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From the Potting Shed
February 2015
Master Gardeners of Bergen County
SAVE THE DATE!
Mastering Organic Gardening and Landscaping
Speaker: Bill Hlubik
Professor, Rutgers University
Director/Agricultural Agent, Rutgers Cooperative
Extension of Middlesex County
Director, the EARTH Center
February 24
County Administration Building
1 Bergen Plaza, Hackensack, 1st Floor Meeting Room
(Home of the County Extension Office)
Refreshments at 7pm; Announcements at 7:20pm
Volunteer Hours are Due
It’s That Time!
We need your Volunteer and Education Activity Report
(VEAR) forms. We use this information for our Rutgers
Cooperative Extension and Rutgers University reports,
as well as the annual recertification of Master
Gardeners.
There are two ways to report.
1. Excel Form: Can be used on any PC and emailed.
This is the easiest and best way to track hours.
2. Paper Form: Paper has to be mailed and you need to
make a copy for records.
Join fellow Master Gardeners for an enriching
presentation on mastering organic gardening and
landscaping. Bill Hlubik will demonstrate how the proper
use of genetics, culture, plant placement, and soil
amendments can stimulate beneficial micro-organisms
and transform soils to provide a healthy environment for
plants and people. We will learn how to reduce the use
of pesticides, fertilizers, and water in landscapes and
gardens.
Both types can be found at mgofbc.org. If you haven't
downloaded new forms (particularly paper) in a while,
please download updated versions found on the website.
Bill Hlubik is a Professor at Rutgers University and
serves as the Agricultural and Resource Management
Agent for Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Middlesex
County. Bill is the Director for the EARTH Center and
the RCE of Middlesex County.
There are now examples of volunteer and education
forms on mgofbc.org. They can be found under MG of
BC Forms. They may answer your question on how to
list volunteer or education activities.
Bill teaches undergraduate agricultural and horticultural
courses and Extension programs to students and
clientele throughout the state and the northeast. Bill
helped to organize and teach the statewide Organic
Landcare Program which just graduated its third year of
organic land care professionals. Mr. Hlubik has
conducted research on the development of new
strawberry cultivars for the northeast as well as disease
control of ornamental and vegetable crops. Bill grew up
on a farm in Burlington County and continues to help out
with the family farm in the production of vegetables,
grains, specialty crops, and beef cattle. Bill has
expertise in plant pathology, horticulture, agricultural
production, turf management and organic landscaping.
Bill is a graduate of Rutgers University.
The January meeting was cancelled due to the
expected snow storm and its speaker will be
rescheduled for this fall.
When using the excel form, please remember to save
the file with your name and year of reporting. This can
be done by clicking on the File menu, then Save As.
You can then rename the file. Example, Jane Smith
2014.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call or email
Donna Karpel, at 201 327-8355 donna9189@gmail.com
March 21
39th Annual
Rutgers Home Gardeners School
Info and registration at www.cpe.rutgers.edu
Register NOW!
Table of Contents
Page
Save the Date
1
MG of BC News
2
Membership News
3
Volunteers Needed/Site News
4/5
Trips and Tours
5
Horticulture News
6/7
Garden Club Grapevine
8
Links are clickable and are noted in blue.
1
MG of BC News
From the President’s Desk
Web Site Passwords
With the enormous success of the Skylands Manor
Holiday Open House, I would like to thank De Trezza,
Laura DeFlora and all the other volunteers who
contributed to the event. This was the best year ever,
and a whopping $30,784.94 was raised for the New
Jersey Botanical Gardens! Check out the decorations
video on our website, as well as the volunteers in action.
If you would like to be able to access the password
protected part of our web site, please contact Joseph
Cooper, joseph@mgofbc.org, to arrange for a password.
Can’t wait to start digging in the garden? Well, here are
four shows to fulfill your horticultural cravings:
Skylands Decorating Committee Needs
The Skylands decorating committee could use some
sturdy shelving, clear plastic storage bins, and electrical
power strips. Your donation would be a big help.
Time to Renew your MG Membership
Membership renewals are overdue.
