners isolated by the eclipses of the past.
To smell a rose is to release anxiety. To bite into a fresh tomato is to relish the immediate. To spade the earth is to activate neurons and increase serotonin. And there's something else. It's in caring for something or someone else besides ourselves. Far better than the illusions of self-image and self-esteem, the key to a life lived at the full is in focusing on something outside ourselves. A sense of ourselves and our dignity rest in the value of that to which we give ourselves.
Gardeners leave the world better for their presence, at least those gardeners who don't blanket their gardens with pesticides. As an avocation, gardening enriches the world. Luxuriating in the moment, gardeners do well by doing good, believing as did Albert Camus that deep in our wintered spirits, there is within us "an invincible summer."
Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener volunteer and coordinating editor of the Master Gardener Column for Coconino County Cooperative Extension, can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For gardening questions, call the Master Gardener Hotline, 774-1868, x19, or visit MG Web site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.
Posted by maxmaddy at 5:43 PM
June 16, 2008
The Treasure of Heirloom Seeds
If you are looking for a new gardening adventure, consider planting heirloom varieties with an eye towards seed saving next fall. Heirloom varieties produce an incredible array of vegetables and herbs with unique colors, shapes and flavors. With imaginative names like Veracruz Pepita winter squash, Glasnost Siberian tomato, Four Corners Jacob's Cattle beans, and Mrs Burns' Famous Lemon Basil, heirloom seeds provide a rainbow of genetic diversity, diversity that is rapidly disappearing worldwide. Seed saving allows you to participate in a centuries-old ritual of sustainability.
Most commercial seeds are hybrids bred anew every year by crossing two or more parent varieties. In contrast, open-pollinated varieties are grown out over several generations to ensure that they breed true-to-type. Heirlooms are open-pollinated varieties that have been replanted for generations, sometimes centuries. Over time, seed saving facilitates the evolution of new varieties that are best adapted to your garden's microclimates.
The easiest seeds to save include dry beans and peas and summer and winter squash. These seeds are big and easy to handle. Choose the best of the harvest for seed saving to ensure that you preserve desirable characteristics. Because peas and summer squash are eaten while immature, a few pods and fruits must be allowed to mature to develop viable seeds. To save beans and peas for replanting, allow them to dry in the pod. Harvest the pods and shell them. To save squash seeds, scoop them out and spread in a single layer on a plate to dry for a few days. Place seeds in small plastic bags or jars, label, and store in a dry, dark, cool location.
Last year, I received several heirloom varieties of winter squash and dry beans as a gift from David Pecusa, a 32-year-old Hopi and Akimel O'odham man. David's farm near Bacavi on Third Mesa is an inheritance from a great grandfather who first farmed the land in the1920's. I met David last year when he was a student in a permaculture certification course I co-taught with fellow Flagstaff permaculturist Josh Robinson. David likes to grow heirloom varieties of Hopi colored corn, beans, squash and melons. He is a prolific seed saver.
In June, David distributed two dry bean varieties among class members, with the hope that we would save seeds for replanting. One is a white pinto-type variety with deep magenta blotches. The other is a Hopi heirloom David called mawingwa. It is lavender with deep purple stripes. I felt like I was handling precious gems. Grasshoppers almost devoured my bean plants during July's drought, but I managed to multiply my supply for replanting this year. David's garden is at a much lower elevation than Flagstaff, so the plants that survived are undoubtedly more cold-hardy than the ones that died.
In October, David presented me with seven large (and I mean large!) winter squash and pumpkins from his garden. They had beautifully-textured skins in mottled shades of green, gray and orange. Some were round, some oval, some pear-shaped. One variety came from David's uncle on the Gila River Indian Community near Phoenix. Others were Hopi and Acoma varieties. One variety David originally purchased from Native Seeds/SEARCH (www.nativeseeds.org), a nonprofit conservation organization in Tucson that collects heirloom seeds from Southwestern Native American and Hispanic farmers.
