Today's Column...

In today's column, I talk about hops. Here's a picture of the ornamental Humulus lupulus 'Aureus', the golden hop vine. 

 

Today's column is about hops for home brewing (briefly), and I interview Fausto Angotti. Fausto does beer tastings—that's where I met him, at a private tasting at a friend's house—that are fascinating and make for a party that's both fun and educational. If you're interested check out his site: TheBruHaus.com.

Call for Work

From Jim Charlier at GardenWalk Buffalo:

Garden Walk Buffalo is looking for artwork to use on the Garden Walk 2009 posters, t-shirts and maps. Artwork must be garden-related and it is preferable that it relate to the type of gardens, flowers, and neighborhoods found on Garden Walk Buffalo in late July. It can come in the form of a painting (in any media), a photograph, a drawing, an illustration, or a mixed media work. Please submit up to five slides, or a CD containing high quality .jpgs to Garden Walk Buffalo, PO Box 161, Buffalo, NY 14207. Do not send original work—slides on CD only. Include a resume and a brief letter explaining why the imagery would be particularly appropriate to Garden Walk. If you need further information, email your questions to GardenWalkBuffalo@yahoo.com or leave a message at 716-879-0123. Entries are due Friday, March 13.

Garden Walk Buffalo, an annual tour of more than 300 urban gardens, is the largest garden tour in the U.S. The 15th annual Garden Walk Buffalo will be held on Saturday and Sunday, July 25 & 26, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.GardenWalkBuffalo.com

DEADLINE: Friday, March 13, 2009

Interior Plant Specialist/Gardener

I apologize—I'm posting this very late.

Job Summary: Ecology and Environment, Inc. is a fully integrated environmental consulting firm whose underlying philosophy is its worldwide commitment to supporting sustainable development through responsible environmental stewardship. We are seeking a part-time Interior Plant Specialist/ Gardener for our Lancaster, NY office.

Responsibilities:
Hands on maintenance and care of tropical interior plants in a corporate business environment.
Watering, cultivation, pest and disease control within an Integrated Pest Management ( IPM) program.
Maintaining interior planters, tools, and equipment associated with the interior landscape program.
Determining the need for and schedule maintenance and care projects including watering, trimming, pruning, feeding, insect and plant disease control.
Assisting Horticulturist in planning and executing plans for seasonal moving or transplanting.

Requirements:
3+ years of experience.
Associates Degree and or/ combination of horticultural training and experience with tropical and subtropical plants.
Some evening and weekend hours.
Excellent communication skills and people skills.
Strong organizational skills.
Experience in IPM, organic gardening or natural pest and disease control propagation is a plus.
New York State DEC Pesticide Application Certification is a plus.

E & E offers opportunities in a team-oriented environment, competitive benefits package; including medical, dental, 401k and retirement plan. Please visit our website at www.ene.com to apply online. Join our team and make a difference!

Help Wanted - Nursery Manager

Established nursery/garden center in a busy and affluent eastern suburb of Rochester seeks an experienced manager for the coming season.

Primary duties will involve buying, maintaining and selling annuals, perennials and a limited number of shrubs. In the near future the nursery will also expand into growing its own material, plus landscape design and installation.

This is a rare opportunity to build your own dream job from the ground up.

Please send résumé and cover letter to jane at janemilliman dot com.

We're in Spree!

OK, so it's not so much "we," it's more "Maria." She was seen out at the Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame Awards last month, and her picture—and a line identifying her association with the UGJ—is on page 157 of the new issue. Hey, any way we can get our name in print, we like.

Today's Column...

Thought I'd post some pictures to go along with today's column in the D&C.


Lo & Behold Blue Chip, courtesy Spring Meadow Nurseries

Lantana Luscious Citrus Blend, in my garden

Diamond Frost euphorbia, with poinsettia, courtesy Proven Winners

Mt. Hope in October - wow.

Saturday I visited Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester to take pictures for
a story Michelle Buckstrup is working on for a future issue. (Here she
is, above, interviewing Ed Olinger.)

It was actually pretty tough to get good images, as beautiful as it
was, because the shadows were just a little harsh.

If you're looking for great fall foliage, this is the spot.

Chautauqua Country Trip a Big Success

IMG_0297.JPG, originally uploaded by Jane Milliman.

I can't believe I haven't posted to the blog in over two weeks. I didn't realize it had been that long. Well, we've been busy here at the UGJ. Our trip through Chautauqua County was awesome. The trip SOLD OUT and everyone seemed to have a great time despite somewhat cramped quarters! We'll definitely be doing this again—something slightly different for next year, perhaps. If you are interested in seeing the pictures, click here.

Late Breaking Events - The Wild Ones CNY

Submitted by the Habitat Gardening Club of Central New York (www.hgcny.org), the CNY chapter of Wild-Ones (http://www.for-wild.org/aboutsit.html).

Meetings are at 2 pm at the LeMoyne College Falcone Library in the Special Activities room on the following dates and include invited speakers on habitat garden-related topics.

Meetings are free and open to the public!

DATE:Sunday, October 26
TOPIC: Rain gardens and rain barrels
SPEAKER: Amy Samuels from Cornell Cooperative Extension

DATE: Sunday, November 30
TOPIC: Native Plant Jeopardy (a fun way of educating ourselves on CNY native plants)

Submitted by the Habitat Gardening Club of Central New York (www.hgcny.org), the CNY chapter of Wild-Ones (http://www.for-wild.org/aboutsit.html).

