Garden Walk Buffalo Beautification Grant Application deadline approaching

Image: Sixteenth Street Block Club Garden Walk Banners

Submitted by Garden Walk Buffalo

Garden Walk Beautification Grants have helped to fund 52 garden beautification projects for a total of more than $20,000 in last six years. Deadline is December 30, 2009. Applications can be found at www.GardenWalkBuffalo.com.

Award amounts are based on the overall project cost and the eligible projects were required to include matching funds from government, private contributions or volunteer sweat equity. These award projects will be highlighted during this year's Garden Walk.

"Garden Walk Buffalo is very pleased to once again partner with block club and neighborhood groups who are working on various community garden and beautification projects that help to provide a catalyst for redevelopment in our neighborhoods," said Beautification Grant committee chair, and GWB treasurer, Jeffrey Tooke.  "Projects like these, performed by regular residents in the neighborhoods, are contributing to the rebirth of our urban neighborhoods in the City of Buffalo."

Current and past GW Beautification Grant recipients can be found here.

Garden Walk Buffalo, the largest garden tour in the U.S., is held the last weekend of July each year. In 2010, the free event will be Saturday and Sunday, July 24 & 25, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More than 340 residences and businesses throughout the west side of Buffalo open their creative urban gardens for tens of thousands of visitors from around the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit www.GardenWalkBuffalo.com.

High-resolution, print-worthy, professional photography of Garden Walk Buffalo is always available in the Garden Walk Press Kit, found here.

Submitted by Garden Walk Buffalo

2010 Philly Show

RATS! I can never go to this, because I'm sooooo busy at this time of year my husband becomes a single parent. If I could go, however, I would go with the charming and knowledgeable Michael Warren Thomas. Details below.

Submitted by Michael Warren Thomas

The 2010 Philadelphia Flower Show Tours

Passport to the World is the theme for the 2010 show,

also visit Longwood Gardens & the Brandywine River Museum

March 3-4 (Wed.-Thurs.) or March 6-7 (Sat.-Sun.)

The Philadelphia Flower theme for 2010 is Passport to the World. For more details, please visit www.TheFlowerShow.com. The Show will transport visitors to dozens of destinations covering the globe. Among the most impressive will be India, which will come to life amid a shower of flowers in an Indian wedding scene. The Netherlands will be portrayed in a floating flower market filled with over 100,000 blooms. The natural wonders of South Africa will be depicted by the vivid colors and patterns of Zulu costumes. The Amazon jungle of Brazil will unfold in a canopy of sparkling waterfalls, tropical flora and exotic wildlife. Singapore, the “Pearl of Asia,” will have a tribute to the orchid, and New Zealand will feature the wild flora and traditions of the native Maori.

In addition to Longwood Gardens, we will also visit the Brandywine River Museum which highlights the artwork of N.C. Wyeth and his family. The museum is along the banks of the river and beautifully displays the famous original paintings from books like Treasure Island. We last visited this museum on the 2007 tour.

Please pass this info on to your garden club, as well as friends and neighbors that enjoy gardening. Send your deposit as soon as possible to reserve your place. In sixteen years of leading this tour, no one has ever lost a deposit because they had to cancel their reservation – even the night before. Bring family and friends for a two days of flowers. We have even had three generations attend together!

First Day – Philadelpia Flower Show

7:30 Depart Bristol’s Garden Center in Victor, bagels & cream cheese in their greenhouse

11:30 Lunch included near Scranton, PA at The Inn at Nichols Village

3:00 Arrive Philadelphia Flower Show

9:00 Leave show for Hampton Inn in Wilmington, Delaware, 9:45 arrival at hotel.

Second Day – Longwood & Brandywine River Museum

8:10 Leave for Longwood Gardens (continental breakfast at hotel)

9:00 Arrive Longwood Gardens (lunch included – the mushroom soup & cornbread are fabulous)

12:30 Leave for the Brandywine River Museum

2:30 Leave the Brandywine River Museum for dinner in Scranton.

5:30 Arrive at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel for an elegant closing dinner

11:00 Return to Bristol’s Garden Center

The 2010 price is $395 per person (double) includes everything except dinner at the Flower Show. Add $55 for a single. A deposit of $50 per person will hold your place, remainder due by January 10, 2010. Call Michael at 585-328-8300 if you have any questions. Please send a check payable to Michael Warren Thomas, 19 Trafalgar Street, Rochester, NY 14619.

Michael Warren Thomas, Host & Producer

“Naturally Green,” “For the Love of Food,”

“Discover the Finger Lakes,” “Savour Toronto” & “The Grapevine”

19 Trafalgar Street, Rochester, NY 14619 (585) 328-8300 www.SavourLife.com

Submitted by Michael Warren Thomas

Mourning the loss of a dedicated environmentalist

Christine Sevilla was incredibly intelligent, passionate, and talented. The community has lost something really special.


Here is a cover she did for us in '06. I loved her scanner art, and could never quite duplicate the technique.

Here is a blog post I wrote about her calendars a few years ago. This year she had gone back to the original theme, and the new work is beautiful. I'm trying to figure if there is some way the existing stock (I'm sure she had a few) could be sold, still, to benefit her favorite environmental charity. Happy to hear thoughts on this.

For more on Christine's work, visit luminguild.us.

Help Wanted: Working Foreman

Submitted by Town of Perinton Recreation and Parks

Job Posting Announcement

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Town of Perinton Recreation and Parks Department is currently taking applications for the position of full time Working Foreman in the parks division. The Working Foreman is a non-competitive civil service position. The position hourly rate may range from $ 19.33 to 22.97 per hours (annual salary range estimate is $40,000 to $48,000 per year). Benefits are included with this position.

