GGG

Granville Gardeners Gazette Promoting Education and Recreation through Gardening Activities

Oxford, North Carolina January 2020, Volume X, No.1

Field trip: Maria Kazmierski’s Annual herb sale fundraiser May covered dish social at Dot garden tour and medicinal herb and Tom Jordan’s workshop

Getting to Know Our Garden Club Members And Our Vision for the New Year By Brenda LaFayette, President of the Granville Gardeners

Monday, January 27, 7 p.m., Granville Co. Expo Center, 4185 U.S. Hwy 15 S, Oxford

About the Program

We have wonderful programs at our monthly meetings, but they are so packed with content -- a good thing -- that we don't really get a chance to learn more about (or make friends with) other members whom we don't know. I asked to use our January meeting as an opportunity to get to know more about our members besides your names. I am planning several short icebreaker/getting-to-know-you type activities in small groups. Please come and enjoy an entertaining way to meet other members and/or learn more about those you already know.

I am also planning to have an open discussion to hear from you about anything you think would be a good activity or project for the Granville Gardeners, or other things we can do to make the club any more effective, fun, or active. I look forward to seeing you all on January 27th.

About the Speaker

Brenda LaFayette has a degree in Agriculture from the University of Maryland. She had a very short career working at a landscape nursery before taking time off to raise two children. Then she became a middle school science teacher, served as a team leader, and was science department chair during her

30year career. She is now happily retired and trying to relearn all she has forgotten about landscaping and gardening.

President’s Notes Dear Fellow Gardeners, As we begin a new year and a new decade, I want to thank you all for trusting me to be your garden club president. I really appreciate it. When Cindy introduced me, she said many kind things about me. She also told you all to “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a wild ride.” I hope you will not take that to mean that I will try to make huge, sweeping changes to this wonderful club. I will not, but I will try to make this year as much fun and as entertaining as possible. I will also work to make our club as efficient and as organized as possible. I’ve never been president of anything, but I was a middle school science teacher, team leader, and department chair for 30 years. I believe I know what it takes to be a good leader, and I will do my best for you. I expect you to help me be the best I can be by letting me know what has worked in the past and what you would like to see going forward. Communication is key to good leadership and I intend to keep you all in the loop. I am hearing-impaired and using the telephone is difficult at best. I will be communicating by email mostly and in person when possible. Please check your email at least once per week. If you are a board member or officer, please check it more often. I promise not to inundate you with emails. Thank you again for entrusting the presidency to me. I look forward to a wonderful year of gardening with you all. Sincerely, Brenda LaFayette

