Gardener News August 2020

TAKE ONE August 2020

Gardener News

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TAKE ONE No. 208

The Garden Club of New Jersey Proudly Rolls Out New Website!

By Jeannie Geremia Contributing Writer Months into the making and we are finally ready to present our fabulous new website to our 4,000-plus members in over 100 garden clubs throughout New Jersey and to all our gardening friends worldwide.

It is the beauty of the internet that we are all connected and able to share gardening tips, environmental concerns, scholarship availability, gardening projects, workshop information, and the list goes on. Most importantly, we are making it so much easier for members of the public to connect with a local garden club in their area.

Diana Kazazis and Ellen Preissler, our GCNJ Website Co-Chairs, have developed a colorful map of New Jersey delineating our eight Districts. This was no easy task, as our Districts are not split along county lines, as you’ll see when you go to our website. All our garden clubs are listed under their Home District and when you click on those that are bold texted, individual garden club websites may be viewed.

We’re sure that our other clubs will (Cont. on Page 16)

G a r d e n C e n t e r D i r e c t o r y GardenerNews.com

2 August 2020

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August 2020 3

Around The Garden

By Tom Castronovo Gardener News

Need a Website? or Graphic Design Work?

Hot Tips for August Survival

In this month’s column, I’m going to chat about a few reminders on how to keep your landscape alive and healthy in the typical hot August temperatures.

When the outside temperatures soar, all I think about is water. And so does the landscape. First and foremost, plants and lawns need water.

Let’s start off in the garden, with deck pots and hanging baskets.

Before you pick up that watering can, if that’s what you use to hydrate your plant material, carefully check the container for snakes. I’ve been surprised many times when one slithers up to the opening and looks at me with those beady eyes as its tongue flicks. Yes, I do not like snakes.

I have now learned to gently tap the can with my foot so it turns on its side, encouraging unwanted creatures to politely exit from a safe distance.

Sometimes I get an occasional tiny mouse or a pesky chipmunk.

And the chipmunks!!! They seem to be everywhere. Maybe it’s because last fall featured a bumper crop of acorns and winter was pretty mild.

Let’s jump back into watering.

If you use a garden hose to hydrate your plant material, check the water temperature that flows out of it when you turn on the spigot. The temperature in hoses that are in direct sunlight have been known to exceed 120 to 140 degrees. Yikes, that’s hot!

When you apply hot water to plants, you can end up killing them – there’s no two ways about it. The same hot water that cooks your vegetables in the kitchen can also cook your vegetables in the garden.

It can also kill your tender annuals and scorch the foliage of landscape plants.

With this in mind, using hot water to kill and control weeds and unwanted plants can be very effective, as long as you keep the hot water from touching your desirable plants. Hot water can be a wonderful, organic way to control weeds. Just sayin’.

Now, the cardinal rule of watering is this: Water the soil in your garden. Overhead watering causes problems, especially with humidity. Lawns typically need one inch of water a week. A few minutes of surface watering isn’t enough to sufficiently water your garden or your lawn. There must be enough water to soak down through the soil to where the roots are.

The best time to water is in the early morning, while it is still cool. This will allow the water to trickle down into the soil and reach the roots of the plants without too much excess water lost to evaporation. Watering in the early morning will also make the water available to the plants throughout the day, so that the plants will be able to deal better with the heat of the sun.

Watering at night is not the best for your plants’ leaves or overall health. After a nighttime soak, leaves can stay wet for a pretty long time since they

don’t have the day’s sun to dry them off. Because of this, damp leaves become extra vulnerable to fungal development.

A general rule of thumb is that many plants like to go slightly dry to the touch before being watered again.

There are times when an overhead watering is called for. During dry, windy weather, a fine layer of dust can build up on foliage, reducing the plants’ ability to photosynthesize efficiently. Some insects, including aphids and spider mites, can be kept in check by simply hosing them off plants. Finally, heat-stressed plants that have wilted even though their roots are moist can benefit from a cooling sprinkle — the effect won’t last long on a sunny day but it may provide some relief.

Plants in hanging baskets need to be watered frequently (especially in the heat of August). Potting mixes are light, well-drained, and dry out quickly.

In general, water plants in hanging baskets when the soil surface becomes dry to the touch. On hot, sunny days it may be necessary to water twice a day.

When watering hanging baskets, be sure to apply water until water begins to flow out the bottom of the container. This ensures that the entire soil ball has been moistened. Do not let the potting mix dry out completely. Plants will wilt if the potting mix dries out excessively. Plus, it’s more difficult to moisten the potting mix when it has dried out completely. If the potting mix becomes extremely dry, it will separate (pull away) from the sides of the container. If you attempt to water from above, most of the water will flow between the soil ball and container and run out the drainage holes in the bottom of the basket. Unfortunately, most of the potting mix will remain dry.

When the potting mix becomes excessively dry, place the basket in a tub of water for one or two hours. This forces water to be absorbed slowly from the bottom of the container. Do not keep the basket in the tub of water for more than two hours, as this may result in root rot problems.

In the garden, the best harvesting time is in the early morning. This is when the fruits and vegetables have the most water content, they taste better and have more shelf life.

Leaving the lawn a little higher in August shades the roots, which helps keep them from drying out in the heat. The longer blades of grass also absorb more sunlight, which makes more food for grass roots so they can grow deeper in the soil to find more water and thrive.

I try not to fertilize anything in August except my hanging baskets. And I only do it after they are well hydrated.

August is always a tricky month in the landscape.

It pays to take notes on this year’s challenges for next year’s success.

Editor’s Note: Tom Castronovo is executive editor and publisher of Gardener News. Tom’s lifelong interest in gardening and passion for agriculture, environmental stewardship, gardening and landscaping, led to the founding of the Gardener News, which germinated in April 2003 and continues to bloom today. He is also dedicated to providing inspiration, and education to the agricultural, gardening, landscaping and nursery communities through this newspaper and GardenerNews.com.

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When it comes to food in America, we have never in our history had all the offerings that are available for us to consume right now, nor have we had them in more abundance.

And you would think with all the choices we have to make, we humans would make the right selections for our optimum enjoyment and nutritional needs.

Sadly though, most people do not. Look into any shopping cart traveling through the marts and you will see any number of excesses, like high sugar, high salt, over-refined, over-preserved, packaged foods jamming the wire baskets as they travel up and down the aisles of supermarkets, box stores, and convenience markets.

It’s true, of course, that advertising and public relations efforts are projecting the superrefined messages that appeal to our senses, yet attempt to override our sensibilities, about food. Right behind automobiles and pharmaceuticals, food-anddrink is the third-largest category of television advertising, at $273 million in 2017, followed not too far behind by the “quick-serve restaurant” category at $255 million. By comparison, the “health and fitness” category for

get you in the zone where you will be in touch with the foods you eat for enjoyment and health.

Visit with a farmer today and learn how to get back to basics.

Your market trips in all venues

By Douglas H. Fisher will be much more interesting Secretary of Agriculture to you when you learn about all that it takes to bring those fresh fruits and vegetables from the farm field to your table.

Take some time and reconnect like sugar, corn syrup, and other times you will not unless there with real food. And if I can plug items debase the original benefits is a co-op that aggregates the something I truly believe in. of the raw product. It happens message for its growers. That is let it be this: Real Local Jersey with numerous commodities and a good thing, but many healthy Fresh…… should be more fervently exposed. foodstuffs never get that exposure, But you have a choice to make which keeps it from becoming on the offerings that are out there more of a mainstay in our diets. and if you take the time and Food is confusing because you Editor’s Note: Douglas effort and resist the attempts to are bombarded with media on H. Fisher is New Jersey’s derail making the best choices for which foods are good, and which Secretary of Agriculture. you and your family. Spend some foods are bad for your health, He is the department’s time in earnest to learn about at any one moment in fad mad executive officer, secretary food and what it can offer you in America. High-fat, low carb, high to the State Board of the simplest of forms. I am not carb, no fat. It’s all a jumble. But Agriculture and a member talking about slimming diets, or you know what? A little of your of the Governor’s cabinet. miracle energy drinks, or mood- own research and what you were Secretary Fisher fulfills enhancing foods. Just the inherent told over the years by whomever executive, management values of food in its basic form. raised you, along with your innate and administrative duties Fruits and vegetables, sensibilities, will take you to the prescribed by law, executive by themselves, receive very place you need to be. order or gubernatorial few advertising dollars as a A balanced diet, plainer, more direction. He can be reached commodity. When have you seen basic foods, self-monitoring at 609.292.3976. For more an ad for a green or red pepper? portions and consumption, and info, please visit: http:// An ad for eggplant? Well, most your own tasty combinations will www.state.nj.us/agriculture

NJ Dept. of Agriculture

The Food Around Us

the same year logged in at 10th, with $123 million, according to the statista.com website.

There are many adages that are out there that you, at one time or another, may have come to mind, but are beaten down by all that marketing genius.

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away” or Hippocrates’ “Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food,” are droned out and made to seem trite and almost foolish. But really, they are representative of sage advice found in another old saying, “You are what you eat.”

The campaigns for food usually center around the profit centers that can be derived in the processing side, combining cheaper ingredients than the pure forms of natural products. High concentrations of ingredients

USDA to Forecast Fruit Production The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will conduct a forecast survey for 2020 tree fruit (apples and peaches) and cranberry production during August, 2020. The survey will collect information about acreage and projected production from more than 1,000 growers in the Northeastern region of the United States.

“The information from these surveys directly impacts our regions’ fruit growers by providing a forecast of fruit production in the Northeast,” said Kevin Pautler, deputy director of the NASS, Northeastern Regional Field Office.

“Growers can use the survey results when making business plans and marketing decisions. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) relies on the average yields to administer farm programs. Cooperative Extension uses the data to provide needed outreach and education, and State Departments and Agencies of Agriculture use the information to aid growers.”

In these surveys, NASS asks participants to answer a variety of questions about apples, peaches and cranberries, depending on the state and version of the questionnaire.

For their convenience, survey participants have the option to respond online. As with all NASS surveys, information provided by respondents is confidential by law. NASS safeguards the confidentiality of all responses and publishes only State and National level data, ensuring that no individual producer or operation can be identified.