Please complete your renewal, making any necessary
changes to the information that differs from last year.
Then send it with your check for $20 payable to the
Master Gardeners of Bergen County to:
John Walters
6 Valley Road
Glen Rock, NJ 07452
Meeting Dates in 2015:
Feb. 24, Mar. 24, Apr. 28, and May 19
Feb. 12-15
NJ Flower & Garden Show
Feb. 19-22
Connecticut Garden & Flower Show
Feb. 28-Mar. 8
Philadelphia Flower Show
March 12-15
Springfest Garden Show
All lectures and workshops count towards master
gardeners educational requirements. Details and links
can be found on our website.
Wishing you a happy winter!
Joseph Cooper
MASTER GARDENER PROGRAM—SYLLABUS for WINTER 2015
th
All classes are 10am-12noon in the Learning Center, 4 floor (unless otherwise stated)
DATE
TOPIC
INSTRUCTOR
Feb 6
Woody Plants: Small Trees
Joel Flagler
Feb 13
Plant Propagation
Joel Flagler
Feb 20
Landscape Design Basics
Arnie Friedman
Feb 27
Turf IPM
Joel Flagler
Mar 6
Deer Management Seminar
Carole Stanko, NJDEP
Mar 13
Springfest Flower Show; Augusta, NJ; meet 10am in the show lobby
Mar 20
Pruning Workshop; Hands-on; location TBA
Joel, Arnie Friedman
Mar 27
Hotline Training
Dail Reid
Apr 3
Good Friday Holiday—No Class
(Spring Semester runs from Apr 10-Jun 5)
Bergen County Rutgers Cooperative Extension Office
Joel Flagler
Agricultural/Resources Management
Agent & County Extension Dept. Head 201-336-6780
Dail Reid Horticulture Consultant 201-336-6788
Cooperating Agencies: Rutgers, the State University of NJ,
US Department of Agriculture, and Bergen County Board of Chosen
Freeholders. Rutgers Cooperative Extension educational programs
are offered to all without regard to race, religion, color, age, national
origin gender sexual orientation or disability Rutgers Cooperative
Contributors to this month’s newsletter include:
Daphne Boss Ayalon, Joseph Cooper, Suzanne Danzig,
Tracey Fraser, Arnie Friedman, Carolyn Gretchen, Donna
Karpel, Lucy Malka, Miriam Taub, De Trezza, and John
Walters.
2
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Meet Agnes Adler
Master Gardener, Class of 1990
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Agnes
Center), she picked up where she left off years before.
She attended Bergen Community College for a class in
horticulture and another in plant propagation. Her goal,
she said, was to work with plants and people. “A wish to
study was always in me,” she said.
Then, at age 63, Agnes took a 10-day course in the
Amazon rain forest to study with ethnobotanist Dr. Jim
Duke. She refers to that course as a “safari boot camp.”
Mention an herb to Master Gardener Agnes Adler and
you’ll get instructions on its use and how to prepare it.
Do you have a sore throat? An infection? How about
something to strengthen your immune system? Agnes
can advise on the herbs that will help your condition.
Do you have a kitchen window that could benefit from a
selection of herbs on the sill? Again, Agnes will suggest
how to bring your outdoors indoors.
Agnes, who is 84 years young, is a woman of many
talents: She’s a sculptor, collage maker, stained-glass
artist, gardener, and herbalist. Her home in Westwood
is chock full of her artwork, books, plants, and
memorabilia. In fact, during our interview, she wore a
ceramic clay necklace that she created. Also abundant
in the Adler home are the sculptures created by her
husband, David, who died last year. They were married
58 years and have a daughter in California and a son in
upstate New York.
Agnes was born in Budapest where her interest in plants
began at age 3 when, she recalled, her father brought
home a succulent named Echeveria mexicana. “He
brought it home to encourage me to learn the names of
the plants,” she said. He told her that maybe when she
grew up she could go to school to become a botanist.