Installation of Officers and Awards, December 3, 2019

The December issue of the GGG had photos of the festivities and of the swearing in of the officers and board members for 2020 and of some of the awards presentations. The program agenda for the evening was beautifully designed and executed, and the evening proceeded without a hitch. The appetizers were so abundant and delicious that they could have replaced dinner. President Cindy Keith’s introduction of the 2020 board members was followed by Carroll Glasscock’s blessing of the food and the lining up for the buffet dinner catered by Ted’s Catering. The dinner was up to Ted’s usual standard and was enjoyed by all. We were entertained by the always mellifluous Ben Cifers’ singing songs of the season. Adding to the entertainment at the end of the meal was Raleigh-based comedian Mick McKenna, who has found a niche in clean comedy. Mick’s Scots accent was lilting and his stories amusing – fun for all. Kay Nutt was asked about our NCSU scholarship recipient, Trace Fulbright, who had been asked to attend this event so that the GG could meet him, and she said he was unable to come. She and Jim will invite him to the May covered dish social. Gerry Alston presented a wonderful piece of garden art – a very large rabbit – to Cindy Keith in recognition of her dedication to the office of president. She had not planned on, and she did not want to serve a second term, but she fit it in her busy schedule and the club benefited by her generosity. Cindy Keith presented awards to many of the Granville Gardeners who had given the extra time, effort, and work that makes the club extraordinary. They were Gerry Alston, Danny DeVito, Marty Finkel, Jim and Kay Nutt, Linda and Reuben Niles, Brenda LaFayette, and Laura Gable (not present0. These were committee chairmen whose oversight and work got everything done throughout the year – the May social, ice cream social, installation of officers and awards, herb sale, monthly issues of the GG Gazette, financial duties including record-keeping, collecting and disbursing club monies, collection of dues for membership renewal, keeping new member packets up-to-date and given when someone joins, maintaining the membership list, keeping the club visible to the public through publicity activities, producing high quality, up-to-date, interesting, useful, informative programs nine months of the year, staying in contact with NCSU in regard to our scholarship gift and the recipients, coordinating the monthly refreshments at meetings, and on and on. It takes a lot of cooperation and satisfying work to maintain the high standards our club enjoys. To quote a friend “Who has more fun than we do?” After heart-felt year-end remarks by out-going president Cindy Keith, the swearing in of the 2020 officers and board members was administered by Lloyd Mitchell. Lucky were the people who won door prizes of a crystal vase donated by Maggie and Rob Thornton, beeswax gifts donated by Christi, the chocolate cup and saucer plus the gift from Cedar Creek Gallery donated by the Niles, a gift basket donated by Cindy and Hal Keith, a magnolia wreath donated by Gerry. Incoming president Brenda LaFayette’s concluding remarks were upbeat, positive, and exciting about the way forward for the club in 2020.

To-Do List

• Seed catalogs started coming last month and are still arriving, so make your choices and order this month. For less than the price of one transplant or one 4-cell pack of vegetables or flowers, you can have from 10 to 500 plants if you plant all the seeds in a package. The most fun, though, is that you get to choose from so many varieties that aren’t on the market, and you get to watch them grow.

• Sow seeds of broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage inside or in a cold frame. Inside, when seedlings appear, put their containers about 2 inches under fluorescent lights. Grow lights are not necessary unless plants are flowering. Strong light & cool temperature result in compact, sturdy seedlings.

• If you didn’t have a soil test done in the fall, there is still time; boxes are available from the Extension office, and instructions are printed on the boxes.

• Fertilize pansies with an organic slow release fertilizer. Re-apply every 6 weeks. • Dig and divide liriope and mondo late this month and early Feb. Cut back liriope before new growth

emerges using a lawn mower or string trimmer. • Spray for overwintering aphid, scale, and mite eggs, nymphs, and adults using dormant oil according

to directions. Spray only when the temperature is 40 degrees or warmer for at least 24 hours. • Remove and destroy bagworm pouches on junipers and other needle-leaved plants. • Check houseplants for insects. Any eggs that were on them when they were moved indoors may have

hatched. Use dormant oil for houseplants, too – check label to make sure it can be used on that plant. • Walk around with a notepad and note what needs to be done: overgrown azaleas, ligustrum, eleagnus,

other shrubs that need pruning and thinning (or removed), walkways that need attention, new paths to make, removing over-populated plants (hellebores, daylilies, iris, lily of the valley, others), etc. You won’t remember if you don’t write it down. Give serious thought to making raised beds for vegetable growing.

• On the warmer, sunny Jan. days, visit other gardens to see how the bare “bones” of the garden create winter interest. A few suggestions are: the J C Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, Duke gardens, Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden in Kernersville, Daniel Stowe in Belmont (near Charlotte), Juniper Level Botanic Gardens on the winter open garden dates of Plant Delights Nursery in February and in March (located south of Raleigh). Many nurseries in the area have excellent display gardens as well. You will be surprised to see so many plants blooming in February.

