Planters
Punchlines
Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield
November/December 2016
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HOLIDAY
PARTY TIME! (In lieu of Nov/Dec Meetings)
The annual club Holiday
Party will be held on Monday
December 5, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. @ the Solomon
Welles House, in Wethersfield.
Catered
Food, Drink, Fellowship, and Entertainment
by the
Wethersfield High School Choraleers.
Spouses/guests are cordially invited.
$15.00 per person ($30.00 per couple)
Bring a potential member @ the above
prices.
If they join the club, then their first year
$15 dues are free.
Dues will be collected from our non-paying,
scofflaw members at the party.
RSVP (including potential member-guests) to
President Tony Sanders at 860.529.3257
by Friday November 18.
WESTON
ROSE GARDEN “WINTER OVER”
Saturday November 12 @ 8:00 a.m.
Branches will be trimmed and
compost placed around the bushes.
MEETING ATTENDANCE – OR LACK THEREOF
Attendance at our monthly meetings
has been pretty low this year. And when
we don’t have any outside guests this makes for a mighty empty room – and an
uncomfortable situation for our speakers and those who do show up – plus an
expense to the club. If you have ideas
for speakers that would be of interest to you and others please let Tony / Howard
know. Either way, please show up for
the meetings – maybe even with a guest.
Compostable Matter
By Jim Meehan
A Tale of Two Nurseries
In addition to gardening, one of my other avocations (this one acquired after my retirement) is what is sometimes called public history. As members of Wethersfield Historical Society, Mars and I have come to believe that the story of, e.g., our neighborhood’s past is, in its own way, as much a part of the story of our town as the 1781 meeting between General George Washington and General Comte de Rochambeau, or the great flood of 1936. It is in that spirit that I would like to share the story of two local area nurseries – Pierson’s Floral and Brimfield Gardens Nurseries.
The Hartford Courant described Pierson’s Floral Nurseries in Cromwell, CT as “’A crystal village’ and ‘a sea of glass’ [made up of] the acres upon acres of greenhouses….a floricultural wonder of the world over which founder Anders Nels Pierson, the ‘Rose King,’ reigned for most of the first half of the more than a century it was in business.”
Anders (later Andrew) Pierson was born in Sweden in 1850. After serving an apprenticeship to a florist there he immigrated to the United States in 1869, and settled in Cromwell sometime in the early 1870s. There he began his own business growing flowers and vegetables employing Swedish immigrants that Pierson encouraged to come to Connecticut. After a brief setback caused by the collapse of some greenhouses under four feet of snow during the Blizzard of 1888, Pierson and others developed several new varieties of roses that were hardy enough to use as cut flowers – earning him numerous floriculture awards.
While the company continued to grow other flowers, its principal product now became roses – shipping over $8 million worth of them to wholesale and retail markets from Boston, to Washington, D.C. to western New York State. As a result Cromwell acquired the nickname “Rosetown”.
The company struggled in the economic conditions imposed by WWI, but recovered during the influenza epidemic of 1919, which created a huge demand for flowers for funerals. When Pierson died in 1925 his business was the largest grower of flowers in the United States, and the second largest in the world with over 500 hundred employees. Anders’ final words are said to have been, “I want roses in my room.”
“By the early 1970s, the company had 87 greenhouses and the approximately 300 employees included many immigrants from Sicily who had found work growing flowers just as their Swedish predecessors had. In 1989, A.N. Pierson Inc., sold more than 9 million roses, a company record.” (Hartford Courant)
Higher energy prices and competition from roses imported from Columbia however forced the company to close on January 14, 1991.
“One of the most significant contributions Pierson’s enterprise made to Cromwell was to the local architecture. The Main Street Historic District in Cromwell contains several houses Pierson built for use in his floral operations….In 1893, Pierson took over several tenant houses built by John Stevens in 1875 for his J. & E. Stevens Company. These houses on Prospect Place served Pierson’s workers for several decades. Between 1922 and 1925, a series of Colonial Revival-style cottages became known as the ‘Holy City.’ This name alludes to Pierson’s Russellite faith, which believed the end of the world was near and required houses for the faithful to use for their return to heaven.” (connecticuthistory.org)
While not as much of a player on the national scene, Brimfield Gardens Nursery nonetheless left a lasting impression on the neighborhood that has been Mars and my home base for almost forty years. Established in 1927 the business occupied several lots around 245 Brimfield Road in what was then a planned development known as “Brimfield Gardens”. The house at 245 was built in 1924 and sold in 1929 to the Marshall family who managed the operation. Wesley Marshall currently runs the business in its Rocky Hill location to which it relocated in the 1960s.