NASS will compile, analyze, and publish survey results in the August 12th, 2020 Crop Production report. All previous publications are available online at http://www. nass.usda.gov/Publications. For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS Northeastern Regional Field Office at (800) 498-1518.

Weed Suppression Treatment Effects on Tree Seedling Establishment When we hear the word cover crop, we typically think of row crop agriculture. Annual cover crop species can be used for more than annual cover in rotations with agricultural crops though. The Elsberry Plant Materials Center in Missouri recently completed an evaluation of annual covers to suppress weeds during the establishment of woody seedlings in comparison to traditional weed suppression practices.

Three commonly produced woody species in the region, ninebark (Physocarpos opulifolius), pin oak (Quercus palustris) and swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor) were used in the study. All three woody species are native to the Missouri and much of the eastern U.S. Ninebark is a flowering shrub, while pin oak and swamp white oak are both hardwoods from the red oak and white oak families, respectively. Seedlings were planted and grown with seven different cool season vegetative treatments that were selected based on their biomass production and ability to suppress weeds. Annual species used were black oats (Avena strigosa), winter oats (Avena sativa), winter wheat (Triticum aestivum), annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), cereal rye (Secale cereale) and a Brassica mixture consisting of radish, turnip and canola (Brassica spp.). For comparison, the cool-season native perennial Cuivre River Germplasm Virginia wildrye (Elymus virginicus) released in 2002 by the Elsberry PMC was also included in the study.

All species evaluated provided both short- and long-term weed suppression with minimal to no effect on woody plant growth and survival at the Elsberry Plant Materials Center during the twoyear study. Weed suppression was greatest in plots planted with annual ryegrass or the brassica mix during the first year. All annual covers matured and scattered their seed, however, none germinated during the second year and most plots had some weeds in them. There was no effect of the annual covers on woody plant growth during the first year.

The Virginia wildrye was slower to establish than the annual species but was best for longerterm weed suppression. Trees and shrubs planted with Virginia wildrye as a cover also had greater growth over the two-year period compared to woody species grown with no vegetative treatment.

Advantages of using perennial vegetation include low maintenance (doesn’t have to be replanted every year), reduced erosion, improved weed control, nutrient cycling and soil improvement.

For sites where weed pressure is high, annual covers may be very useful for suppressing weeds during the establishment year. But for the longer-term perennial grass covers may be more beneficial.

For more information on results of this study, contact Ron Cordsiemon (ron.cordsiemon@usda. gov), PMC Manager, or Mollie Herget (mary. herget@usda.gov), Agronomist.

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August 2020 5

6 August 2020

R U T G ER S N J AE S / R C E Office of Continuing Professional Education

Online Leadership Workshops Principles of Good Leadership August 13, 2020 | 1pm-2pm EDT | $35 Learn what it takes to be an inspirational and successful leader.

Topics include methods for facilitating healthy debate, managing change, and motivating employees to contribute beyond the minimum standard.

Building Relationships August 20, 2020 | 1pm-2pm EDT | $35 Whether you are a new or seasoned leader, this program will help you learn to build strong, trusting relationships with your team and co-workers for higher productivity and engagement.

Coaching and Motivation August 27, 2020 | 1pm-2pm EDT | $35 In this workshop, learn the various intrinsic motivators and a practical coaching framework that can help you activate your team's ability to grow and reach higher levels of performance.

New to online learning? No problem!

A few days before the course, we will send you a document with how-to tips for using the Rutgers Webex learning platform. You can log in early to practice using its features and a Rutgers staff member will be available to help throughout the course.

Register Online Today! http://www.cpe.rutgers.edu/Lunch-and-Learn

Rutgers Cooperative Extension Phone Directory Atlantic County Phone: 609-625-0056 Bergen County Phone: 201-336-6780 Burlington County Phone: 609-265-5050 Camden County Phone: 856 216 7130 Cape May County Phone: 609-465-5115 Cumberland County Phone: 856-451-2800 Essex County Phone: 973-228-2210 Gloucester County Phone: 856-224-8040 Hudson County Phone: 201-915-1399 Hunterdon County Phone: 908-788-1339 Mercer County Phone: 609-989-6830

Middlesex County Phone: 732-398-5260 Monmouth County Phone: 732-431-7260 Morris County Phone: 973-285-8300 Ocean County Phone:732-349-1246 Passaic County Phone: 973-305-5740 Salem County Phone: 856-769-0090 Somerset County Phone: 908-526-6293 Sussex County Phone: 973-948-3040 Union County Phone: 908-654-9854 Warren County Phone: 908-475-6505

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From the Director’s Desk

Rutgers Outreach Provided by Brian Schilling Director

Abundant Local Fruits and Vegetables for Better Health Summertime, sweet summertime! It is the time of year for an outdoor picnic in your backyard, at the community park or beach, or simply on a blanket in your living room.

This year, summer celebrations may be limited in number of people, yet limitless in terms of the bountiful local fresh fruits and vegetables that can easily steal the show for a fun family meal. August is the perfect month to find inspiration for your meal at a local farm market.

New Jersey grows more than 100 different varieties of fruits, vegetables, and herbs, and is ranked in the top-10 as a producer of blueberries, peaches, bell peppers, squash, tomatoes, and cranberries. Living in the Garden State makes healthy eating easy when planning a family meal and teaching children where and how our local foods grow. Not only are local foods beautiful and delicious, they are also the key to maintaining a healthy body and help boost the immune system.

Colorful fruits and vegetables are loaded with nutrients that keep our body functions in balance. Now is the right time to unpack your arsenal of local Jersey Fresh immune system boosters for your family. Adding local colorful foods can certainly help maintain your family’s healthy lifestyle and may help reduce the risk of some cancers.

Visit a local farm market and observe the incredible colors, such as: vibrant red foods like farm fresh tomatoes which are loaded with lycopene (helps maintain a healthy heart and memory function), while cranberries are important for urinary tract health. Dark green fresh produce like kale, spinach, arugula, green beans, and green peppers provide the nutrient lutein (helps prevent macular degeneration and cataracts).

Blue/purple fruits and vegetables like blueberries, blackberries, plums, and eggplant contain antioxidants (helps maintain healthy aging and urinary tract). Yellow/orange foods such as peaches, carrots, corn, sweet potatoes and nectarines contain carotenoids and antioxidants (for maintaining a healthy heart, night vision, and boost the immune system).

White foods are nutritious too, consider local apples, garlic and onions, and cauliflower (helps maintain heart health). A colorful plate at every meal not only looks beautiful—it also has incredible health benefits.

Micronutrients are found in fresh herbs,

which makes them an excellent accompaniment to recipes. Using fresh herbs to season foods naturally can help reduce the sodium in your diet and at the same time perk up your favorite dishes. Look for fresh basil, parsley, mint, chives, oregano, or cilantro, and add to vegetable recipes and salads for a spark of flavor and nutrients.

Create a plan to visit two or three local farm markets this month. Check online for farm markets in your area or a weekly farmers market hosted by a local community. Make the visit a family outing by asking your children to make a list of colorful foods they see, or to name a fruit or vegetable they like. Can you show them a vegetable plant and let them see how it grows?

Young children can draw a picture of their favorite fruit or vegetable or participate in a story about a favorite food at the market.

Consider taking the family to visit a Pick-Your-Own (PYO) farm for a hands-on experience to learn how to harvest local fruits.

Children are more likely to taste a new food they have helped grow, harvest, or prepare in the kitchen. Make children part of the meal planning process to make adoption of a new food less challenging.

Celebrate summer by purchasing ripe fruit to make a fresh fruit salad with a variety of berries, peaches, nectarines or plums, watermelon, and cantaloupe. Have fresh fruit available and easy to reach for a refreshingly simple snack for the family. Washed and cut sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and broccoli can be stored in the refrigerator and taken to work for a readyto-eat super snack to help you get through the day.

Challenge yourself to be creative and explore one new fruit or vegetable every week this month. Check out the NJ Seasonality Chart and let that guide you to the best produce to purchase at the farm market at various times of the year. To locate local farm markets, PYO farms, and seasonal availability, go to the Jersey Fresh website at: findjerseyfresh.com.

August is a great time to explore the beautiful harvest of fresh foods New Jersey has to offer.

Stay healthy and safe this summer, make family time fun while enjoying the health benefits of locally grown foods. Support your local farms and at the same time enjoy the abundance of colorful fruits, vegetables, and herbs knowing there is a health benefit for you and your family in every fresh food you choose!

Editor’s Note: This month’s contribution was written by Joanne Kinsey, Family & Community Health Sciences Educator, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Atlantic and Ocean Counties.

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R U T G ER S N J AE S / R C E

August 2020 7

When A Petunia is Not a Petunia Everyone loves common names for plants. It is a language that is intuitively understandable and is simply easier to remember than those cumbersome botanical names.

The challenge with common names is when two different plants share the same name.

Petunias are a plant I suspect most people know and most likely have grown in a pot or hanging basket. Mexican Petunia, Ruellia simplex, is of no relation to Petunias, but the common name may give you the impression that it is simply a big brother to the more conventional Petunia.

Petunia x hybrida is the botanical name for most Petunia selections grown in the United States. A member of the Tobacco Family or Solanaceae, Petunia is a native to regions throughout South America.

The name was originally penned in 1803 by the French Botanist Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (1748-1836). It came from As the Director of the Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional Education (OCPE), I have the privilege of leading one of the most innovative and diverse educational program portfolios in the world.

This Lifelong Learning column is dedicated to amplifying educational programs and courses available throughout the year. Please visit the website at the bottom to obtain the full list of classes available. We R Here When You Need Us. August Trivia Question: When and where was the lawn mower invented?

Spotlight Program: This month’s spotlight highlights an entirely new online series of classes.

The Rutgers Home Gardeners School…@Home Edition.

As you may know, traditionally, the Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional Education hosts the state’s largest in-person home gardening training program at the start of each spring. It is one of our most exciting and interactive learning activities for the home gardener to attend. With over 800 plant enthusiasts in one location sharing their love for Mother Nature, it is quite a special day.