But, times were changing in Eastern Europe. Hungary
was no longer safe for Jews. At age 14 while on a bus
to run an errand, Agnes had a chance encounter with
Raoul Wallenberg that saved her life. Later, she lived in
Mandatory Palestine under the British, Cyprus, and for
10 years in Israel. It was during that time that she
became a member of a collective settlement, or kibbutz,
and worked in the vineyard, her favorite workplace. “For
me the vineyard was the best place. You were out in the
sunshine, connected to plants,” she said. The vineyard,
she recalled, toughened her up and taught her
perseverance.
In 1961, Agnes came to the United States to study art at
Cooper Union. While working as a medical records
analyst at Bergen Pines (now Bergen Regional Medical
“I was always interested in the medicinal part of plants
and how they affected people. We saw Indians in the
rain forest who took care of their medical needs [with
plants] for 12,000 years. There were shamans who
were expert in harvesting in the wild. I tried to get as
much of this knowledge as I could in 10 days.”
Realistically, she adds, “you could study 30, 40 years
and you still won’t know everything.”
But, as a result of her study, she created a lecture for the
Bergen Museum. One of her audience members, an
herbalist, befriended Agnes and took her to every herbal
conference in New England. “Plants are very powerful
and, in the future of medicine, plants will probably play
an even more important part,” Agnes predicted.
Agnes served for seven years as hospitality chair of the
Master Gardeners of Bergen County. In 2012, Agnes
received the Rutgers Master Gardeners Association of
New Jersey's “Award for Excellence. It was really a
surprise to me when suddenly they called my name,”
she says of receiving the award. She added with a
laugh, “I’m glad they appreciated my seven years of
carrying bags of food to the meetings.”
Since Agnes has many stories to tell, she self-published
her memoir titled “On Swallow’s Wings: The Personal
Journey of Agnes Adler.” To read a 2012 interview with
the Adlers in The Jewish Standard, go to
http://jstandard.com/index.php/content/item/21586/.
Archivist Wanted
Attention “Senior” MGs. If you’re no longer able to do
physical work (think weeding), but you want to keep up
your certification hours, this job may be for you.
The MG’s need a new ARCHIVIST. The job includes
creating an index and scanning documents on to a disk
to create an archive and answering questions from the
Board as requested. If interested, e-mail Joseph
Cooper, Joseph@JosephCooper.net, ASAP.
3
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED/SITE NEWS
Thinking Outside the Book:
StoryWalk at the Thielke Arboretum
Innovative
On Feb. 7 at 2pm, rain/snow date Feb. 8, the Glen
Rock/Thielke Arboretum, 460 Doremus Ave., Glen Rock,
is launching a new innovative project, called
StoryWalk®, on its grounds. StoryWalk® is a novel
approach to encouraging people of all ages to get out in
Nature while enjoying wonderful children’s books.
StoryWalk® was created by Anne Ferguson of
Montpelier, VT and is currently used in 48 states and
four countries.
Laminated pages from The Snowy Day by Ezra Keats
will be displayed on beautiful Arboretum trees along a
pre-determined trail. As you stroll along the trail, you will
be directed to each sequential page of the story. The
Snowy Day is the first of an anticipated four book, four
season nature/literacy project at the Arboretum.
What’s a good book without a discussion afterwards! At
the conclusion of this StoryWalk®, the Glen
Rock/Thielke in collaboration with The Curious Reader
Bookstore, will provide hot chocolate and light
refreshments as a venue to share your experiences with
your family and friends.
In the spirit of community support for literacy and nature,
The Curious Reader, 229 Rock Rd., a unique and
special children’s bookstore, is generously donating
materials, a banner, some monetary assistance, and a
percentage of the special book sales that day. Sally
Morgan and Jim Morgan have created a literary haven
for toddlers through young adults in their welcoming
children’s literary space. In addition, Mail & More Inc.,
233 Rock Road, a mail center under the direction of Paul
Duggan, is providing the labor and laminating materials
for the book pages to enable them to be securely
mounted in the outdoors to be enjoyed by all.
This is an outdoor experience, so dress accordingly.
