February 15, 2012

After the Storm…

The following handouts are from the CHS booth at the 2012 Connecticut Flower and Garden Show, along with links to more information about each subject.

Prune
Pruning promotes healthy growth, good looks and flowering. A general rule is to prune flowering plants after they bloom.

Use clean, sharpened tools.

Cut away any dead material.

Remove crossing, rubbing or wounded branches to thwart pests and infection.

Thin crowded stems to promote new growth through increased light and air circulation.

Links:

Margaret Roach blog
Lee Reich blog
Magazine articles, How to Prune, and Pruning Tips

Evict Invasives
These are plant species that lack the natural controls on growth and reproduction that would be found in the plant’s native location. Invasives squeeze out native species, changing the biodiversity of their non-native landscape.

Become familiar with local invasive plant problems. Identify non-native plants (autumn olive, multiflora rose, Oriental bittersweet, burning bush, Japanese honeysuckle, loosestrife).

Remove invasive plants by digging out roots, smothering colonies and/or spot-treating with herbicide in worst cases. 

Pull plants while they’re small and before they seed.

Links:
Douglas Tallamy “Bringing Nature Home"  
University of Connecticut/Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group
U.S. Department of Agriculture 
U.S. Forest Service

Embrace Natives
Native plant species

Require fewer resources to stay healthy.

Have the best survival rates.

Feed and support native microbes, insects and wildlife.

Support a broader range of life than non-native species from Asia & Europe (the Kousa dogwood from China supports NO insect herbivores while our native Cornus florida supports 117 insect herbivores –which in turn feed our birds).

Links
The New York Times articles about Doug Tallamy; about Larry Weaner and native meadows 

December 13, 2011

Calling all 2012 Flower Show Volunteers and Visitors

A landscape exhibit created by CHS again will be the first one visitors see when they enter the Connecticut Convention Center in February for the 2012 flower show, whose theme is “Traditions in Nature.”

“Our creative take-off from the theme is a display we call ‘After the Storm,’ ” says Nancy Brennick, flower show chairman and CHS vice president. “Our experience is that no matter how devastating the effect of Mother Nature’s weather, it is always followed by regrowth. A hurricane may wreak havoc, wind-whipping the landscape, toppling natural and man-made structures, causing flooding and changing water’s path, but it is only then we realize she uncovers a whole new landscape plan.”

One definition of tradition is “a customary practice or set of precedents that continually affects the present,” Nancy says. “We wonder aloud in our display: Is ‘tradition’ the storm? Or the new woodland reclaimed from cultivation, or the swaths of native plants that can grow because new light reaches the earth? Or the damaged, less-than-proportional woody shrubs that flower defiantly? Or the wildlife that takes cover and then returns to make new homes, nests and lairs without flinching as the scene changes?

“Till Feb. 23, we'll keep you guessing where we go with our idea,” she says.  “Come see and decide if we’ve captured the ‘Traditions of Nature.’ ” The show runs from Feb. 23-Feb. 26, 2012, at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.

Volunteers

The Flower Show Committee could use an hour or two of your time. Please contact Nancy with your availability, chs.flowershow@gmail.com.