Unfortunately, due to continued health and social-distancing precautions, we remain unable to offer in-person classes.

the word Petun, the Brazilian Tupian Indian name for this plant, which roughly translates to “worthless tobacco plant.”

The species are rather leggy plants with white or purple trumpet-shaped flowers, consisting of five fused petals.

Today, Petunias are relatively low-growing plants, often no taller than 12 to 14 inches, featuring nearly every color of the rainbow, including bicolors.

They prefer fertile soils and if grown in containers will need liquid fertilizing every two weeks, while the spreading forms will benefit from a liquid feeding on a weekly basis. If flowering begins to wane or the plants become leggy, pinch them back moderately, which will initiate new growth and blooms.

There are an incredible number of new and very attractive selections on the market that bear investigating.

Mexican Petunia or Ruellia simplex has a trumpet-shaped flower resembling that of the true Petunia and served as the inspiration for its common name.

However, that is about the limit

of the similarities.

Ruellia is a member of the Acanthaceae or Acanthus Family. The genus has around 74 species and as one might suspect, this species is native to Mexico, as well as the Caribbean and South America.

The genus name was created in 1753 by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) in honor of the French botanist and physician to King Francis 1, Jean de la Ruel (1474-1537). This particular species was described in 1870 by the American botanist Charles Wright (1811-1885) following a trip to Cuba.

The species name refers to the arrangement of the foliage that appear as individual leaves along the stem or branch, botanically known as a simple leaf arrangement. The leaves of Ruellia are deep green in color and slender, ranging from six to 12 inches long by three-quartersof-an-inch wide, although they remain a more modest four to six inches in length when grown in drier soils.

Unlike Petunias, Ruellia flowers last for only one day on

a plant that grows three to four feet tall and as wide. The twoto three-inch- diameter flowers have five fused petals and are typically blue or purple in color, although white and pink forms do exist.

The flowers give way to bean-like pods that dramatically propel the seeds upwards of 10 feet away by a process called explosive dehiscence. Unlike the true Petunia, Ruellia can grow well in moist soils, although they will also perform admirably in well-drained soils and can even endure drought. They flower best in full sun, but will grow well in shade, especially in hotter regions of the south.

The plants have also proven to be highly invasive in the warmer climates of Southeastern U.S., but this is not an issue in zones 7 or colder where the plant is not winter hardy.

Ruellia is great in containers or in mixed borders where the round faces of the trumpet-like flowers will nicely compliment upright “spikey” flowers, such as displayed on Salvia, Russian Sage and Angelonia.

Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional Education

By Kenneth M. Karamichael Director

Lifelong Learning

However, learning and gardening must go on! Our innovative staff, along with many creative and technologically savvy instructors, have developed virtual tools to help guide you throughout the growing season.

We are thrilled to host the Home Gardeners School @Home Edition. The @Home Edition is a series of one-hour online workshops so you can learn new gardening skills from the comfort and safety of your own home. You will have the opportunity to ask our expert instructors questions using the course chat feature. Plus, you will leave each workshop with a digital resource packet that will include course notes, Rutgers Cooperative Extension Fact Sheets, and/or helpful checklists that you will be able to refer to throughout your gardening future.

During our next session on Wednesday, August 12, 2020, from 1 to 2 p.m. EDT, Landscape Architect Jim Welsh will teach our latest course called, “Designing the Yard of Your Dreams.”

Meet the Instructor: Jim Welsh is a Rutgers graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture. With nearly 30 years of professional experience, he is a trusted source of knowledge, creativity, and design innovation.

During this one-hour online course, Jim will walk you through how to develop an accurate base drawing of your property. Next, he will teach you how to analyze your site from all angles and perspectives, including considerations such as amount of sun/shade, views, privacy, slopes/grades, zoning, utilities, etc.

Then the real fun begins, with

designing your backyard oasis.

Whether that means adding a garden, shed, horseshoe pit, outdoor entertainment center, fire feature, pool, or pond, Jim will teach you how to optimize your space by creating a schematic design. In just one short hour, Jim offers tons of tips to make your space looks and feels the best it can.

Adhering to social distancing precautions, people are spending more time at home than ever. What better time to make your outdoor living space more comfortable and inviting?

Trivia Answer: The lawn mower was invented in 1830 by Edwin Beard Budding, an engineer from Stroud, Gloucestershire, England.

He got the idea after seeing a machine in a local cloth mill which used a cutting cylinder (or bladed reel) mounted on a bench to trim

Clearly, a Petunia is not always a Petunia, but each genus provides great flowering solutions for your garden.

Mexican Petunia is not as commonly used as the traditional Petunia, but it provides summer color, texture and size that I have appreciated at various public gardens that now needs to grace more homes throughout New Jersey.

Editor’s Note: Bruce Crawford is a lover of plants since birth, is the Rutgers State Program Leader for Home and Public Horticulture, a part time lecturer in Landscape Architecture at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, regularly participates in the Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional Education Program, and Past President of the Garden State Gardens Consortium. He can be reached at crawford@njaes. rutgers.edu. cloth to make a smooth finish after weaving. Budding realized that a similar concept would enable the cutting of grass if the mechanism could be mounted in a wheeled frame to make the blades rotate close to the lawn’s surface.

Growing herbs, flowers, vegetables, and fruit has become increasingly important in 2020 for both mental and physical health. Whether you are just starting or expanding your planting prowess, our Home Gardeners School @Home Edition is here to help! Join our mailing list to be notified of upcoming courses and be on the lookout because we have a lot of great programs in the works.

Visit CPE.RUTGERS.EDU to learn more about the hundreds of programs available at Rutgers Cooperative Extension and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station each year!

Learning Never Ends for the New Jersey Gardener!

Editor’s Note: Kenneth M. Karamichael, Ed.M., is the Director of the Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional Education within Rutgers Cooperative Extension. Ken can be reached at kenneth@ rutgers.edu.

8 August 2020

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GardenerNews.com If it’s possible, there may be something for farmers here to be even more proud of than the delicious taste of tomatoes, blueberries, summer sweet corn, juicy peaches and the perfect strawberries they grow.

New Jersey has once again lived up to its name as the Garden State by ranking first among all states for preserving its agricultural lands and keeping farming viable in a study by the American Farmland Trust.

The AFT cited New Jersey in its Farms Under Threat: The State of the States report, which paints a detailed picture of the threats farmers and ranchers have faced from 2001 to 2016, a period that saw 11 million acres of U.S. farmland disappear, lost to development at an alarming rate of about 2,000 acres a day.

To date, New Jersey’s Farmland Preservation Program has permanently protected more than 2,600 farms covering 237,000 acres—or roughly one-third of all farmland in the state. That’s pretty remarkable when you consider that same AFT report ranks us third among top states where farming is under the greatest threat.

But our state has made a bigger financial investment in farmland preservation than any other state.

All too often I see people using trees that are too big for their allotted space. I have always suspected that their decision was predicated on one of two things.

Either they were swayed by the fact that they could buy a larger tree that fit the space immediately, based on price, or they were simply impatient, not wanting to wait for the right plant to fill their space.

One shrub or small tree, often overlooked, is Chastetree, Vitex agnus-castus.

Vitex has the common name “Chaste Tree” since Athenian women used the leaves in their beds to keep themselves chaste during the Thesmophoria festival” (Florida State University Facilities/ Sights Around Campus).

Native to southern Europe and western Asia, many have shied away from planting this tree, fearful of its “hardiness.” Clearly a Mediterranean favorite, Vitex agnus-castus performs well in full sun and is very heat and drought tolerant. Hence, why August is prime time for “gawking” at its merits.

Fast-growing and easily capable of growing 15 to 20 feet tall and wide, this garden gem is very affordable. Chastetree has aromatic foliage, comprised of five to seven

August 2020 9 Agriculture and Natural Resources

By Eric Houghtaling New Jersey Assemblyman

Garden State Lives up to its Name

The report noted that only New Jersey and Virginia have adopted the full suite of policies such as property tax relief and local land use policies to support farming.

The AFT report cited New Jersey as first in Nationally Significant agricultural land – a farmland designation that recognizes the most productive, versatile, and resilient land for sustainable food and crop production.

All of these accomplishments come down to our farmers. The fact is that Garden State farmers, many of whom have raised crops on the same land for generations, have been genuine innovators.

From designing machines to pick cranberries to working with our world-class Rutgers University Extension Centers in developing hardy plant species, Garden State farmers are true idea men and

women.

I’ve often said our farmers are stewards of the land. Their dedication to farming helps preserve our state’s open spaces and natural resources. The state took another bold step toward being a national leader in protecting our natural resources last year when the Board of Public Utilities awarded the contract to build the Ocean Wind Project 15 miles off of Atlantic City coast.

The Ocean Wind Projects will be the largest offshore wind field in the nation when it is completed in 2024 and the State Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources committee is exploring ways for the Legislature to support the state’s goal of developing 3,500 megawatts of environmentally friendly wind power by 2030.

In addition to winning praise from environmental organizations

such as the New Jersey Sierra Club and National Wildlife Foundation, the Ocean Wind Project will be a serious economic engine projected to deliver more than $1 billion in net economic benefits, 15,000 jobs, and enough electricity to power more than half a million South Jersey homes.

Leaders in other states in the region, including Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, also have recognized the economic potential of offshore wind fields, which National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates could generate four times more power than the nation’s present electric capacity.

More than ever, we really need to see that leadership and vision at the federal level too. A good start would be to reconsider the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) ominously

Unique Plants

By Bob LaHoff Nursery Specialist

radiating leaflets that is opposite, compound palmate and “digitate (finger-like) in appearance.”

Not to mention, the leaves have a spicy sage scent when crushed, making it less appealing to deer.

Well irrigated plants and fertilizing early on seems to help the plant recover from the “dieback process” during our coldest months. The flowers of Vitex are 12 to 18 inches long, slightly less in spread, and depending on the cultivar can be shades of purple, blue, lavender, pink or white.