In addition to David's seeds, I saved seeds last year from two Japanese kabocha squash that grew almost unnoticed on a single plant in my community garden's compost bin. The compost pile was only watered a couple times during June, so the squash appears to be an extra-hardy strain that does not require a lot of care. Kabocha squash are a small, round winter variety with dark green skin and dense, sweet, deep orange flesh that is perfect for baking or making pumpkin pie.
A couple of additional heirloom seed sources I really like:
Seed Savers Exchange (www.seedsavers.org), Decorah, IA
Seeds Trust (www.seedstrust.com), Cornville, AZ
Lisa Rayner is a Flagstaff author whose books include Growing Food in the Southwest Mountains. For more information, visit www.LisaRayner.com.
Lisa Rayner is a Master Gardener volunteer. Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener volunteer, is coordinating editor for the Master Gardener Column. He can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For gardening questions, call the Master Gardener Hotline, 774-1868, x19, or visit MG Web site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.
Posted by maxmaddy at 8:33 PM
Olivia White Hospice Garden Project
On Thursday several of our regular crew (Karen Kent, Nancy Palmer, Elsie Ellis, Gus Delgadillo) continued work in the hospice garden. Karen worked in connecting emittters for several new plants and with Nancy on the drip emitters for the south Inferno Strip, Karen & Nancy are learning how to turn on 7 of the stations for the drip. Yeah! It is good to have back up in case I ever go on vacation again.
Sara Clancy,one of our new volunteers, spent most of her time planting annual pots and some of our CSA plants. We also had a donation of violets and lemon lilies from a family from the house we needed to find homes for. Gus spent his time with the bird feeders and baths and manage to find time to plant a new native elderberry tree. Elsie did her usual watering of the east gardens. As usual, I spent most of my time running from here to there, not finishing much of anything.
We had a visit from Joanne Mickleson whose family is building an arbor/bench for us. It should be ready by the Garden Party. The Soroptomists will be laying a brick path to the bench in the fall.
New plants:
Elderberry Tree
More tomatoes from the CSA - all Russian
Onion chives, peppers, eggplant
Cleome, cosmos, geraniums
New blooms:
Dutch Iris, many penstemons, pink cinquefoil shrub, dianthus, snow in summer, columbine, cat mint, and a few buds opening on the Robusta rose.
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Thank you:
Watercolor by Trace Glau for Garden Party
Afgan donated by Harriet Brown for the Garden Party
Events:
July 4, 2008 6pm-900pm
Raffle and Garden Party ticket sales at First Friday Artwalk
August 2, 2008 8am-500pm
10% Day for Northland Hospice at Warner's Nursery
August 17, 2008 230pm-500pm
Garden Party at Olivia White Hospice Home
Raffle/auction, hat contest, music, food, garden tours
Come join us this week on Thursday (8am-12pm). Our plans include continuing to work on drip lines to make sure they are on plants (Faerie Garden, Inferno Strips), weeding, watering east gardens, cleaning bird baths and feeders, planting some more annual pots, and cleaning the shed and greenhouse. Park in the 1st Congregational Church lot on Turquoise just past Switzer Canyon Drive. Bring a hat, gloves and any tools you prefer (we do have both) and sun screen (it should be hot). We will provide water and snacks.
Thanks,
Loni Shapiro
Posted by maxmaddy at 11:46 AM
June 9, 2008
Local Food Benefit Concert
Orpheum Theatre Presents:
A local Foods Benefit Concert with Grammy-nominated
Adrienne Young and Little Sadie, with Tony Norris as opening act.
Sunday June 22
Local food activists and author Gary Paul Nabhan will mc the event, which will benefit the newly-launched Canyon Country Fresh Alliance, Slow Food Alta Arizona and other food groups in the region.
Doors will open at 7 pm and local non-profits will be featured until the music starts. Adrianne Young and Little Sadie are the National Spokes band for Buy Fresh Buy Local campaigns across the country, and are a contemporary bluegrass band with high energy and rural values.
Posted by maxmaddy at 8:12 PM
June 8, 2008
Women's Shelter Garden Clean-up
There will be a cleanup day at the Women's Shelter this Saturday, June 21 at 9:00 am. The shelter is located at 2100 Walgreen Street. Those who can come should bring gardening tools, gloves, clippers.