This event is free to the public for your enjoyment. All
are invited! Come celebrate a new winter experience of
StoryWalk®, with the award-winning book, A Snowy Day
by Ezra Keats, in the stunningly beautiful Thielke
Arboretum on Feb. 7 at 2pm. Remember the Arboretum
is open dawn to dusk, so plan to revisit the StoryWalk as
many times as you’d like. The StoryWalk® book will
change in the Spring, so look for our future
announcements.
Please visit us at www.glenrockarboretum.org for
additional information about the Arboretum and
upcoming programs.
Docents Needed at Thielke/Glen Rock
Arboretum
Volunteers for the 2015 docent class for the
Thielke/Glen Rock Arboretum, at 460 Doremus Avenue
in Glen Rock, are now being recruited. Docents give
educational talks, and act as tour guides for both
children and adults at the Arboretum.
Whether conducting a tour for adults, or sharing
educational knowledge with children’s groups, docents
share their love and knowledge of this beautiful natural
environment and heighten awareness and importance of
the need to conserve nature with others.
Docent applicants must be 18 or older and participate in
an ongoing free training program instructed by the
Arboretum Education Team. Docents do not need a
background in biology, science or teaching. You just
need a love of nature, a desire to give back and help
others, and an enjoyment in being with other like-minded
individuals.
If you are interested, please contact the docent
coordinator, Lucy Malka at 201-410-9620,
lhmalka@optonline.net For further information about the
Arboretum and its programs, visit
www.glenrockarboretum.org, or check us out on
Facebook.
Rutgers Job Opening
The Rutgers Department of Agricultural and Resource
Management Agents is continuing a search to fill a staff-level
Program Associate II position with Rutgers NJAES
Cooperative Extension in Passaic County. Your assistance in
finding suitable applicants by sharing this announcement would
be greatly appreciated. The posting can be found at:
http://uhrapps.rutgers.edu/jobs/JobDetail.aspx?pst_num=14001740
4
Washington Spring Garden
One of Bergen County’s hidden treasures is located in
Van Saun Park in Paramus. A breathtaking garden
constructed around an historic site has been an oasis for
many of Bergen County’s residents. Washington Spring
Garden was planted around a natural spring that, as
history has it, was a site where George Washington
rested with his troops and drank from the spring.
Approximately 10 year ago, Bergen County redesigned
this important garden under the direction of Alan Koenig,
Landscape Architect for Bergen County Department of
Parks. Alan integrated this new planting design,
walkways, and bridges to blend beautifully with the
original, mature rhododendrons, azaleas, and mountain
laurels. This garden puts on a magnificent display
throughout the year.
For years the park’s maintenance crew attempted to
keep up with the care of the garden along with the daily
upkeep of Van Saun Park and the zoo. In 2008, Alan
Koenig approached Joel Flagler asking if MGofBC would
step in to help maintain the garden. From the spring of
2008 to the present, the garden has been cared for by a
core group of MGs. As site coordinator, Suzanne
Danzig has worked alongside fellow MGs, Joseph
Cooper, Jeff Chan, Fred Levitan, Pat Vellas, Christiane
Oliveri, and Serpil Levine, who have tirelessly kept the
garden weeded, the spring free of watercress, provide
spring and fall clean-up, and mulched the beds.
We have taken great pride in what we do at the garden
and the ultimate reward is when the frequent visitors
come and thank us for keeping this special sanctuary
beautiful. Please join us as we continue to maintain this
hidden treasure. Contact Suzanne at
suzstan@optonline.net
TRIPS AND TOURS
NJBG Skylands Manor Tours–Feb. 1
Guided tours of the ground floor of historic Skylands
Manor at the NJ State Botanical Garden will be available
on Sunday, February 1 from 11am to 3pm
Sponsored by the NJBG/Skylands Association, the nonprofit member support organization working with the
State to preserve the gardens, the 45-minute guided
tours of Skylands history and architecture are conducted
by NJBG volunteer tour guides or docents.
Owls of New Jersey
Audubon program at NJBG – Feb. 22
NJBG invites you to learn more about the Owls of New
Jersey at the New Jersey State Botanical Garden on
Sunday, February 22, at 1pm.
