Many thanks to the Fall Fest Committee, and co-chairs Diana Breen and Alyce Zellers for another great event. Fifty-four Master Gardeners turned out to volunteer, shop, or participate in the sessions. Thanks to all of you for your contributions.

Holly Thorpe, Class of 2007 Representative, has prepared an ordering form for MG apparel. If you wish to place an order please send it to the office by November 15th.

Congratulations to Gail Sklar and the Grant Writing committee. They submitted a request in June to the Taylor Community Foundation. In late September we were awarded a grant for $1500 to be used for Phase Two Expansion of the Kid’s Garden at CADES. Marty Roelandt is the chair for the CADES Garden program.

Joe Daniels is offering an AARP Driving course to the MGs on October 14th and 16th, 7 pm in the Environmental Center. The course costs $10 and is available to everyone aged 50 and older. Upon completion you will receive a voucher for your insurance company that entitles you to 5% reduction in automobile insurance.

We have new Environmental Stewardship information in the office as well as books and CDs. You can review the information on our web site. Books and CDs may be checked out by Master Gardeners.
Hope Jones-Gary is working on plans for the Holiday Party. If you are available and would like to help with this project, please contact Hope. Our party is scheduled for December 7th. Your guest is welcome.

What a lovely fall day last Saturday (Oct. 4) turned out to be! Just perfect for the annual Chester County Day House & Garden Tour. All proceeds raised provide support for the Chester County Hospital. Although many of the colors of fall have not yet developed, there was just enough color splash to satisfy the eye and heart as we drove around the back roads of the southwestern part of the county. Fall is definitely my favorite season of the year.

Our last stop before all doors on the tour closed at 5 PM was The Peace Center at Birmingham. Located on the grounds of the Birmingham Friends Meeting (at 1245 Birmingham Rd, just off PA 926 outside of West Chester), The Peace Center includes a gathering place for peace education and activism in the 1819 Octagonal Schoolhouse and the Peace Garden. This garden is located behind the meetinghouse in the burial ground surrounding the Common Grave of scores of British and American soldiers who fell at the Battle of the Brandywine (Sept. 11, 1777). Visiting the garden is a way to honor those who lost their lives here but also a place to reflect on the downsides of war. One of the negative aspects, of course, is the destruction of forests and fields and disruption of its inhabitants.

The Peace Garden is planted solely with native plants, 40 species or cultivars in all. Dwarf Fothergilla leaves are turning orange, Alternate-leaved Dogwood and Sassafras leaves are shades of red, and Winterthur Viburnum has blue-grey berries. The White Wood Aster (Aster divaricatus) is in bloom. Native Pachysandra, Cinnamon and Sensitive Ferns, and Hardy Ageratum (Eupatorium coelestinum ‘Cory’) await you there.

If you love to go for drives (be sure to use a fuel-efficient car!) and see fall foliage, another area to check out is Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, 2 miles south of Kleinfeltersville on the Lancaster/Lebanon county line. [Take the PA Turnpike to the Reading exit (222 North) but get on 272 North (this is the old 222) after you go through the toll booth. Several miles down the road you will come to an intersection at Weaver’s Country Market. Turn left onto Rt. 897 and go west.] This 6000+ acre WMA is home to thousands of ducks, geese, and swans that migrate through here in the spring and the fall. The Visitor Center contains a small wildlife museum with outdoor bird and butterfly garden. Picnicking areas and hiking trails also abound. Last Sunday’s hike along the Conservation Trail
(1.4 miles) led me and mine up a ridge, through a forest, into a field, and over some wetlands. Along the way I saw LOTS of poison ivy (native), oriental bittersweet (exotic invasive), clouded sulphur butterflies, and an eastern box turtle! I was just praying that all the dogs and little boys who were walking along this trail behind us did not see or smell this latter species.

A statement I heard a few weeks ago from a PHS employee really made me sad. She stated that in the last 15 years in the counties surrounding Philadelphia (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery), FIVE MILLION trees have been eliminated, either from development, disease, or ignorance. Using 2003 data, that is at least 2 trees per person! As a mechanism to support urban forestry and promote environmental stewardship, PHS has been offering its Tree Tenders course in these counties. Many of you have already become official tree champions. PHS will soon be partnering with local colleges, universities, and organizations to work with residents in their communities to plant and nurture trees. We all know the environmental reasons why trees are important but they also provide for our emotional and physical well-being. “Studies show that urban greenery makes us healthier and happier.” So says Dr. Kathleen Wolf, an environmental psychologist at UW. Next spring Widener will be partnering with PHS and its Tree Tenders program to educate the citizens of Chester and adjacent areas about the importance of trees. I hope you all will consider lending your time and talent in this most important undertaking.

return to the top

Some Tips for Preparing the Garden for Winter
by Joe Daniels
 
         
The cool weather has finally returned and our thoughts go to cleaning up the garden from hopefully another successful season. . .even with the lack of rain this summer. Here are a few items that should be on your "To Do List:"
 
1. Water, Water, Water
This is very important for trees and shrubs especially because of the dry summer we have had this year.  Evergreens continue to lose moisture during the colder months and trees and shrubs with moister ( but not waterlogged) soils survive better than those in drier soil.
2. Vegetable Gardens
After you have finished harvesting all those delicious vegetables from your garden be sure to pull up any plants that are diseased (discard but don't compost them). If you know for certain that any of the plant stalks and vines are disease-free and healthy then you can leave them and compost them back into the soil.  If you have any mature green tomatoes, wash them off, wrap them in news paper and in a few weeks they should be ready for eating.
3. Annuals
Many annuals die down after blooming and definitely by the first frost. Pull them up and toss in the compost unless they are diseased. In that case trash them.
4. Continue weeding
Weeds continue to set seed late into the fall. to avoid a new crop of weed seeds, pull them up now.
5. Prepare soil for next spring.
Turn the soil and make sure you remember what was planted where so you can rotate crops next spring. Remove all garden debris that is diseased. Till the soil (except in places where you still have root crops) and add fresh compost, aged manure, peat or even leaves and rotting fruit. Rotting crabapples make great organic mulch..

