My Catskill Solar Heated Greenhouse. [ December 29, 2004 ]
I am enlivened so much by the arrival of the winter solstice. It is my wife, Diane's birthday, and it is also the day my solar-heated greenhouse turns around in its function, in a couple of ways. I know that sounds cryptic, but here it is in a nutshell. My greenhouse requires me to supply it with supplemental heat, and in exchange it supplies me with supplemental heat...
My Second Cornucopia. [ December 15, 2004 ]
In my first cornucopia presentation (The Towne Crier, Feb. 25, 2004), I offered a peek into my collection of man/plant related facts, fictions, fantasies etc.. I ended with a promise to continue...
Galls: Most Unusual, but Noticeable, Homes for Mystery Guests
[ December 1, 2004 ] I remember when I was a youngster walking through Chisolm Park in College Point, Queens, near where I grew up. Mom and dad and brother, Jim, and sister, Judy, and I were all making our way either along the salty water's edge, or across the meadow, or, exploring the boundary of the woods..
Protect Your Landscape Plants from Salt Damage [ November 17, 2004 ]
There are a variety of areas around the home that we wish to keep free of snow and ice. You probably don't think of all of these, but I name several because we also use these same areas for planting favorite shrubs, borders, perennials, ornamental grasses etc.. These include patios, sitting areas, decks, outdoor fireplaces, pet shelter pathways, garbage can enclosures, play equipment areas, garage and driveway, and most commonly walkways ...
Two Conifer Pests: One Long Here, One 1992 Arrival [ November 3, 2004 ]
Our needled evergreens serve as landscape focal points, property line definers, Christmas tree candidates, as well as windbreaks, privacy screens, living fences, and as a valuable timber crop...
My Love Affair with an "Ugly Duckling" of the Plant World.
[ October 20, 2004 ] My Personal Notes about Bowiea volubilis aka "Climbing Onion".
Getting up close and personal with a living plant is a pleasure enjoyed by countless plant lovers. For a few years I grew "bonsai" plants. I derived a lot of pleasure from facing and overcoming the challenges, but always felt a small part of me disturbed by the notion that I was hurting the candidate by forcing it into an unnatural growth habit...
Native Plants vs. Exotics: "Fraught with Controversy" [ October 6, 2004 ]
On July 14th of this year, I wrote about "killer plants", suggested some are not welcome here because of their growth habits, and even referred to some as foreign invaders. Be that as it may, I went further on August 11th, with suggestions on how to rid your property of unwanted weeds, native or foreign. Today, I'm revisiting the issue...
Myth, Lore and Superstition from the Plant World [ September 22, 2004 ]
Since man owes his very survival to the plant world, and, since man is a sentimental being, it should not come as a surprise that he has developed a rich supply of superstitions and meanings attached to all forms of plant life...
How Does Your Garden Grow, and How Did It Do So Far
[ September 8, 2004 ] With Labor Day having just passed, I expect we'll be getting signals that the growing season is winding down. The average frost date is Sept. 25 in our area, and the days are already shortening. With one of the wettest and cloudiest summers on record, I am especially curious to know how gardens fared this growing season...
Horticulture News and Update [ August 25, 2004 ]
Forgive me for being a little late with this report, but I get sidetracked by other issues I think you want to know about. In any event, the news here in not more than six months old, and much of it is closer to recent than that. There is a new peach headed our way. It may be odd looking to many, with a flattened shape (some reports say it remembles a bagel), sweet and juicy, white flesh, guaranteed to please. It is named Galaxy...
Going After Weed Enemies [ August 11, 2004 ]
I'm reporting today on the most favorable time to go after the non-legged but intrepid predators of our lands. In mid-July, I wrote about the attack of the aliens. Their number is many. They are claiming our valuable resources: land, wildlife, natural habitats, and maybe entire ecosystems. Our clean water is at stake as are our garden spaces and personal landscape areas...
The Greening of Our Planet [ July 28, 2004 ]
A significant thing to remember is that plants are unique among all life forms, in that, they alone can manufacture their own food. These paved the way for all future life forms as we know them on our planet. They modified our earth...
The Attack of the "Killer Plants". [ July 14, 2004 ]
A few years ago, my wife Diane and I were out for a drive. It was late summer. Both roadside and at some greater distances we saw fluffy white clusters of blooms held eight feet or more above the ground. Simply beautiful! Diane commented how nice they would look as a backdrop where our field meets the woods...