Vitex has a rounded habit and should you decide to limb yours up, over time, you will appreciate its gray-brown bark which develops a blocky, alligator-hide type of texture. A bark descriptive that has been used by many, including myself, for Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida, Common Persimmon, Diospyros virginiana,

Chastetree

and Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum.

Belonging to the Verbena family, this plant type has so many new and exciting cultivars to choose from. Candidates that now have you contemplating, should you use one as a small tree, as a mixed border, as a single small specimen or as a container plant by your front door?

After all, Vitex is renowned for attracting birds and butterflies. In fact, many who first see this plant mistake it for a type of Butterfly bush, Buddleiaor Buddleja. Some of the smaller cultivars to look for include, “Blue Diddley” and “Puffball,” while “Cooke’s Blue” and “Cooke’s Purple” are the extreme opposite, reaching heights over 25 feet. “Blue Diddley” has lavender-blue flowers on a smaller three- to six-foot frame, introduced

by Proven Winners.

Other copious choices include “Arnold’s Cutleaf” which has dissected leaflets, like a dissected Japanese maple, with blue-purplelavender flowers. “Delta Blues™” has rich purple-blue flowers in compact panicles reaching eight to 10 feet tall and wide. A great cultivar touted for its richness of color and abundance of panicles on a smaller Vitex type. “Montrose Purple” produces rich violet flowers in large inflorescences and has a strong growing form. “Silver Spire” has cleaner white flowers than “Alba” with good vigor.

Common in medicinal and herbal lore, Vitex, in recent years has been hurdling its obstacles.

Commonly called Monk’s Pepper, Chastetree produces fruit, containing seed, sometimes used for seasoning, similar to black pepper. Additionally, an extract made from the fruit “is claimed

named “MOPR” rule, short for “minimum offer price rule.” The MOPR rule places a price penalty on renewable energy sources like wind and solar when these projects try to bid into an important annual wholesale power market run by our region’s grid and market operator, PJM Interconnection.

Last year, I visited the GE-Alstom Block Island Wind Farm off Block Island, Rhode Island and as a retired electrician who’s worked on nearly every energy technology, I find the offshore wind industry exciting.

So, as you enjoy the delicious fruits and vegetables produced by Garden State farmers this summer and fall, you can take comfort in knowing our state is working hard to make sure our farms and natural resources will be there for the enjoyment of generations to come.

Editor’s Note: Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling is Chair of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee in the New Jersey State Assembly.

He can be reached at 732-6953371 or AsmHoughtaling@ njleg.org, or by mail at 802 W Park Ave, Ste 302, Ocean Township 07712. to treat infertility and lessen symptoms that may occur before or during a woman’s menstrual period” (cancer.gov).

Breeding for more refined foliage, sharper color, disease resistance and smaller stature has helped Chastetree gain momentum.

Imagine one of these “cold hardy” cultivars, “limbed up” on the corner of your home or next to your patio.

A multi-stem tree with a canopy full of purple, pink or white flowers in the months when you are appreciating your outdoor surroundings the most. You could start with a small #3 or #5 container and in no time at all have yourself an appreciable small tree larger than a basketball hoop.

Editor’s Note: Bob LaHoff is co-owner of Hall’s Garden Center and Florist in Union County, a member of the Union County Board of Agriculture, the New Jersey Nursery and Landscape Association, Reeves-Reed Arboretum Buildings and Grounds Committee, a lifetime member of the Conifer Society and past member of the retail council for Monrovia Growers.

He can be reached at (908) 665-0331.

10 August 2020 I recently spent a lazy afternoon floating around my pool. My blissful state was suddenly interrupted when I noticed something irritating my ankle. Upon further inspection, I realized I was being eaten by a Japanese Beetle! (At least that’s what it felt like.)

After flicking said beetle into the filter to join 50 of its brothers and sisters, my thoughts shifted to other invasive species. Many articles have been written about the Spotted Lanternfly, Asian Longhorned Beetle, Emerald Ash Borer, as well as hundreds of others that have invaded our shores. It made me wonder if any of our native species have caused havoc abroad.

Unsurprisingly, they have.

A familiar voice to the chorus of summer evening sounds, the American Bullfrog’s distinct mating call can be heard throughout our ponds, lakes, and rivers. In the late 1800s, frog legs became a popular world-wide delicacy. To meet demand, bullfrogs began to be exported.

Today, this American expatriate is now common in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and South America.

Due to its voracious eating habits, the bullfrog often preys on native species and has been known to out-compete native birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish for resources.

A favorite summer treat is a

Your lovely spring lawn turned brown again, what happened? Well, typical summer weather from Mother Nature checked in: hot, dry, humid weather, the kind of weather that draws us to the beach here in New Jersey.

Why do we like to go to the beach? Because, usually there is a nice breeze and the cool water helps us to break a sweat.

It sounds like your lawn could use some of the same, a cool breeze and some water to cool down.

This “browning” of the lawn happens to many of us.

I know we are trying hard to work together to keep a healthy green lawn and sometimes it is just not in the cards. A healthy growing lawn long-term is your lawn’s best chance at surviving summer weather.

Be sure to feed your lawn two to three times from early spring to July 4th. The lawn wants to be fed and mowed properly to grow out if its problems. These problems include weeds, fungus, insects and heat and drought, a lot to keep in check.

Feeding your lawn is important, just like a proper diet

GardenerNews.com NJ Agricultural Society

By Al Murray Executive Director

Unwelcome American Exports

lobster dinner along with some Jersey Fresh sweet corn. Who knew this expensive crustacean is considered a nuisance in other parts of the world? Norway, Sweden, and Great Britain have all reported the presence of North American lobsters in their waters, and this does not bode well for the native European lobster.

The two species live in the same type of habitat and eat the same type of food. But North American lobsters are larger, stronger, and more aggressive than European lobsters, and they breed more quickly. North American lobsters can also carry a bacterial disease that is lethal to European lobsters and presents a threat to European fisheries.

How American Lobsters arrived in these waters remains a mystery.

Some experts think they were purposely released via individuals who bought them at legitimate

markets with the intention to “humanely” release them back into the wild.

No trip to New Orleans is complete without enjoying a pile of steamed Louisiana crayfish. While many of our neighbors in the South consider them a beloved staple, Africa does not. They were first imported into Kenya and South Africa in the 1970s to rid the area of parasite-infested snails, as well as providing a food source. Without any native predators to keep them in check, the Louisiana crayfish is gobbling up small freshwater fish, fish eggs, mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants.

During the Victorian age, it was all the rage to import Eastern Grey Squirrels to scamper about the wealthy class’s vast estates.

Unfortunately, no one told these furry little status symbols to respect boundaries. Consequently, within a few short years, Eastern Grey

Squirrels quickly lost their prestige, and became one of Britain’s most loathed pests. They have also endangered England’s beloved native red squirrel. Grey squirrels consume vastly more amounts of food as red squirrels and carry a disease that is decimating their red counterparts.

Many an American homeowner has contended with overturned trash cans that have been rummaged by furry, mask-wearing bandits.

Thanks to unintentional releases, (including a wayward WWII bomb on a German fur-farm), permanent raccoon populations are now established in Europe, Russia, and Japan. Germany has the largest population in Europe – numbering over one million, but raccoon populations and rabies continue to grow.

In Japan, the popular 1970s cartoon series Rascal the Raccoon resulted in more than 1,500 raccoons

Turf ‘s Up

By Todd Pretz Professional Turf Consultant

It finally happened…

for your personal health. If you don’t feed your lawn enough, it gets tired and weak and then when the weather turns a bit, your lawn suffers. Be sure to apply your third feeding before July 4th to help your lawn make it through the summer.

Raise your mower deck to its maximum height in order to preserve moisture in the leaves to help your lawn survive the drought stress. Leave your clippings on the lawn, too, if possible to preserve moisture.

An application in late spring of a lawn food with a high potassium level, the third number on a fertilizer bag can help to reduce heat and drought stress.

In the spring, usually your lawn gets enough water to survive and remain healthy. In

the absence of rainfall, your lawn needs about one inch of water weekly to stay healthy.

When watering, you need to water your lawn deeply and infrequently to get the water down deep into the root zone.

After you water your lawn, get a shovel and dig down to see how far the water has really penetrated the soil. Usually you might only see about one inch; this is not enough. The roots of the grasses will only go down as far as the water and then your lawn suffers when further heat and drought stress arrives.

During late summer, be cautious of making any lawn applications. Fertilizers and weed killers can be tough on a lawn suffering from heat and drought stress. If your lawn has suffered greatly from

summer damage, it is best to wait until early fall to assess your situation and to fertilize or consider if re-seeding and/or weed control is necessary.

Remember the soil. This is critical to good long-term lawn growth and health. Grasses grow best when the soil pH level is between 6.2 to 7.0.

We’ve talked about soil testing for some time, those of you who still have not tested your soil; this could well be your problem to growing a vigorous lawn.

Does your soil have a rich, dark, healthy look to it when you dig down six inches? If not, consider some calcium, gypsum and soil stimulates to spur microbial action in the soil. Many organic lawn foods offer these features to your soil.

One other subject I wanted

being imported as pets. Wild animals as pets are never a good idea, and when owners were tired of their houses being destroyed, they released their adorable little rascals back into the wild. They have now proliferated to becoming a major threat to agricultural crops and heritage sites.

The United States has several other invasive species that have caused destruction in the world.

Some examples include: Large Mouth Bass, Red-eared Slider turtle, Rosy Wolfsnails, and Mink. Despite these examples, unfortunately our country remains the largest importer of destructive pests.

Editor’s Note: Al Murray is the Executive Director of the New Jersey Agricultural Society. Established in 1781, the Society is New Jersey's oldest organization whose purpose is to advocate, educate and promote on behalf of New Jersey's agricultural industry. Mr. Murray previously spent his entire career at the NJ Department of Agriculture, serving as the Assistant Secretary. He can be reached at njagriculturalsociety@ gmail.com to address here, too many homeowners are complaining of poor or slow germination of grass seed sowed during spring months. Yes, some of the packages say the grass seed will germinate in seven to 10 days, but this is under normal growing conditions. Cool, wet spring weather always delays seeding results.