For more information, please contact Linda Chan at lsfarms@aol.com. Linda's cell # is 380-2612.
Linda would appreciate it if you could e-mail her and let her know if you are interested in helping with this project even if you can't come on Saturday.
Linda would also like to set up a meeting to start planning the gardens for the shelter. There is a small budget to work! Hopefully there weather will cooperate - for both the work day and for planning - unlike last winter!
Hattie Braun
Posted by maxmaddy at 6:26 AM
June 7, 2008
GROWING GREEN: the Right Plants in the Right Places
Master Gardener Column 6/7/08
As members of The Westerners, a gang of western history buffs with low dues who eat very well once a month at Thornagers, share camaraderie, and listen to enjoyable speakers on western lore, meine Überfrau and I have learned that the pioneers in the High Country were a hardy lot. We’ve also learned from the Master Gardening Program that the flora and fauna of the High Country are also a hardy lot. After a spring of two snows, high winds, a heat wave, and record high and lows, it is clear why the natives of the High Country are hardy and why gardens need hardy plants.
The Arizona Native Plant Society and the Flagstaff Xeriscape Council are two organizations concerned with both beautiful and successful gardening in the High Country. Each one of them sponsors a competition for the most attractive gardens in Greater Flagstaff using both native and water efficient plants. Before last winter’s heavy snow pack, there have been years of drought. We live in a land where only hardy people and plants do well.
Last year's garden competitions were so extraordinarily successful that both organizatons are planning competitions again this year. Also, they’re anticipating that more Greater Flagstaff gardeners will be competing this year.
The best way to learn about gardening anywhere, but especially in the High Country, is to watch and listen to successful veteran gardeners. They are, as the military would say, boots on the ground. From their experience they know friend from foe and what works and what doesn’t. No palaver, theories, policies, hucksters, and ideologies, just experience.
The competitions are aimed at demonstrating that the plants native or those adapted to the Colorado Plateau are better suited to High Country gardening than ill-adapted exotics. Also, sometimes forgotten, they are just as attractive. This also means thrifty use of water and wary use of pesticides and fertilizers.
Many gardeners in Greater Flagstaff are tempted to replicate gardens that thrive elsewhere, but the harsh climatic conditions on the Colorado Plateau won’t support such gardens. As a consequence, more and more gardeners are interesting in planting native vegetation, easing the need for pesticides, fertilizers, and water.
Native plants are more efficient at taking up and storing nutrients and water than plants "out of place." Commercial fertilizers needed for “elsewhere gardens” pollute the soil, sometimes making it sterile. Accumulating synthetic pesticides can also contaminate the water supply.
Native plants and beneficial insects are mutually adapted to benefit one another through pollination and protection against destructive insects. Pesticides kill many insects, including the insects needed for a healthy garden. Perhaps, most important to many gardeners, native plants once established need little to no maintenance.
Lovely gardens can be grown in the High Country without artificial fertilizers, excessive water, and pesticides. The Arizona Native Plant Society and the Flagstaff Xeriscape Council want to support those kinds of gardens. They are sponsoring garden tours after the competition so that people will be able to experience first-hand gardens using native and water efficient plants.
The competitions are on for 2008. Applications are available at Warner's Nursery, Flagstaff Native Plant and Seed Nursery, The Arboretum at Flagstaff, both public library branches, and the AZNPS website (www.aznps.org) and from the Flagstaff Xeriscape Council at (928) 213-4827. Entries should be received by July 1 for the Arizona Native Plant Society’s competition and July 11 for the Xeriscape
Posted by maxmaddy at 8:22 PM
June 5, 2008
Olivia White Hospice Garden Project
Our Thursday workday was busy as usual. Our regular gardeners (Karen Kent, Nancy Palmer, Marcia Lamkin and Elsie Ellis) came and Linda Guarino (MG), Gus Delgadillo and Sara Clancy a new volunteer from the recent hospice training also helped.