While on Brimfield Road the nursery was a mail order purveyor of exotic plants, and a residential landscaper that specialized in rare trees and Japanese Gardens. Much of their design and planting work was in New York and Long Island, however they did leave their mark on their original location in the form of three trees: a Cedar of Lebanon, said to be the lumber with which Noah’s Ark was built; and two Chinese Gingkoes, traditional symbols of longevity – appropriate emblems for a neighborhood that that came into being during Wethersfield’s greatest period of growth, and which continues to thrive today.
Town legend has it that tour buses would come to see the Gingkoes in their autumn yellow colors and (if they were lucky) watch them drop their leaves in one dramatic cascade during the first hard frost. I have been fortunate to witness this “full Monty” leaf-slide on two different occasions – the first unforgettably while starting out on an early morning run when the crackling cacophony startled me out of my still, somewhat sleepy condition.
Sadly one of the Chinese trees was cut down in 2013.
Why a rose by any other name does NOT smell as sweet:
Scientists discover the flowers are losing their scent
because consumers want better looking blooms
By Colin Fernandez for the Daily Mail (dailymail.co.uk)
They say a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
But according to researchers, the flowers have been gradually losing their evocative scent – because gardeners have bred them for their appearance rather than their smell.
Now, scientists have pinpointed exactly how the flower produces their sweet aroma by identifying the gene that ‘switches on’ the scent.
Scientists have discovered that roses that have been bred for their looks have lost out on their scent
And they hope the development may allow gardeners to cultivate blooms that look good and smell good – by making sure the gene is present in any new varieties of rose.
The team made their discovery by comparing two roses – Papa Meilland, which has a strong fragrance, and Rouge Meilland, which has very little scent. They identified a gene that ‘switches on’ a crucial enzyme called RhNUDX1. The chemical acts in the cells of the flower’s petals to generate a chemical called monoterpene geraniol, one of the sweetest-smelling parts of rose oil.
Wild roses could not survive without this scent, as it attracts bees to pollinate its flower. But over the years, roses, particularly those for the cut flower market, have mostly been bred for their appearance – and many have lost their scent.
Because the flowers often have to travel hundreds of miles to reach the shops, their toughness has also been valued more than their fragrance. As a result, the scent of roses has suffered, and become something of an afterthought. Researcher Philippe Hugueny, whose work was published in the journal Science, explained: ‘In cultivated roses, the scent has no reproductive function, it’s only for our pleasure. So if roses lose their scent it’s too bad. But if a wild rose lost its smell it would die out.’ He added: ‘We discovered roses use a special pathway to make monoterpenes which has not been shown in other plants.’
Mr Hugueny, of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, said the find may help develop roses that look and smell good. While there is currently no demand for genetically modified roses in Europe, Mr Hugueny said that in Japan, where breeders have experimented with creating modifications including blue roses, the research might be considered useful.
The 7 Best Winter Fruits
Here's what to look for
when your local orchards shut down for the season.
when your local orchards shut down for the season.
By Amy Ahlberg @ rodalesorganiclife.com
Apples or
Apples? It's getting to be that time of
year when your options for local, seasonal fruits are either apples or...apples.
Citrus growers haven't gotten a really tasty crop yet, and 90 percent of what's
in your grocery store has been shipped in from far, far away, devoid of any
taste or nutrition. But, unless you're branching out to specialty grocery
stores, you could be missing out on some of the most nutritious, unique
fruits--grown in the U.S.--that are available this time of year. Certain
varieties of tropical and citrus fruits, which are grown somewhat locally in
places like Florida and Hawaii, have the highest levels of heart-healthy
antioxidants of any fruit, so you can still make your heart happy without
having to pollute the planet with fruit flown in from another hemisphere.