Don Torino of the Bergen County Audubon Society will
offer an indoor photo presentation on these fascinating
and important raptors, touching on the many different
species that inhabit our region. Sorry, no live specimens.
This program is free and will be held indoors at the
Carriage House Visitor Center. Ongoing snow cancels.
Josie Ko is planning new tours for Spring
Trip to Philadelphia Flower Show
The Garden Club of Teaneck is taking reservations now
for the 2015 Philadelphia Flower Show bus: Wednesday,
March 4, 8am departure.
Tickets are $62/person for round-trip bus, show entry
ticket, and gratuity. Questions? Please contact Aura
Altieri, 201 923-7028 and/or email queries to
Bus.PhillyShow@yahoo.com
Sorry, reservations without payment are not accepted
and only partial refunds after midnight February 17.
Send checks (payable to Garden Club of Teaneck) to
Flower Show, 417 Maitland Ave., Teaneck, NJ 07666.
Please include your name, address, tel. number(s) and
email address.
5
HORTICULTURE NEWS
A Bee in My Bonnet:
Part III – The Beewitching Power of Flowers
Our journey today takes us to the sunny side and the
dependency that evolved between bees and some
flowering plant families about a hundred million years
ago. I’m visualizing a co-existing, equal exchange
distribution system of vast proportions.
Nectar and pollen tucked in a flower were the lure
developed by plants to attract bees. Not to be outdone,
bees evolved to return the favor by transporting pollen
stuck to body parts to the next flower they visited.
Put differently, male sperm in the pollen is carried to the
female part of the flower – the stigma. And in this simple
way, DNA for sexual reproduction is transferred between
individuals of the same species via carrier. Judging by
the fact that flowering plants play a dominant role in
Nature, this system is extremely efficient.
The sun plays a vital part in this relationship because
both bees and flowers make active use of the sun.
We’re all aware of the role the sun plays in
photosynthesis. But the sun actually ties cause and
effect between bees and flowers.
Bees rely on the sun to navigate from hive to feeding
source and back. Have you ever seen bees working on
a cloudy day? What’s a flower to do under these
circumstances? Some flowers dependent on bee
pollination, like the pumpkin flower, won’t open on cloudy
or rainy days. Many flowers, such as poppies (Papaver
spp.) close at night. A closed flower ensures quality
products by keeping the pollen dry and other insects out.
Why bother and waste energy to open shop when
customers won’t be arriving?
gets too cold to fly. And if that’s not enough, a variety of
flowers ensures nectar flows throughout the daylight
hours.
Flower species learned to share a limited pollination
resource by timing their colorful display during the day
and the growing season. And so, the apple tree flowers
at the beginning of the season and Joe-Pye weed
(Eutrochium maculatum) shines at the end. While
chicory (Cichorium intybus) flowers open very early in
the morning and close at noon, four o’clocks (Mirabilis
jalapa) only open in the later part of the day. Grateful
bees do their part and spend every possible moment
working.
Flowering plants also evolved to spread vertically from
ground to sky, layering a palette of enticing rewards for
winged creatures. The result is a great mosaicked
landscape of diverse habitat, including groundcovers
and shrubs, trees and vines, with perennials and
annuals growing in between.
While all bee species pollinate, bumblebee and solitary
bee species pollinate flowers wholesale, indiscriminately.
But what good is pollinating a borage stigma with
calendula pollen? That’s wasted energy. Honey bees
are very special because they developed “brand name
loyalty”, vastly increasing the chances for successful
reproduction. Throughout the day they will prefer to visit
the same flowering species as much as possible, rather
than skip from one species to another.
Although it’s snowing outside, swirling thoughts of
flowers, bees, and summer occupy my mind. The
growing season isn’t far off and if I want happy honey
bees, I first need a nourishing environment. What would
it take to create bee-haven?
Lovely sun also keeps bees warm enough to function
and so, on the same token, induces nectar flow in
flowers.