Poor soil and shade are the other two reason for poor or slow germinating. And remember, “germinate” means start to grow, don’t expect a completely filled-in lawn just because the mixture is called Fast Grow!

I’ve said this before, I would rather swim in the ocean in August than April, and soil temperatures always help grass seed to grow faster. Enjoy the rest of summer at the shore, not worrying about your lawn.

Editor’s Note: Todd Pretz is Vice President of Jonathan Green, a leading supplier of lawn and garden products in the northeast. For more information, please visit: www.jonathangreen.com

GardenerNews.com

August 2020 11

Fall is the best time to seed and feed your lawn.

Available at garden centers and hardware stores in your area.

Ask for a free copy of our New American Lawn guide.

8/20

12 August 2020

GardenerNews.com

United States Department of Agriculture

What's all the buzz about?

Did you know?

A queen bee can lay more than

1 MILLION eggs in her lifetime

There are over...

U.S.

In 2019, U.S. honey bee colonies produced 157 million pounds of honey valued at $309 million.

#USDAScience

The queen bee lays 1,000 - 2,000 eggs per day

The total annual value of U.S. honey bee products and services sold is approximately $700 million.

More than 100 U.S. grown crops rely on pollinators. The added revenue to crop production from pollinators is valued at $18 billion.

GardenerNews.com

August 2020 13

United States Department of Agriculture

Pollinator Facts USDA agencies play a vital role in ensuring our pollinators thrive and survive. Our efforts focus on pollinator health, crop production, and conservation. These efforts ensure we have a variety fruits, nuts, and vegetables needed to support a healthy diet.

• Bees and other pollinators play a critical role in our food production system.

• More than 100 U.S. grown crops rely on pollinators. The added revenue to crop production from pollinators is valued at $18 billion.

• Honey bees are America’s primary commercial pollinator, although there are over 4,000 types of bees in the United States.

• Today, there are about 2.8 million U.S. honey bee hives.

• Major U.S. pollinated crops include almonds, non-citrus fruit trees, berries, melons, and squash.

• The total annual value of U.S. honey bee products and services sold is approximately $700 million.

The Buzz on Honey Bees: • Honey bee colonies are typically made up of one reproductive queen, sexually undeveloped female workers, and male drones.

• The queen can live up to five years. Her main job is to lay eggs, and on average she lays 1,000 to 2,000 eggs per day—and potentially more than a million eggs in her lifetime!

• The queen produces an important pheromone that unites the colony.

• Worker bees typically live around six weeks; however, in the winter their biology changes allowing them to live up to six months.

• All workers are female and have assigned jobs, such as cleaning, caring for their young and guarding the hive.

• The most difficult and dangerous task worker bees undertake is collecting nectar, pollen, and other resources for the colony.

• Honey bee colonies typically consist of 30,000 to 80,000 workers in summer months.

• When the honey bee colony becomes too large, it will make a second queen and the colony will split into two. Part of the colony will leave the hive in search of another home, which is called swarming.

Swarms are typically docile as they have no home to protect.

Get the USDA Buzz on Pollinators

#USDAScience

Visit: w w w. u s d a . g o v/p o l l i n a t o r s

14 August 2020

GardenerNews.com

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GardenerNews.com Have a plan. Before running to the garden center and picking out too many beautiful plants in every shade of the rainbow, first you should plan out your landscape. It is enticing to pick the showiest plant material with sumptuous fragrances (I’m guilty of this myself), but where are you planting them, why, and how will you take care of them?

Plan for the look you want, the function you need, and the ability to maintain.

Picking the right plant material. Plant material is a project unto itself. First let’s look at plants for their function.

Are you using them to brighten up a dull area in the yard or to give you privacy from neighbors? Are you trying to mask an ugly foundation or give character to a sprawling lawn? Knowing the use of plant material will help you narrow down the type of plant, shrub or tree you need. Also, look at the plant’s foliage, as it will not always be flowering. Make sure you choose plants with a variety of textures and colors, but always choose an odd number. Installing three or five of a plant will look much more professional than one every few The phrase “Social Distancing,” unheard of by most people up until March 2020, is now one of the most used groupings of two words in the English language.

By now, we are all used to hearing the term. Maybe some to the point of numbness. But like it or not, it is now part of our daily lives and probably will be for the foreseeable future. We are all very familiar with how this effects our normal routines.

Just like many other industries, agriculture has been impacted by this as well.

If you were to observe certain types of agriculture today, they would not look that much different now than they looked a year ago. Take grain and forage producers, for example. These types of operations, which grow crops like field corn, soybeans, wheat, and hay, have the advantage of being fairly large in scale. This means that they are spread out over a large area.

Also, this is one of the most mechanized segments of agriculture. This allows for only a couple of people to have the ability to manage operations that can easily be a thousand acres or more. These farmers

August 2020 15 as a hiding place for wouldbe burglars. Finally, it should provide you with use of your landscape in the evening.

Hire a professional! In our

By Gail Woolcott DIY world, sometimes it seems easier or less expensive to do Executive Director everything ourselves. When it comes to a landscaping project, it will likely cost you more when it has to be renovated in the future. A landscape professional plant a thirsty shrub next to a perch and poop on your car, or can help you plan, implement cactus. Be sure to understand if it will give you a wonderful and maintain a landscape that the needs of your plant material place to lay in a hammock in the is appropriate to your property before installing it with an shade on a hot day. Never plant and needs for many years. opposite type piece. trees (or any plant material) too Test and/or amend your close to the house. You want to soil. Do you know what type of make sure you are not giving Editor’s note: Gail Woolcott soil you have? Is it sandy or clay- critters branches to run across is the Executive Director for like? This will determine how and make a home in the attic, the New Jersey Landscape much moisture it holds. Is your nor issues during storms.

Contractors Association. soil acidic or alkaline? It may Install irrigation. Irrigation She was presented with a need amendments to help plants will avoid you having to take out community service award from and vegetation thrive. Get a soil the hose and sprinkler each day the Borough of Fairview for test and add soil amendments and will save money and water her assistance in leading the like compost, lime, manure, etc. by only watering the amount 9-11 Memorial Park project Plan for trees first. Trees you need. Having a professional and the Legislative Champion will likely become the largest irrigation system installed will of the Year award from the feature in your landscape. keep your landscape healthy.

Federation of Employers and Plan for the size of the tree, Install landscape lighting. Workers of America. She is as well as its characteristics. Landscape lighting should currently the State Licensee This might include whether it highlight your landscape, not Chair on the National will be dropping leaves or pine put a spotlight on it. It should Association of Landscape needles into your pool, provide provide you with security by Professionals International the perfect place for a bird to illuminating areas that can serve Certification Council.

The NJLCA Today

Eight Ideas to Make Your Landscape Great

inches. Read the plant tag to understand whether the plant is an annual or perennial and what its needs are. Plan for your plant material to grow tall and wide.

And of course, account for the wildlife in your area. Waking up to a landscape full of halfeaten plants by deer or rabbits is not fun!

Understand the characteristics of a plant, tree or shrub. Does the plant need lots of sun or will it only thrive in shade? Is it a thirsty plant or does the annual rainfall cover its needs? Is it a native plant that will likely require less maintenance and pest management or a tropical that you will need to bring into the house during the cold season?

What kind of pests are attracted to the plant? We certainly can’t

The Town Farmer

By Peter Melick Agricultural Producer

Social Distancing

might rarely come in contact with others during their normal workday. With these types of operations, growers can plant, tend, and harvest their crops from the seats of very large tractors and combines. Sure, this is not the case every day, but for the most part, social distancing in these types of agricultural operations is rather commonplace already.

Now, let’s look at the other end of the spectrum. There are other segments of agriculture that are very dependent on manual labor.

And large farms require large amounts of manual laborers.

These types of operations are struggling with many of the same issues that other industries are dealing with.

Mainly, they are trying to keep their workers safe while

trying to grow and harvest crops in a timely manner. In the fields, it might not be that difficult to keep the proper social distance between employees, but challenges arise in other areas.

Centralized packing facilities present some unique difficulties to overcome, as they have been designed and built without taking any of these new considerations into account. If a tomato packing line needs 25 people to operate it efficiently, it would be extremely hard to reengineer it so that it takes less people to operate it.

Transportation of agricultural workers can also be difficult.

Many workers travel together during their commutes back and forth to work. So, while social distancing might be relatively easy in the field, it might be difficult if farm workers are

carpooling with one another.

And if farms are providing living quarters for their employees, it presents another entirely different set of problems to overcome. Most operations do not have the means to double or triple the size of their labor housing on such short notice.

Then there are the agricultural operations that interact directly with consumers. Take farmers markets, for example. Normally, these markets rely on a crowded festival-type atmosphere to promote the sales of their products. Now many people shun these types of settings and order as much as possible online and have it delivered directly to their homes. What was once a chance for friends and neighbors to catch up with one another while comparing new types of

Swiss chard has now turned into a mad dash for some to pick up their food for the week, if they leave their homes at all. Now, retail workers have to do what they have always done to satisfy their customers while at the same time keeping themselves and their customers safe.

In many urban areas, office buildings remain closed, which means that the normal customer base is no longer there. Also, many people have left their homes in the city to ride out the pandemic in a more “Socially Distanced” rural environment.

Maybe the grain farmers had it right all along!

Editor’s Note: Peter Melick is co-owner of Melick’s Town Farm in Oldwick and a 10th-generation New Jersey farmer. Peter is Mayor of Tewksbury Township, Hunterdon County, NJ. He also served as a director for the New Jersey Farm Bureau and is a past president of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture. Peter has also been featured on NJN, News 12 New Jersey and on the Fox Business Network.

16 August 2020

GardenerNews.com

What in the World Is Boneset Good For?

By Hubert Ling Obviously, it is not used to set bones.

The name may come from the use of this plant to treat injury from broken bones or possibly from its use to treat “bone break fever” (Dengue Fever). Boneset, Eupatorium perfoliatum, has had a long history of medicinal use starting with Mithridates VI Eupator, 132-63 B.C., king of Pontus (located around the Black Sea) who is said to have first used boneset medicinally and lent his name for the genus name of the plant.