Kumquats: Forget pomegranates--start popping kumquats. The tiny little olive-sized citrus fruits are full of disease-fighting antioxidants, which are contained in their sweet, edible skin. A serving of five (which is about five calories) also contains one-fifth of your daily fiber needs, along with a healthy dose of potassium and vitamins A and C. The most commonly found variety is the Nagami, and California and Florida are home to most of our domestic crop, which peaks between November and March, and the fruits are super-versatile. Slice up a kumquat and toss it into a salad, or use that instead of hassling with orange zest when your recipes call for that; kumquats lend a more refined, complex flavor to your dishes. Diced kumquats and avocado make a great salsa when mixed with red onion, cilantro and lime. At the market, look for firm fruits that are bright orange in color (green ones aren't ripe), and store kumquats them at room temperature for two or three days, or for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.
Carambolas, or Star Fruit: Exotic fruits are generally higher in vitamin C, higher in potassium, and lower in calories than domestic fruits, and carambolas, or star fruits, are no exception. High in inflammation-lowering polyphenols, they're also great for your heart and full of fiber. Most of the star fruits you'll see in stores now come from Hawaii or South Florida. Look for firm, shiny, evenly-colored yellow fruit. Handle with care, as star fruit bruise easily, and ripen them at room temperature for a few days until light brown ribs form and a full, fruity aroma develops, then refrigerate them for up to a week. Aim for deep yellow skin with browning on the edges," says Scott Varanko, produce manager at Stew Leonard's Farm Fresh Grocer in Norwalk, CT. "This is when they are sweetest. Some people will use the (underripe) green ones, since they are tart, as a substitute for limes in drinks." The carambola's taste has been described as a cross between citrus, apple and pear, and you can just eat them as is, or slice them into fruit salads. Sliced thin and dried in an oven on low heat, they also make great edible Christmas tree ornaments
Quinces: They may look like their relatives, apples and pears, but quinces are much healthier and may actually help ward off the flu. With twice the vitamin C of its native relatives, quinces are also high in anti-viral phenolic compounds that have been found to combat the influenza virus. The Chinese quince variety has the highest levels of those flu-fighters, but you'll also get some benefit from California's Pineapple quinces and the East Coast's Orange and Smyrna varieties. The short quince season lasts from September until December. To find them, check out Latino, Asian and Middle Eastern markets, specialty grocers and farmer's markets. The fruits taste best when cooked, so add them to long-cooked savory stews or roasts or use them in any dish you might use cooked apples or pears.
Rambutans: In Hawaii, the decline of the sugarcane plantations has led to a burgeoning specialty fruit industry, and antioxidant powerhouses rambutans, lychees and longans are now grown there. The rambutan, also known as hairy lychee or hula berry, is a tropical treat when summer's lychees aren't in season; their season runs from September through March. They might even be better for you than green tea. Rambutans have higher levels of the antioxidants flavanoids and anthocyanins, both of which are believed to reduce risk of chronic diseases and cardiovascular problems. They also contain lots of iron and calcium. Look for rambutans in Asian and other specialty markets, and handle them with care -- they're fragile, and keep only a day or two at room temperature. If you're not eating them right away, place in a perforated plastic bag and refrigerate. To enjoy them, simply peel and pop into your mouth, or add them to a fruit platter; you can cut the top half of the skin off to reveal the fruit, leaving the bottom half of the skin as a decorative holder.
Longans: Another relative of the lychee, longans are native to China but now are grown in Hawaii and in Puerto Rico. Stock up on them this time of year because they've traditionally been used to settle upset stomachs and fever reducers, making them great natural flu remedies, and like their relatives, longans are high in disease-fighting antioxidants. Also known as "dragon's eye," it's easy to see why--the fruits have a black seed centered in translucent white flesh--and they taste similar to a chewy grape. You can find Hawaii-grown longans in Asian markets nearly year-round. Store them in the refrigerator in a perforated plastic bag for a week or two. You can simply rinse, peel and seed longans to eat as snacks, or add them to fruit salads and desserts. But don't toss the seeds! They have a high saponin content and thus can be used as soap or even shampoo.
Persimmons: A study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that a persimmon a day could be better for your heart than an apple, because they contain significantly higher concentrations of the dietary fiber, minerals and phenolic compounds that prevent atherosclerosis, a leading cause of heart disease, heart attacks and stroke. An added bonus: the antioxidants in persimmons can help control diabetes and the cell damage it causes. Their flavor and texture has been compared to plums or apricots, with spicy undertones, and you can use just the pulp or the entire fruit in holiday puddings, pureed in ice creams, breads and cakes. But try them in savory dishes, too, like salsas, stir-fries and salads, such as this Mixed Green Salad with Fall Fruit and Beet Dressing.