By Marty Finkel

Gardening with Hydroponics Gardening with Reuben Niles

Number 6 in the Garden Series

I grew up in Miami, FL and as a child harvested papaya, guava, and coconuts from jungle areas or overgrown lots. In my twenties, I started with veggies and moved on to tropical perennials such as begonias, orchids and hanging baskets of all types. I hung them under my 25-year-old mango trees. Gardening in zone 7 has had challenges such as deer, weather, and bugs. I put in a 7-foot deer fence around 2 acres and have two outside cats to keep the smaller critters controlled. In 2006, I planted an edible landscape with blueberries, blackberries, figs, mulberries, Asian pears, apples, Che fruit, and jujube (Chinese date). Along with this, I created four 30’x 31/2’ raised beds for veggies and have now downsized to two beds for garlic or whatever else I decide to plant. I will try a wildflower meadow this spring.

I have embarked on growing more veggies in a floating raft hydroponics system. It is inexpensive and simple to set up and use. I have grown tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, bok choy, and lettuce. If anyone is interested, I would be happy to show you the process. I start all my veggies from seeds.

HAPPY GARDENING! REUBEN

Q&A Q: I like to grow vegetables from seed so I can plant the kinds I really like, and I haven’t seen seeds offered for potatoes. Do you know if they are available? A: Most potatoes are grown from seed potatoes -- some are small whole tubers, and some are sections with “eyes” that are cut from larger potatoes. However, seeds of a new hybrid potato, ‘Clancy’, are now offered by a few seed companies. It was a 2019 All-America Selections winner. The AAS announcement gives two good reasons for growing potatoes from seed: it eliminates the potential for introducing disease, and seeds are easier to store and can be stored longer than tubers. This is the AAS description:: “Potato Clancy produces compact and healthy dark green plants with blue flowers. Resulting spuds are a beautiful ornamental mix ranging from red to rose blush skin tones with interiors of creamy white and yellow. In terms of eating qualities, Clancy has great texture and flavor (a happy medium between that of

a yellow-skinned potato and a russet), making it especially good for mashing or boiling due to its lighter texture.” The catalog Seeds‘nSuch says it takes 100 days from transplants. Start seeds indoors at the time tomato seeds are started, about 6 weeks before the first frost, and plant out when you plant tomato seedlings. After transplanting, treat the seedling the same as a planted tuber. The plant grows 2 to 3 feet tall and produces 4 to 5 round to oblong potatoes weighing 3 to 4 ounces each. The plants are said to be ideal for containers. I know that Seed’nSuch and Shumway’s catalogs carry the seeds; there may be others.

Clancy – ready to cook with herbs and garlic? Clancy in the field

By Marty Finkel from All-America Selections on-line and from 2020 Seeds’nSuch catalog Photos from AAS on-line Q: I read the article in the October Q&A about the insect apocalypse and was shocked, especially since insects at some stage of their lives are what the birds eat. So what’s the effect on birds? A: The massive loss of insects is having a devastating effect on birds. This was one of the causes reported in last fall’s news articles about North America’s loss of three billion birds since 1970. Another reason for the loss of birds was their exposure to neonicotinoid pesticide. This finding was reported in the article, “Huge decline in songbirds linked to common insecticide,” by Stephen Leahy, published last fall (Sept. 12, 2019) in National Geographic magazine. Leahy reported evidence found in a Canadian study (and recent research from other studies not associated with the Canadian one) that appeared in the Sept. issue of Science. Leahy writes: “. . . . A first ever study of birds in the wild found that a migrating songbird that ate the equivalent of one or two seeds treated with a neonicotinoid insecticide suffered immediate weight loss, forcing it to delay its journey.” Most farm crops in the United States and Canada are grown with neonicotinoid-treated seeds and are planted at about the time of bird migration. The birds make stops to rest and feed along their route and may be repeatedly exposed to the pesticide. Leahy continues: “To investigate the potential impacts on wild birds, researchers captured whitecrowned sparrows during a stopover on their spring migratory route from the U.S. to the boreal region of Canada, which spans the top of the country. Individual sparrows were fed either one very small dose of the most commonly used neonicotinoid, called imidacloprid, or a slightly higher dose, or one with no insecticide. Each bird was weighed and its body composition measured before and after exposure. Birds given a higher dose of the pesticide had lost 6 percent of their body mass when weighed again six hours later.