If all this talk of sun makes you think of large flowing,
flowering meadows, then here’s a fresh look at the
natural habitat bees call home. This environment is the
layered landscape, where plant species of different
heights share resources and live side by side. Bees
need variety. Variety offers a secure space from
enemies, and shelter from wind and cold. Variety also
includes an ample supply of forage, from the day it’s
warm enough to leave the hive in spring, till the day it
From The Green Side: A Report from the TPIE
and Things on the Horizon
It's cold snowy January and I have escaped to South
Florida. My excuse is it’s Florida's yearly Tropical Plant
Industry Exhibition. Held every year in Fort Lauderdale
at the huge Convention center, this show features
growers of tropical plants from all over Florida,
marketers of nursery and grower accessories, and lots of
interesting hort. industry people.
6
One great plant I was introduced to is Synsepalum
dulcificum known as Miracle Fruit. The red berries from
this plant when chewed on will turn anything you eat
afterward from sour to sweet! It really was amazing. I
popped this little berry (that was a lot like a pomegranate
seed) into my mouth and chewed the meat off the hard
seed. After spitting that out I took a slice of a sour lemon
and chewed on it. Instead of being super sour, it was
like a sugar coated lemon! I am told that the active
ingredient, miraculin, is sometimes processed as a sugar
substitute for diabetics, but it has never gotten FDA
approval in the U.S.
Walking around I came upon a vendor of Biochar. I've
been hearing about this soil amendment lately. It is one
of the new ideas coming over the horizon in the world of
sustainable and Eco-friendly gardening. Biochar is really
a version of our old friend charcoal. It, however, in this
eco-friendly version, is made from biomass. Biomass, of
course, is any collected green waste. It can be excess
sawdust from a mill, the leftovers from processing sugar
cane, lawn waste, fall leaves, etc. Instead of turning into
mulch or burying and burning, the biomass is heated in a
low oxygen environment. So instead of breaking down
and the carbon being released into the atmosphere or
converted to fertilizer, the waste turns to charcoal. It is
then ground up and used as a soil amendment. What
this process means for the environment is that the
carbon is locked up almost forever. This means the
more Biochar that's made, the less carbon emissions.
But, the real importance is what Biochar can do for crops
and the garden. Biochar, when spread over a poor
quality soil and then incorporated near the surface,
significantly improves growing conditions. Its first benefit
is in improving soil texture. It is light and granular and
does not soften or compact soil, so dense soils drain
better. Soils with low water content or areas of drought
benefit because Biochar retains moisture because it is
very porous. A second great benefit is that it is a perfect
environment to support soil organisms especially
mycorrhizae. Recent research shows a third benefit in
the ability of Biochar to hold onto nitrogen. It prevents
the nitrogen from leaching down into the soil and keeps
it closer to the surface because it binds to the char.
I am not advocating that we all rush out and start
spreading Biochar in our gardens. Heavens NO! It will
not replace mulch and compost. However in the case of
a garden where topsoil doesn't exist or has been
scraped away by construction or flooding, it might be an
important amendment to use in rebuilding the soil. For
growing crops when soil has been worn down by over
planting, compaction, or the creation of new raised beds,
this seems to be an important component. Where do
you get it? Well, it's been made and used in the
Amazon region for the last 2000 years. However, unless
you are doing slash and burn in the rainforest, you have
to buy it. The really good thing is you only need to add it
once. Since it doesn't degrade, it stays in your soil
permanently. Now a note about the Biochar I saw at the
show. It is a packaged Biochar called Cool Terra. It is a
Biochar that has been PH adjusted to make it
consistently neutral, since Biochar, when made is slightly
alkaline, is amended with micro rhizomes. Do we need
to add more of these to our soil? The science is cloudy
here. If you’re adding compost and mulch, there should
be plenty of natural organisms in the mix. If you’re fixing
a soil or building beds, Biochar should only be one
component along with the above normal items. Soon I
think we will be seeing it at most nursery supply places
and it is certainly sold online. I cannot be specific on the
quantity to use, but I believe if you spread an inch or two
and work it into the surface that would be enough.
The other interesting thing I saw was a vendor of
beneficial insects. If anyone has toured Secor Farms in
Mahwah, you would have seen this greenhouse being
rid of thrips and aphids without the use of insecticides.
