Overheard at the Garden Gate June 2021
SLGC
A Fun Educational Resource – Online – for Kids!
From Robin: Did you know NASA has a kid’s online center for Climate Change learning? They do, and it’s terrific: https://climatekids.nasa.gov. It’s full of games, videos, activities, and articles designed for inquiring younger minds (although we can learn a lot from it as well). If you have children or grandchildren with whom you want to share some fun ideas, point them in this direction – or better yet, embark on a project with them. S’mores created in a home-made solar oven? Build a bird feeder? A Climate Time Machine? (Now, that sounds intriguing!)
NFL Draft Featured Sustainability and Community Greening Projects
From Jane Ellison: The National Football League’s traditional focus on sustainability around its tentpole events was a feature of the 2021 NFL Draft in Cleveland. NFL Green, in partnership with Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, planted trees, built community gardens, donated unserved food, repurposed event materials, and supported the efforts of students working on a harbor clean-up during Draft week. NFL Green also premiered a documentary about the unique Super Bowl restoration of a coral reef. The efforts are designed to leave a positive “green” legacy in the host community of Cleveland.
Nature Center Looking for Home-Grown Plants
Click here to read the specifics of the June 13 sale.
We particularly seek donations of plants that have done well in your yard without being invasive, including:
Native or non-native flowering perennials
Ferns and other foliage plants that do well in shade
as well as:
Small shrubs or trees
Edibles
Houseplants
Please contact Dick Obermanns at 216-752-9776 or obermanns@aol.com. Thanks for your support!
Interesting information about Blue Jays and Oaks
From Suzy: Blue jays and oaks have an ancient mutualism; their ancestors evolved together, about 60 million years ago, in Southeast Asia. Blue jays carry acorns up to a mile from the parent oak, burying them as a future food stash. Credit...Douglas W. Tallamy
Click here to read the full article. And don’t forget Doug Tallamy’s new book, The Nature of Oaks, is now available in stores and at the library. (Ed. note: it’s a good read.)
How Old is Your Tree?
From Suzy: We all talk about preserving old trees and many of us wonder how old our trees are. Here is a site which will give you a quick and reasonably close answer: https://www.cliftonparkopenspaces.org/treecalculator/
I wonder who amongst us has the oldest tree.
Happy Spring!
From Mary Bruce in Massachusetts: It has been a lovely one here, slightly cool, which extends the bloom season. This is a photo of some of the daffodils from SLGC members. I have planted them in other parts of the garden too. I enjoy thinking of SLGC daily as I stop to smell the daffodils. Hope all is well, and that your garden is blooming!
Vital Organisms Harmed by Pesticides
From Robin: Click here for an interesting article about what is happening to our garden organisms through the use of pesticides.
From Leigh: (Two left pictures): This lovely plant reappeared in my garden this year, long after I had assumed that it must have been an annual. I bought three of them at a Joint Meeting years ago, when the speaker was a peony grower who had some plants to sell. Billed as a perennial that grows in shade and spreads, the seeds are bright red, an attractive bonus in the fall. One plant produced one blossom the first year, then nothing. I hope to see more of them next year!
(Picture on right): Here’s another peony from the same grower. This one is herbaceous and it’s doing very well this year.