Chautauqua Trip is in 2 Weeks

We have just a few seats left on our bus tour of Chautauqua County (leaving from Buffalo) on 9/27/08. It's going to be a great trip—Maria and I visited every stop this spring while planning the tour and we fell in love with the whole area. If you are interested in joining us, please click here for more information.

Have Your Party in a Castle

Here's Warner Castle, home of the Rochester Civic Garden Center. Did you know you can rent out the castle for (adult) parties? You can! Not only is the building gorgeous, the grounds are spectacular—Warner Castle is in Highland Park, right next to the sunken garden. (To rent the sunken garden, i.e. for wedding pictures, you have to go through County Parks: 585/753-7275.) By renting the castle, you get a great venue, and the RCGC, a not-for-profit organization, makes a little money. Everyone wins. 585/473-5130.

Containers for Fall

My photographs will not do them justice, but I was inspired by containers at almost all of my stops last week, and Van Putte's particularly stood out. I loved the textures and color schemes, and when I got home, I realized that several of my backyard containers were similarly styled and looking fine, whereas my big "splashy" container in the front was a little on the side of lame-o. So I switched them. Looks like a whole new front porch, and the ones now in the back can get some TLC 'til frost. Now I'm wondering, why not do this every year?

Below, two of the Van Putte displays. Note mellow colors and mixed-in perennials.

New Apple Tree Gift Shop Open

As I reported here, there's a new garden-themed gift shop, the Potting Shed, open behind the Apple Tree restaurant on Ridge Road in Clarkson. I stopped in recently and met Raquel Torres, one of the store's founders and a decorative artist. She's also a Boston Terrier lover. I liked her right away. 

There are some pretty extensive gardens on the property, but they've gotten a little out of control. Where there's been excavation, new borders and paths are appearing—it's really very cool. Raquel mentioned that if there were a nearby garden club or other group that was interested in helping unearth the pretty garden that lies under a few years' weeds, there might be a way to work a trade...say, for lunch. As I mentioned earlier, I've eaten at the Apple Tree, often, and if I were a local garden club, I would be jumping at this chance. Leave a note here or call 585/637-0220 if you are interested.

Two Upstate Gardeners in National Magazine

Pick up the latest issue of Garden Ideas & Outdoor Living—it's on newsstands now and features Jerry Kral's city garden, with gorgeous photographs by Andreas Trauttmansdorff, and Emily Webster's wonderful dried arrangements. Emily lives in Victor and is well-known for her hydrangeas; her garden was on the RCGC tour last year. I wrote the story on Jerry and worked the shoot, and it was really cold. You can't see the snow in the photographs because Jerry was furiously leaf-blowing the flakes as we set up the shots.

In the story, Kral shares his tips on landscaping smart and creating texture. If you've been to Jerry's garden, you know he's a genius and you'll want to hear what he has to say. If you haven't, here's your introduction. There's scuttlebutt that another national magazine, which shall go unnamed, is shooting there this fall for a story next year.

If you have a local story idea, let me know.

Garden Ideas and Outdoor Living is available on newsstands for $6.99.

Attn Bonsai Lovers

Well! Here's an interesting image. Sometimes my phone does this...it chops pictures up and makes them look like weird little puzzles. But the post did have a point! There's a new place in Avon only open on weekends: Hollow Creek on Rte. 5. I was very surprised by the extensive bonsai gear, especially the container selection. The building doesn't look big enough to house all that. Lots of neat stuff on this round of deliveries -- I'll try to put more up.

Today's Column...

Until I started doing the research for today's column, I had no idea that blueberry cultivation was as complex as it is. I grew up in Maine, in an area where wild lowbush blueberries grow pretty much everywhere. I learned a lot from the Cornell Guide to Growing Fruit at Home, which you can download yourself, in its entirety or by the chapter, in PDF form, here.

Here's a fun fact I didn't have room for: cranberries and blueberries are both members of the genus Vaccinium, but cranberries belong to the subgenus Oxycoccus, which some experts would like to be its own genus. With botanical classification, there's a lot of confusion, contention, and change. Wikipedia has fairly concise treatment of the taxonomy here.

Off Again

I was going to print this in the magazine, but I didn't want to be a downer. That fabulous autumn event in East Aurora, the Fall Garden Faire, will not be happening this year. I understand why -- it must have been a ton of work; there was always so much going on. [sniff]

On a positive note, Lockwood's Greenhouses in Hamburg, where Sally Cunningham now works (she was among the original organizers of the Faire), is hosting what they are refering to as a more modest Fall Garden Fest on 9/20. Looks like fun. Stop by. We'll be there.

Today's Column...

Just wanted to give you some links for today's column:

Old House Gardens
Colorblends
John Scheepers

I hated leaving out Brent & Becky's Bulbs, too. I've never met Becky, but Brent's been to Rochester before and he's a really sweet, wonderful guy in addition to being a bulb genius. Check out their site.

An Announcement from the Plantasia Show:

Business Opportunity
Vendors wanted to sell garden merchandise, i.e.: plants, flowers, statuary, gardening books & tools, pots, bird feeders. Plantasia, WNY’s only landscape/garden show, March 25 - March 29 at the Agri-Center. Contact 716-741-8047.

BudBud the Destroyer

Behold the adorable Redbud. Cute, right? Oh, he's cute alright, until he mercilessly tramples your garden! Here is a picture of what used to be a lovely stand of Solomon's seal backed by what used to be a clump of Acanthus mollis that was just having its first strong year of bloom—after 7 seasons in the ground here at 3200 East Ave. Argh!


IMG_8180.JPG, originally uploaded by Jane Milliman.