Karen did her usual pruning, deadheading and began to use her compost from the garden to plant some red runner beans (Aztec White) that were donated by Native Seed Search. The compost has done well considering our strange weather this year. We have a couple of open cinder block areas and some composters from the city of Flagstaff thanks to Karen's persistance.
Linda and Sara planted annuals in many of our pots and added some of the vegetables/flowers from the local CSA seedling project to existing beds and sensory pots. Linda also planted a large munstead lavender. We have been replacing artemesia in our rose garden with lavender. It helps to deter the deer away from roses and replaces a troublesome plant. The artemesias after a couple of years become sink holes and eventually die. Any advice on this plant would be appreciated. Gus came and cleaned the gazebo floor, replaced a brick and planted a "Nearly Wild" rose for his wife Lucy. Elsie watered the back garden and some new plants, and cleaned birdbaths. Marcia and Nancy worked on adding annual pots to the Faerie Garden. The 'black gold" Dana Prom Smith provided last fall did wonders for that garden. All the plants returned and look very happy to be there.
Zane and David brought some residents from the home out to visit.
Jacki Hainsworth stopped by to give us some starts from Mary Lou Parliman's greenhouse.
New plantings:
Munstead lavender
Many annuals: dianthus, lobelia, dahlia, cleome, bunnytail grass, alyssum, red salvia, geraniums, wave petunias, periwinkle, sweet potato vine,
Vegetables: broccoli, brussel sprouts, kale, peppers, lettuce
Herbs: lemon verbena, orange mint, pineapple sage
New blooms:
More iris (pink/yellow), Austrian copper rose, scarlet bugler penstemon, dessert penstemon, columbine and the Faerie Garden is looking beautiful.. All the succulents donated by Jean Hockman returned, along with the dianthus, snow in summer, a variety of thyme, sweet woodruff, etc.
Thank you:
Watercolor by Mary E. Swanson for Garden Party
Plants from Jacki Hainsworth and Mary Lou Parliman
Trellis from Karen Kent
Events:
June 1, 2008
Art display for the month at the Arboretum at Flagstaff
Judi Hartman, Catherine Sickafoose, Lynn Overend, Roberta Rogers and Mary Swanson
June 6, 2008 6pm-900pm
Raffle and Garden Party ticket sales at First Friday Artwalk
August 2, 2008 8am-500pm
10% Day for Northland Hospice at Warner's Nursery
August 17, 2008 230pm-500pm
Garden Party at Olivia White Hospice Home
Raffle/auction, hat contest, music, food, garden tours
Come join us this week on Thursday (8am-12pm). Our plans include continuing to work on drip lines to make sure they are on plants (Faerie Garden, Inferno Strips), weeding, watering east gardens, cleaning bird baths and feeders, planting some more annual pots, working the compost pile and cleaning the shed and greenhouse. Park in the 1st Congregational Church lot on Turquoise just past Switzer Canyon Drive. Bring a hat, gloves and any tools you prefer (we do have both) and sun screen (it should be hot). We will provide water and snacks.
Thanks,
Loni Shapiro
Posted by maxmaddy at 8:17 PM
June 2, 2008
Plant Sale at Jan Busco's
On Saturday, June 14th, 7a.m. until 1 p.m. Jan Busco will hold a plant clearance sale at 1107 N. Navajo Drive, Flagstaff. Jan grew many plants at Mountain Meadow Farm and has been growing them on in her back yard greenhouse, but needs to liquidate as her job as Horticulturist at Grand Canyon National Park makes additional plant care at home downright unlikely. Most plants are natives, but there are some herbs, permaculture plants, ornamentals and houseplants. 10% of proceeds will be divided between Flagstaff Youth Gardens and Northern Arizona Native Plant Society. Also available will be some good used books from my plants/horticulture collection.
SALE LIST – June 2008 SALE - Jan Busco, Flagstaff Native Plant Nursery, 1107 N. Navajo Drive, 86001 JaniceBusco@gmail.com 928 774-3584
Plant Prices: Mostly by size, most are 2" $1.25, 4" $2.00; 1 gallon $4.00; some higher or lower. (All prices include 8.3% sales tax; 10% of your purchase will go to support Flagstaff Youth Gardens and Arizona Native Plant Society.