Attached is a job description of requirements for this position. Ornamental and Turf (3A) NYS Pesticide License, NY State Commercial Drivers License class B and Certified Playground Inspection preferred.

Anyone interested in applying should submit a letter of interested accompanied by a resume and employment application to James A Donahue, Commissioners of Recreation and parks, 1350 Turk Hill Road, Fairport NY 14450. Applications must be submitted by Friday December 4, 2009.

If you have questions please contact Commissioner Jim Donahue at 223-5050

Submitted by Town of Perinton Recreation and Parks

Vendors Wanted for Plantasia Show, Buffalo

Submitted by the Plantasia management

Vendors wanted to sell garden merchandise ie., plants, flowers, statuary, gardening books & tools, pots, bird feeders.  Plantasia, WNY’s premier landscape & garden show, March 25 - March 28 at the Agri-Center at the Fairgrounds in Hamburg. Contact 716-741-8047.

Submitted by the Plantasia management

An afternoon with Chuck

I spent the afternoon with Chuck Eblacker checking out some of his new work and visiting an installation I've been wanting to see for quite a while.

Chuck is currently creating a dry-laid stone wall at the Harley School in Brighton, and is instructing a course on the subject this semester as well. This is Chuck's project:

This is the students':

The kids' wall looks great, and what a good skill to learn! Part jigsaw puzzle, part weightlifting, part physics, all Zen.

Next, we moved on to a storied Pittsford property to view a few installations Chuck has worked on over the past few years.

There's the moongate, best known and very cool in person:

There are a few less-complicated projects around the property as well.
A stream crossing that keeps feet just above water:

A li'l cairn thingie:

And extra stones, piled just so, that the homeowner asked him just to leave as is.

More pix here.

Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper to give away rain barrels

This looks like an excellent opportunity for the WNY crowd: 


Submitted by Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper

Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER is able to give away, thanks to a grant from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, 161 rain barrels to high-visibility sites in the Buffalo and Niagara regions. These sites include, but are not limited to, community gardens, low income residential communities, public buildings, government offices and schools.

Local municipal combined sewer systems are overwhelmed during storm events and the overflow dumps raw sewage into our sources of drinking water--the Niagara River and all its tributaries and Lake Erie--four billion gallons a year from Buffalo alone! Using a rain barrel is one way that individuals can help to clean up area waterways.

Once a rain barrel donation request form is submitted (they can be found on the website, www.bnriverkeeper.org/programs/rain-barrels/) and reviewed for eligibility, the barrels are available for immediate delivery to the site with instructions about installation, maintenance, and frequently-asked questions.

Rain barrel workshops, informing the community about the uses and benefits, will be held:

Wednesday, October 14th, 6:00-7:30p.m., at RIVERKEEPER offices, 1250 Niagara Street, Buffalo
Friday, October 23rd, 10-11 a.m., 75 Michigan Street, Lockport, 14094
Tuesday,November 3rd, 1-2 p.m., 5777 Lewiston Rd., Lewiston, 14092

To learn more about rain barrels, Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER, and the workshops, visit the website.

Submitted by Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper

We’ve always thought that we controlled them.

But what if, in fact, they have been shaping us?

“We don’t give nearly enough credit to plants,” says Michael Pollan. “They’ve been working on us, they’ve been using us, for their own purposes.”

THE BOTANY OF DESIRE, airing nationally on PBS on Wednesday, October 28th at 8PM, brings Michael Pollan's provocative best-seller vividly to life, showing how human desires are an essential, intricate part of natural history.
The program explores the natural history of four plants – the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato – and the corresponding human desires– sweetness, beauty, intoxication and controlling nature – that link their destinies to our own.

The two-hour special begins in Michael Pollan’s garden, and roams the world, from the potato fields of Idaho and Peru to the apple orchards of New England, from a medical marijuana hot house to the tulip markets of Amsterdam.

One of the great conceits of human civilization is to put ourselves outside nature – sovereign, constantly shaping and re-shaping the wild for our own purposes; people as subjects, and plants as objects. Taking these plants’ eye view of the world will help viewers understand the need to restore human activity to its proper place in the matrix of nature.

Click here to see a clip from the show.

Late Breaking Event: Rose Workshop

The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy is pleased to host a free workshop on the selection, planting, and care of roses, Thursday October 22nd. The workshop will be held at the historic Delaware Park Rose Garden and Marcy Casino (199 Lincoln Pkwy) from 6:30 - 8:30 PM. Dave Swanka, the Conservancy's rosarian, will guide you through selecting, planting, fertilizing, and caring for your roses with an emphasis on using environmentally friendly procedures and products. Please join us for coffee, snacks, and an informative evening. Come early to tour the rose garden. For further information or to RSVP, please contact Dave Swanka at 833-5549 or dswanka@roadrunner.com.

Job Opening: Web Administrator (Ithaca)

The Northeastern Integrated Pest Management Center is hiring a web administrator. The position is part-time (benefits-eligible) and will be based at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

General job description: Oversee the functionality of the Northeastern IPM Center's website, which educates people about integrated pest management (IPM). Support the Center and the region by enhancing site usability and navigation, improving design, and editing and updating content. Implement a content management system and assist staff in using it. Manage conversion of databases to new formats and migration of the website to a new server.

Details about the position are provided at the application link below and in the full position description.

Applications must be made through Cornell University's Human Resources website. The job number is 11327. http://www.ohr.cornell.edu/jobs/index.html

The closing date for applications is October 23.  If you have questions about the position, please contact Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, ckk3@cornell.edu, 607-255-8879.

Perennial Plant Association

The Perennial Plant Association is offering scholarships for horticulture students. Check it out here: Perennial Plant Association

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.