Asian Pears: Though their softer Bosch relatives are long gone by now, hard-when-ripe Asian pears are perfect for cold storage and easy to find in farmer's markets and grocery stores this time of year. Why that's a good thing? Asian pears have significantly more fiber than other pear varieties, so chomping down on one a day is good for your heart and wards off diabetes. Select the most fragrant, unblemished Asian pears when shopping; a sweet scent is the best indication that the pears are ripe. They can be kept for up to a week at room temperature or up to three whole months in the fridge. Thanks to their sweet pear flavor and crunchy texture, Asian pears are perfect additions to salads, and are delicious grated into slaws. They work well in place of apples in all kinds of recipes, from holiday stuffings to baked dishes. Try sautéing them to serve alongside meat entrées, or for a festive, easy holiday party appetizer, serve Blue Cheese-Walnut Spread on Asian Pear Slices.
A Guide to Winter Foraging in New England
By Jamie Ducharme @ http://www.bostonmagazine.com
As winter
descends upon New England, most people see only a barren landscape. Russ Cohen
is not among them.
Cohen is a forager, eating and enjoying foods few others know are edible. “I look at it as a form of communion,” he says. “Instead of wine and wafers, it’s nibbling on wild nuts and berries. If you worship nature, like I do, then taking it in in that way is a way to really connect with it.”
While foraging in New England is far more fruitful during the warm months—Cohen leads foraging walks and lessons from May through October—we asked him which edible species you can enjoy as the temperatures drop.
Peppergrass: Though it’s nearing the end of its growing season, Cohen says pepper grass’ edible seed pods taste like watercress and make a great addition to salads and cream cheese.
Black birch: “Black birch twigs have the oil of wintergreen and smell like wintergreen gum or Lifesavers,” Cohen says. “You can gather those twigs year-round and make a tea from them, which has that nice strong wintergreen flavor.” He says black birches resemble black cherry trees, but the latter has bark that looks like “charcoal-colored potato chips.”
Roots: Before the ground freezes, Cohen says, there are a number of edible roots to be found, including wild carrot roots, wild parsnip roots, hog peanut roots, Burdock roots, and Jerusalem artichokes. But once full-on winter cold hits, they’re largely inaccessible.
Sassafras: Cohen says sassafras pulls double duty: Its root bark can be brewed and made into a root beer-flavored tea, while its twigs have a pleasant lemon smell. “Look for diminutive trees in the woods, often growing quite close together,” he suggests. “The twigs will have a green color, so you scratch the twig and sniff it, and if you get that fruity, lemony smell you know that’s sassafras.”
Spice bush: You can make tea from spice bush’s twigs—which is exactly what the colonists did when they were boycotting British tea during the Revolutionary War, Cohen says. Tell-tale signs of the bush: spherical buds on the twigs, “shrubby” appearance, and standing near flowing water.
The take away? While winter foraging is more of a hobby than it is a way to find sustenance, Cohen says it’s a great way to get in tune with nature. “As a society, we’ve gotten a little complacent,” he says. “We’re used to being able to go to the store and buy anything we want, any day of the year we want, and that’s not how nature works.”
Cornell on Lawn Care: Do Less!
Lawns have
been attacked for some years now, with claims that they require obscene amounts
of water, fertilizers, pesticides, and gas-guzzling mowing, so of course the
only responsible thing to do is to get rid of it all, right? But lawns are so
useful they’ll always be with us, and are the criticisms even warranted? Or do
Americans just need to change their lawn-care practices and expectations of
golf-course perfection?
Now Cornell, long-time leader in lawn research, is out with a terrific new Turfgrass website, plus the easy-to-follow “Lawn Care: The Easiest Steps to an Attractive Environmental Asset“(also available in free ebook). It’s the work of Extension Associate Lori Brewer, who told me that with her environmental background, she wanted to “change the world” by promoting better lawn-care practices and attitudes.