Mithridates is the king who took increasingly larger doses of poisonous plants in order to become immune to the poisons. The species name comes from the fact that the leaves of boneset appear to be perforated by the stems.

Boneset was one of the most widely used medicines of Native Americans and its

usage was passed along to the early European colonists.

The plant was listed in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia for almost 100 years and then listed in the National Formulary from 1926 to 1950, when it was supplanted by safer remedies.

Although this bitter plant has been used to treat ailments from A to Z, currently there is still considerable debate as to its significant and safe uses. However, there is accumulating evidence that use of the plant medicinally may be dangerous to your health and Peterson’s Field Guide to Medicinal Plants, along with Web MD, issued warnings that this popular homeopathic drug may damage the liver. Nursing mothers also have been warned against ingesting this plant. Boneset has been known to cause dermatitis and is on the USDA’s list of poisonous plants.

The US Food and Drug Administration recently warned holistic health companies to stop making

unsubstantiated claims that boneset is useful in treating COVID-19; boneset has not been rigorously studied in any modern clinical trial for any medical purpose. You should avoid boneset for medicinal use and stick to products which have been well tested for safety and effectiveness.

Boneset, however, is useful in your garden as a conservation piece just because of its unique, question-provoking name and unusual opposite eight-inch leaves, which wrap around the hairy stem so that the stem seems to pierce the large narrow leaf pair. Once you have seen the plant, you can instantly recognize it anywhere.

Boneset has pale purple to white flower clusters which are two to six inches across and pleasantly fragrant.

This plant is a composite, thus each flower head is made up of numerous small flowers which open up about the same time and colonies make a showy display lasting

one to two months in late summer. The flowers mature to form fruits, topped with tuffs of hairs, which are wind distributed.

The plants grow moderately fast in the average garden, range in size from three to five feet tall, and do well in partial shade to full sun in medium to wet soils; they even grow in standing water. Boneset is common and widespread in Eastern North America. In New Jersey, it is found in almost every county. In nature, it is generally found in marshes, bogs, on the edges of ponds, and in drainage ditches.

Boneset is black walnut-, rabbit-, and deer-resistant. It also tolerates sandy or clay soils as long as there is enough moisture. Boneset plants are well utilized by native bees, beetles, butterflies, pollinating flies, and wasps.

Several moth caterpillars feed on boneset leaves and boneset seeds may be utilized by swamp swallows. The flowers survive well cut

and may be dried for winter bouquets.

Propagation is done easily from seed and clumps of boneset can be divided with a sharp knife. Boneset plants don’t have any serious insect or disease problems but the plants are easily stressed by lack of water.

Boneset is a medium- to large-sized, valuable plant, for native gardens, raingardens, butterfly gardens, and pollinator gardens. It grows well with blue flag iris, cardinal flower, great blue lobelia, golden ragwort, monkeyflower, rose mallow, bottle gentian, and New York ironweed.

You might consider growing a clump or two for your garden as a conservation piece and for our insect friends.

Editor’s Note: Hubert Ling is President of the Native Plant Society of New Jersey. He can be reached at milhubling@verizon.net.

The Garden Club of New Jersey Proudly Rolls Out New Website! eventually want to share a link to their website and/or begin to develop a website that will show their myriad activities and gardening prowess.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Tom Castronovo, Editor/ Publisher of Gardener News, for giving us this opportunity to showcase our new website (www. gardenclubofnewjersey.com) to the gardening world at a critical time in global history.

Yes, more people of all ages are gardening and have become more aware of the flora and fauna that seem to be exploding in each and every hemisphere. We welcome one and all to become members of a local garden club as there’s so much to share, and so many adventures await. Not a day goes by, in which we don’t learn something new. It just boggles the mind and keeps us on our toes, along with nurturing our souls.

One of the most striking additions to our new website is the inclusion of our illustrious history. We were fortunate to have Jeanette and Loren Johnson preserve our original histories and make it available in

(Continued from page 1) three separate volumes on our website The war years were spent under “About Us,” on our new Home creating Victory Gardens, sending page. Scroll down and you will see the food overseas, administering to out-of-print, “The Green Crusade,”, our servicemen and servicewomen 40 years of The Garden Club of New at Camp Kilmer (the beginning of Jersey History from 1925 to 1965. It Gardening Therapy), and developing is striking in how relevant our early the Blue Star Memorial Project, a history is to the present day. tribute to our Armed Forces that is still Yes, the 1918 Spanish Flu was the most significant project that GCNJ history as it ended in the early 1920s, and our parent organization, National but by 1925, 13 garden clubs banded Garden Clubs, Inc. have undertaken. together to fight another devastating The good news is that here in New pest, the tent caterpillar. They kept Jersey, we only have one out of 21 growing membership by making counties in the state without a Blue a difference in the Garden State, Star Memorial Project site selected for rallying their members to restrict erection by 2021. billboards endorsing a bill introduced It is in 2021, that the GCNJ will in the State Assembly and spending be honored to have a former Garden days “in the stifling atmosphere of the Club of New Jersey President, Mary State House watching over committee Warshauer, become the fourth interests.”

GCNJ member installed as National In 1935, the GCNJ was part of Garden Clubs, Inc. President. It the effort to have the Gold Finch would make us proud to have all 21 designated as the Official State Bird counties represented with a Blue Star of New Jersey. As GCNJ grew, Memorial Marker by the time of Mary conservation was at the forefront as Warshauer’s installation. With Hudson information was spread statewide County as the only county without concerning birds, wildflower a Blue Star Memorial Marker, we’re preservation and touting the “Charms hoping to see one erected at Liberty of the Great Swamp.”

State Park or in Jersey City along the

waterfront, in the near future.

Illustrating how pertinent our history continues to be is the distressing news that the New Jersey School of Conservation is in danger of closing permanently. The GCNJ Mission states, “We pledge to protect and conserve our natural resources of Planet Earth and to promote education so that we may become caretakers (stewards) of our air, water, forest, land and wildlife.” This is the National Garden Club’s Conservation Pledge.

The closing of the nation’s oldest and largest environmental education center is of extreme concern as it has been a valuable tool in educating over 400,000 children about the importance of protecting our environment for future generations. Looking back at our GCNJ history, we record that in 1955, the GCNJ aided the Citizens Committee for the Preservation of Mettler’s Woods, a 136-acre tract, 65 acres of virgin woodland owned by the Mettler family since 1705 and continues to this day as the Hutcheson Memorial Forest Center, a natural area for forest study and research, consisting of one (Cont. on Page 21)

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August 2020 17

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NORTHEAST DEPARTMENT DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE All New Castle County Quarantined As Spotted Lanternfly Move South Effective July 1, the Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA) quarantined New Castle County in its entirety due to established populations of spotted lanternfly found in Odessa. This is an expansion of the quarantine initially enacted in February 2019 and updated in September 2019.

DDA continues to partner with USDA to conduct surveys and property assessments, while USDA oversees treatment of properties identified with tree of heaven. To date, 4,088 acres have been treated including 20,135 trees encompassing 185 properties above the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

Tree of heaven is necessary for the spotted lanternfly to reproduce and eliminating this invasive species helps to decrease the population of spotted lanternfly. This tree is often seen in industrial parks, along highways and railways, and in unmanaged areas or vacant lots.

“Due to the mild winter, we have experienced a high hatch rate of spotted lanternfly nymphs. This is consistent with the reports we are receiving from New Castle County residents who are asking how to get rid of this pest,” said DDA Plant Industries Administrator Jessica Inhof. “The treatment program is focused on properties that have tree of heaven present, but we know from surveying that many homeowners are finding the nymphs on other plants in their landscapes as well. We are encouraging homeowners experiencing outbreaks of this pest to use insecticides labeled for planthoppers or leafhoppers to kill nymphs and adult spotted lanternfly. If homeowners don’t feel comfortable applying insecticides themselves, they can hire a commercially licensed turf and ornamental pesticide applicator to conduct treatments.”

The spotted lanternfly is a destructive invasive plant hopper that attacks many hosts including trees, shrubs, orchards, grapes, and hops. The insect is detrimental to

Delaware’s agricultural industry, forests, and residential areas. Due to quarantines in other states, interstate commerce will be impacted if the pest is transported out of the Delaware quarantine area.

The quarantine can expand if there is reason to believe that the pest has moved to a non-quarantined area. A quarantine means that any material or object that could harbor the pest cannot be moved without taking precautions to prevent the spread. Adults can fly, hop, or drop onto a vehicle – meaning that this pest can easily be transported to new areas where it can create another infestation.

“We are encouraging everyone to help us battle the spotted lanternfly and slow its spread. We have really shifted gears in New Castle County to a capture or destroy mentality. All spotted lanternfly should be destroyed, but if you are below the C&D Canal and find spotted lanternfly we want to know and need a specimen to confirm.” said Katie Bielicki, Delaware Spotted Lanternfly Program Coordinator. “Over the next week or so, residents will see the nymph change in colors to black with red splotches and white dots. Once this happens, the metamorphosis to the adult form is not far off and typically begins by mid-July. It’s a lot easier to treat with insecticide to kill the nymphs now, than it is to kill adults who often will climb into the upper canopies of trees to lay their egg masses.”

Beginning in September, the female spotted lanternfly will lay several egg masses of 30 to 50 eggs wherever it chooses, especially on flat surfaces.

Any person conducting business for a commercial business, a municipality, or a government agency that requires movement of any regulated item within or from the quarantine area must have a permit, available through the DDA spotted lanternfly website. To obtain a permit, a

designated individual from an organization must receive training and pass an online test to demonstrate a working knowledge and understanding of the pest and quarantine requirements. Training of other employees, inspection of vehicle and products, and removal of living stages of spotted lanternfly must be completed. The permit demonstrates the individual understands how to identify the pest and can ensure the items transported are not carrying the insect.

To move regulated items, the general public is encouraged to download and print the Delaware Resident Spotted Lanternfly Compliance Checklist indicating that you inspected and know that no living life stage of the spotted lanternfly is present, on regulated articles before moving them. DDA recommends keeping the checklist in the glovebox of each vehicle and dating when specific items on the list are inspected prior to transporting.

