Art In The Garden - Sat., July 16, 2011

Saturday, July 16 from 10am to 4pm.

Free admission
Held rain or shine

A juried art show and sale will be held at the Demonstration Gardens at the Robert C Parker School, North Greenbush, NY.

Features Jewelry, Pottery, Sculpture, Photography, Painting, Notecards, Stained Glass Mosaics, Woodworking (QuiltBoxes!), Textiles, and Collage.

See pictures on FaceBook at Art In The Garden - Rensselaer County.

Sponsored by the Rensselaer County Master Gardeners of Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Lecture - Wildlife in the Garden

“Wildlife Challenges in the Garden” will be presented by Chris Logue, executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension Schenectady County and David Chinery, extension educator, Cornell Cooperative Extension Rensselaer County at 7 p.m. July 29 in the Demonstration Garden of CCE of Rensselaer, Robert C. Parker School, 4254 Route 43. For information, call Cornell Cooperative Extension Of Rensselaer County at 272-4210.

Whether they walk, burrow or fly, wildlife can be a challenge to gardeners. Come learn what wild critters are in your garden and what strategies exist for keeping your plants alive.

Rainy Gardens - Part III

More rain is in the forecast for this week, and I'm finally ready to put gutters on the new garage and order some rain barrels.

Times-Union: Raining again? Just roll out the barrel

Last year I dug two rain gardens, to collect runoff and let it diffuse slowly into the ground (rather than forming a swamp along the back fence).

Here's how my rain garden looked on Thursday. The water had all dissipated by Sunday. I need to add some plants, since everything has finished blooming already (it has rugosa rose, siberian iris, lily of the valley, and columbine).

If you want to create a rain garden, here's a great free publication from the University of Wisconsin (3 Mb PDF): Rain Gardens - A howto manual for homeowners

Rainy Gardens - Part II

Here's another fabulous location from the Rensselaer County Garden Tour 2009, which is a fund-raiser for Cornell Cooperative Extension's Master Gardner Program.

This was not just a garden, but an detailed landscape. The description in the guide says this started out as a 5-acre mowed field. Of course, that was over 40 years ago, but I'm still jealous that I haven't gotten there yet with my own garden.

This garden featured lots and lots of containers (not necessarily the expensive decorative ones - many were plain plastic). These were mixed throughout the regular plantings. It looked great - I'll have to give that a try. There were also many of "antique shop" type ornaments - this is a very heavily accessorized garden!

Rainy Gardens - Part I

The Rensselaer County Garden Tour 2009 required mud-boots and a big umbrella, but wet gardens are still gorgeous. I only had time to visit a few of the gardens close to Rensselaer, but it was well worth braving the rain.

Unfortunately, low light means blurry photos with my old camera. (I was rushing and forgot to take multiple pics.) I salvaged a few by shrinking them down. Click to enlarge the rectangular photos.














This garden is so much prettier than these few images show. (I didn't manage to capture any of the paths, arbors or outbuildings.)

Roses and Thorns

Here are two extremes of the garden spectrum in the North End.

Rensselaer County Garden Tour

Hidden Gardens of Rensselaer County 2009
July 01, 2009, 4-8 PM

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rensselaer County will hold its annual “Rensselaer County Garden Tour” on Wednesday, July 1, from 4:00 to 8:00 PM. This year’s tour will explore unique private home gardens in the greater North Greenbush area.

Maps for this drive yourself tour are $10.00 per individual OR $15.00 for 2 or more per car and can be purchased from 4:00 to 7:00 P.M. the day of the tour at Robert C. Parker School, 4254 Route 43 Wynantskill, NY or First Reformed Church, 413 Main Ave., Wynantskill, NY. The tour will be held rain or shine.

Tiny Trees & Shrubs

Rensselaer County Soil & Water Conservation District

Annual Tree & Shrub Sale

Landscaping on a budget? Check out the County Tree and Shrub Sale. You'll get great prices, if you don't mind waiting a few extra seasons for them to grow. Here are some examples (many more on the Order Form):

• Five 12"-18" 5 yr. Arborvitae transplants for $16.00
• Five 18”-24” 3 yr. Pagoda Flowering Dogwood seedlings for $11.00
• Ten 18”-24” 2 yr. Rugosa Rose seedlings for $13.00
• Five 24”-36” 2 yr. old Forsythia seedlings for $10.00
• Fifty Pachysandra rooted cuttings for $18.00
• Fifty Periwinkle (Myrtle) Clumps for $27.00

The trees and shrubs will be seedlings, (skinny sticks - not fluffy shrubs). If you don't need five or ten trees, you could share with a neighbor.

Veggie Garden Classes

Due to high demand, the Cooperative Extension has added another set of vegetable gardening classes to their schedule.

The "Garden 4 Eating" seminars will be held at the Cornell Cooperative Extension offices, 61 State St. Troy, NY.

• May 4 * Secrets to Successful Vegetable Gardening *
• May 11 * My 2009 Garden... and How I Got There *
• May 18 * Getting the Most "Green" From Your Garden! *
• June 1 * Raised Beds and Container Gardening *

For more info, download the brochure, or check out this Craigslist posting.

Spring Gardening

It's garden catalog time, and I've just ordered an unmanageable selection of seeds (again). Last year's best results from seed were the zinnias:

Here are some upcoming events for other incurable gardening optimists:

Spring Garden Day, March 14 (Cornell Cooperative Extension); Tamarack/Brunswick High School, Troy; Workshops are Sold Out, but you can still pay $10 at the door to see Margaret Roach speak at 2pm on "Making a 365 Day Garden" (check out her blog A Way To Garden)

Capital District Garden and Flower Show, March 27-29th; Hudson Valley Community College, Troy; $10 at the door, $8 advance tickets at Price Chopper

Here's a hot topic: Rain Gardening with Master Gardener Sue Perzzola, April 7, 6pm; East Greenbush Library; (See the ultimate Rain Garden Manual from the Univ. of Wisconsin.)

The Capital District Community Gardens have a Spring Brunch at HVCC on May 3. Check the link for details. CDCG's gardens include the "Rensselaer Family Farm" on Fifth St. near Fowler, and an employee community garden at the Tech Park.

Check out Cornell Cooperative Extension's online Gardening Resources, and once things start blooming, be sure to take a short drive out Rt. 43 and visit their Demonstration Garden at the Robert C. Parker School.

My latest quest is to find a local retailer selling rain barrels. Anybody know a source?