Clancy ready to cook

The high dose given is comparable to a bird eating one-tenth of a single sunflower seed or corn seed treated with imidacloprid, or three or more wheat seeds, says co-author Christy Morrissey, an ecotoxicologist at the University of Saskatchewan. ‘It’s a minuscule amount, a tiny fraction of what these birds would eat daily,’ Morrissey said in an interview.” The scientists found that imidacloprid, even at extremely low doses, caused the sparrows to be lethargic and not interested in eating. Neonics are chemically similar to nicotine, which stimulates nerve cells and kills them at high doses. Just as low amounts of nicotine suppress appetite in humans, it affects birds the same way. The study found that the sparrows they gave the high dose to hung around the stopover site for an extra 3.5 days recovering and regaining their lost weight. The extra delay in migration could cause the sparrows to miss their chance to breed, and Morrissey says “Small birds may only breed once or twice in their lifetimes and missing out could lead to population declines.” A chief scientist for Bayer Crop Science (the leading manufacturer of imidacloprid), David Fischer, said that small birds like the white-crowned sparrows can’t swallow large seeds like corn or soybean. However, Charlotte Roy, a wildlife ecologist, said that they don’t have to, that they crack open large seeds and eat the insides and/or fragments. Roy recorded the sparrows eating treated corn, soy, and wheat seeds along with other birds, mice, deer, and black bears. In Charlotte Roy’s study, she and her team simulated seed spills during spring planting to see if wildlife would notice. They examined 71 recently planted fields and found spilled neonic-treated seeds in 35 per cent of them --birds found them on average within a day and a half. This was the first look at how readily available treated seeds are to wildlife, and she said farmers generally don’t know how bad these seeds are for wildlife. She said “The rate of spillage was much higher than anyone expected.” By Marty Finkel with information from cited sources. Please read the entire article by using this link. It includes links to other studies with important findings. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/widely-used-pesticide-makes-birds-loseweight/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=Animals_20191212&rid=C9CBDD02D01D0D685D2F705F80F0AC D4

Did You Know? Did you know that a recent study shows that more than 200 bird species that breed, winter, and migrate through North Carolina are at risk for extinction? Among them are many familiar backyard and forest birds like the Wood Thrush, American Goldfinch, and Brown-headed Nuthatch. The National Audubon Society (NAS) announced the report, Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink,” in Durham October 10, 2019 in an article titled “New Audubon Science: Two-thirds of North American Birds at Risk of Extinction due to Climate Change.” The report shows how climate change is impacting birds in NC and across the country.

Wood Thrush Photo: Audubon Field Guide American Goldfinch Photo: Cornell University You may have read the article in the November GGG Did You Know about the loss of nearly three billion birds in the U.S. and Canada since 1970. If you missed it, go to our web site, thegranvillegardeners.org, click on Newsletter, and scroll down to Archives. David Yarnold, president of Audubon, wrote in the October release: “A lot of people paid attention to last month’s report that North America has lost nearly a third of its birds. This new data pivots forward and imagines an even more frightening future.” Andrew Hutson, Audubon North Carolina executive director and vice president of the National Audubon Society, said “Birds are our early warning system and they are sending us a strong message – it’s time to act on climate. The red lights are blinking; we’re heading toward the iceberg. The good news is that we have time to change course – catastrophe isn’t inevitable, but we have to act now.” The October article continues: “More than half of the climate-vulnerable breeding birds in our state are forest dwellers, and most of these are found at mid- to-higher elevations, including Golden-winged Warblers and Cerulean Warblers. The study shows that hotter spring temperatures will lead to dryer forests, putting new pressures on birds and their food supplies. . . . . .” Brooke Bateman, Ph.D., the senior climate scientist for the NAS, is quoted: “Birds are important indicator species, because if an ecosystem is broken for birds, it is or soon will be for people too.” David Yarnold says there is hope, however: “Two-thirds of America’s birds are threatened with extinction from climate change, but keeping global temperatures down will help up to 76 per cent of them. There’s hope in this report, but first, it’ll break your heart if you care about birds and what they tell us about the ecosystems we share with them. It’s a bird emergency.” Audubon has outlined five key steps we can take to help: 1. Reduce your use of energy at home and ask your elected officials to support energy-saving policies

