The Victor Garden Club presents: "Native American Plants"

Submitted by the Victor Garden Club

Master gardener and member Chris Benard will present a slide show program illustrating how Native Americans lived in harmony with nature and preserved natural places.

October 14, 2009
7:00 PM
Victor Free Library
Main Street
Victor, NY 14564

Submitted by the Victor Garden Club

Poster Contest for GardenScape ’10 Open to Student Artists Age 16-20

Submitted by the GardenScape Professionals Association

Student artists, age 16-20, are invited to participate in a contest to design the poster for GardenScape 2010, the 19th annual Rochester flower and garden show set for next March 11-14 at the Dome Center in Henrietta.

At the event, the Rochester area’s most creative landscapers will take up the challenge as they interpret the theme: “Eye of the Garden." Visitors will be treated to some 20 artistically landscaped gardens that combine color, beauty and an almost mystical aura in this show produced by the GardenScape Professionals Association.

One poster will be selected for the 2010 GardenScape show. The winning poster will be featured in the media campaign to promote GardenScape 2010. The winning artist will receive media recognition and a $500 scholarship. Posters will be judged to determine the most creative, relevant interpretation of “Eye of the Garden."

The Eye of the Garden theme is drawn from trompe l'oeil, an art genre that involves creating realistic images to effect an optical illusion; causing the two dimensional illustration depicted to appear three dimensional. Inspiration is also derived from the works of M.C. Esher, Salvador Dali and others. Imagine the energy, excitement and charged atmosphere of a powerful storm, then suddenly the sky seems to clear for a brief instant and serenity is restored. This year's show is all about that "Hmmmm...Ahhhh" moment.

Each entrant should complete the poster contest application form found on the GardenScape website www.rochesterflowershow.com/gardenscape/show-poster.php. The winning poster will become the property of GardenScape and offered for auction at the GardenScape Preview Reception,” A Taste of Spring”, proceeds to benefit the Epilepsy Foundation. The winning artist awarded the scholarship at the “ A Taste of Spring,” which benefits the Epilepsy Foundation.

GardenScape is a not-for-profit organization, and proceeds from the show help support public and educational projects such as the Epilepsy Foundation, Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Ronald McDonald House. For more information on the show, including ticket pricing, go to www.rochesterflowershow.com or call 585-265-9018.

Submitted by the GardenScape Professionals Association

A prior year's GardenScape poster (Laurel McManus) 

Orleans County CCE Master Gardener Training Course

Submitted by the Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension

ORLEANS COUNTY CORNELL COOPERATIVE EXTENSION MASTER GARDENER TRAINING COURSE
Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension is now accepting applications for the new Master Gardener Training course which will begin on October 7 at 9:30am. This popular course provides people with excellent gardening knowledge through a series of 10 weekly, 5 hour daytime classes. Attending all of the sessions will equip the registrants to share their knowledge by volunteering their time to Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension. Through this process you can become a certified Master Gardener.

The training will be coordinated by Vicki Jancef, Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension Horticulture Educator. Call the office at 585 798 4265 x26 and speak with Vicki or Kim for more information or for an application form. There is a fee for the course to cover materials and speakers. This is a great way to increase your gardening knowledge and to be a part of an exciting volunteer group helping people to put gardening knowledge to work in Orleans County.

Cornell Cooperative Extension provides equal program and employment opportunities.

Submitted by the Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension

Fall “Hands on with the Harvest” Series Announced

Submitted by the Genesee County Cornell Cooperative Extension

BATAVIA, NY – Cornell Cooperative Extension will be offering the popular Coffee and Dessert Series again this Fall. Participants enjoy a cup of coffee or tea along with desserts homemade by the Master Gardeners.  This season programs will run from 6 to 8 pm at the Extension Center in Batavia and will include:

September 28 – Putting Your Garden to Bed.  Your gardening tasks do not end with that killing frost.  There are many things you can do in your garden to assure gardening success next spring.  Let Maud Charpin, a certified Master Gardener, share her knowledge and tips with you.

October 14 – Creating a Back Yard Habitat.  Join birding expert Jan Beglinger as she shows you the basics of creating a backyard habitat and helps you to create the right conditions to invite a host of birds, butterflies, and other species to your backyard.