Making Dining a New Feast for the Eyes and the Palate [ June 30, 2004 ]
It was in 1995 that Alice. P., a veteran Master Gardener Volunteer with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Sullivan County, wrote an article for the Farm and Garden News. It was titled simply "Please Eat the Daisies". This was no invitation to the four legged denizens that were ravaging flower beds and gardens across the region...
A Few of My Favorite Things [ June 16, 2004 ]
Every now and then, I feel compelled to reveal a bit more about myself and my preferences so you can get to know me a little better. When it comes to horticulture, I have a bunch of favorites. Today, I choose to share a few catalogs and books to whet your green-thumb appetite, and maybe get a few creative entrepreneurial juices flowing, to boot...
Not Your Everyday Container Garden [ June 2, 2004 ]
Somewhere around the mid 1960s, a clever invention was popular with home crafters. It was called a bottle cutter. It allowed for a nice neat cut of all but the thickest glass. One could easily cut and remove the top portion of a one gallon jug. This allowed for a very simple open area for planting for the terrarium minded...
Spring: Much Ado about Many Things [ May 19, 2004 ]
I mentioned in my last column that Maia, most beautiful and shy goddess of spring, has returned. So much so in May, that John Keats sought to sing to her and seek her smiles with no concern that his song might only be heard by the "quiet primrose" or the "span of heaven". And if it "should die away", he would be "rich in the simple worship of a day". These quotes are from a fragment Keats wrote, "Ode to May" in 1818...
In May, the Garden Questions Mount [ May 5, 2004 ]
And, so they should. May, after the Roman and Greek goddess of Spring, Maia, "the great one", comes out of hiding (resting?) and begins to enliven and rejuvenate all life forms. We go for a walk and begin to think about and notice things that have been sleeping for several months...
The Earth Beneath Our Feet [ April 21, 2004 ]
It is as enormous and fascinating as the sky above about which so much is known. The realm beneath our feet, the top layer of our planet's crust, the first few feet of earth is known as the rhizosphere...
What's Going on with Our Soils? [ April 21, 2004 ]
Note: This article was originally written for publication in The Towne Crier but not submitted.
There was a passel of red-winged black birds outside my kitchen window both in the maple and at the feeder. The date was March 8. Surely, mild planting weather is close by, only twelve days to spring (equal night and day). With this in mind, I thought it was high time I wrote a column akin to the state of our soil health, plant nutrition, and some factors beyond our control...
Seldom Seen Plant Destroying Multitudes [ April 7, 2004 ]
April is the time to savor freshly caught trout. My kitchen is in the back of my house. The window looks out on 95 percent of my property, most of which is a small back yard, gardens, shrub and herb borders, and a rather moist, open field giving way to woods down to the brook...
Where Have All the Flowers Gone? AWOL? [ March 24, 2004 ]
Let's go on a little exploratory trip to examine the plant characteristics and preferred growing conditions that might to influence our plant choices...
Come Early Spring, We Must Prune to Renew. [ March 10, 2004 ]
Fed up with the prolonged cold? Tired of winter? You've poured through the seed catalogs that keep arriving, and maybe you've had your fill of the ads promising delivery of live plants just in time for planting...
A Cornucopia of Horticultural Curiosa. [ February 25, 2004 ]
I'm an inveterate collector of data pertaining to the multiplicity of relations that occur between man and plants. Some are material and simple, some are emotional, some spiritual, some economic, and so on...
When Growing Orchids Prepare to Be Seduced. [ February 11, 2004 ]
The recent bestseller, "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean, and its offspring, the movie "Adaptation", are what provoke me to write about orchids. First, I read the excerpt of the book in The New Yorker, and I was hooked...
A Common Thread:
Pine Cones, Collards, and 99 Cents Stores. [ January 28, 2004 ]
You may think it's a stretch, but these are just a few of many items in the new horticultural update. It has been over four months since I have provided one. They are varied, fascinating to me, and I hope of value and interest to you readers...
Snow: Mother Nature's Extraordinary Gift to Gardeners.
[ January 14, 2004 ] The very word stirs hearts, makes pulses race, excites artists, writers, winter sports enthusiasts, nature lovers and snowshoers. The transformation that takes place stirs one to contemplation...