Responsible lawn care is so very important, yet the topic of lawns was very polarizing within the Master Gardener groups she works with in New York. Many were not equipped to answer questions from the public, and lawns are the most asked-about subject.
So she decided to boil down the information into its simplest, essential form – “Just do these most important things” – and the message had to be conveyed with very limited sources. Thus, online and in a multi-media e-book.
With major headings like “Do Less,” you know it’s not going to be your grandfather’s lawn-care advice, but it’s also not going to be the total condemnation seen from some quarters. It takes the more enlightened position that “A well-managed lawn is an environmental asset” because it aids in erosion control, improves water quality, and filters air pollutants. Lawn alternatives are recommended for spots where lawn doesn’t grow well.
Lori worked with Cornell’s famous lawn expert Dr. Frank Rossi and others, boiling their wisdom down to its essential bits, a task that Rossi knew wouldn’t be easy because “It requires more than 140 characters.”
So if you have a cool-season lawn (these species), here’s how Cornell (and increasingly, other Extension universities) recommends that you care for it. Let’s bust some myths, shall we?
WATER LESS. Conventional wisdom is correct that grasses need about 1 inch of water per week, but only during periods of active growth. That means spring and fall, when there’s usually ample rainfall, anyway.
Then during the heat of the summer, cool-season grasses slow their growth and may even turn brown but are probably not dead. Studies show that as little as 1/4 inch of water over a three-week period can be enough to keep the sod alive. (Use a rain gauge to measure your rainfall.)
FEED LESS. “Most home lawns with modest expectations do just fine with a single late-fall fertilizations mid-September to mid-October.” So for what Cornell calls “highest quality” turfgrass, several feedings are needed per year but for most homeowners, one application is plenty. Americans, does your lawn really need to look like a golf course? Time to adjust your expectations!
(Feed again in the spring only if the lawn is thin or winter-damaged, but wait until the soil has warmed up to 55 F.)
ARE ORGANIC FERTILIZERS BETTER? Well, the evidence sure doesn’t support any claim that they’re better for turf. They do introduce organic matter into the soil, which is a good thing, but synthetic fertilizers offer some advantages over organics: you know exactly what’s in them, including zero phosphorus to protect waterways; they’re cheaper and easier to apply (because of the smaller quantity of product needed); and they can be applied at lower soil temperatures.
More important than the source of the fertilizer is whether it’s released slowly enough to protect the waterways from fertilizer pollution. So just choose a fertilizer that’s at least 30 percent slow-release (water-insoluble Nitrogen) for normal soils or 60 percent for sandy ones.
WEEDKILLERS PROBABLY NOT NEEDED. The good news, according to Rossi, is that the majority of public with lawns use NO herbicides at all. But if hand-weeding isn’t doing the job he recommends selecting an herbicide that poses the least risk, as spelled out by the EPA in their list of over 100 herbicides.
The best defense against weeds, of course, is following sound lawn-care advice to produce a nice thick lawn and patching the bare spots, too. (I was surprised that Cornell’s lawn-patching video doesn’t mention covering the seed with straw, but Lori says it’s really not needed.)
Cornell also invites us to change our expectations for uniformity and just live with some weeds. They even suggest it’s time to rediscover the virtues of white clover – that instead of a weed, it converts Nitrogen in the air to a form the plants can use. So having clover means less need for supplemental fertilizer.
MOW RIGHT. Cornell makes a big deal out of mowing correctly because it’s essential to preventing disease. They even go so far as to suggest that if you think your lawn needs a whole renovation, try mowing correctly for a year first because that may correct the problem.
So it’s about sharp blades, mowing high, and rather than the usual admonition to never remove more than a third of the blades at one time they recommend following the much easier “clump rule.” “Mow often enough to avoid piles of grass clippings. This might be every 5 days in the spring or not at all during summer drought and every 7-14 days the rest of the season.” See, that advice I could follow.
WHAT NEXT? Rossi believes that if lawn-care professionals were trained in these practices it have a enormous impact. What’s needed is a tool for evaluating and certifying them, which would incentive them to adhere to best practices. And with funding, he and others at Cornell could produce such a tool in about 18 months. (Hint!)
Horti-Culture Corner
No! by Thomas Hood
"No warmth, no
cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel
in any member -
No shade, no shine,
no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no
flowers, no leaves, no birds -
November!"