Examples of regulated articles include: • Any living life stage of the spotted lanternfly • Landscaping, remodeling, or construction materials • Firewood of any species • Packing materials (e.g. wood crates, boxes) • All plants and plant parts including all live and dead trees, perennial and annual plants, and mulch • Outdoor household articles like RVs, lawnmowers, chairs, grills, tarps, tile, stone, deck boards, and other vehicles not stored indoors.

For more detailed information regarding the quarantine, permitting, treatment, or to report a sighting of spotted lanternfly, visit the Delaware Department of Agriculture’s dedicated spotted lanternfly webpage at https://de.gov/hitchhikerbug or call the dedicated spotted lanternfly hotline at (302) 698-4632. When leaving a message, leave your contact information and, if reporting a sighting, please provide the location of the sighting.

MAINE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry reminds everyone about the risk of accidentally spreading invasive species while moving firewood The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) is reminding the public about the risk of spreading tree-killing invasive species while moving firewood. New infestations of invasive pests or diseases pose a serious threat to Maine’s landscapes, trees, agriculture, forests, wildlife, and the environment.

Harmful invasive species, some of which are invisible to the naked eye, can hide in or on firewood. While most cannot move far on their own, these pests and diseases can be carried long distances on travelers firewood and start new infestations. Native tree species and planted fruit trees and shrubs lack defenses against these new pests and diseases. Infestations can destroy entire

forests, lower property values, and cost millions of dollars to manage.

“It is often impossible to tell just by looking at the wood whether it is having devastating insects or diseases hitching a ride in or on it,” said Gary Fish, State Horticulturist. Never assume wood that looks uninfested is safe to move.

Important steps towards slowing the spread of invasive species we can all take are: 1) to realize that untreated firewood moved a long distance is a threat to trees and forests and 2) commit to using only local or certified heat-treated wood, said Allison Kanoti, State Entomologist.

Bringing untreated firewood into the state is banned, but in a state as big as Maine, the commitment to use local or heat-treated wood needs to be applied to

movement of firewood within the state as well.

As camping resumes this year, DACF urges all campers to look to source firewood locally, rather than bring wood with you. Typically, the firewood sold by in-state vendors is affordable, locally sourced, or heat-treated to eliminate pests and diseases. The Firewood Scout website can help you find local firewood at http:// www.firewoodscout.org/ Limit the spread of invasive species, leave firewood at home and: • Use firewood certified as heattreated; • Buy firewood at your destination or gather it on-site where permitted; and • Burn all wood on-site, and do not take any home or to a new location.

DACF safeguards Maine’s natural resources against harmful insects and diseases through plant pest quarantines, which limit the movement of certain plant material within, into or out of the state.

Over the last hundred years, invasive pests have killed tens of millions of trees in forests, cities, and communities across the country.

Quarantines can help limit the movement of potentially infested wood, but everyone has to do their part to stop or slow the spread of invasive species. Learn more about invasive threats and Maine’s six forestry related quarantines currently in effect on maineforestservice.gov.

Learn more about Maine’s untreated out of state firewood ban online at http:// www.maine.gov/firewood.

GardenerNews.com

August 2020 19

OF AGRICULTURE NEWS VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Disease Deadly to Rabbits Moving through Western States In 2020, an exotic disease deadly to wild and domestic rabbits called rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHDV2) has been making its way through the states of California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Texas, and has also been identified in Mexico. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) is watching these developments with concern for Vermont’s population of rabbits.

Since March of this year, RHDV2 has caused mortalities of both wild and domestic rabbits in other states. Infected rabbits and jackrabbits may die so quickly that the clinical signs associated with RHDV2, including fever, inappetence, and neurologic and respiratory abnormalities, are not observed. The range of susceptible species in North America is currently unknown, but all rabbit, jackrabbit, hare and pika species are likely susceptible. RHDV2 is not related to coronavirus; it is a calicivirus that does not infect humans or domestic animals other than rabbits.

“We are greatly concerned for our Vermont community of rabbit owners, including several agricultural operations. These owners of domesticated rabbits are encouraged to maintain strict biosecurity standards for their rabbits and to avoid importing rabbits

from the states where RHDV2 has been identified. We also encourage rabbit owners to report findings of rapid and unexplained rabbit death or detection of signs that could be consistent with this disease to their veterinarian ” said Dr. Kristin Haas, VAAFM Director of Food Safety and Consumer Protection and the Vermont State Veterinarian.

Globally, this disease has caused dramatic declines in some wild rabbit populations since it was first detected in China in 1984. Since then, there have been confirmed cases in 40 countries, including in Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, Asia, Israel, the UK, Mexico, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

“We’re quite concerned with the potential impact of this deadly disease and are currently working with the Agency of Agriculture to monitor rabbit deaths in Vermont,” says Mark Scott, Director of Wildlife for Vermont Fish & Wildlife. “We will continue our monitoring efforts of any adult wild cottontails or snowshoe hare found dead without an obvious indication on what killed it.”

For more information about the disease, please visit: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/ publications/animal_health/fs-rhdv2.pdf

PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE $59 Million to Support Beginning Farmers, Grow Pennsylvania Agriculture The Wolf Administration announced the availability of $59 million in Beginning Farmer Tax Credits over the next decade for those who sell or rent agricultural land, livestock, equipment, buildings or other assets to qualified beginning farmers.

“Pennsylvania’s $135.7 billion agriculture industry feeds our economy and feeds our world,” said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. “With our average farmer being 59 years old, we can’t grow and thrive without attracting new leaders to feed us in the future. These tax credits will combine with PA Farm Bill investments to provide incentives to current farmers and tear down barriers faced by aspiring farmers.”

The Beginning Farmer Tax Credit Program was established under the Pennsylvania Tax Code to provide tax credits to those who sell or rent agricultural assets to beginning farmers.

“The program provides a benefit to landowners who help new farmers get started,” said Senator Elder Vogel (R- Beaver, Butler, Lawrence), chairman of the Senate Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee. “We know that the number one concern facing them is finding affordable farmland. None of our neighboring states offer a similar tax credit program, so this is a great way to show that Pennsylvania is serious about preserving its agricultural legacy.”

The Department of Community and Economic Development, in consultation with the Departments of Agriculture and Revenue, will allocate up to $5 million in tax year 2020, and up to $6 million annually through the 2030 tax year, for credits of five percent of the lesser of the sale price of fair market value of the agricultural asset, up to $32,000; or 10 percent of the gross rental income of the first, second and third year of the rental agreement, up to $7,000 per year.

“Pennsylvania runs on agriculture, both through the fresh food it puts on our plates and the economic activity that it generates,” said DCED Secretary Dennis Davin. “The Beginning Farmer Tax Credit Program ensures that today’s agribusinesses will continue to grow and thrive in the next generation and ensures that our communities and local economies will continue to benefit from this critical industry.”

Beginning farmers must meet eligibility criteria, including intent to farm in Pennsylvania, and provide the majority of the labor and management, related experience or transferrable skills, and no federal gross income from agricultural production in the past 10 years. Applications for beginning farmer certification, which are evaluated by the Department of Agriculture, along with detailed eligibility criteria, can be found on the department’s website, agriculture.pa.gov. Beginning farmer certification is also required for the Realty Transfer Tax Exemption for owners of preserved farms who transfer ownership to new farmers, an incentive available under the PA Farm Bill.

Asset owners can apply for tax credits through DCED’s electronic single application at,esa.dced. state.pa.us. Complete program guidelines and application instructions can be found on DCED’s website, dced.pa.gov.

Farmers can combine tax credits with other funding, including PA Farm Bill resources available through the new Ag Business Development Center to create business plans to enhance economic viability; transition ownership and operation of a farm to new owners and operators; expand or diversify their operations to reach new markets and increase profitability.

MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE State Public Health Officials Announce Season’s First EEE Positive Mosquito Sample The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) today announced that eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus has been detected in mosquitoes in Massachusetts for the first time this year. The presence of EEE was confirmed today by the Massachusetts State Public Health Laboratory in a mosquito sample collected on July 1 in the community of Orange in Franklin County. No human or animal case of EEE has been detected so far this year. Today’s finding increases the risk level of EEE to moderate in the communities of Orange and Athol.

“We have been preparing for EEE activity this year,’’ said Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel, MD, MPH. “It is early in the year for the first evidence of EEE, therefore, continued mosquito surveillance over the next several weeks will help us understand more about how quickly the virus might emerge this year.”

EEE is a rare but serious and potentially fatal disease that can affect people of all ages. EEE is generally spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. There were 12 human cases of EEE in Massachusetts in 2019 with six deaths. There were also nine cases in domestic animals.

“People have been spending time indoors due to COVID-19 and now, as we venture out, we want to remind people about the need to protect themselves and their loved ones from illnesses caused by mosquitoes,’’ said State Epidemiologist Dr. Catherine Brown. ``We are also asking people to remain aware of the level of virus activity in areas where they live, work, and play.

People can visit our new website for the most current information,” said Dr. Brown.

20 August 2020

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GardenerNews.com During the summer months, there are much fewer choices for great flowering trees, by comparison to the spring.

Of course, one of the favorites and most popular summer flowering trees are the crapemyrtles.

It was not until the 1980’s that crapemyrtles, Lagerstroemia, began to be seen as a truly viable summer flowering tree for New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

From western New Jersey and into eastern Pennsylvania, they were uncommon, but were used a bit more regularly closer to the Jersey shore, where the winter temperatures were not as severe.

Dr. Donald Egolf at the U. S. National Arboretum made a breakthrough with Lagerstroemia by hybridizing Lagerstroemia indica, which is common in Southern states, with the much hardier Lagerstroemia fauriei, which has much greater hardiness and proved to a be a “game changer” for growing crapemyrtles in this area.

Several of Egolf’s hybrids are still popular today, including “Natchez,” with white flowers in August and which reaches up to 30 feet tall. Like the other selections in this group, it has stunning mottled bark.