Winterizing Cannas
 
Here is some basic information about Cannas.  As you know, they are to tropical plants USDA zones 8 to 10, and will die off in colder climates they are planted in the garden. Here's what you need to do to get your cannas ready for winter.
 
1. If the cannas are in containers, all you need to do is bring them indoors for the winter. I had success last winter with leaving the tubers in containers. They stayed in my garage all winter and came back on their own in spring. I just cut the foliage back and placed them in the back of my garage near the house, which is a warmer area than near the front by the garage door.
2 If the tubers are planted in the ground, then you need to dig them up, remove excess soil and any dead leaves and bring them inside. The tubers should be stored in the garage  or basement don't put them in the refrigerator. If temperatures dip below freezing avoid the garage. Canna tubers don't tolerate freezing temperatures and will die.
3. In theory you should dig them up before the last frost, but if you like to wait until the last minute you can wait for the frost( the canna leaves will turn black) and then dig them up.
4. In late spring check for signs of growth and when the danger of frost has passed, plant the tubers in the soil...and if you plan to plant them in containers do this in early April.
 
Have a great fall gardening season, don't overdo it and see you at the meeting.

return to the top

ES Committee Tip of the Month

Check out PA’s IConserve web site and get inspired by your neighbors who have embraced environmental stewardship issues! IConserve is a program of the PA Dept of Conservation and Natural Resources. Sign up for their newsletter. Their web address is: www.iconservePA.org.

WANTED
Eleanor Tickner is collecting 3 liter soda bottles for a special hypertufa workshop. Bring your contributions to the office. We will store them in the shed.

Reminders:
 
1. Please remember our wreath making workshop will be on December 13 and we will be needing any greens you can spare from your garden. So save any pruning of your evergreens until early December and drop them off the week before at the Smedley Park Environmental Center.
 
2. If you have any natural materials ( pine cones, milkweed pods, teasels, acorns and similar items), could you please drop them off at the October meeting or before our Second Saturday in November. I would greatly appreciate any of your donations to make our workshop a success. If any questions please call Joe Daniels....

Earth Notes
by Marion Yaglinski

Native Plants Help Support Biodiversity

Biodiversity is necessary for a healthy planet. It allows the ecosystem to prevent and recover from a variety of disasters. Rich soil, clean air, clean water, abundant forests and the rich bio diversity of species on our planet are essential for our life.

As home gardeners, we play an important role in nurturing and protecting biodiversity. The choice to create a native plant area in our gardens can make the difference between life and death for many species, including our pollinators.

I’ve included many natives on my garden. One of my favorites is Birch Leaf Spirea (Spiraea betulifolia)—a shrub that doesn’t look very much like a spirea, but has all the desirable characteristics of the family. It’s hardy to zone 4 and is native to many states in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest and from PA through the South Atlantic. There are many cultivars of this lovely deciduous shrub. The one I chose for my garden is ‘Tor’.

Tor has gorgeous blue green foliage and adorable white flower clusters in spring. If you’d like to prune it, do so after it blooms. Tor grows two to three feet tall and wide, is not fussy about soil or water, is happy in full sun to part shade and even has colorful foliage in the fall. Basically, it takes care of itself--like most natives.

Use Tor as a specimen in a border, as a low hedge or to line a walkway. This wonderful shrub can be easily propagated by taking softwood or hardwood cuttings, dividing the root ball or by layering.

Delco MG is Board Member of Wild Ones
Bridgette Anderson (class of 2007) is a Board Member of Wild Ones, a not-for-profit environmental education and advocacy organization that promotes the use of local native plants and natural landscapes for environmental sustainability.

This winter, Wild Ones will be hosting a Homeowner Habitat seminar on January 24th 2008 at Willistown Conservation Trust. The two day workshop will teach home owners how to design, establish and maintain biodiversity in their gardens by making use of their local native plants.  The workshop will cover the different native plant communities for rain gardens, meadows, hedge rows, insect biodiversity, sun and shade plants, rain water collection, composting and more.

The national web site for Wild Ones is www.for-wild.org. The local chapter web address is: www.habitatresourcenetwork.org/.

To view their calendar of events, go to http://www.habitatresourcenetwork.org/calendar08.html.

return to the top

NEWSLETTER STAFF:

Editor: Barbara Smith

Committee: Linda Barry, Tracey Carson, Joe Daniels, Carolyn DiPaulo, Marianne Martin, Elsie Mueller, Marion Nelson, Cynthia Sabatini, Mary Sambor, Carl Pfeiffer & Arlene Pugh

Cooperative extension e-mail: DelawareExt@psu.edu
Blog Address: http://go.philly.com/gardenerjournal