The environmentally friendly way of growing to control
insect pests is to release beneficial insects on your
growing plants. For years we've heard of using
ladybugs for eating aphids. Well, coming down the pike
now are more advanced insects that can target
unwanted pests without harming the environment. The
booth I stopped at was a company called Beneficial
Insectary from Redding, California. They carry a wide
selection, but I was amazed by a couple of their featured
pest controllers . One is Green Lacewing. It is a small
insect that attacks the eggs and the immature stages of
most soft bodied pests like aphids, thrips, spider mites,
mealy bugs, and caterpillars of moths. The grower
releases these that eat away for two weeks consuming
200 eggs or larvae and then go into a cocoon and
emerge as an adult that lives 4-6 weeks. I was amazed
that they eat up to 600 eggs.
Then I was introduced to Fly Parasites, a small bug that
searches out fly pupa where they lay their eggs. The
eggs hatch and the larvae feed on the fly pupa. It kills
the fly and then new fly parasites are hatched and go off
looking for more flies to attack. They do not bother
humans or animals. Their whole life is spent seeking out
fly pupae to reproduce!
Right now most of these products are aimed at the
greenhouse grower and commercial producer, but soon I
think we will see versions of these marketed and
specialized for the home and smaller grower.
Lastly I wanted to share a great plant I saw. It was a
euphorbia grafted to a cactus also from the euphorbia
family. Here's the photo.
7
The February Garden Club Grapevine
Feb. 5
7:30pm Harrington Park Garden Club, Harrington Park Library, 10 Herring St.
Topic: Comparative Landscapes; speaker: Barbara Bell
Take a journey through garden history from Ancient Egypt to the present. Explore the features that define
different periods in landscape design and learn how events and cultural influences make these gardens
specific to their times and continue to inspire us today.
Info: Gerri Gibney at 201-768-2615 or http://www.gardenclubofharringtonpark.com
Feb. 6
1pm Demarest Garden Club, United Methodist Church -109 Hardenburgh Ave., Demarest
Topic: Designing Your Rock Garden with Texture; speaker: Michael Wilson
Feb. 10
7pm Ramsey Area Garden Club, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, 55 Wyckoff Ave., Ramsey
Topic: Container gardening: When the Pot becomes the Home; speaker: Ray Edel
Feb. 11
7:30pm Garden Club of Oakland, Oakland Senior Center, 20 Lawlor Drive
Topic: Winter Pruning with the Blue Star Memorial Highway Garden; speaker, Lucy Smith, who is a
professional horticulturist. According to Ms. Smith, winter is the best time to address the anxieties that
gardeners have always felt about just when and how to prune deciduous plants.
Feb. 11
9:30am Wyckoff Area Garden Club, McFaul Wildlife Center, Wyckoff
Topic: Decorative Birdhouses Using Materials from Nature; speaker: Speaker: Eileen Avia will use of
seeds, nuts, sticks, bark, and dried flowers to decorate her beautiful, one-of-a-kind birdhouses.
Feb. 17
7:30pm Glen Rock Garden Club, 678 Maple Ave.
Topic: History of Herbs of Bergen County; Speaker: Pat Libutti
For further information, call 201 447-6099.
Feb. 19
7pm Bergen-Passaic Chapter of Native Plant Society of NJ, REI, 2200 Bergen Town Center, Paramus
Topic: Attracting Wildlife with Native Plants; speaker: Elaine Silverstein
Feb. 19
7:30pm Teaneck Garden Club, Rodda Center, 2nd floor, 250 Colonial Court, Teaneck
Topic: Preparing your Garden for Spring; speaker: Ray Edel
Please contact our liaison, Lucy Malka, at lhmalka@optonline.net or 201-791-3562, to supply information for the Garden
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Clubs Grapevine. Publications deadlines are no later than the 25 of the prior month. As a reminder, the Master
Gardeners of Bergen County does not share or sell its mailing list to non-members. We keep all membership information confidential
and for use by members only. If you receive email from other organizations, we did not give permission for their use of our
membership list. We would appreciate it if our members would not share our list with non-members or use it for any unauthorized
purposes as it is for official MG use only.
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