“Arapaho” reaches 20 feet tall, with magenta flowers. “Muskogee” is a similar size to “Natchez” and has soft lilac flowers. “Sioux” only

August 2020 21 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

By Andrew Bunting Vice President of Public Horticulture

Great Trees for the Summer

reaches 15 to 20 feet tall, with bubblegum-pink flowers. Since Egolf’s breeding work, there has been a national resurgence and interest in crapemyrtles since they are such a common and ubiquitous tree in the South.

In the 1990s, Dr. Whitcomb, also from the U. S. National Arboretum, started to release the Whitcomb hybrids, which include the PHS Gold Medal recipient Lagerstroemia Pink Velour® which is a multi-stemmed small flowering tree that reaches 10 to 12 feet tall. It is covered with vivid pink flowers. In the spring, as the leaves emerge, they are a reddishpurple, which adds a season of ornamental interest. Out of this same breeding program came Dynamite® with cherry red flowers and also emerging purple foliage.

One of my favorite crapemyrtles is grown more for its bark and less for its flower. Lagerstroemia fauriei “Fantasy” has white flowers in the summer. This vase-shaped tree can

reach 40 feet tall and has stunning, smooth, cinnamon colored bark.

It rivals other great trees for their ornamental bark, such the paperbark maple, Acer griseum, and the Japanese Stewartia, Stewartia pseudocamellia. “Fantasy” makes a stunning specimen in the winter landscape.

A great native flowering tree for the summer is the sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum. This is a common understory tree of the Appalachian Mountains and while it can grow in shade in the garden it performs better in sun where you will get better flowering and fall color.

Anytime from early July into mid-summer, the white flowers emerge as gooseneck or lily-of-thevalley-like panicles. In the fall, the foliage turns a stunning reddishpink. The fading flowers are still intact as the foliage turns, therefore creating a great combination of cream and red.

Over time, it can reach 30 to 40 feet tall and in some instances even

taller. It has a fairly narrow and upright habit. It can be a little fickle in the garden, but once established is fairly resilient to most pest and disease issues.

Sourwood honey is coveted in many Southern states.

Oxydendrum arboreum combines well with some other native plants like Fothergilla x intermedia; the oakleaf hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia; and the winterberry, Ilex verticillata “Winter Red” and “Winter Gold.”

Finally, I would like to promote a much lesser known but incredibly floriferous summer flower tree.

Famed Plantsman JC Raulston at North Carolina State University introduced Poliothyrsis sinensis in 1993. At the time, I was at the Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College and we got six small seedlings in the mail from JC. Today, these trees are 40 feet tall, upright and pyramidal. In early summer, they are covered in 12-inch-long frothy panicles of creamy white flowers. Poliothyrsis

is a very fast growing and resilient tree, perfect for urban conditions.

Of the aforementioned, the crapemyrtles are regarded as one of the toughest and most resilient of all the summer flowering trees.

Continued breeding will result in even more interesting choices.

Editor’s Note: Andrew Bunting is Vice President of Public Horticulture for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. He is one of the most recognized horticulturists in the Philadelphia, Pa., region and a highly regarded colleague in the world of professional horticulture.

Bunting has amassed a plethora of awards, including the American Public Gardens Association Professional Citation, Chanticleer Scholarship in Professional Development, Delaware Center for Horticulture’s Marion Marsh Award, and the Certificate of Merit from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

In addition, Bunting has lectured extensively throughout North America and Europe, and participated in plant expeditions throughout Asia and Africa. Learn more at https://phsonline.org/team/ andrew-bunting

The Garden Club of New Jersey Proudly Rolls Out New Website!

(Continued from page 16) of the last uncut forests in the MidAtlantic, under Rutgers University’s far reaching umbrella.

The GCNJ fought a proposed jetport in the late ’50s by joining the crusade of preservation of The Great Swamp to its successful designation as a National Wildlife Sanctuary under the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The GCNJ shared in the forming of Greenbrook Sanctuary at Palisades Interstate Park; was instrumental in the preservation of Island Beach, a natural barrier island; and supported the State Green Acres Project.

The GCNJ supported the New Jersey School of Conservation in Stokes State Forest in the 1960s and our members are now rallying to ask the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, as it assumes responsibility for this education center, to fashion a plan to keep it open for environmental education and field research. Most interesting in the GCNJ history is that in the 1960s, New Jersey was the only

state to require all students at State Colleges as a qualification for their degree, to spend a week studying the environment at Stokes State Forest.

Included prominently on our new GCNJ website are Gardening Publications including our own quarterly newsletter, News Leaf; Gardener News; Central Atlantic Regional-SGC Newsletter; and National Garden Clubs, Inc.’s Newsletter with back issues available for all publications.

More exciting sections are to be unveiled. A must-see is “Crawford’s Corner” and “Kids Garden Center,” plus “Tova’s Florambunctious Blog,” and the “Submit Your Photos” area.

Our over 100 garden clubs, the Master Gardeners group (many are garden club members, too), and all our gardening friends will turn to Bruce Crawford’s area as virtual workshops will be conducted – answering gardening questions and sharing his vision as the Rutgers State Program Leader for Home and Public

Horticulture. Those of you who have been deprived of Bruce Crawford’s vast horticulture chops, his love of all things in the plant kingdom and their connection to wildlife will make up for lost time as he dispenses his wit and wisdom for the world to enjoy. His teaching skills will be in full display.

In a class of her own, and now able to share her decades of work with youth and adults alike, is the indomitable, charismatic, and dynamic Diana Dove. Diana has run countless workshops and is a creative genius who will be sharing her years of studying and working with marine animals, establishing and running the renown, award-winning Karen Nash Memorial Butterfly Garden, which is prominently displayed, rolling across our Home page.

Diana and her husband, Mike Dove, are pioneers in the field of conservation, the environment, and are dedicated to teaching all ages the steps involved in growing our pollinator population, keeping our

water safe, recycling and reusing materials in unique and creative ways and are always fun and engaging, while making a difference in all of our lives. Be sure to check in when she goes online.

More is to come with Tova’s Floral Creativity Blog, followed by Noteworthy Artistic Blogs. The GCNJ continues the sharing that is an integral part of gardeners and garden clubs.

Go to www.gardenclubofnewjersey. com and join the fun! And even better, join a Garden Club in your area of the state and make a difference in your local community.

Editor’s Note: Jeannie Geremia is The Garden Club of New Jersey President, and a National Garden Clubs, Inc. Master Flower Show Judge for the GCNJ. Jeannie is a member of Neshanic Garden Club, and The Raritan Township Historic Committee. Jeannie’s email address is: jgeremia42@gmail.com

22 August 2020

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Full Moon August 3, 2020 Eastern Daylight TIP OF THE MONTH A birdbath is an excellent way to provide a source of water and add beauty and function to your landscape.

Think shallow! Birds don’t swim! (except for waterfowl).

Baths should be located away from dense brush or shrubbery. Bushes and thick vegetation can hide predators such as cats that might hide and wait to pounce on unsuspecting visitors stopping by for a drink. Locating the bath in the open gives the birds easy access and escape from predators but also puts the bath in full view, preferably from a deck or kitchen window.

Putting your bird bath in a shady spot will slow down evaporation and help keep the water cooler.

If there’s a bird jam at the bath, add another one! They will LOVE it.

Water should be changed every few days to keep it fresh but also to help prevent breeding mosquitoes.

If you see the water becoming discolored or there is algae, scrub with baking soda, lemon juice or white vinegar and then rinse well. Never add chemicals to the water!

Locating the bath within reach of a garden hose helps when it is time to refill.

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24 August 2020

GardenerNews.com

SUMMER SALE DAYS GOING ON NOW!

FROM

START FINISH

TO

1

#

NUMBER ONE

ZERO-TURN STAND-ON †

TIMECUTTER®

GRANDSTAND®

IRONFORGED DECK

36”-60” TURBO FORCE® CUTTING DECKS

ZERO-TURN MOWERS

STAND-ON MOWERS

®

TimeCutters come with a Toro IronForged deck to ensure years of reliability and top performance.

STARTING AT

6999

$

^

TRACTION & HANDLING

MyRIDE SUSPENSION SYSTEM ®

A wide stance and optimal balance enhance hillside stability and control.

Save your body from the toughest terrain and avoid slow mowing speeds with the MyRIDE Suspension System.

CUSHIONED SUSPENSION Flex-Ride operator platform suspension self-compensates for operators of all sizes, resulting in less fatigue and higher productivity throughout the day.

Z MASTER®

2000 SERIES ZERO-TURN MOWERS 48”-60” TURBO FORCE® CUTTING DECKS STARTING AT

GRANDSTAND® MULTI FORCE™

5999

$

^

WITH PRO-FORCE BLOWER ALL-SEASON USE

FINISH JOBS FASTER

A variety of attachments and accessories such as Pro-Force blower, tine rake, dethatcher and BOSS snow blade provide the ultimate in productivity.

Built to take on the toughest hits with powerful engines and upgraded hydros, this mower features a fully tubular frame, large 24” rear tires and 7/10-gauge steel deck with bullnose bumper.

QUICK CARRY SYSTEM Attach tools and accessories directly to the mower with innovative tool-mounting brackets. Includes Bucket Holder Kit, Universal Mount and Trimmer Mount.

PROLINE™

MID-SIZE MOWERS

SPRAYMASTER®

36”-60” CUTTING DECKS

STAND-ON TURF RENOVATION Dual Smart Hour Meters and Lean-to-Steer Provide Precision Dispersement White Tanks Simplify Fuel Level Monitoring

TURFMASTER® HDX

30” WIDE AREA WALK POWER MOWER Commercial-Grade Kawasaki Engines Spin-On Oil Filter & Dual Element Air Filter ®

STARTING AT

4999

$

^

NO-HASSLE SULKY 2-wheel sulky rotates 360º and folds away when not in use; no need to remove for trailering!

MOWING MUSCLE Reliable Kawasaki engines drive .204” blades for a gorgeous, professional cut.

In a 2018 survey by Wiese Research Associates, Inc., a higher percentage of respondents owned at least one Toro® zero-turn stand-on mower than any other brand zero-turn stand-on mower. ^Manufacturer suggested promotional price subject to local dealer participation. †

See your local servicing Toro dealer at Toro.com/dealer