Plant list:
Box Elder Acer negundo v. interior Deep pot
Mogolllon Agave Agave parryi 4"
Gooding's onion Allium goodingii
False indigo Amorpha fruticosa 1 gallon
Vanilla grass Anthoxanthum odoratum 4"
Pussytoes Antennaria parvifolia 4"
Mrs. Scott Elliott' Old-fashioned Alpine Columbine Aquilegia x 4"
Purple columbine Aquilegia x 4"
Golden columbine Aquilegia chrysantha 4"
Absinthe Artemisia absinthium 1g
Yomogi Artemisia princeps 4"
Prairie sage Artemisia ludoviciana 2", 4"
Silver King' sage Artemisia ludoviciana 'Silver King' 4"
Nepitella Calamintha nepeta 4"
Parry's bluebells Campanula parryi 4"
Rampion Campanula rapunculus 4"
Bluebells Campanula rotundifolia 4"
'Blue Amor' Cupid's dart Catanache caerulea 4"
Miner's lettuce Claytonia perfoliata 2", 4"
Catmint Nepeta x faasenii 4"
Western Virgin's Bower Clematis ligusticifolia 4"
Chives Chives 4", 6"
Clove pink Dianthus caryophyllus 4"
'Starlight' purple coneflower Echinacaea purpurea 'Starlight' 4"
Antelope sage Eriogonum jamesii 4"
Sulfur buckwheat Eriogonum umbellatum 2", 4"
Sea Holly Eryngium campestre 4"
New Mexico Olive Forestiera neomexicana 4", 1 gallon
Mignonette Alpine Strawberry Fragaria vesca 'Mignonette' 2"
Silktassel Garrya flavescens 1 gallon
Gingko Gingko biloba 1gallon $10
'Goliath' Elecampane Inula helenium 'Goliath' 4", 2"
Western blue flag Iris missouriensis 4"
Redberry juniper Juniperus haematocarpa 2"
Hidcote English Lavender Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote' some
Czech lavender Lavandula angustifolia 'Krajova' some
Winter honeysuckle Lonicera fragrantissima 1gallon
Lovage Lovage 4"
Chinese wolfberry Lycium barbatum 1 gallon
Dwarf banana tree Musete 1 gallon
Nepitella Calamintha
Mountain Lover Pachystima myrsinites 4"
Virginia creeper Parthenocissus virginiana 4", 2 gallon
Scarlet bugler Penstemon barbatus 2", 4"
Bridges penstemon Penstemon bridgesii Seedling tray
Fragrant penstemon Penstemon palmeri 2"
Whipple's Penstemon Penstemon whippleanus 2"
Rocky Mountain Penstemon Penstemon strictus 2"
Penstemon Penstemon secundiflorus 4"
Balloon flower Platycodon grandiflorus 4"
Jacob's ladder Polemonium foliosissimum 4"
False mountain-parsley Pseudocymopterus montanus 4"
Gambel Oak Quercus gambelli 1gallon
Three-leaf sumac Rhus trilobata 2", 1 gallon
Soap plant Saponaria japonica 2"
Blue spruce sedum Sedum reflexum 4", 2"
Assorted stonecrops Sedum spp. 4", 2"
Wild grape Vitis arizonica 4"
Banana yucca Yucca baccata 4"
Toft's Yucca Yucca angustifolia var. toftiae Seedling tray
Assorted interior plants various
Posted by maxmaddy at 1:28 PM
June 1, 2008
DOWNTIME ON THE BLOG THIS WEEK!
This is a first message to alert you that we are planning a major upgrade and migration of the current Movable Type blog system next week. I am sorry for any inconvenience but assure you that we have hit a point where it must be done. LTS has supported the Movable Type blog system for five years now and we must install the most recent version on a new server to provide on-going reliable service and support.
At this time we are targeting Wed June 11th-Friday June 13th for this downtime. I will email you again to confirm this or advise you of any changes, next Tuesday.
Posted by maxmaddy at 8:20 PM