that reduce the overall demand for electricity and that save consumers money. 2. Ask you elected officials to expand clean energy development that grows jobs in your community –

like properly-sited solar or wind power. 3. Reduce the amount of carbon pollution released into the atmosphere. In ordeer to drive down carbon

emissions, we will need innovative economy-wide solutions that address every sector of the economy.

4. Advocate for natural solutions, from increasing wetlands along coasts and rivers that absorb soaking rains to protecting forests and grasslands that are homes to birds and serve as carbon storage banks, and putting native plants everywhere to help birds adapt to climate change.

5. Ask elected leaders to be climate and conservation champions. To read the article, go to https.//nc.audubon.org and scroll down to News – New Audubon Science: Twothirds of North America’s Birds at Risk of Extinction Due to Climate Change By Marty Finkel from the Oct. 10, 2019 article cited above Did you know that Jerusalem artichokes, aka sunchokes, offer a broad range of health benefits as well as being a delicious addition to your food options? According to HealthBenefitstimes.com, the tubers are a good source of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Eating them helps control cholesterol, maintain normal blood pressure, maintain muscle function, helps support a healthy cardiovascular system, helps prevent premature aging, and helps maintain dental health. Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) are native to the eastern U.S. and Mexico. The 3.5 feet to up to 12 feet tall perennial plants have stout, ridged, and hairy stems which get woody over time. The flowers are like a sunflower. The knobby tubers grow in clusters and have nodes, internodes, and eyes and are mostly tan in color. They have a sweet, nutty taste with flavor similar to artichokes. Their crisp texture makes a delicious addition when grated raw and used in salads. They can be dug for harvest from late summer through late fall but are better after several frosts, according to Johnny’s Selected Seed. These versatile tubers can be baked, roasted, marinated, and boiled. A delicious cream soup can be made with them. Dieters find them a tasty raw snack as they have few calories. You can even eat them as French fries! In France, they have been used for wine and beer production for many years. One note of caution from Marty: I grew these years ago, and they are really good, BUT they multiply prolifically. Be sure you have some way of containing their spread -- they are worth the trouble.

Raw (Photo from Cooking Light) Plants in flower (Photo from Roasted (Photo from Cooking Bing Images) Channel) By Marty Finkel with information from HealthBenefitsTimes.com, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, other

Plant of the Month

Prague viburnum is one of the finest hardy evergreen shrubs, with lustrous small leaves throughout the year. It is a large shrub that will eventually grow 8 feet tall and its cut branches make excellent foliage for bouquets year-round. It is an excellent backdrop shrub for perennial borders where it provides winter structure and color. Its foliage glistens in the sun, so it is most attractive in a winter sunny site. Plant Prague viburnum in moist, well-drained soil in a site with full sun or part shade and shelter from severe winter winds. Best transplanted in spring so it has a full year to establish before winter. If planted in the fall, it is more susceptible to winter-burned leaves. Plants should be moist going into winter.

Also in Bloom This Month

Note that bloom times vary, depending on climatic and meteorological conditions, and many plants bloom several months in a row (and sometimes rebloom).

Autumn-flowering crocus Mexican butterfly-bush Camellia Mock orange camellia Chinese fringeflower Ozark witchhazel Chinese tea-olive Rigid spurge Flowering quince Viburnum Fragrant wintersweet Winter flowering iris Helleborus bocconei Winter honeysuckle Japanese fatsia Mahonia

Photos of Some of the Plants in Bloom This Month

Winter flowering iris Ozark witchhazel (Iris unguicularis)

Mock-orange camellia Prague viburnum

Helleborus bucconei Mahonia (hybrid ‘Cantab’)

By Ed Neal