October 28 – Growing Culinary Herbs at Home.  Would you like fresh herbs through the winter?  Find out how to grow them on your windowsill.  Master Gardener Paul Saskowski will also be covering what herbs are good for cooking and how to incorporate herbs into your landscaping.

Cost is $10 per class and limited to fifteen participants per class. Pre-register by stopping by the Extension Center located at 420 East Main Street in Batavia, visit the website at www.genesee.shutterfly.com, or contact Amy at 343-3040, ext. 106.

Submitted by the Genesee County Cornell Cooperative Extension

Documentary film HOMEGROWN - Free Admission

Robert McFalls documentary HOMEGROWN (www.homegrown-film.com)
will be shown for free on October 3rd at the Westcott Community Center,
826 Euclid Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210

Playtimes will be at 10:30 am and again, at 12:30 pm. Film running time is approximately 50 minutes.


A Documentary About Modern Day Urban Homesteaders

HOMEGROWN (2008) follows the Dervaes family who run a small organic farm in the heart of urban Pasadena, California. While living off the grid, they harvest over 6,000 pounds
of produce on less than a quarter of an acre, make their own bio diesel, power their computers with the help of solar panels, and maintain a website that gets 4,000 hits a day. The film is an intimate human portrait of what it's like to live like Little House on the Prairie in the 21st Century.

For a short film trailer, see:

http://www.homegrown-film.com/trailer.html

Following each showing there will be a panel discussion featuring questions from the audience, reaction to the film, and talk about ongoing activities and projects in Syracuse and the CNY region. The panel will be hosted by The Alchemical Nursery with representatives from the Syracuse Permaculture and Homesteading Guild, Syracuse Grows, and Habitat/Edible Gardening CNY.

For up-to-date information and screening venue visit:
http://www.alchemicalnursery.org

Home Composting Information Day

Submitted by Monroe County CCE
Home Composting Information Day
Saturday October 17th 2009

9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.

Cornell Cooperative Extension Auditorium

249 Highland Avenue
Rochester, NY 14620

The Master Gardeners of Monroe County CCE will host a morning of composting information in the Auditorium and at the Composting Demonstration site at 249 Highland Avenue.

The public is encouraged to come and see the variety of methods used to create a useful soil amendment out of yard and kitchen waste. The fee is $5 per person or $10 per family to cover the cost of materials. CCE is an equal program opportunity organization. Handicap Accessible.

Please call 461-1000 ext. 225 to reserve your place or register online at mycce.org/monroe.

Submitted by Monroe County CCE

September Splendor Tour a Great Day!

We had an absolutely gorgeous day Saturday for our annual fall bus tour from Buffalo. The first stop was Palmiter's Garden Nursery, where there are some beautiful new plantings. Everyone wanted to know what this shrub is:



















It's lespedeza, a fall-flowering pea that grows to about 6' and prefers full sun. A real beauty.

From there we drove up to Sara's Garden Center in Brockport in our luxury motor coach. Sara's was (is) having their annual 40% sale, and the bargains were pretty impressive. They were also having a dry-laid stone wall building seminar, and we got to see some wall building action.














From Sara's we headed up to Hurd Orchards in Holley, where we were treated to a fantastic lunch. It started with a fruit salad (the fruit having been picked that morning): plums, peaches, blackberries, and apples, with a creamy raspberry vinaigrette dressing.














After that, there was a puff pastry with chicken and Gruyère, plum apple sauce, tomato stuffed with herbed cream cheese, and black cherry chutney. Yum.














The meal ended with "razzleberry" pie and cinnamon ice cream.














Our final stop was Leonard Oaks winery in Medina. I didn't take any pictures there; I must have been too busy sampling the Cayuga white. Everyone had a great time. Thank you to all who attended! For the full set of pictures, visit the trip's flickr page or facebook.

Congrats to Kyle Van Putte...

... president, landscape division manager, Van Putte Gardens, Rochester (Greece). He's been named one of the Rochester Business Journal's 40 under 40.

Out and About: Palmiter's

Check out these beautiful peppers I picked up at Palmiter's in Avon. As Sheila pointed out, they are perfect for filling in spots in containers that need a little extra color—and I do have a few of those spots.

I love the colors.

I almost left with a kitten. They were adorable. The little orange guy definitely wanted to come home with me.